Pursuing God

Do you ever have those moments where the Spirit of God makes God so real to you that you feel like you are before His throne? You feel that you are in His very presence; that you are fellowshipping with Him in your Spirit; you feel as though you could reach out and touch Him. His presence overwhelms you, Faith is erupting, you feel as though as you are praying the answers are being confirmed, one burden after another being transferred from your Spirit into God's hands and the peace of God that passes understanding is feeling your heart and mind! These are those times when I feel like Peter on the mount of transfiguration and I want to say "Lord, it is good for us to be here, can we just stay here." I hope you can identify with what I am talking about.

Let me ask you another question. Do you ever have times like that and you say, "O, why don't I do this more often! This is so sweet, this is what it's all about, this is knowing God, O God I taste you and I want more!"
My burden this morning is that I/we settle way too often for a form of Christianity that does not experience the Living Christ.
I want to call you to a renewed Pursuit of the presence of God and to experience the goal of the Gospel. As John Piper puts it, "GOD is the Gospel"

• The Lord Jesus prayed and described salvation like this in John 17:3 "This is eternal life, that they may KNOW YOU, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent"
• The Apostle John wrote in I John 1:4 "Truly our fellowship is with the Father and His Son Jesus Christ." Can you and I emphatically say this?
• The Apostle Paul wrote in Phil. 3:8 "I count all things as loss for excellency of KNOWING CHRIST!"
• Peter writes concerning the Gospel in I Peter 3:18 "Christ also suffered once for sin, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us TO GOD" ...That we might know GOD...Intimately, as He did.

GOD is the Gospel!

I want to share with you a message that communicates the Title of my blog and the prayer of my heart for myself and for all those who name the name of Christ. I preached this message in 2008 as I was reading, "The pursuit of God" by A.W. Tozer. I pray you will listen to it and that God will stir in you a desire to Pursue Him like never before.
1. Pursuing God's Presence
http://fbclakebutler.com/content.cfm?id=213&content_id=71
2. Pursuing God with Passion.
http://fbclakebutler.com/content.cfm?id=213&content_id=72