The AMI QT Devotionals from March 26-April 1 are provided by Hee Jung Lee. Hee Jung, a graduate of Biblical Theological Seminary, serves at Catalyst Agape Church (New Jersey) along with her husband Pastor Sam Lee. They have four beautiful daughters.
Devotional Thoughts for Today
Expectant Pursuit
Mark 5:25-28
Now a certain woman had a flow of blood for twelve years, and had suffered many things from many physicians. She had spent all that she had and was no better, but rather grew worse. When she heard about Jesus, she came behind Him in the crowd and touched His garment. For she said, “If only I may touch His clothes, I shall be made well.”
“It feels like I’m always chasing you, Lord,” I recently said to God in my prayer time, retrospectively recollecting on my constant pursuit to experience more of His power and presence. It’s not as if He has ever been farther than the breath on my lips, but without question, I have sought Him; and I continue to invest my heart to seeking after the Lord. I have relentlessly pursued Him in the private, and I have sought to encounter Him in the public.
One common fruit from all this pursuit has been that He never fails me. In fact, the Lord continues to surprise me with fresh encounters of Him—not all in the familiar ways—but in ways where the Lord breathes alive dormant truths that bring experiences as reality. This expectancy fuels the pursuit, the pursuit spawns expectancy, and the Lord responds to such a desperate desire for His touch.
Such was the case for the bleeding woman in Mark 5:28, where she says to herself, If only I may touch His clothes, I shall be made well. Deemed as incurable and having expended all her resources, she sees Jesus, the miracle healer walking amongst a travelling crowd; and her expectant pursuit for only a healing touch of His garment, heals her instantly. What a glorious moment where heaven met her, and the truth that God cares for her wellbeing became a realistic encounter!
This is the joy of our salvation, that we may continue to seek after the Lord and discover that the expectancy in our pursuit will not leave us disappointed. It is the desire of the Heavenly Father to unveil Himself to us, and allow all that He speaks of in His Word regarding Himself and us to be tangible truths for us to experience as reality. Challenge Him in this if you doubt, because He responds to our wholehearted desire for Him. He is worthy of such a pursuit!
So during this Passion Week, let us reflect on how our pursuit for the Lord may have become dry, diluted, or unbelieving. Let us make a fresh commitment to seek the Lord with eager expectancy, because the Lord is a great rewarder to those who diligently seek Him!
Prayer: Dear Father, you are worthy of all of me! You are my Father and I am your offspring. I have nothing worthwhile apart from you. I pray that you will breathe Your Spirit afresh on me. I want to be excited about all that has to do with You, and love You first with all of my heart. I want to experience Your Truths in my life. Thank you! Amen.
Lunch Break Study
Read Isaiah 55:6-7: Seek the Lord while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near.
Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, and He will have mercy on him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.
Questions to consider
- How does it look to you personally to pursue God wholeheartedly?
- Are there any disappointments you have that keeps you from believing to receive from God?
- What is one truth in God’s Word that you want to press in to experience more of or to experience as reality?
Notes
- The greater measure to which we set our hearts to know the Lord is the measure to which we will find Him. It’s important not to be dismayed, but His mercies are new everyday, and we can have a fresh pursuit each day, one day at a time.
- Unaddressed disappointments can root unbelief. It should not be left to fester but should address it by recognizing, taking responsibility for agreeing with lies, repenting for it, and removing the lies.
- Some examples of such truths may be that God is a healer, that God is generous, that the same power that raised Christ from the dead is in us, etc.
Bible Reading for today: Galatians 1
Evening Reflection
We started the day thinking about how we should have a wholehearted, expectant pursuit of God with our lives. In light of this reflection, did you find yourself seeking the Lord more?
I imagine that it was a bright, sunny, and glorious day. One of those picture perfect days when Jesus was mounted upon a donkey, riding into Jerusalem with a massive crowd exalting Him. Yet it would be this very week that He would be betrayed by the same people and face an agonizing crucifixion. The King of Kings entered into His fate and purpose for which He came into the world with great meekness and mercy. His entering into the world also was of the same manner: born to ordinary citizens in a place unfamiliar to the glamorous and powerful. Yet as Jesus enters into Jerusalem, the crowd rejoices greatly, with an unrestrainable acknowledgment of His majesty. It was as Prophet Zechariah spoke: “… Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation, lowly and riding on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey.”
Are you a young parent? Let me share a tip on how to have a great family time—without spending hardly anything. Not interested? Oh, money is not the issue? Okay, I get it, but don’t you know by now that money cannot buy happiness, and costly family vacations do not guarantee pleasant memories? Well, let me share a lesson I learned as a young father 18 years ago, when my kids were nine, six, and three years old—at the time were living in Southern California.
Trevor Hoffman, who played in the Major League Baseball for 18 years, mostly with San Diego Padres, was an incredible relief pitcher who saved more than 600 games! In 1998, Hoffman was at his best as his success ratio of saving games was nearly perfect—98 percent. So it was long over-due that Hoffman was finally elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame this year. Ironically, it was that year—the 1998 World Series—that the whole world witnessed his imperfection. Pitching to a Yankee player named Scott Brosius, who hit about .200 that year (very pathetic), Hoffman gave up a home run that won the game for the Yankees.
Gloucester, Massachusetts was historically known for being an important shipbuilding center. More than 100,000 Gloucestermen died at sea due to severe storms from 1663-1923. In 1925, the town designed and built a sculpture famously known as the Man at the Wheel. On a small plaque it reads, “Memorial To The Gloucester Fisherman, August 23, 1923.” On the front plaque there is an inscription taken from Psalm 107:23: “They that go down to the sea in ships”. In 2000, there was a movie titled The Perfect Storm that was based on a true story dedicated to the Gloucestermen lost at sea.
The AMI QT Devotionals for March 22-23 are provided by Pastor David Yoon. David, a graduate of California Baptist University and Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary (M.Div.), is serving at Tapestry LA Church as the college pastor.
I accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior at a summer youth retreat in seventh grade. I still remember the tent that was used as the chapel, and where I was standing when I first experienced God’s overwhelming love and grace. During praise and response, I would lift my hands up to worship God; and at times, I would get on my knees to pray as my eyes filled with tears—my heart was filled with the Holy Spirit. Looking back, this was when my love relationship with God began and a spiritual marker in my life.
If I came to you and claimed I can throw a baseball over 150 mph, you might say, “Nice try, but that’s not funny.” If I can back to you the next day and made the same claim, you might think, there is something seriously wrong with me. If I followed up next day with the same statement without a hint of humor, you will have to conclude I am flat out lying, or there is something mentally wrong with me, or quite unlikely, I might be the god of baseball. 
The AMI QT Devotionals from March 20-21 are provided by Pastor Charles Choe of Tapestry Church, Los Angeles. Charles, a graduate of UC Riverside and Fuller Theological Seminary (M.Div.), is married to Grace, and they have three children: Chloe, Noah, and Camden.
In my youth I was totally confused. I was a tall skinny kid, a wanna be athlete, trying so hard to fit in with the cool kids, even going through a phase of wearing Cavarccis to look like MC Hammer for a while, and then finally, feeling somewhat comfortable with the a more preppy look. In other words, I was totally insecure about what others thought of me and without much sense of my place in the world. Then I met Christ, and there is where I found myself. I realized in Him I was first and foremost a child, the beloved son, of the King.
There used to be a TV show on the Discovery Channel called Dirty Jobs. The title gives the basic premise of the show: the host would go around the country and join actual workers for a day, doing their “dirty jobs” that were uncomfortable, hazardous, disgusting and sometimes all of the above. Some of the examples of the dirty jobs that he did were sewer inspector, pig farming, mosquito control officer, and diaper cleaner. None of these jobs are at all appealing, but they are all necessary because someone has to do them.
The senior pastor of a church died and proceeded on to heaven. At the pearly gates, the pastor’s guardian angel met him to escort him to his heavenly abode—otherwise known as a place prepared for us by Christ (Jn. 14:1-3). Along the way, the pastor spotted the church janitor who had died a few months earlier. The pastor marveled at the grandeur of the janitor’s mansion and thought, “Wow, if his heavenly home looks like that, then surely mine must be bigger and more splendid!”