God's Relentless Pursuit
First15 Devotional
First15
4.9 • 2.3K Ratings
🗓️ 5 February 2021
⏱️ 9 minutes
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Summary
In today’s devotional we’re beginning a brand new series, focusing on the fact that God is first and foremost after our hearts. In a world that defines us by what we do, God looks at who we are. May we openly accept his gaze today, with faith in our hearts that he always looks at us with grace. And may his pursuit of our hearts stir up a pursuit within us of his heart, setting out every morning to experience the fullness of his love and compassion.
Our Scripture for today comes from Psalm 23:6, and today's worship is You Keep Coming After Me by Austin Stone Worship.
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Do you ever feel like life just happens to you?
Instead of choosing the things that fill your day, does life always somehow sweep you up into its endless flow of expectations and obligations?
If so, there’s a better way! It’s called a Rule of Life, and Craig Denison has written a new book about creating your own Rule of Life called Living Intentionally. We’d love to put a copy in your hands to say thanks for your donation to help more people experience God the first 15 minutes of their day.
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First15 is a daily devotional written and recorded by Craig Denison. If you would like to learn more about the First15 app, books, blogs, videos and our other resources, please visit first15.org. You can always reach out to us on our contact page on the website.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | In today's devotional, we're beginning a brand new series, focusing on the fact that God is first and foremost after our hearts. |
| 0:13.0 | In a world that defines us by what we do, God looks at who we are. |
| 0:18.0 | May we openly accept his gaze today, with faith in our hearts, that he always looks at us |
| 0:25.0 | with grace. |
| 0:26.0 | And may his pursuit of our hearts stir up a pursuit within us of his heart, setting |
| 0:32.0 | out every morning to experience the fullness of his love and compassion. |
| 0:37.4 | Welcome to the first of his love and compassion. Welcome to the first 15 podcast. |
| 0:40.3 | Our verse for today comes from Psalm 23, verse 6. |
| 0:57.0 | Scripture says, |
| 0:59.0 | Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. |
| 1:07.0 | The foundation for our faith is not meant to be built on our works or our understanding, |
| 1:14.6 | but rather on God's relentless pursuit of us. |
| 1:18.6 | We have relationship with our Creator, not because we sought him out, but because He is always pursuing us. Any elements of Christian spirituality at work in our |
| 1:31.9 | lives are the result of his constant grace, drawing us deeper and deeper into the abundant life |
| 1:39.8 | that Jesus died to give us. Faith built on anything else but God's pursuit is faith built on our own strength, |
| 1:49.5 | an unsure and consistently failing foundation. Ephesians 1, 16 through 18 says, |
| 1:58.1 | I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you and my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of Glory, may give you the spirit of wisdom and of revelation and the knowledge of Him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to |
| 2:19.8 | which He has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance and the saints. |
| 2:28.1 | If we need a fresh understanding of God's pursuit, we need only to pray as Paul did, asking God to enlighten the eyes of our hearts. |
| 2:39.4 | We need only to look to the pages of Scripture and see story after story of God pursuing those |
| 2:47.8 | who rebelled against Him. The entire book of Hosea describes the heart of God to pursue Israel, |
| 2:56.6 | in a real-life metaphor of Hosea pursuing Gomer, |
... |
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