God Reveals His Redemptive Plan

Probing Your Own Heart

Have you been working with God at writing His law in your heart?

What proof do you have of knowing God?

Building on Some Foundational Concepts

God does what He says He will do.

Notice how many times God says, "I will" in today's lesson. And He did as He said He would! That's no surprise. One dimension of God's character is truth. In fact, Jesus identified Himself as The Truth (John 14:6). No matter how impossible or unlikely it may seem to us, God will always perform His promises. Of a truth we can wholly trust the Truthful One. Do not overlook the implications this has for our own character and lives. If we are people of the Word, we too shall be people of our word. Since God dwells in us, His character shall be revealed through us. The Spirit of Truth (John 15:26) abiding in us and guiding us into all truth (John 16:13) will develop us into people of honor, truth, and dependability.

To find, seek.

The search after God is not reserved only for the unsaved. If our search ended after we experience salvation, our search ended prematurely. We must continue to search out God and His ways for the rest of our lives. To know Him should become the passion, the drive, the focus, the yearning of our hearts.

His law belongs in our hearts.

We store the language and factual portions of God's law in our brains' memory banks. But we treasure it and know it in our hearts. That is when, that is where the Word becomes delightful to us, living in us and livable through us. When His message is stamped in our hearts, we become the living message of Christ: "Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart" (2 Corinthians 3:3).

Questions and Responses

How can I be certain that God listens to me when I pray?

The first angle to the answer is God's character. He said He would listen, so that settles it. If we doubt His integrity in this area, how can we believe anything else He declares? When doubts trouble you and your faith weakens, let Him know about it, just like a father did long ago: "Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief" (Mark 9:24).

The second angle is your own character. Listen.... "If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me" Psalm 66:18). "The prayer of the upright is his delight" (Proverbs 15:8). "The LORD is far from the wicked: but he heareth the prayer of the righteous" (Proverbs 15:29). "He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be abomination" (Proverbs 28:9). "Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts" (James 4:3).

How do I search for God with all my heart?

Ask the Father to draw you: "No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day" (John 6:44).

Forsake your own thoughts and your own ways: "Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD" (Isaiah 55:6,7).

Choose His thoughts and His ways: "Blessed are they that keep his testimonies, and that seek him with the whole heart" (Psalm 119:2).

Serve Him willingly and faithfully: "Know thou the God of thy father, and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind: for the LORD searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts: if thou seek him, he will be found of thee; but if thou forsake him, he will cast thee off for ever" (1 Chronicles 28:9).

Make knowing Him and His truth your life focus and purpose: "As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God" (Psalm 42:1). "O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is" (Psalm 63:1).