Sorry it’s been so long since my last post guys. There has been a lot going on in my life lately. I recently lost my job that I have had for the past three and a half years and have started a new job that is fresh and a new thing for me, something I haven’t done before but at the same time I am very familiar with. It is amazing how much that God takes care of us when our focus is on him and not on the things of the world. Well, we have been looking in Jeremiah these last two posts first in 29:11 and in 29:12 and now we are going to end our three verse study with 29:13.
“You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”
Does a child quit searching for their father after they are lost only for a little while? Do they only look with a half hearted attitude or do they seek for their Daddy with all their heart, trying to find their way back to his love and embrace? Our Daddy longs to be sought after. But not just this bland pray life that the most of us call communion and two seconds into the word everyday. Do we read one scripture a day and then just put it away or do we read it over and over, write it down, meditate on it, journal it and wait to hear from our father. Are we preparing our hearts to talk to our creator or are we coming before his just plain and average not dealing with things that are inside of us that are keeping us from bringing the veil back completely, not just a little crack.
Seriously, do we want only a quarter of God or do we want the whole thing, everything he has to offer us. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all of your heart. All means all, it covers every single inch and fraction of what is described. All literally means all. Not half way, not kinda sorta but all. So when God says you will seek me and find me when you seek me with ALL your heart, he is not talking about sitting through an hour and a half church service and expecting to get the full benefits of seeking. It’s not the pastors job to bring you closer to God. It is the pastors job to give you knowledge and maybe a little different perspective on certain things.
It’s like food, you can’t go out to eat all the time, sometimes you have to stay home and cook for yourself. If you continually depend on other people for sustaining your faith and giving you words of knowledge you will wither and die spiritually and never hear from the Lord yourself. You can’t just depend on another person to help you grow in the Lord that’s not how it works. Its not healthy, its like going to McDonalds or Taco Bell for every meal, every single day, seven days a week. You will get sick.
Everyone of us is responsible for our own personal relationship and growth in God, and when you keep reading, keep praying, keep seeking, keep meditating; you will then therefore have an intimacy unlike anything you have had in your life. Now at the same time you can’t just say, “Oh so I don’t have to go to church, all I have to do is stay home and seek the Lord on my own time and terms.” I don’t think so buddy. The church is your family, we are all the body of Christ and even though we are responsible for our own individual growth and walk we still need other parts of our family to keep us accountable before God and to have healthy relationships with. You can’t just lock yourself away in your house away from society and say, “Oh I don’t need anyone but myself. I don’t need the Church.”
A lot of people think that they have been hurt by the church or people of the church but really the person who hurt them was themselves. They aren’t able to get rid of certain lifestyles and attitudes and when other Christians do certain things or say something that they don’t agree with they are so deceived and bitter that they will view it as a hurtful attack on them as a person.
“Oh the pastor doesn’t look at me when he’s preaching, he must hate me. Oh these people are hurting my feelings because they never ask me to do anything with them.”
Well maybe if you would get up off your couch every once in awhile and take some initiative and go out for yourself and say “Hey can I do this with you?” or “Hey do you want to do this?” Quit whining and taking everything so seriously. Get out and do something. Get over yourself and thinking its all about you because it isn’t. It’s about the kingdom and what you can do to help further the name of Jesus to the masses. When you finally do that, when you finally get over yourself and get over your bitter, gossiping and backstabbing attitude something inside of you will break off and you will have a hunger for God unlike anything else you have ever had before.
Paul killed Christians, he was offended by them and sought them out one by one. Until one day Jesus showed up, kicked him off his donkey and said, “Surprise it’s me! I’m the real deal! People have been talking about me for thousands of years, they said I would show up, they said I would crush the devils head, they said I would heal the sick, they said I would die and raise again, they said I would come! I did and I died and now I am alive and in heaven with my father. Seek me, and find me, get to know me.” Paul was blinded of course but what does it say he did for three days? He prayed and didn’t eat or drink anything for three days! Three days! Now that is some serious seeking and you know what? God showed up.
Sometimes God has to humble us and push us off our feet so that we take him seriously and try to find him. We cannot come to Jesus with our regular human everyday life mindset and expect to find him on a one on one personal basis. It is impossible to find God on our own ego and willpower. That’s why we have so many pastors going to the internet for sermons. Pastors actually go on the internet and get sermons because they have become so wrapped up in the affairs of men that they don’t have that quality one on one seeking time with the Lord. Either that or it’s the same sermon week, after week with the same points and no life inside of it.
Now its not every pastor of course but seriously their shouldn’t even be sermons on the internet in the first place. Anyone can get them and say “Oh I had a word from God, hear me roar!” No, we need to get back to the basics and seek after the Lord with all our heart so we can find him. Because only then will we know his heart. We can’t expect to continue in the cookie cutter society of church with same two hour service every week, sing a couple of songs, hear a couple of words and go home happy. No that’s not what Christianity is about in fact that is the most boring Christianity I can think of. I did that for years and years because I didn’t know any better, well I did, but I could never get past my human barriers enough for my heart to be right so I could fully seek him with all my heart and find him waiting for me in the secret place.
Nothing compares to one on one time with God. Find a scripture, focus on that one scripture, write it down on paper and read it and write what comes to you and keep writing and writing until you have nothing left to write and watch as God speaks to you through your own pen. The heart is the center of everything, yet it is deceitful about all things. We must learn to know what is true hear and what is bad heart. True heart is keeping your heart above your head, instead of letting your head control your heart. The key to controlling your heart comes from keeping your mind in check.
Make sure your decisions are heart driven and not flesh driven. You can’t say I have a heart for reaching the sex industry when you have a problem with lust. It just doesn’t work that way that’s like throwing yourself into a pit of snakes. Yuck snakes. Learn to keep your mind in check first of all just as Romans 12 says constant renewing of your mind and once your mind is renewed a new kind of heart will be taking place and God will reveal himself in new and interesting ways. He loves to play hide and seek. One day you might find him in song and worship, then one day through prayer and then one day through meditation in the word. He likes to keep it fresh and new and happening. God has his own style. It is always in trend. Ha ha!
Seek him on your face. Humble yourself, cry out, yell, scream, “Holy, Holy are you Lord. You are worthy to be praised. Here I am Lord, take this fragile human form and consume it with your presence. I long to be a different person, I don’t want to be this man anymore. I want to be a child of the most high, I want to claim my rights as an heir of the kingdom. You promised me all things through your son Jesus who lives in my heart. So please Lord, give me everything, reveal yourself to me oh Lord so that I can go out and pass on what you give me with boldness and courage. Renew my mind so I can have a clean heart free from my ego and pride. Thank you for your love and grace. Thank you Jesus. Here I am.”
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