I recently read the biography of a Doolittle Raider in World War II. He spent 40 months in a Japanese prison. While in prison he became a believer. He eventually went back as a missionary for thirty years. 

Reading his story documented again for me the power of forgiveness. Japanese war hero Captain Fuchida, had also become a believer. He read Jacob’s tract, “I Was A Prisoner Of Japan” and it changed his life. He became Jacob’s interpreter, as they went from city to city sharing how Jacob forgave his guards. Countless came to Christ.

Ephesians 4:32 says, “And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.” Romans 8:32 says, “He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?”

In Genesis 37:4 it says that Joseph’s brothers, “…could not speak peaceably to him.” Yet in Genesis 50:20-21 we read of the power of forgiveness. It says, “…And he comforted them and spoke kindly to them.”

Worry is sin because we were looking at our own feebleness. Of course, the enemy wants to use that to distract us from intimate communion with the Lord. The Greek word for worry means to divide into two parts. Think of a double-minded man who is unstable in all his ways, James 1:8.

Another word for worry is to fret. Psalm 37:8b says, “…do not fret–it only causes harm.” Fret means to eat away. When we worry it eats away our cartilage ~ leaving bone on bone. Matthew 6:25 says, “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life…”

The opposite of worry is to trust. Worry is leaning on our own understanding. Of course we have cause to worry if we are looking to ourselves to get us out of impossible circumstances and situations.

We defeat worry by declaring the truth of Who God is at all times. He is always Faithful, Trustworthy, Dependable, as well as All Powerful, All Knowing, and Ever Present. Grab Scriptures and proclaim their truth in the face of worry’s lies! Trust is faith in action.

David’s heart to seek the Lord saved his life on more than one occasion. Let’s go to Ziklag​. David and his men were tired after marching back to their hometown. When they arrived they saw it had been ​d​estroyed by fire and no one was around.

1 Samuel 30:6 says, “Now David was greatly distressed, for the people spoke of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and his daughters…”​ Read these next words carefully, “…But David strengthened himself in the Lord his God.”

We can only imagine how he did that. I think back to the psalms that he wrote. Did he sing to the Lord and honor Him through worship? He had faced King Saul when he was troubled by an evil spirit by playing his harp.

Fear can loom large when we face the impossible. Fear is a tactic of the enemy of our soul. The Bible is full of verses that say, “Fear not…” I love Isaiah 41:10. It says, “Fear not, for I am with you…” He is Ever Present. 

David learned to seek the Lord as he shepherded his father’s sheep. He also honed his use of the sling. When he was ready to face Goliath, he recounted that time to King Saul.

1 Samuel 17:34-35 says, “…when a lion or bear came and took a lamb out of the flock, I went out after it and struck it, and delivered the lamb from its mouth; and when it rose up against me, I caught it by its beard, and struck and killed it.”

Then he declared to the king that the uncircumcised Philistine would be like one of them. The reason was that the giant had defied the armies of the living God. Satan will use any manner of things to seek to defy us in our time of intimate communion with the Lord.

We have to fight through those giant-like obstacles as David did. First we prepare our heart to seek the Lord. As each distraction is presented, we take out our smooth tried stone-verse to hurl at his luring words. Verse 47 says, “…for the battle is the Lord’s…”

I had a picture of a giraffe taped to the wall in my quiet time area. The giraffe was standing near a puddle. It wanted a drink. It was a long way down. The caption read: if you are thirsty you will find a way.

Proverbs 2:1-12 were King Solomon’s words to his son. Let me summarize. As we seek Him, we begin to understand the fear of the Lord, which is the beginning of wisdom. Verse 7 says, “He stores up sound wisdom for the upright…”

James 1:5 says that if we need wisdom, all we have to do is to ask. We ask and then must walk in what He says. Jehoshaphat helped wicked King Ahab. The Lord’s wrath was on him. He sent a seer to speak to him.

2 Chronicles 19:3 says, “Nevertheless good things are found in you, in that you have removed the wooden images from the land, and have prepared your heart to seek God.” Seeking the Lord should be our number one priority. Not just in times of trouble, but pursuing Him for intimate communion.

I love David’s words in Psalm 63:1. I made it my prayer years ago. It says, “O God, You are my God; early will I seek You; my soul thirsts for You; my flesh longs for You in a dry and thirsty land where there is no water.”

Verse 8 in the Amplified says, “My whole being follows hard after You and clings closely to You; Your right hand upholds me.”

I highly recommend A. W. Tozer’s book, The Pursuit Of God.” His words awakened something deep in my spirit back in the 70’s. I loved his prayers at the end of each chapter. They spoke of a longing I had never experienced before.

I began to adopt them into my own prayer life. Words like, “I long to long for you; I want to want You; I need to need You more, I thirst to be thirsty still, etc. When I published my first book, chapter one was “Are You Thirsty?” In Proverbs 8:17 wisdom says, “I love those who love me, and those who seek me diligently will find me.”

Here’s a verse my dad really appreciated. He often used it to prepare his heart for communion on Sunday morning. Ezra 7:10 says, “For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the Law of the Lord, and to do it, and to teach statutes and ordinances in Israel.”

Do you take time to prepare your heart to seek the Lord? That means we have to be intentional, and not allow other things to distract us. Think of David. Psalm 27:4 says, “One thing I have desired of the Lord, that will I seek…”

David was a seeker. God called him a man after His own heart. I used to think that meant that he was like the Lord’s heart. Yet, we might also consider that he was in pursuit of God’s heart. 

Hebrews 11:6 says, “…for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” In Psalm 27:8 David wrote, “When You said, Seek My face, my heart said to You, Your face, Lord, I will seek.”

Authentic is the meaning of the word sincere in this verse. 1 Peter 1:22 says, “Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart.”

1 John 2:11 says, “He who loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no cause of stumbling in him.” The apostle John wrote those words because He remembered Jesus’ words in John 3:21. It says, “But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.”

Paul wrote to the church in Ephesus about that. Ephesians 5:1-2 says, “Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. And walk in love…” Verse 13 says, “But all things that are exposed are made manifest by the light, for whatever makes manifest is light.”

The high watermark of a believer is one who remains in the light. Mark 4:22 says that things are only hidden that they may be revealed. Walking with other light-dwellers purifies. 

1 John 2:4 goes with John 14:21. It says, “He who says, I know Him, and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.” 1 John 1:6 says, “If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.”

How do we practice the truth? I love the statement that Franklin Graham said about his dad. That he was the same in the pulpit as he was at home. Are you the same behind closed doors as you are in the open? Our inner character is revealed by what we say and do. Is your message and the messenger the same?

A watermark is a faint imprint made on some types of paper during manufacture, that is visible when held against the light. Watermarks authenticate. In bazaar days, the vendor would cry out that their wares were sincere. It meant that there was no wax that was applied to hide the cracks. A wise buyer would take the vessel out into the light to authenticate its true value.

Our trials are designed to conform us to the image of Jesus. Galatians 5:22-23. The fruit of the Spirit in the life of an authentic follower of Christ, is the outward evidence of an inward transformation.

We live in this world. 1 John 2:15 says that if we love or embrace the things of this world’s system, the love of the Father is not in us. John 14:21 is a measuring stick of our authenticity. It says, “He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.”

The Greek word for manifest is in two parts. “in” and “to cause to shine.” It means to appear, come to view, reveal, exhibit, make visible, present oneself in the sight of another, be conspicuous. Matthew 5:8 says, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”

Jesus is Truth. It is His truth that brings inner transformation ~ metamorphosis. It sets us free from ourselves.