I know I want to write but my thoughts are a jumble. So let's sort it out together, shall we? I am reading two books in my meetings with the Lord in the mornings. And the books are 7 centuries apart from each other in the years they were written....and I chose them randomly, separately. And yet daily, it never fails that there is some connection between them...something Y'shua wants to show me.
Well yesterday Fenelon (see prior posts for info on him, a 12th century priest in France) said that we should be persistent and unflagging in our efforts to seek God's blessing...that we are seeking more of Him and if it were an earthly treasure how much effort would we invest? And a heavenly treasure and above that, a relationship with Y'shua Adonai that is worth more than all the treasure in this world.
Fenelon spoke also about the verse Matthew 7:7
and I thought to myself what seeking might mean in a practical sense and it seemed to me that a seeker would go to God's Word and seek there for any need he might have or answers to questions.
And Knocking and Asking? To me, that sounds like prayer. Persistent, urgent prayer.
This verse was one that fell right into place along the path I was blazing.
And the word that jumped out at me was "Seeking" and there is another word which you may have trouble finding a definition for as it is a word rarely used these days but I looked it up in my Websters which is from the 1930's and it has a lot of words in it we don't use now. The word is: Importunity.
And it means "to press, impel, to urge persistently, to request or solicit with urgency."
Like the woman who had been bleeding for 12 years, who was desperate for a touch from the Lord and persistent in her efforts to get close enough to touch his robe...in this way should we be seeking.
Well yesterday Fenelon (see prior posts for info on him, a 12th century priest in France) said that we should be persistent and unflagging in our efforts to seek God's blessing...that we are seeking more of Him and if it were an earthly treasure how much effort would we invest? And a heavenly treasure and above that, a relationship with Y'shua Adonai that is worth more than all the treasure in this world.
Fenelon spoke also about the verse Matthew 7:7
“Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you.
Here we are told to ask, seek, and knock. Again, that word "Seek"and I thought to myself what seeking might mean in a practical sense and it seemed to me that a seeker would go to God's Word and seek there for any need he might have or answers to questions.
And Knocking and Asking? To me, that sounds like prayer. Persistent, urgent prayer.
Search for the Lord and for his strength; continually seek him.
1 Chronicles 16:11.
And the word that jumped out at me was "Seeking" and there is another word which you may have trouble finding a definition for as it is a word rarely used these days but I looked it up in my Websters which is from the 1930's and it has a lot of words in it we don't use now. The word is: Importunity.
And it means "to press, impel, to urge persistently, to request or solicit with urgency."
Like the woman who had been bleeding for 12 years, who was desperate for a touch from the Lord and persistent in her efforts to get close enough to touch his robe...in this way should we be seeking.
Seek the Lord while you can find him.
Call on him now while he is near.
Isaiah 55:6
I stumbled on this verse today also. There's that "seek" word again.
Perhaps it is a bit mundane to have it boil down to importunity in prayer and reading God's Word.....and it would be...if it weren't for that word "importunity"
Anyway, this was a bit of a mashup...but I think you can see my drift and how this is God's call to me for the coming year. I have been too casual in my studies...too cavalier in my prayer time. It's time to PRESS IN. So I believe with all my heart that my phrase for 2018 is "seek with importunity," And according to a quote by St Bernard of Clairvaux, all of our efforts at seeking must be motivated by and clothed in love. And I will talk more about that later.
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