All week I have been hearing "Will you seek me will ALL your heart, mind and soul?"
I want to encourage us to be seekers! Throughout scripture seeking the Lord is best described as setting your mind and heart on God. We must be INTENTIONAL about setting our mind and heart on Christ. We must focus on him. When we seek God with all of our heart, mind and soul our responses will change, our relationships will change, our ministry will change, everything about us will change. WHY, because we are living a God focused life.
What happens when we seek God intentionally?
1- We find Him: Jeremiah 29:13 "You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart"
2- Our needs are supplied: Matt 6:33 "But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you."
3- We learn the goodness of the Lord: Psalms 40:16 "But may all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you; may those who love your salvation say continually, “Great is the Lord!”'
4- When seeking is added to repentance, forgiveness and healing takes place: 2 Chronicles 7:14 "If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land."
The enemy of our soul knows the power we will have if we really started seeking the Lord. The devil is always trying to distract us with the cares of this world. We must make a conscience decision to seek the Lord.
John Piper founder and teacher of desiringGod.org and chancellor of Bethlehem College & Seminary said "The heavens are telling the glory of God. So we can seek him through that. He reveals himself in his word. So we can seek him through that. He shows himself to us in the evidences of grace in other people. So we can seek him through that. The seeking is the conscious effort to get through the natural means to God himself — to constantly set our minds toward God in all our experiences, to direct our minds and hearts toward him through the means of his revelation. This is what seeking God means."
What is crowding your heart and mind right now? What has your attention? What controls your emotions? What controls the way you spend your finances and time? What is the driving force behind your daily decisions? Does God's opinion have any weight in our everyday lives? These are some of the many questions we all must ask ourselves. The answers to these questions are our measuring stick. The answers will help us to determine if we are seekers of God or not.
We must seek the Lord now while he can be found. The world has a lot of temporary pleasures that will attempt to momentarily satisfy us. The Lord is giving us an invitation to have pleasures forever more!
I encourage you to make a conscience decision to seek the Lord! Isaiah 55 reads: (NLT)
“Is anyone thirsty?
Come and drink—
even if you have no money!
Come, take your choice of wine or milk—
it’s all free!
2 Why spend your money on food that does not give you strength?
Why pay for food that does you no good?
Listen to me, and you will eat what is good.
You will enjoy the finest food.
3 “Come to me with your ears wide open.
Listen, and you will find life.
I will make an everlasting covenant with you.
I will give you all the unfailing love I promised to David.
4 See how I used him to display my power among the peoples.
I made him a leader among the nations.
5 You also will command nations you do not know,
and peoples unknown to you will come running to obey,
because I, the Lord your God,
the Holy One of Israel, have made you glorious.”
Listen, and you will find life.
I will make an everlasting covenant with you.
I will give you all the unfailing love I promised to David.
4 See how I used him to display my power among the peoples.
I made him a leader among the nations.
5 You also will command nations you do not know,
and peoples unknown to you will come running to obey,
because I, the Lord your God,
the Holy One of Israel, have made you glorious.”
6 Seek the Lord while you can find him.
Call on him now while he is near.
7 Let the wicked change their ways
and banish the very thought of doing wrong.
Let them turn to the Lord that he may have mercy on them.
Yes, turn to our God, for he will forgive generously.
Call on him now while he is near.
7 Let the wicked change their ways
and banish the very thought of doing wrong.
Let them turn to the Lord that he may have mercy on them.
Yes, turn to our God, for he will forgive generously.
8 “My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord.
“And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.
9 For just as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so my ways are higher than your ways
and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.
“And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.
9 For just as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so my ways are higher than your ways
and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.
10 “The rain and snow come down from the heavens
and stay on the ground to water the earth.
They cause the grain to grow,
producing seed for the farmer
and bread for the hungry.
11 It is the same with my word.
I send it out, and it always produces fruit.
It will accomplish all I want it to,
and it will prosper everywhere I send it.
12 You will live in joy and peace.
The mountains and hills will burst into song,
and the trees of the field will clap their hands!
13 Where once there were thorns, cypress trees will grow.
Where nettles grew, myrtles will sprout up.
These events will bring great honor to the Lord’s name;
they will be an everlasting sign of his power and love.”
and stay on the ground to water the earth.
They cause the grain to grow,
producing seed for the farmer
and bread for the hungry.
11 It is the same with my word.
I send it out, and it always produces fruit.
It will accomplish all I want it to,
and it will prosper everywhere I send it.
12 You will live in joy and peace.
The mountains and hills will burst into song,
and the trees of the field will clap their hands!
13 Where once there were thorns, cypress trees will grow.
Where nettles grew, myrtles will sprout up.
These events will bring great honor to the Lord’s name;
they will be an everlasting sign of his power and love.”
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