Relentless Pursuit

You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.

- Jeremiah 29:13 NIV

Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment.”

- Matthew 22:37-38 NIV

Our relationship with Jesus should be a relentless pursuit, a passionate pursuit. Jesus should be the love of your life. The song lyrics below perfectly capture what God wants our relationship with Him to look like. If you don't feel this way about your relationship with Jesus, move closer until you do. Walk with Jesus daily in prayer and in the Word, even when you don't "feel" like it. Ask God to give you spiritual tastebuds for His Word and for prayer. As you make this investment with God's help and self-discipline, in time you will feel like you can't function without your time alone with God each day. You will look forward to it. And before you know it, you will be passionately, relentlessly pursuing Jesus.

- Rachel Marie

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It's a relentless pursuit, relentless pursuit

I will not stop chasing after you

It's a relentless pursuit, a passion in pursuit

I will not stop chasing after you

I won't hold anything from you

Every part of me I've surrendered to you

And I am not afraid to run after you, oh

To run with all my strength, run into you

It's a relentless pursuit, relentless pursuit

I will not stop chasing after you

It's a relentless pursuit, a passion in pursuit

I will not stop chasing after you the love of my life

Oh you the love of my life

Oh it's you, you, you, you, you

Of my life

I can't take my eyes off of you

I can't take my mind off of you

I'm hopelessly crazy in love with you, you, you, you

You've taken the keys and you've opened up all of me

And now I'm running, I'm running after you

The love of my life 

Oh you the love of my life

- Kim Walker-Smith, "Relentless Pursuit"

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Dear Heavenly Father, I pray for each person who reads this. I pray they would pursue you passionately. I pray their hearts would leap for joy at the sound of Your Name. I pray their time with you each day will be their favorite time. I pray they would grow closer to You each day. Speak to them through Your Word and let Your ears be attentive to their every prayer. I pray any who aren't saved are released this day from the bondage of sin and released to run after You. I pray each one would be a doer of Your Word, not a hearer only (James 1:22). I pray they would deny themselves, take up their cross daily to follow You (Luke 9:23). I pray they will fall madly in love with you every single day. I pray they seek nothing more than Your Presence and to please you rather than people (Gal. 1:10).

In Jesus' Name.

Amen

May God bless you and your daily effort to relentlessly pursue Jesus with me.

Rachel Marie

What Are You Listening To?

First, I would like to begin by saying until the last year or so, I did not realize the importance of not listening to secular music. I was very much in love with Jesus, but did not understand my music habits had to change. As I got closer to Jesus over the years, my choice in music did gradually refine over time (VERY VERY VERY SLOWLY: I am embarrassed to even think about the trashy lyrics I used to listen to. The thought literally makes me shudder!) Still, though I began to listen to cleaner genre's of music.. It still just shifts your focus way too much. I am proud to be able to say that for 1 year and 3 months now, I have been listening to worship music ONLY (with the exception of one secular concert I attended last October- 1 year ago.. This artist was much cleaner than most and had no curse words in his lyrics.. but still.. secular music shifts your focus in the wrong direction). God also had to work with me this year on changing the shows I was "obsessed" with watching each week and what my "favorite movies" were. Let me explain further:


AS LONG AS YOU HOLD ONTO YOUR MUSIC (or movies, tv shows, or books) THAT GLORIFIES SINFUL THINGS: drinking, drugs, premarital sex, revenge, etc.. YOU ARE ROBBING YOURSELF CONSTANTLY of GOING INTO A DEEPER, MORE COMFORTING, ALL-CONSUMING RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD.  You are holding yourself BACK from BEING FREE with every song, note, lyric, word (or movie scene) you pour into your heart that rips the seeds of Life (the Word of God) out of you. You are CONSTANTLY KEEPING GOD AT ARM'S LENGTH until you surrender every area  of your life, every part of yourself to HIM. You may be "pouring out" to God in prayer and then turning around and TURNING UP to the tunes of this world! You may have let "worldly things" become an "idol" that you turn to for comfort instead of giving it ALL to GOD.

"As he thinketh in his heart, so is he"

Proverbs 23:7 (KJV)

What you choose to listen to, watch, and read has a great impact on what you think about. Tell me how your music does not make you think that drinking alcohol, smoking, and partying is the only way to have a good time. That's exactly the devil's plan: to use whatever social media, music, shows, movies, and books to make you think "sinning" is the only way to have fun. Tell me your music does not make you think you are "nothing" if you are not in love and living out your "happily ever after". Tell me your music does not make you drown in your heartache day in and day out. OR here's the big one:

Tell me your music talks about Jesus and church...... But does it not also talk about a cold beer in the same exact song??????

Yeah... try to tell me that you feel the Presence of the Holy Spirit while you listen to that? Or while you watch [this show] or [that movie] or [read that book].

This leads people to think you can "live like the world" but still love the Lord. That is not at all what the Bible teaches. Satan is teaching such thinks to deceive. Satan is the father of lies, as Jesus tells us in the Bible.

Secular music, tv, books make you think of sin as fun and/or sulk in your problems... as opposed to the awesome reality of how fun it is to have the Baptism of the Holy Spirit and live in & for God... and as opposed to "delighting in God's Law" like King David... as opposed to letting God "heal your broken heart" like He wants to. Worship music turns your eyes away from your problems and onto our loving LORD and Savior: JESUS CHRIST.

The Bible tells us in Proverbs 23:7 that we think in our hearts, is who we really are. So, be careful with whatever you "plant" into your mind... that is what will "grow" the thoughts that will lead to the "harvest" of who you really, truly are. So, make whatever changes you need to make to plant godly thoughts in your heart :) I made the change. The question is: Will You?

In God's Infinite, All-Consuming Love,

Rachel Marie