As we continue our week on centering our lives or a meeting with God, today we'll explore

how this is always preceded by the longing of God to meet with you.

God's affections for us are always meant to be our starting place in seeking him.

As you're reminded today of God's great love and desire for you, may your heart be stirred with fervor

to seek Him and center your life around His presence.

Welcome to the First of Team Podcast. The scripture for today comes from Psalm 139, 17 through 18. God's word says,

How precious to me are your thoughts, oh God. How vast is the sum of them. If I would count them, they are more than the

sand. I awake and I am still with you. I used to view my time spent in secret with my Heavenly Father as something for which

I needed to drum up desire. I pictured God waiting for me in a room, ready to bless me for

sure, but I felt the weight of choosing Him was all on my shoulders. The truth of God's heart is far away from my previous misconceptions

because we serve a God who constantly, sweetly, and powerfully pursues us.

Revelation 320 says,

behold, I stand at the door and knock.

If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him and he with me.

God is knocking on the door of your heart right now.

With every gentle fall breeze that moves sweetly across your face.

With every beautiful sunrise, with every breathtaking star in the sky, God is declaring his love for you.

God pursues us in any and every way he can.

The greatest desire of his heart is for communion with his people.

So it's in knowing and receiving his overwhelming affections for us that our hearts will be

stirred to meet with him.

It's in taking time to notice his constant pursuit of us,

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