Are We Seeking Him?

As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:
There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.
They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips:Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness:Their feet are swift to shed blood:Destruction and misery are in their ways:And the way of peace have they not known:There is no fear of God before their eyes. Romans 3:10-18

God looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, that did seek God. Every one of them is gone back: they are altogether become filthy; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. Have the workers of iniquity no knowledge? who eat up my people as they eat bread: they have not called upon God.
Psalm 53:2-4

I hope it is our desire to truly know God and really seek Him. This is not going to be one of my traditional posts. This post is to express something that God did earlier this week and after He led me in the scriptures I felt impressed to make it the next blog. The Lord is so faithful to reveal to us when we become slack at times and thank goodness He is so long-suffering!

Earlier this week I felt impressed to read Romans chapter 3. I only posted part of it on purpose as I really want to focus on what really stuck with me as I believe that is what the Lord wanted me to get out of it and then share with everyone else. Notice in Romans 3 it reads, "There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one." After I was finished reading the chapter I began to think what God wanted me to get out of this, then all of a sudden Psalm 53 shot through my mind. I did not know what Psalm 53 had to say so I decided to read it and it is what Paul was using to cross reference this part of Romans 3! Psalm 53 reads, "God looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, that did seek God. Every one of them is gone back: they are altogether become filthy; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. Have the workers of iniquity no knowledge? who eat up my people as they eat bread: they have not called upon God.". After I read this I knew this was all beyond coincidence. I began to pray and talk to the Lord about this issue, this prompted me to discuss with my wife if we truly know what it means to seek Him.

Needless to say I felt impressed to write it on the blog so we can begin to dwell on it. It is something we all need to work on, making Him our all-in-all. Remember the reference in Daniel when he prayed and fasted for 21 days? What did the angel of the Lord say to him again? The angel said, "From the day you set your heart to understand and did chasten yourself your words were heard and I have been sent because of your words." Read the devotional entitled "An Understanding Heart", I talk about this in greater detail there. I believe we need to purchase from Jesus, "gold refined by fire". Do you remember Him saying this to the Laodicean church in Revelation? They had said they were rich and in need of nothing and Jesus said they did not even realize they were pitiful, poor, blind and naked. I think because we have all of our needs provided in our richness that it tends to blind our true spiritual needs. I think what Jesus is saying here is this, that the way we purchase from Him gold refined by fire is to chasten ourselves, discipline ourselves to do the greater thing which is to develop an intimacy with Him in prayer. It is something we could all grow in. I believe prayer is the main vehicle in developing a relationship with Him. Don't get me wrong, Bible reading is great, and breaking down His Word is great but direct communication is key. Remember, before the New Testament was written all they had was prayer, in fact, I would venture to say this is where doctrine was revealed to them at...in prayer. Let's commit ourselves to spending time with Him this week. Even if you just start with 5 minutes or 10 minutes, its a START! Even if you do not know what to say just show Him you desire to seek Him by quieting yourself. Wait for Him to put things on your heart and mind to pray about. Jewish oral tradition has it that James, brother of Jesus, had callouses on his knees from being in prayer so much. I cannot imagine that kind of devotion but I would like to think I am one who is willing to learn. I personally walk around when I pray because I am one who can tend to get too comfortable if I sit or kneel too long, so do not think that you have to bow all of the time. I do, however, feel at times we should bow, whenever you feel led to bow do so, He is a real King who really loves us. I am not saying to kneel the entire time, but sometimes as a symbol of devotion to Him, acknowledging with our actions that we believe He is so real that we bow. I know alot of revelation that God has graced me with has come during or after spending time with Him.

Thank you for reading brothers and sisters. I hope this is a blessing to you! We serve a great God! This was not an indictment on any of you as I myself have some more disciplining to do as well!

I hope this has not offended, let's strive to seek Him more than we seek our own desires all of the time. God showed me once an easy way to tell if I am erecting any idols in my life. It's a simple test really and it's this, if I begin to get more excited about something than I do about Jesus and His sacrifice, I now have a heart issue. I need to go back to "purchasing gold refined by fire" whenever this begins to happen and guess what? He forgives me and reignites me to do whatever I was called here to do as He desires for us all. All of our lives we will have to continue to consecrate things, put them under us, so do not get bummed or depressed when it happens, it is God reminding you to re-align yourself through the vehicle of prayer.
Again, even if you do not know what to say in the moment, just begin praising Jesus until you get excited about Him and then bask in that fresh presence. Even if you do not speak when His presence is stirred within you it begins changing you. Kind of like a tea packet in hot water, it's not doing anything but sitting there, but slowly the hot water begins to bring things out of it.
Praise Jesus for all of you! Everyone who sends me nice comments and keeps encouraging me to keep this website up to help others grow! We help each other grow.

Thanks again!
Sincerely
Chris Goff