May 5, 2004
Sung to the Tune of And I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking ForPosted by Bryan
Two months ago, I had a friend say to me (and I quote), "I was also wondering, if its even possible to put into words, how one seeks God with his whole heart."
I've prayed about this for two months before answering, because I didn't want to give an answer that was full of spiritual platitudes but devoid of any actual meaning. I actually began to respond to this issue on two different occasions, but both times, I sensed the Spirit restraining me, as though I still had something important to learn.
The question or challenge stems from the Bible encouragement that if a person seeks God with all his heart, God will reveal Himself to that person. That person, it is promised in Scripture, will certainly find God:
So there's the promise that you'll find God if you are looking for Him, and the key is that you have to engage in the quest with all your heart.
That's where there's a problem
What is a sincere seeker to do, if the very tool he is to rely upon cannot be remotely trusted?
We are to do that which makes the least sense imaginable...
...we are to rely upon the heart:
Okay, let's be honest...all we got so far is three Bible verses that should make the normal person say 
Recap, then:
1. Seek God with all your heart
2. Your heart can't be trusted
3. So trust in God with all your heart.
Before we talk logistics, you need to see that the first step to finding the God you seek is turning your heart to God, completely and totally and utterly and without reservation. It is an abandonment of self, in provision or sufficiency. You begin your quest by emptying your heart of anything that has to do with your self -- anything that is deceitful and will keep you from finding the God you seek.
It's only when your heart is empty of selfish components that you can begin to see it be filled with Divine components. Again, the Scriptures explain what we'd otherwise miss:
So, we're to let our heart -- empty of self -- be filled with the commands of God, and mercy and truth.
So let's knock these down.
What are the commands that we're supposed to keep in our heart? It can't be the 10 commandments. How many of *those* have you broke today? You know, this question isn't all that new:
Jesus's answer was that only two commands mattered -- Love God with everything in you, and love others like you love yourself. If you do those two things, everything else gets taken care of.
Before we chew on that a little more, lets look at the other heart parts.
Mercy -- Our heart is supposed to be the home of mercy. We don't even know what mercy is, much less where to find it in our heart. Mercy, simply stated and well defined by a pastor friend of mine is, "God's blessing of withholding something we rightfully deserve." Mercy is also the flipside of grace. We like to spend lots of time, thought, energy on grace, but the truth is, you cannot have grace without mercy. Think about it, if grace when God gives you something you do not deserve, then at the same time, He must provide mercy that withholds what you *did* deserve so that you can instead receive grace. So mercy -- God's mercy to us, and our mercy to others, is to reside in our heart.
Truth -- Our heart is to be the home of truth. Again, we all show our Pilate's license in this postmodern age because so many people mimick the Roman prefect when we ask, "what is truth?"
Truth, defined, is that which is universally, undeniably, unchangably, and objectively identifiable regardless of time, space, perception, or circumstance. We may disagree on the truth of a matter (like say, the color of Gatorade), but its truth is not dependent upon the perception of one person or another. There will be a time and place where some are proven correct, and others are proven incorrect.
But to make the matter even more simple, Jesus said this:
People have spent their lives trying to explain away this simple statement of Jesus, to water it down, to make it devoid of meaning. Supporting Scriptures just don't permit it. Jesus made it clear. He is truth. And you can't get to God (find Him) apart from Jesus.
So....if you want to find God, The Truth must dwell within your heart. Jesus must call your heart home.*
This is the lynchpin. If there is no Jesus in your heart, there will be no mercy, there will be no pursuit of the law of God, and no discovery of God. Your heart will be empty of spiritual components, and you will instead pour within it every fleshly, carnal idol in a vain effort to see the chasm filled.
But if your heart is the home of Jesus, and you still feel disconnected with God, like He's afar, then this is where you need to reconnect.
In His Word.
Remember, the law of God says "love the Lord with all your heart, soul, and mind (and strength, from a parallel passage)." If you do that, you will find Him.
So what's the trick?
The trick is, there is no trick.
It's hard work.
In fact, its so hard, you cannot do it on your own. You find yourself in a fix. You're in need of an overhaulin', and you can't get the job done by your self.
Despite this being the reality of things, it doesn't stop uncountable many flesh-wearing Christ-followers from faking it, when it comes to living in the Spirit.
The only way to love God more is to accept His perfect proposal. Let the Spirit take over.
What this means is, if you find yourself disconnected from God, it's because there is too much of *you* in the way.
Your wants
Your desires
Your flesh
Your depravity
Your carnality
Your agenda
Your motives
Your ideas
Your thoughts
Your intentions
Your motivations
Your understanding
You You YOU!
If you want to love God with all your heart, it has to be empty of *you* possessions.
If you want to love God with all your soul, it has to be relenquished of all *your* ownership.
If you want to love God with all your mind, it has to be freed from all *your* limited ideas.
If you want to love God with all your strength, it has to be unshackled from all *your* limiting bondage of carnal depravity.
The only way you can do this is by living in the Spirit. The book of Romans declares that the only way such a life is possible is to totally identify with the crucifixion, death, and burial of Jesus (chapter 6). Friend, if you have faith in Christ, it is only because when He went to the cross and died, and was buried, you were in Him.
You were in Him.
That means when Jesus died, your flesh is dead.
When Jesus was buried, your flesh was buried.
And because of that (we're up to Romans 8 now), when Jesus rose from the dead, you were freed to rise from the dead. You are born again! You no longer wear the death of your flesh, you are living and walking in the reality of the Spirit. You are a mighty conqueror! You have every power and ability to overcome sin because you have been raised to walk in the newness of life.
The problem is, this Spirit life is under attack. And the enemy, Satan, has power in this world, and he will use every resource in his arsenal to deceive you so that you do not live in the Spirit. He much prefers that you cloak yourself in your dead man's flesh and walk around with a rotting carcass draped over your personage, rather than marching triumphantly in your identity in Christ resurrected.
So he tempts you with what you see. He lures you with what you touch and taste. He attracts you with what you hear. He distracts you with what you smell. He confuses you with all this until your mind, your soul, your strength, and even your heart are rendered incapacitated and useless. And because of that, God seems hidden. Make no mistake, your dead flesh is simply what not to wear.
The only way to find God, then, for the believer, is for his heart to be reconciled, for his mind to be renewed, for his strength to be restored, for his soul to be replenished. This is not a new salvation, it is not a second baptism, it is simply a realignment from man's understanding to God's understanding. It is the refocus of blindly searching with eyes of flesh to acutely observing with eyes of faith. Take advantage of your second chance.
John, the forerunner, said it best when He spoke of Jesus and said, "I must decrease, He must increase."
If you're seeking God, the key to finding Him is emptying yourself of anything and everything that is keeping Jesus from an extreme home makeover in the domicile of your heart.
*If you would like to know how to have God perform a Clean Sweep of your heart, allowing Jesus to be trading spaces while you were out, please send me an email at bmcanallyAT^nospamplease^bellsouth.net or let me know in the comments to connect with you.
Excellent post, Bryan... Although I see that *someone* has a TLC addiction surfacing. Oh, who am I to talk? I watch half of those shows whenver I can...
Posted by: songstress7 at May 5, 2004 12:27 PM