Tracie Miles
“Jesus had compassion on them and touched their eyes. Immediately they received their sight and followed him.” Matthew 20:34 (NIV)
One Sunday my young son had somehow convinced me with his puppy dog eyes to allow him to sit with me during the worship service instead of going to his wee-care class. Keeping in mind that my four-year-old is incapable of sitting still for more than fifteen minutes, much less being quiet at the same time, you may wonder if I had lost my mind. Thank goodness he did very well in his first “big church” experience. The Pastor’s sermon that day was about the seven ways that God demonstrates His love for us, based on Hosea, Chapter 11. God shows His love for us because:
He chose us,
He seeks us,
He instructs us and teaches us with patience,
He demonstrates His love in ways we can understand,
He hurts for us,
He forgives us,
and He saves us.
This sermon reminded me that God loves me regardless of my sin - even when I make the same mistakes over and over again. He sent His Son so that I could have life. There is no greater love than that! As the pastor led us in prayer, he was pleading with God to fill our hearts with love and for us to feel God’s loving touch. At that precise moment as my eyes were closed and my head bowed, my sweet four-year-old little boy who had been quietly laying his head in my lap, reached up and gently touched my cheek. He began tracing the features of my face with his tiny fingers. I was instantly filled with the love of God and my heart leaped with a rush of joy.
I was suddenly and acutely aware of how much God loves me, and reminded of the love that I hold for Him. I knew my young son’s touch was God’s way of blessing me with the physical touch of His love, demonstrating His real and powerful love to me in a way I understood.
At that particular moment in prayer, my heart was wide open and awaiting God’s touch, but I was still amazed when I felt physical touch on my cheek. I wonder if during other moments when I’m running errands, busy cleaning the house, or working, if God could touch me again. Would I then feel His touch? Maybe I have missed out on other occasions when God reached out to touch me in some way, but I was not focused on Him enough to feel it. It is startling to think that the Almighty Creator of heaven and earth might be touching me without my noticing. I pray that we all plead to God to keep our hearts open to feel His touch, in any way, shape or form He chooses to use. Our hearts should be as open to His touch during our busy days and hectic schedules as it is on Sunday morning.
Dear Heavenly Father, please help me to notice Your touch. Guide me through my daily activities. I pray that through Your strength within me I will remain focused on Your Word and live a life which shows the touch of Christ’s love to others. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Related Resources:
Do you know Him?
Who Holds the Key to Your Heart? by Lysa TerKeurst
Good To Me by LaTonya Mason
Listen to Today’s Radio Show
Application Steps:
Recall of some the ways that God has spoken to you, or touched your life in the past. Keep your eyes and ears ready for Him to use that method again.
Pray that you will be keenly aware of God’s intervention in your life.
Reflections:
Have you ever gotten so busy that you have missed an opportunity to praise God’s intervention in a particular circumstance?
Has God been reaching out to you, but you have been too busy to listen?
Have you been putting God first in your life and making it a priority to listen for His voice?
Power Verses:
1 Samuel 10:26, “Saul also went to his home in Gibeah, accompanied by valiant men whose hearts God had touched.” (NIV)
Deuteronomy 30:20, “…and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the LORD is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.” (NIV)
John 10:3, “The watchman opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.” (NIV)
“Jesus had compassion on them and touched their eyes. Immediately they received their sight and followed him.” Matthew 20:34 (NIV)
One Sunday my young son had somehow convinced me with his puppy dog eyes to allow him to sit with me during the worship service instead of going to his wee-care class. Keeping in mind that my four-year-old is incapable of sitting still for more than fifteen minutes, much less being quiet at the same time, you may wonder if I had lost my mind. Thank goodness he did very well in his first “big church” experience. The Pastor’s sermon that day was about the seven ways that God demonstrates His love for us, based on Hosea, Chapter 11. God shows His love for us because:
He chose us,
He seeks us,
He instructs us and teaches us with patience,
He demonstrates His love in ways we can understand,
He hurts for us,
He forgives us,
and He saves us.
This sermon reminded me that God loves me regardless of my sin - even when I make the same mistakes over and over again. He sent His Son so that I could have life. There is no greater love than that! As the pastor led us in prayer, he was pleading with God to fill our hearts with love and for us to feel God’s loving touch. At that precise moment as my eyes were closed and my head bowed, my sweet four-year-old little boy who had been quietly laying his head in my lap, reached up and gently touched my cheek. He began tracing the features of my face with his tiny fingers. I was instantly filled with the love of God and my heart leaped with a rush of joy.
I was suddenly and acutely aware of how much God loves me, and reminded of the love that I hold for Him. I knew my young son’s touch was God’s way of blessing me with the physical touch of His love, demonstrating His real and powerful love to me in a way I understood.
At that particular moment in prayer, my heart was wide open and awaiting God’s touch, but I was still amazed when I felt physical touch on my cheek. I wonder if during other moments when I’m running errands, busy cleaning the house, or working, if God could touch me again. Would I then feel His touch? Maybe I have missed out on other occasions when God reached out to touch me in some way, but I was not focused on Him enough to feel it. It is startling to think that the Almighty Creator of heaven and earth might be touching me without my noticing. I pray that we all plead to God to keep our hearts open to feel His touch, in any way, shape or form He chooses to use. Our hearts should be as open to His touch during our busy days and hectic schedules as it is on Sunday morning.
Dear Heavenly Father, please help me to notice Your touch. Guide me through my daily activities. I pray that through Your strength within me I will remain focused on Your Word and live a life which shows the touch of Christ’s love to others. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Related Resources:
Do you know Him?
Who Holds the Key to Your Heart? by Lysa TerKeurst
Good To Me by LaTonya Mason
Listen to Today’s Radio Show
Application Steps:
Recall of some the ways that God has spoken to you, or touched your life in the past. Keep your eyes and ears ready for Him to use that method again.
Pray that you will be keenly aware of God’s intervention in your life.
Reflections:
Have you ever gotten so busy that you have missed an opportunity to praise God’s intervention in a particular circumstance?
Has God been reaching out to you, but you have been too busy to listen?
Have you been putting God first in your life and making it a priority to listen for His voice?
Power Verses:
1 Samuel 10:26, “Saul also went to his home in Gibeah, accompanied by valiant men whose hearts God had touched.” (NIV)
Deuteronomy 30:20, “…and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the LORD is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.” (NIV)
John 10:3, “The watchman opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.” (NIV)
Labels: Identity in Christ, Spiritual Growth, Trusting God
4 Comments:
The thought that God might be touching us without our noticing is quite thought-provoking.
And when you DO notice His touch, it is POWERFUL!!! You never forget those moments....
It's sweet how God can use children to touch our lives like that. I'm now thinking of all the times my 4 yr old approaches me to hug me out of nowhere. :O)
Thank you for this devotion.
Thank you so much! I am just reading this, a year and a half later, and I enjoyed reading the chapter in Hosea and thinking about how the Lord God can touch me through my infants. Very powerful. Thank you!
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