Seeking God with all your Heart
From the Pastor’s heart
Deu 4:29 But if from thence thou shalt seek the LORD thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul.
The preposition “if” in the verse denotes a condition of the heart of man. Not everyone is seeking God because they are busy with other pursuits in life. Therefore, seeking God first is a choice which must be a pursuit of the heart and soul. Furthermore, some have sought God in a lazy manner. Half hearted pursuits of God have ended in frustration and discouragement for many.
On the other hand, some have not sought God but found Him. This seems unfair in the light of a condition placed on us in finding Him, which is, to seek Him to find Him. Why should some not seek but find? I think they were seeking God but were waiting to be found of Him because they found themselves in desperate trouble in the process of seeking Him. They had taken twisted journeys that were actually leading them to God but they did not know it. Their search took them into drugs and alcohol and weird places before they found Him. They were seeking Him but ended up seeking Him in the wrong places. They eventually found Him in their hearts after they were found of Him. I was one of those people. I also believe, God was seeking them more than they seeking God.
I know that I had an empty hole that just could not be filled. I knew about God but did not want to go to Him because I was steeped into the world with drugs and alcohol and actually running away from God. I knew that the moment I came to Him, my affair with the world was over. One part of me had decided that I was going to be in the world and another was crying out for salvation. God found me in the gutters of my mind and life and saved me. It was dramatic to say the least but I found Him or rather was found of Him. Jesus had to come into hell to pull me out and save me. I knew then that I had been saved from being a sinner long before I was saved from drugs, alcohol and a wayward life. Suddenly, life made sense to me and I knew that I knew I had been saved from a terrible eternal death. That is why I do not care what anybody thinks about my faith in God which I will boldly share as required. Furthermore, I will shout my faith and His gospel from the roof tops and to anyone who cares to listen.
After coming to Christ, God should remain an earnest pursuit of our hearts. Many find that after a honeymoon period with Jesus they fade in their interest in God. He becomes too hard to follow as more and more realisation hits the individual about the commitment involved in finding Him. Life becomes busy again and hearing is dulled through un-exercised senses. Worst of all, the attacks and lies of the enemy take the focus away from seeking God for who He is. He then becomes a God to seek only for His blessings. Those who do pursue Him for who He is discover incredible mysteries that unfold for them. Apostle Paul was taken to the third heaven as he singularly focussed on God. 2Co 12:2I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) such an one caught up to the third heaven.
His pursuit of God was not just to fulfil his ministry on earth but his quest was to know Him. Php 3:10 That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;
This knowing has to do with intimacy. Why do we pursue a love affair when we are single and want to be married? We do that because we seek intimacy and permanency of relationship. In Christ our permanency is made whole when we accept Him but intimacy escapes us. We find that similarity in marriage as well. At first we are excited about the relationship but after that there are problems in maintaining that relationship because intimacy is not maintained. Likewise, in Christ, the pursuit of God is difficult because we do not maintain that relationship through giving into worldly and personal pressures. If we are singularly focussed, we will find that the pursuit of God has so much to offer in the way of wanting more of Him and less of the world. It becomes intimacy in heavenly ecstasy.
Further to seeking Him, we are trying to find Him because we need Him. He must be found or else seeking becomes endless and fruitless. I know many who continually seek Him but never find Him. Without finding God, it is impossible to come to that place of rest and assurance. This effort to find Him must be made on all levels of faith continually through life as it is always changing and challenging. He is the only saving grace in an evil world that has nothing to offer but doom and gloom and a bad end in death. When we find God, we realise, He is life and more than that, He is life that unfolds for eternity. That has to be worth something to us who are mere mortals, whose end is a physical and spiritual death after spending a few years on earth unless we know God.
In pursuing God, we must also realise that God is a triune God and so, there is more to seeking, knowing and finding Him. He is the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit in one. This means, we should pursue God in all three representations of Himself. We still find the one and the same God but experience Him in so many different ways. Before and after I came to know Christ, I discovered the Father but formalised my relationship through Jesus. Then, as time went by, I discovered the Holy Spirit and found God again. This time, in ways I could not even fathom was possible. Each pursuit of God is important and is done through exercising precise disciplines. You cannot know the Father except through Jesus and vice versa. Mat_11:27All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will.
Likewise, no man can know the Holy Spirit unless Christ sends Him to them. The Holy Spirit has to be given and received after accepting Christ and repentance of sins. Act 2:38Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
Once the triune God lives in you, the pursuit becomes one of knowing Christ and through Christ the Father and the Holy Spirit. The Lord is that Spirit that teaches us. He takes us into the realms of understanding through His word which the Holy Spirit illuminates. That teaching brings into focus Jesus as Lord and the presence and power of the Holy Spirit amongst us. All this knowledge and experience leads us to the Father. Wow! This means, we have much to discover and learn even into eternity. Do not allow your shallow mind to rest on worldly knowledge and ways of worldly gain. True gain is about spiritual understanding that takes you out of this world and into the dimension that engage heavenly things. When you realise that God wants to create in you a habitation for Himself, you will get your house in order. This process of purging your vessel brings you into the understanding of His likes and dislikes. That too serves as knowing Him. When you seek a bride and find her, you will do all that you can to make her abode a pleasant one because then your house and life is at peace and joy breaks out. Life becomes a delight and the further pursuit of each other becomes a pleasure. However, if you do not understand the likes and dislikes of your spouse, you are unlikely to succeed in bringing about harmony in your relationship.
Seeking Him is for the purpose of finding Him. After finding Him, you may discover that He is not what you thought He was to you. You may find a very different person who deals with you very differently. Many trials and tribulations follow your pursuit of God because He is to be found in diverse and difficult places, even in evil places. Why does He go there and expect you to follow Him there? The reason is, His wisdom. Yet, when you do pursue Him into these places, you will find a world that you never thought existed that you now know about. The worlds were created by God and we are yet to discover much of it. The truth is, God is inexhaustible. The angels in heaven are still discovering Him after so many years have passed. He is past finding out and yet can be found. Rom 11:33O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!
I am always amazed at the difference between darkness and light. It seems darkness is endless but it has an end. Job_28:3He setteth an end to darkness, and searcheth out all perfection: the stones of darkness, and the shadow of death. I was amazed to find this verse as it brought such revelation to me about God as Light. Scientists have not discovered The Light. They have discovered aspects of darkness and have found it to be endless. This alone boggles their mind because they have not found God who created the darkness. The Voyager is still journeying through interstellar darkness and sees no end in sight. Yet, God has put an end to darkness. I believe, He did that in His Son Jesus when He revealed Himself through Him to us. We are no longer in darkness because we have come into the light. Now we know that there is a God who loves us and cares for us and is able to do all that He says He can. There is hope now and beyond hope is assurance of a life after death in Him. Let us discover our God by humbling ourselves to seek.
Lots of love
Pastor Noble
13/08/17