When I first began reading this new devotional from Dr. Harold Sala of Guidelines International Ministries I was concerned that some brethren from the Calvinist side of the aisle may declare, "That is proof that God chose only the Elect before Creation - for He put that desire to know Him only in the DNA of those Elect."
And that could answer why some have a strong desire to know and follow Christ, while others reject all evidence of God and all efforts to bring them into His family.
But when I look more deeply into Scripture, I find:
When I read these Scripture passages I know, beyond all doubt, that God has put a desire to know Him more fully in my heart and in YOUR heart - and, yes, like Dr. Sala, I believe He most likely designed our DNA with that "God desire" built into all of us.
In my personal library I have a great book written by Don Richardson and published in 1981 titled "Eternity In Their Hearts." The book starts in the year 1795 deep in the jungles of Burma where hundreds of native tribesmen rush out to a clearing to greet a white-skinned stranger.
"Could he be the one to bring 'the book' their forefathers lost so many years ago - the book that tells the secrets of Y'Wa, the Supreme God?" Yes! And later missionaries were astounded at the way in which God had prepared these people for one of the greatest mass conversions in history.
The book covers more than twenty-five incredible-but-true stories which prove the truth of the words found in Ecclesiastes 3:11, "He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, . . ."
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Is God in Your DNA?
Guidelines International Ministries
Dr. Harold Sala,January 03, 2019
"You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart." Jeremiah 29:13
In a tribal area in Northern Luzon in the Philippines, a witch doctor sprinkles chicken blood on the door posts of a new house and chants a prayer asking that the spirits bless the residents. In Yangon merchants step out of their sandals and walk barefooted up the steps to the great Shedagon Pagoda and sit in contemplation before a golden Buddha.
Half-way around the world, families fill parking lots, then with Bibles under their arms stream into churches looking more like modern shopping centers than traditional ones (churches) with spires and organs. While their paths to God may be as divergent as the distance between the three groups I mentioned, all of them, right or wrong, are reaching out to God as they conceive Him to be.
All over the world you find temples, churches, and religious gatherings of one kind or another. Why? Anthropologists may respond that humans have a religious nature, but going deeper is the question, “Where did that come from? Who put it there?” Christians are quick to respond, “God did! That’s how He made us!” And, if you believe the record that God gave through Moses almost 2500 years ago, you can quickly turn to proof texts (in Scripture) that essentially say that.
Scientists have attempted to answer that question, saying, “It’s in your DNA. It’s in your genes.” Molecular biologist Dean Hamer published a book entitled "The God Gene: How Faith Is Hardwired into Our Genes." He not only believes that human spirituality is genetic, but he believes he has located one of the genes responsible for your quest for God. Okay, are you to assume that your thirst to know God is simply the interaction of certain brain chemicals in your head, something no different from the heart cry of David, who prayed, “My soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water” (Psalm 63:1)?
The book of Ecclesiastes says that God “set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end” (Ecclesiastes 3:11). Dr. Hugh Ross, a scientist who is also a Christian apologist, believes that human curiosity, the desire to know which prompts the question, “Why?” is an evidence not only that you were created in the image of God, but is an evidence of God’s existence as well.
Does it matter whether your desire to know God is hard-wired into your DNA or simply born in your heart? The fact is, you want to know God, to know that you came into the world for a reason, and that you can make peace with Him.
A final thought. God would have been cruel to make you with a desire to know Him unless He had also made provision for that need to be met, for your questions to be answered, and for your search to end in His embracing you in His great love. He put that thirst in your heart to fully satisfy it. He satisfies your deep longing. The Psalmist put it, “For he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things” (Psalm 107:9).
David put it, “Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him” (Psalm 34:8). That’s a test which leaves you satisfied or else with an intense thirst which makes your mouth parched and dry. A refreshing drink at a cold spring after a long, arduous hike through the desert satisfies in ways that can only be experienced.
Do you want to know God? Bow your heart and knee and tell Him. Then pick up your Bible and begin reading in the Gospel of John. It was written to introduce you to this great God who sent His son to earth to show you the way back home. That’s Good News.
Resource reading: John 1:1-14
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
I thought of the book "Eternity In Their Hearts" today when I read Dr. Sala's Daily Devotional in my e-mail. And I knew that I wanted to share his message with YOU and with all my FRANs (Friends, Relatives, Associates, Neighbors). Yes, I do believe that God has put that desire in all of our hearts. Some call it a "hole within our soul" that only God can fill. Others, like this devotional may suggest God put it into our DNA.
One thing I do know for sure is that God also put into the hearts of all believers a desire to share His Good News with the world, that we may each have a part to play in the planting, watering, and harvesting of souls. How's your farm coming?
God bless, have a wonderful, blessed day,
Bill
And that could answer why some have a strong desire to know and follow Christ, while others reject all evidence of God and all efforts to bring them into His family.
But when I look more deeply into Scripture, I find:
2 Peter 3:9, "The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but (desires) that all should come to repentance."
Ephesians 1:13, "In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of Truth, the Gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise,"
John 3:14-16, "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."
John 20:30-31, "And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name."
When I read these Scripture passages I know, beyond all doubt, that God has put a desire to know Him more fully in my heart and in YOUR heart - and, yes, like Dr. Sala, I believe He most likely designed our DNA with that "God desire" built into all of us.
In my personal library I have a great book written by Don Richardson and published in 1981 titled "Eternity In Their Hearts." The book starts in the year 1795 deep in the jungles of Burma where hundreds of native tribesmen rush out to a clearing to greet a white-skinned stranger.
"Could he be the one to bring 'the book' their forefathers lost so many years ago - the book that tells the secrets of Y'Wa, the Supreme God?" Yes! And later missionaries were astounded at the way in which God had prepared these people for one of the greatest mass conversions in history.
The book covers more than twenty-five incredible-but-true stories which prove the truth of the words found in Ecclesiastes 3:11, "He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, . . ."
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Is God in Your DNA?
Guidelines International Ministries
Dr. Harold Sala,January 03, 2019
"You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart." Jeremiah 29:13
In a tribal area in Northern Luzon in the Philippines, a witch doctor sprinkles chicken blood on the door posts of a new house and chants a prayer asking that the spirits bless the residents. In Yangon merchants step out of their sandals and walk barefooted up the steps to the great Shedagon Pagoda and sit in contemplation before a golden Buddha.
Half-way around the world, families fill parking lots, then with Bibles under their arms stream into churches looking more like modern shopping centers than traditional ones (churches) with spires and organs. While their paths to God may be as divergent as the distance between the three groups I mentioned, all of them, right or wrong, are reaching out to God as they conceive Him to be.
All over the world you find temples, churches, and religious gatherings of one kind or another. Why? Anthropologists may respond that humans have a religious nature, but going deeper is the question, “Where did that come from? Who put it there?” Christians are quick to respond, “God did! That’s how He made us!” And, if you believe the record that God gave through Moses almost 2500 years ago, you can quickly turn to proof texts (in Scripture) that essentially say that.
Scientists have attempted to answer that question, saying, “It’s in your DNA. It’s in your genes.” Molecular biologist Dean Hamer published a book entitled "The God Gene: How Faith Is Hardwired into Our Genes." He not only believes that human spirituality is genetic, but he believes he has located one of the genes responsible for your quest for God. Okay, are you to assume that your thirst to know God is simply the interaction of certain brain chemicals in your head, something no different from the heart cry of David, who prayed, “My soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water” (Psalm 63:1)?
The book of Ecclesiastes says that God “set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end” (Ecclesiastes 3:11). Dr. Hugh Ross, a scientist who is also a Christian apologist, believes that human curiosity, the desire to know which prompts the question, “Why?” is an evidence not only that you were created in the image of God, but is an evidence of God’s existence as well.
Does it matter whether your desire to know God is hard-wired into your DNA or simply born in your heart? The fact is, you want to know God, to know that you came into the world for a reason, and that you can make peace with Him.
A final thought. God would have been cruel to make you with a desire to know Him unless He had also made provision for that need to be met, for your questions to be answered, and for your search to end in His embracing you in His great love. He put that thirst in your heart to fully satisfy it. He satisfies your deep longing. The Psalmist put it, “For he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things” (Psalm 107:9).
David put it, “Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him” (Psalm 34:8). That’s a test which leaves you satisfied or else with an intense thirst which makes your mouth parched and dry. A refreshing drink at a cold spring after a long, arduous hike through the desert satisfies in ways that can only be experienced.
Do you want to know God? Bow your heart and knee and tell Him. Then pick up your Bible and begin reading in the Gospel of John. It was written to introduce you to this great God who sent His son to earth to show you the way back home. That’s Good News.
Resource reading: John 1:1-14
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
I thought of the book "Eternity In Their Hearts" today when I read Dr. Sala's Daily Devotional in my e-mail. And I knew that I wanted to share his message with YOU and with all my FRANs (Friends, Relatives, Associates, Neighbors). Yes, I do believe that God has put that desire in all of our hearts. Some call it a "hole within our soul" that only God can fill. Others, like this devotional may suggest God put it into our DNA.
One thing I do know for sure is that God also put into the hearts of all believers a desire to share His Good News with the world, that we may each have a part to play in the planting, watering, and harvesting of souls. How's your farm coming?
God bless, have a wonderful, blessed day,
Bill
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