Divine Intervention.

God answered a prayer this morning. For the past few weeks I felt like I was just going through the motions of my faith. Quiet times were good, but I was never walking away extremely joyful or excited. Church gave a good message, but I never felt it hitting home. Spiritual conversations over break happened, but there was no flame inside burning with desire to show the fullness of God.

My relationship with the Lord has been very shallow and my prayer was/is that He would change this, to get me excited and passionate again about Him.

 We started a new series at Aletheia this morning called Divine Intervention, reading and studying Psalm 107. One of the first sentences out of Pastor Paul's mouth was the cue from God saying, "Casey, here's you're answer."

"Psalm 107 is not describing God as the Creator, it's describing who God is to us."

That was it. That's when God revealed why our relationship has been so nonexistent. I was trying to study and know God as the great and powerful Ruler and King. I was reading the Bible and trying to understand God through others (which is great, but not what I needed right now). I realized I was trying to learn about the Almighty God, the Creator instead of becoming intimate with God, the One who saved me.

Focusing on what He has done in my life and with my heart is when I will notice His abounding love for me that verse 1 proclaims. How He has shaped my heart, my aspirations...How He saved someone who was such a wretched sinner like me, doomed for Hell. THAT is the God I want to grow more intimate with. That is what I want to focus on in my time with Him. The more that I realize I need Him, the more I want others to see their need for Him. The more aware I am of His power in my life, the more genuine I can be when helping others through struggles and confusions.

"Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever. Let the redeemed of the Lord tell their story -- those he redeemed from the hand of the foe, those he gathered from the lands, from east and west, from north and south." -Psalm 107:1-3

This praise that David is talking about is praise in a way that points others to His greatness. This thanks is for receiving something that we have longed for. That is the response God deserves from us, and it can only be true when we realize how much we need Him and how much He's done for us.