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 heart stir up a pursuit within us of his heart, setting out every morning to experience the fullness of his love and compassion.

Welcome to the First 15 podcast.

Music Welcome to the First 15 podcast. The foundation for our faith is not meant to be built on our works or our understanding,

but rather on the God's relentless pursuit of us.

We have a 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

lives are the result of his consistent grace drawing us deeper and deeper into the abundant life

Jesus died to give us. Faith built on anything else but God's

pursuit is faith built on our own strength, an unsure and consistently failing foundation.

Ephesians 116 through 18 says, I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you

in 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 which He has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints?

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. We need only to look at the pages of Scripture

and see story after story of God pursuing those who rebelled against him. The entire book of

Josea describes the heart of God to pursue Israel in a real-life metaphor of Josea pursuing Gomer,

who time and time again left him to prostitute herself. There is nothing we could do to keep God

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