Have you ever gone on a God Hunt? A God Hunt begins when you teach yourself to look for God’s hand at work in the everyday occurrences of your life. Here’s one of my personal God Hunt Sightings:
It occurs to me that many people may not know how to conduct a basic Scripture survey search. This has been one of the most fruitful ways of looking into what the Bible says about any topic I employ.
Basically, I take a good concordance (which lists verses using a topical index approach) and write down, then look up, every reference on that topic that I find.
So for this week of blogs dedicated to developing the capacity of being a person of gratefulness (as opposed to being a wretched ingrate), I suggest you do the same. Take one page in a notebook (you don’t want to lose this work; I refer time and again to the reference studies I’ve conducted), and begin to write down the verses in the Old and New Testament that the concordance has organized topically.
This may take you awhile, so don’t try to do it in one sitting. Make it a month-or-so enterprise. Then savor the verses that you look up and write down. Memorize a few. In my husband’s huge concordance, borrowed from his ministerial library, I discover the first reference to the word “thank” (or thanked, thankful, thankfulness, thanking, thanks or thanksgiving) is in Leviticus 7:12, and it refers to one of the Old Testament thanks offerings. I notice that the first reference to the word “thanks” is in 1 Chronicles 16:4, “to give thanks, and to praise the Lord.”
This is going to be a fruitful and empowering study. Maybe I’ll schedule this study for the next few months, perhaps months and months—or as long as it takes.
If an attitude of appreciation is a healing factor for mind and body, I (we, if you study with me) should be in for days and days ahead of heightened well-being. So be happy, be healthy. Give thanks.
I spy God!
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Award-winning author Karen Mains has long had an interest in spiritual formation and the obedient Christian walk. She has written about the God Hunt in her book by the same name, The God Hunt: The Delightful Chase and the Wonder of Being Found. A hardback copy can be ordered from Mainstay Ministries for $10.00 plus $4.95 shipping and handling. Contact Karen at info@mainstayministries.org and she will be happy to autograph a copy for you.
Karen continues to write content for her Christian blog, “Thoughts-by-Karen-Mains.” In so doing, she desires to touch the lives of Christian women and men and help them find ways to walk closer with the Lord Jesus Christ. In addition, through silent retreats, spiritual teaching, women’s retreats, Christian vacation opportunities, and other ministry activities, Karen helps each Christian woman and man receive vital spiritual food.
Through her Hungry Souls ministry, Karen serves as a spiritual coach to many Christian women and men, and teaches a mentor-writing class. And, through the Global Bag Project, she is working to develop a network of African women who sew exquisite cloth reusable shopping bags, Africa bags. This micro-finance women opportunity helps provide a much-needed sustainable income for struggling African families. For more information on this critically important project, please click here.
For decades, Karen and her husband, David, have served God through religious communications—radio, television, and print publication. They are the co-authors of the Kingdom Tales Trilogy: Tales of the Kingdom, Tales of the Resistance, and Tales of the Restoration. To find many valuable resources for pastors and congregations at the Mainstay Ministries main website, please click here.
Likewise, pastors will find special resources to help them prepare effective, life-transforming Sunday sermons by visiting David Mains’ website by clicking here.
