Do You Know God?

Prayer ~ Dear God, I love You with all my heart, soul, mind and strength. May the way I live always honor and please You, Lord, and may my life produce every kind of good fruit. All the while, may I grow as I learn to know You better and better. From Colossians 1:10 

Listen, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD alone. And you must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength. Deuteronomy 6:4-5 NLT

שמע ישראל יהוה אלהינו יהוה אחד׃ ואהבת את יהוה אלהיך בכל־לבבך ובכל־נפשך ובכל־מאדך׃ - Deuteronomy 6:4-5 WLC

 

Meditate on loving God. 

 

What do you learn about God from this scripture? It is repeated several times in the Old and New Testaments.

Consider how much you love another person. Why do you love them…how can you love them without knowing them? Right…you have to know them…and the more you know them, the more you love them. Love is powerful.

Know God…love Him. Know Him more, love Him more deeply, more completely…with all your heart soul, mind and strength. That is one of Jesus top commandments.

And you must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.' The second is equally important: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' No other commandment is greater than these. Mark 12:30-31 NLT

Start now.
Wholeheartedly seek God.
Know God - Please Him.

Loving God totally. That is a really good goal to have. We all can start with to know God more deeply this year…this month…today. God has promises about seeking Him. (To the Hebrew people in exile in Babylon. We can claim this promise, too.)

"For I know the plans I have for you," says the LORD. "They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. In those days when you pray, I will listen. If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me."  Jeremiah 29:11-13 NLT

And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him. Hebrews 11:6 NLT

 

The poor will eat and be satisfied. All who seek the LORD will praise him. Their hearts will rejoice with everlasting joy. Psalm 22:26 NLT

 

Seek the LORD while you can find him. Call on him now while he is near. Isaiah 55:6 NLT

 

His purpose was for the nations to seek after God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him—though he is not far from any one of us. For in him we live and move and exist. As some of your own poets (in Athens) have said, 'We are his offspring.' Acts 17:27-28 NLT

As believers, we are the children of God, adopted into His family. We can cling to God’s promises with hope as we pray and seek Him. This is one promise that many in our nation need to get down on our knees and pray.

Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land. 2 Chronicles 7:14 NLT

How well do you know and obey God? 

Verse of Salvation ~ Restore to me the joy of your salvation and make me willing to obey you. Psalm 51:12 NLT

 

Friday’s Feast at the King’s Table

What’s for supper? How many times a day or a week do you hear this?

Menu planning is the key to less stress and better budget control. You only buy what you need…and with no waste you’ll save money.  

 

Years ago when I took a Chinese cooking class I learned that every meal should have a crunchy, a soft, a spicy and a bland component. And a good meal also has something warm and something cold. Fresh is best. Consider dishes that meet nutritional needs, dishes that you enjoy preparing and your family’s favorites.  I challenge you to start planning for the next seven days. I’m challenging myself, too!

1.      Check ads to see what is on sale and use those as the basic items for evening meals. Plan your menu using variety: Slow cooker, grill, stir-fry, soup, ethnic, pasta, casserole, salad, quick and easy, pizza, left-overs, and new dish. Check recipes to see that you have all the ingredients necessary—either on your list or on your pantry shelf.

2.      Shop—and be flexible if you find better bargains than were listed in the ads. Use seasonal items. Be sure to pick up staples that you have on your shopping list.

3.      Put food away when you get home. Do your final menu plan considering the items you bought when you shopped and your family’s schedule, i.e. sports practices or games, church events or weekly Bible studies.

4.      Post your menu on your refrigerator so that everyone knows “What’s for Supper.”

5.      As the week progresses, cook up things that can be planned ahead—especially things that can be used for two meals, like roasted chicken and then chicken enchiladas or chicken salad.

6.      Focus on quick and easy meals for the days when you are extra busy.

7.      Once a week use a new recipe…and if it is a hit with your family then add it to your favorites list.

8.      Happy menu planning…and eating!

 

Happy Birthday Blessing, Kim!

 

© 2024 Text, photos, and illustrations by Mickey M. Hunacek. All rights reserved. 

All scripture quoted from the New King James Version (NKJV) unless otherwise noted. 

New King James Version © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Harper Collins Publisher. All rights reserved. Used by permission.

 New Living Translation (NLT) copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. 

Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

"Devarim (Deuteronomy) 6 (WLC) -." Blue Letter Bible. Web. 30 Dec, 2020. <https://www.blueletterbible.org/wlc/deu/6/4/s_159004>. 

Biblical search from Blue Letter Bible - http://v3.blueletterbible.org/search.cfm. 

Revised and reused from January 1, 2021, and October 3, 2014 Banquet With The King blogs 

 

Books by Mickey M. Hunacek

Available as e-books or paperbacks at Amazon.com

 

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