Seeking the Life in Christ

Wednesday, June 10, 2026

The Sound of a Gentle Whisper

Meditations on

Staying in the Grace for Today

June 10, 2026

The Sound of a Gentle Whisper

“And after the earthquake there was a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire there was the sound of a gentle whisper.”

1 Kings 19:12

The Prophet Elijah had journeyed to Mount Sinai, the mountain of God, to escape his enemies. Then the Lord called out to Elijah, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” Elijah replied, “I have zealously served the Lord God Almighty. But the people of Israel have broken their covenant with you, torn down your altars, and killed every one of your prophets. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me, too.” (1 Kings 19:9b-10). The Lord’s response to Elijah is fascinating. God told Elijah to come out of his cave, and as Elijah stood there, the Lord passed by. A mighty windstorm hit the mountain, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake there was a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire, there was the sound of a gentle whisper, and the Lord was in the gentle whisper. (I Kings 19:11-12)

The Lord then asked Elijah, a second time, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” Elijah gave the Lord the very same reply. And the Lord said, “Go back the same way you came” (1 Kings 19:15).

I believe there is a tendency among people to expect to encounter God in powerful worship services where the choir or praise team are good, the congregational singing robust and full of joy, and the sermon outstanding. Maybe so. But I wonder if God’s message to us through Elijah is that before we can experience the presence of God through power, we first need to experience the presence of the Lord in His gentle whisper. I believe Abba wants us to hear His voice as we sit in a Board meeting, as we visit with a friend, or even as we walk the aisles of a grocery store. There are things God wants us to notice, people He wants us to touch, and truths He wants us to proclaim. Regrettably, the noise of life drowns out the voice of God far too often.

My Takeaway: It has been my experience in life that my hearing Abba’s gentle whisper is directly proportional to the amount of time I spend quietly listening for God in Scripture.

Sē’lah

My book on prayer,

First Think, Then Pray

is now available on Amazon Kindle.

(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life. The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Tuesday, June 9, 2026

Resting in His Smile

Meditations on

Staying in the Grace for Today

June 9, 2026

Resting in His Smile

“Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.””

Matthew 11:28-30

One of the most precious fruits of the life in Christ is resting in God’s smile of affection. God is quite fond of us and when He thinks of us, God smiles. One of Abba’s greatest hopes and dreams for us, His beloved children, is that we would learn to rest in our own smile of affection for our life. This is why Bernard of Clairvaux could teach that the highest level of love is when we love ourselves for God’s sake.

All of Scripture reinforces God’s love and affection for us. Thus, God is modeling for us how we are to love ourselves. Psalm 56 is a great illustration of God’s love for us. The psalmist is trusting in the wisdom and power of God to be sufficient to help him. He is also affirming the very personal relationship he has with his God of mercy, power and love; he is resting in the sure knowledge that he is God’s child.

Take a few minutes to contemplate these verses from Psalm 56.

You keep track of all my sorrows.

You have collected all my tears in your bottle.

You have recorded each one in your book.

This I know: God is on my side!

For you have rescued me from death;

you have kept my feet from slipping.

So now I can walk in your presence, O God,

in your life-giving light.

Psalm 56: 8, 9b, 13

This furious longing of Abba for me keeps track of my sorrows, collects my tears in His bottle, is on my side and has rescued me from death. God’s love for me keeps my feet from slipping so I can walk with Him in His light. He will personally go ahead of me and will be with me. He will neither fail me nor abandon me.

My Takeaway: Jesus adds, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.” Receive this love from Jesus and learn to rest in his smile of affection for you. As you do, you will learn to gaze at yourself in a mirror and rest in your smile of affection for your life in Christ.

Sē’lah

My book on prayer,

First Think, Then Pray

is now available on Amazon Kindle.

(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

Monday, June 8, 2026

My Cup Overflows with Blessings

Meditations on

Staying in the Grace for Today

June 8, 2026

My Cup Overflows with Blessings

“I lift my eyes to you,

O God, enthroned in heaven.”

Psalm 123:1

Imagine as you turn the corner someone is quickly approaching you. He is actively chatting on his cell phone while carrying a Starbucks cup, without a lid, in his other hand. You almost collide as he swerves to miss a bad spot in the sidewalk, and predictably his coffee spills onto him, you and the sidewalk. Why did he spill the coffee? Because coffee was in the cup!

The same principle applies to our inner lives. When we are interrupted, when we are confronted with startling news, when we feel we have been slighted, not noticed or appreciated, whenever our lives swerve, we are prone to spill whatever is in our inner cup. Our unresolved anger or our unresolved damaged emotions are bound to spill as soon as we experience life interrupted.

Just as the cure for our sin and our susceptibility toward spiritual laziness and moral laxity is God’s grace, so also the resolution for our anger and the healing for our damaged emotions is God’s grace. Answer this simple question: “Who am I?” God’s transforming grace is leading us to the sacred place where we can respond from the very depths of our being, “I am the beloved child of God.” When we know that, not just think it, or hope it is true, but when we know from the very core of our being that we belong to God, our lives are transformed. When we believe we are loved, esteemed, and adored by our Heavenly Father, our lives will overflow with God’s goodness. This is why the psalmist could write, “My cup overflows with blessings” (Psalm 23:5c). What do you suppose spilled from his cup when he swerved in life?

My Takeaway: How do we get from here to there? The Apostle Paul tells us, “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think” (Romans 12:2). We move from our old life to our new life, which is hidden with Christ in God, by following the counsel of the psalmist: “I lift my eyes to you, O God, enthroned in heaven.” Spend time, every day, with God and allow him to affirm the truth that you are His beloved child, His heir, a joint heir with Jesus. Give God the time He needs to resolve your anger, heal your emotions and fill your cup with His blessings.

Sē’lah

My book on prayer,

First Think, Then Pray

is now available on Amazon Kindle.

(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

Friday, June 5, 2026

God’s Faith Working in You

Meditations on

Staying in the Grace for Today

June 5, 2026

God’s Faith Working in You

“Look at the proud! They trust in themselves, and their lives are crooked. But the righteous will live by their faithfulness to God.”

Habakkuk 2:4

God loves us as we are, not as we should be. God’s love for us, as we are, will transform us so that we can love ourselves as we are, not as we should be. God’s love for us, as we are, will transform us so that we can love others as they are, not as they should be. That’s the theological theory of the Gospel of Grace.

Because of the sinister nature of sin, the great danger to grace is the attitude of those who told the Apostle Paul that we should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more of his wonderful grace. (Romans 6:1) That temptation is very real, which is why Paul devoted the entire chapter six of Romans to show us an alternative way to live, which is the life in Christ.

The proud person, who trusts in themself, will develop strategies, disciplines and programs all aimed at trying to redeem the flesh that is so prone to spiritual laziness and moral laxity. Alas, the flesh isn’t redeemable, which is why Paul turned to the only solution: “My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me” (Galatians 2:20a). Paul used this same imagery in Romans, “We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin. For when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin” (Romans 6:6-7).

When we embrace the pure grace of God, our adversary will tempt us toward spiritual laziness and moral laxity knowing that our tendency will be towards rules and laws to discipline our flesh. If we have a measure of success, we become prideful because we have trust in ourselves. If we lack success in self-discipline, we may become discouraged and lose hope. This is why Paul so powerfully proclaimed that the cure for our sin is God’s grace, and the cure for our susceptibility toward spiritual laziness and moral laxity is God’s grace.

My Takeaway: The Greek translation of Habakkuk 2:4 renders it, “But the righteous person will live by my faith.” (Emphasis mine) Paul made a similar observation: “For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him” (Philippians 2:13). Do you see it? God’s faith is working in you; the Gospel of grace is transforming you!

Sē’lah

My book on prayer,

First Think, Then Pray

is now available on Amazon Kindle.

(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

Thursday, June 4, 2026

I Need Saving

Meditations on

Staying in the Grace for Today

June 4, 2026

I Need Saving

“We are all infected and impure with sin. When we display our righteous deeds, they are nothing but filthy rags. Like autumn leaves, we wither and fall, and our sins sweep us away like the wind.”

Isaiah 64:6

One of the most daunting sentences in the Bible is Jesus’ words to the church in Ephesus, “If you don’t repent, I will come and remove your lampstand from its place among the churches” (Revelation 2:5b). When I served as a pastor, I kept a lamp burning in the chancel area to remind the congregation that as the Lord gives, the Lord can take away. In the case of Ephesus, the church didn’t love Jesus or each other as they did at first. Much like the church at Laodicea, they had become like lukewarm water, neither hot nor cold, and Jesus was prepared to spit them out of his mouth! The poor Laodiceans said, ‘I am rich. I have everything I want. I don’t need anything!’ And Jesus said, “You don’t realize that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked” (Revelation 3:15-17).

One of the greatest temptations facing the followers of Jesus is to delude ourselves into thinking that it is the other guy who needs saving; it is the other person who needs spiritual maturity; it is others who need self-discipline. One of the signs we are yielding to this temptation is in our disagreements over little things. Novelist Anthony Trollope wrote, “. . . the apostle of Christianity and the infidel can meet without a chance of a quarrel; but it is never safe to bring together two men who differ about a saint or a surplice.”

Evangelist Peter Lord loved to tease Christians by giving them a True / False quiz. The first question was, “A good description of a Christian is a sinner saved by grace.” Most reply True, but it really is a trick question. Yes, a definition of a Christian is a sinner saved by grace. However, Peter Lord said that’s not a good description. Becoming a Christian is becoming a new person. A Christian is a child of God, a joint heir with Christ. I don’t disagree with Peter Lord’s point, but I think we need never lose sight of the fact that both answers are correct. That’s the point Isaiah was trying to teach Israel, and it is the same point Jesus was trying to teach to the Ephesians and Laodiceans.

My Takeaway: Jesus wants me to embrace this truth every day. It is not the other guy who needs saving; it is me. Apart from Christ, I am the one who is wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked.

Sē’lah

My book on prayer,

First Think, Then Pray

is now available on Amazon Kindle.

(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

Wednesday, June 3, 2026

Sing a New Song

Meditations on

Staying in the Grace for Today

June 3, 2026

Sing a New Song

Sing a new song of praise to him;

play skillfully on the harp, and sing with joy.

Psalm 33:3

Please take a piece of paper and make two lists in parallel columns. First, take a few moments to remember the events and happenings in your life over the last few weeks. Now in the column on the left list the things that saddened you. Then in the column on your right, list the things that gladdened you. When you finish this little exercise come back and continue reading.

As you review the list of events or happenings that gladdened your heart, does your list include the joy of being able to pray, “Abba, I belong to you”? Does your list include the joy of being able to worship and study with a community of faith? Perhaps your list includes the time you spent alone with God and your Bible. Does your list include opportunities you had to serve God in a caring, compassionate ministry, or just being a kind and compassionate friend?

As you review the list of the things that saddened you, does your list include your concern that you don’t make enough quality time for prayer and devotional reading? Were there times of spiritual laziness and moral laxity that are grieving you? Jesus’ last commandment was for his followers to love others as he loved them. Were you saddened over your lack of fidelity to this command of Jesus?

My Takeaway: First, the only way I can process my responses to this exercise is to remember, “So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). If you are like me, you may not be all that pleased with yourself after this exercise and you may question your spiritual maturity. Even so, we can sing a new song of praise to our Abba, and we can sing with joy because first, last and always, we can affirm the truth of scripture: I am a child of the Most High God and the Most High God is for me!

Sē’lah

My book on prayer,

First Think, Then Pray

is now available on Amazon Kindle.

(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

Tuesday, June 2, 2026

Redeemed for Compassion

Meditations on

Staying in the Grace for Today

June 2, 2026

Redeemed for Compassion

But Christ has rescued us from the curse pronounced by the law. When he was hung on the cross, he took upon himself the curse for our wrongdoing. For it is written in the Scriptures, “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.” (Deut. 21:23 Greek version)

Galatians 3:13

How much of our wrongdoing was included in the death of Jesus on the cross? How much of the wrongdoing of the entire world was included in the death of Jesus on the cross? Is there any sin, any wrongdoing, any deviant behavior, any monstrosity, any crime or brutality, any act of oppression that is not included in the death of Jesus on the cross?

The clear and unambiguous teaching of Scripture answers those three questions with a resounding NO! The death of Jesus on the cross redeemed all humanity from the penalty for all our sins against God. The compassion of Jesus to bear our transgressions is more than my finite mind can comprehend. I am surprised that the Gospels only used the word compassion eight times in describing Jesus’ response to human need. For me, I am not sure there is a better word to describe what was in the heart of God in Christ as he took upon himself the curse for my sins.

Merriam-Webster says compassion is a feeling of wanting to help someone who is sick, hungry or in trouble. Wikipedia says compassion is the feeling of empathy for others. Compassion is the emotion that we feel in response to the suffering of others that motivates a desire to help. That pretty much sums up Jesus’ motivation to go to the cross for us, his response to the suffering of humanity. Jesus’ compassion for me saved me!

My Takeaway: I sense God calling me to spend more time contemplating His compassion for me. Why? I believe it is God’s compassion for me which motivates Him to reach out to me repeatedly. As the Father draws me into His compassionate heart, He engenders compassion within me: “As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience” (Colossians 3:12 NRSV).

Sē’lah

My book on prayer,

First Think, Then Pray

is now available on Amazon Kindle.

(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

Wednesday, June 10, 2026

The Sound of a Gentle Whisper

Tuesday, June 9, 2026

Resting in His Smile

Monday, June 8, 2026

My Cup Overflows with Blessings

Friday, June 5, 2026

God’s Faith Working in You

Thursday, June 4, 2026

I Need Saving

Wednesday, June 3, 2026

Sing a New Song

Tuesday, June 2, 2026

Redeemed for Compassion

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