Study Week 1

Seek God with your HEART –
Week 1 – Group It!
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Objective: Seek to Know and Love God with all your heart and turn your burdens over to God. He’ll arm you with strength and make your way perfect. Seek Him and start to SOAR!


Key Verse:
COME TO ME, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." Mt. 11:28-30


God longs for YOU to know Him personally!
When you were born, someone cared for you. You slept, ate, cried and pooped (yes, you did – everyone poops!). You couldn’t DO anything; you could only rest and be nurtured. As you spent time with your family, you connected with them and built a relationship.


Some of us had wonderful relationships and others had painful ones. Either way, once you are in the FAMILY of GOD, you are NEW; you are adopted into His family. You are now born of God. (Read John 1:13) It is like starting over – It is time to get to know God the Father just like you did your parents. God is your lifeline in this new life. You rest in Him and allow Him to take your burdens. Spend time with Him.


God longs for YOU to know Him personally!
God has pursued a relationship with man since the creation of the world…1st He created us, breathed His own life into us, walked with us, dwelt among us after the fall of man and then made a way for us to know Him personally again through sending His Son to shed His blood for the final sacrifice for us. Yet most of us only know about God. We don’t really know Him in a personal and intimate way.


There is a difference in knowing about someone and knowing someone personally. Most of us know ABOUT the President of our country, but we don’t know him personally. On the other hand, if you are married, you hopefully know your spouse intimately – the pet-peeves along with the tender side that most people don’t get to see.


God longs for YOU to know Him personally! What can we do to know Him like this?


YOU MUST SEEK GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART
The problem is that sometimes we have been wounded by something that has caused our heart to be closed or hesitant toward God. Maybe you think you are not good enough for Him?

To seek God with all of our hearts you have to
• Be willing to open your heart to Him.
• If your heart isn’t open, ask God to open it for you!
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GROUP SEEK TIME

If you want to discuss this with a group - break into groups of 2


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Read one or more of these passages to each other:
John 5:39-47 (see this verse in the AMP version below); Ps. 139:1-7; Mt. 11:28-30


Right now, is your heart open or closed to God?
Why do you think your heart is closed to God?
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Gather back as a group:
What heavy load are you carrying around? What sin(s) do you need to confess and turn from? What is distracting you from seeking God? Write them down – put them in an envelope addressed to God. Commit to the group to not pick them back up. Hang the envelope at home somewhere to remember that your life is now hidden in Christ Jesus.


Pray for and minister to one another.

John 5:39-47 AMP

You search and investigate and pour over the Scriptures diligently, because you suppose and trust that you have eternal life through them. And these [very Scriptures] testify about Me! And still you are not willing [but refuse] to come to Me, so that you might have life.


I receive not glory from men [I crave no human honor, I look for no mortal fame], But I know you and recognize and understand that you have not the love of God in you.


I have come in My Father’s name and with His power, and you do not receive Me [your hearts are not open to Me, you give Me no welcome]; but if another comes in his own name and his own power and with no other authority but himself, you will receive him and give him your approval.


How is it possible for you to believe [how can you learn to believe], you who [are content to seek and] receive praise and honor and glory from one another, and yet do not seek the praise and honor and glory which come from Him Who alone is God?


Put out of your minds the thought and do not suppose [as some of you are supposing] that I will accuse you before the Father. There is one who accuses you--it is Moses, the very one on whom you have built your hopes [in whom you trust].

For if you believed and relied on Moses, you would believe and rely on Me, for he wrote about Me [personally]. But if you do not believe and trust his writings, how then will you believe and trust My teachings? [How shall you cleave to and rely on My words?]

Seek God with your HEART AT HOME
Week 1 – Word It!

The Eagle is such a beautiful creature! Did you know that its body is approximately 4 feet long; its wingspan is 8 feet wide, but it only weighs about 8 pounds??!! No wonder it SOARS with such grace and magnificence - it is hardly carrying any weight at all!

I want to SOAR with God like that eagle! Soaring with God allows us to see everything from a new perspective. My daughter was 7 years old when she took her first airplane ride. She said, "mommy, from up here, all those things that we think are such a big deal seem so small - you can’t even see them from up here."

It’s all about perspective. Soaring with God gives us life that is truly life!

It’s time to just lay down the past. Lay down all those things thatburden you – all the distractions that keep you from seeking God…Throw off everything that keeps you from soaring with God!

Begin each day turning your mind and heart to God. Enter into your time in the Word with a hunger and thirst for His Presence.

Ask the Holy Spirit to guide you into all truth. John 16:13

Do not rush the lessons or feel the need to complete a "task". This is your time to spend with "Daddy". Enjoy, delight and savor the Word. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. John 1:1
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Day 1 - Read Deut. Chapter 6:4 -9, Matt. 22:34-40
Are you keeping the first and greatest command? Where are you at in your relationship with God? Cold? Lukewarm? Hot? Not growing, growing slowly, growing, growing quickly, soaring? Does your answer to this relate to: not seeking, seeking little, seeking, seeking much, clinging/delighting?
Spend time today thinking about your answer.

Day 2 - Read Psalm 139 & Romans 8:38-39
God knows YOU! God LOVES YOU! He longs to be loved and known by you. Write out your favorite verse(s) today and maybe even record some thoughts to God in response to His love for you. Delight in Him ALL DAY LONG! Delight is defined as: a feeling of extreme gratification aroused by something good! AKA: Joy, pleasure, cheer, gladness, even giddiness!

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Day 3 - Read Psalm 143
This Psalm was like a daily medication for me around 9 years ago. Especially verse 8. Is your heart heavy? Are you worried and anxious with "what ifs"? Memorize a favorite verse from this psalm today. Write it out, read it out loud (repeat these steps until you know it) and meditate on it continually today.
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Phil 4:6-7


Day 4 - Read Matthew 6: 19-34
But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Mt. 6:33
What does seeking (God and His Kingdom) look like in your life?
Be honest. Journal, pray, or just ponder this today. Tell God that you want to know Him and love Him MORE! Cry out to Him for more of His presence in your life.
Ask God for a greater measure of faith in Him and His Word!!!
And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. Heb 11:6
The word earnest means serious and sincere.
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Day 5 - Read this Slowly! Make it your prayer and hearts desire.
Ps 63:1-8
O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water. I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory. Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you. I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands. My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods; with singing lips my mouth will praise you. On my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night. Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings. My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me.
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CRAVE IT! THE EXTRA MILE
Read Isaiah 40 and soar with God!
Read Psalm 42 and seek God’s help in your trials!