Seek God

Seek God

How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word. With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments! PSALM 119:9–10

Recently I read a book by Pastor Joe Thorn called NOTE TO SELF – THE DISCIPLINE OF PREACHING TO YOURSELF.

It is a powerful book on helping us understand the importance of and how to preach the gospel to yourself. It is a series of notes to self, covering a variety of topics related to victorious Christian living.

We seek after so many things in life. Your list is probably different than mine, but at the heart of it, they are very similar if we are seeking after things or stuff apart from seeking after the only ONE who can give us true fulfillment in our heart of hearts.

Most of us do battle in our lives with ups and downs. For some it seems that there are more downs than ups. Could it be that we are seeking after the wrong things instead of the RIGHT ONE? Listen to the words of Pastor Joe:

Dear Self,

You tend to forget that seeking God is not only a quest for the lost, but it is also to characterize the life of the found. The whole of your life should be seen as a seeking for God. This is not, of course, seeking for that which you do not know or have. God has found you, bought you, and owns you. You have been adopted, and nothing can separate you from the love of God in Jesus. Yet your need to seek God never ends. 

Seeking God means that you are continually aiming and working at knowing him more deeply, depending on him more thoroughly, and experiencing his grace more richly.

The psalmist says that his desire is to remain “pure.” He wants to live uprightly and to honor God. He knows that this means he must guard his life according to God’s Word, but he also recognizes that this is not just an act of willpower. It is the hope of God’s sustaining grace that he finds as he seeks God.

 It is unfortunate that you forget your need to seek God, for though you are right that God is enough, you forget that he is only found to be enough by those who seek him. Seeking God means that in all you do, you keep his honor in your mind, his Word in your heart, and his glory as your goal—so you are seeking to actually know him and make him known.

Thorn, Joe (2011-04-05). Note to Self: The Discipline of Preaching to Yourself (Re:Lit) (pp. 58-59). Good News Publishers/Crossway Books. Kindle Edition.

Good for stuff for you and I to think about as we preach the gospel to ourselves. Are we seeking God today? – Bill Welte is President and CEO of America’s Keswick

Team YOU: 2 Kings 1-3; Proverbs 7; Luke 24:1-35

Motivations: It is one of the terrible marks of the diseased state of Christian life in these days, that there are so many who rest content without the distinct experience of answer to prayer. They pray daily, they ask many things, and trust that some of them will be heard, but know little of direct definite answer to prayer as the rule of daily life. And it is this the Father wills: He seeks daily dialogue with His children in listening to and granting their petitions. Andrew Murray

Practice to Remember: Level 1:Ephesians 6:12; Level 2: Ephesians 6:1-13

Powered Up:  How good is God to deny us mercies in mercy! William Jenkyn