Notes from this week's podcast: I've Missed God

Everyday, you truly want it to count for eternity. 

I was overwhelmed that many moments in my past, my history that I've missed You. 

How many times have we thought, Lord, I know what to do, but I didn't do it. Or I know what to do in the moment, and I'm just not doing it. 

Because I've missed You, God -- because I've missed not living the Word, yet knowing the Word -- God, I have messed up. 

God, forgive me, because I've missed living Your Word, and not showing the world around me (my family, my friends, people in close proximity to me) truly who You are. And yet, Lord, I'm part of the mess that we're in. 

And, then, I began to praise God for His mercy. But for His mercy, I would be consumed. 

How much we miss God when we yet know God, know about God, or sometimes we don't know the Word, because we didn't live our lives from God's perspective. 

1) I've missed God because my heart's not set on living the Word. 

Example of the family who read the Word all the time 

They had a hunger for the Word. 

Now, I think, O Father, they wanted to know You. They needed to be in the Word. They were building a love relationship with You. 

2) I've missed a lot of God because I wasn't committed to knowing God, knowing the Word. 

I don't want to miss any more of God, any more opportunities of knowing God. 

When we're not in the Word, that's when we mess up -- we fall short of God's glory = we don't reflect God > glory = who God is. It's living showing the world around us who God is. We mess up by missing those opportunities > sin.

Example of the phone call about the wrong order that led to impatience

When you're praying that you don't want to miss God, and you know you've messed up, the Holy Spirit is so good to convict you to get it right. 

When we miss God, He is so good to circle back around. He doesn't want us to just have head knowledge. He wants us to live it. That's how we walk in relationship -- step by step in tune with the heart of God. 

God reminded me, "Jo, I'm sanctifying you. I'm walking with you that you would be like Me, that you would reflect Me, so when you mess up, just come back to Me, and I will clean you up. 

That is the goodness of God. 

3. Then we praise God for His mercy. Because of God's mercy, God's not giving us what we deserve. God's mercy is really God giving me what I need. I needed conviction. The Word came alive within me. In the conviction, God's giving us favor. Do you know that is God's mercy?

God's mercy is His favor. His favor > to look like Him. It's giving me what I need to reflect Him, to look like Him so that I will act the way God acts, so that I want to look like God, so that I show the world who God is.

That brings joy to us. 

Prayer: Lord, I just pray today that when we remember the times, or maybe we're in the moment. that we know we've missed You, and we know we've messed up that You, Lord, by the power of the Holy Spirit will cleanse us to live without regret because we know Your mercies are new every morning that we can come to You and seek forgiveness and through Your forgiveness, drawing near to You, we can rise up and say my hope is in the Lord, and be renewed and refreshed that we would favor You. In Jesus' name, Amen. 

Scripture for further reading: Ecclesiastes 1:1-2, 1 Corinthians 13:4-5, Lamentations 3:22-24