Seek Him With Your Whole Heart

And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart. And I will be found of you, saith the LORD: and I will turn away your captivity.

Jeremiah 29:13-14

There’s a song sung by Hezekiah Walking entitled “99 and ½”… The lyrics go as follows, “Lord I'm running trying to make 100 because 99 and a half won't do…”The words sung in this song apply to our lives as Christians in that we must be totally under the authority of the living God… There are so many people who have been praying and seeking answers from the Lord; however the prayers have gone unanswered and the things that have been sought haven’t been found simply because their search didn’t involve all of their heart… We must come to the realization that we exist because Jesus sought our deliverance with His whole heart… So many of us are wondering why we can’t overcome, why we are in the same circumstances or why we have not advanced and the answer lies within you… You will never be promoted if you only show up to work once a week, you will never be trusted if you only tell the truth every blue moon and you will not be exalted by the Lord if you only serve Him Sunday mornings… Have you ever found yourself wondering why it seem that there are times in your life when God is not there? 

The Israelites pondered this very question while they were in captivity under the Babylonian kingdom… Jeremiah informs us today of the answer as to why we find ourselves in “hopeless” situations and feel as if our prayers have fallen on deaf ears…We feel at times as if God is not present not because He has abandoned us but because we have gone astray… The answer to the question of bondage, captivity and trials lie within you… The Lord is always present; however, the only way for you to feel His presences is when you are totally focused on His will… This passage says, “And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart…”God shines light on the strongholds that we have been oppressed by in the form of sin… We haven’t heard from the Lord because we haven’t sought Him wholeheartedly… You can unlock the door to your future; however, you must seek the keys with everything you have… Seeking the Lord isn’t enough, in order to find Him you must apply and surrender every part of you… Notice that is says and ye shall seek me and find me when… A lot o f us have sought God in times of trouble, we have sought God when our finances seemed inadequate and we have sought God when storms come raging at our doorstep… We, (just like the Israelites) have turned to the Lord as our last hope instead of focusing on Him and His will everyday of our lives… Seeking God isn’t limited to a need basis; one of the other reasons that we are unable to find God in our times of despair is because we don’t give Him honor when He has shown up and/or delivered us from the hand of the enemy… The Israelites are in captivity right now simply because they neglected God in all the blessings that He had already bestowed upon them… 

You should be seeking God in times of abundance and in times of scarcity, you should be focused on God in times of exaltation and when you are down… David said,“His praise shall continually be in my mouth…” We have to learn to seek God regardless of what is going on… The next step in seeking Him requires that we leave all our prayers at His throne… So often we seek God about things, but then begin to develop our own plan of attack or strategy to come out… This approach not only will create a bigger obstacle, but removes the seeking portion of your faith and damages your relationship with the Lord… God is waiting for you to turn to Him, He is waiting for you to have enough faith to stop trying things on your own and trust Him and His sovereignty… It is only in your struggles that your faith is shown; it is only when the weight of the storm is pressed upon you that you can see where you are as a true child of God… When things get a little hot and heavy, when things get a little dicey, when situations become a little uneasy, this is the time when God sees what you are made of and how much you truly trust Him… He says that “I will be found of you…” God will show up, you will find the answer you have searched for, but you must seek Him continually… Not only will God show up, not only will He hear your cry, not only will He be found when you have completely turned to Him, but the passage states at the end of the 14^th scripture that, “I will turn away your captivity…” God isn’t a God of incompletion… He will not do a half-service to your request… We must understand that, because He will not accept a half-service from us… Seek God (wholeheartedly, trust God, turn your life over to God) and He will show up and deliver on His promises…

ALL FOR HIS GLORY!