Relationship… Fellowship Conclusion

     Our Heavenly Father’s delight in our fellowship with Him motivates us to seek Him because His love is “shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which is given unto us” (Romans 5:5).   Love begets love.  Thus, the knowledge that our attention delights Him elicits desire in us to bless His heart by consistent approach to the throne of grace.  “The Lord taketh pleasure in His people” (Psalm 149:4).

    Growth in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ fosters increasing likeness to His spiritual and moral image (Romans 8:28-29).  The needs and desires of others, beginning with God Himself, become more important to us than our own. "Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.  Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 2:4-5).  The realization of God’s love for us in Christ births in us genuine desire to lovingly bless Him in holy response.  As in every relationship, communication serves as the heart of such devotion.  Therefore, when Solomon declares “the prayer of the upright is His delight,” the heart of the trusting believer can only respond as did King David: "When Thou saidst, Seek ye My face; my heart said unto Thee, Thy face, LORD, will I seek” (Proverbs 15:8; Psalm 27:8).

     We never cease to be the dependent party in our relationship with God.  “Without Me, ye can do nothing” (John 15:5).  We nevertheless serve as a significant party in the sense that our love for Him is real and freely determined, as led and enabled by the Holy Spirit.  “I will love Thee, o Lord, my strength!” (Psalm 18:1).  Our Heavenly Father values and cherishes such devotion far more than we can possibly imagine.  Recognizing such plainly declared Biblical truth instills in us a far different sensibility than the notion of approaching God merely for the gratification of our own needs and desires.  We please Him.  Such truth may be hard to fathom.  It is not difficult, however, to recognize the Scriptural affirmation that our hearts matter to His heart.  Such truth beckons us to respond in wonder, and in love.

“We love Him because He first loved us.”
(I John 4:19)

Weekly Memory Verse
   Ho, everyone that thirtieth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money, come ye, buy and eat, yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.
(Isaiah 55:1)