So many times as a young man I felt alone and unnoticed. In my evangelical church, I had a youth group, but no real connection with an older man who sought me out and wanted to invest in me. Anything I got from others, I had to go after on my own.
When you’re hungry, you look for bread. The orphans in our African care points will walk miles just to get one of the meals we serve. Their hunger drives them to a place where they meet their need. Similarly, more of us need to recognize our deep unmet spiritual needs and begin looking for where we can be fed.
Do you want to be discipled? It won’t happen if you just sit there. You’ve got to press into God in whatever ways that he is available to you. Many people like the Jeremiah 29:11 verse, “For I know the plans I have for you…” But I like the verse that comes right after it, “You’ll seek me and find me when you seek me with your whole heart.”
All our lives we live estranged from God and ourselves. How are we to find our way back home? Where do we find any hope of connecting with our creator? It starts with our hunger. If we are ever to begin to find our way, we must commence earnestly.
Wherever you are in life, God is waiting for you to press in to him and to involve others in encouraging you in your growth process. Right now there are probably people one step ahead of you who could help you grow. But you’ve got to press into them.
Want to pull out of that rut that you’re in? Begin by making the decision to grow and to ask someone else for help in growing. Do it whole-heartedly and you’ll find your Creator waiting for you.
Amen!
When we feel a temptation to run we should press in.
When we sense our courage is gone we should press in.
When hopelessness envelopes us we should press in.
When the lion roars we should run to the roar not away.
We can’t have the peace of intimacy with Jesus if we are unwilling to experience the struggle and the pain.
It’s either real or fake.
There is no middle option.
Hmmm… I tried!
I read this yesterday:
To come to the pleasure you have not,
you must go by a way in which you enjoy not.
To come to the knowledge you have not,
you must go by a way in which you know not.
To come to the possession you have not,
you must go by a way in which you possess not.
To come to be what you are not,
you must go by a way in which you are not.
– St. John of the Cross
i believe there are times when God cannot be found in all the old ways we have traditionally found Him … He is looking for us to hunger after Him wholeheartedly, to truly desire HIM,to press in. i love the verses after Jeremiah 29:11 too – the verse about seeking HIm wholeheartedly, in that day you will find me, I will hear you … and I will end your captivity, restore you and bring you back home. God so loves to answer someone who is desperate and urgently looking for Him… He will bring the right people across your path, lead you to the right things. He is faithful that way, for sure.
Many people today do not like to hear the “with all your heart”, its not the gospel preached today.
A friend of mine called me up a few weeks ago to join him and one of the homeless people we met last year, for a drink. This homeless guy was now housed but had a serious attitude towards God and christians. We sat in a pub for about 10 mins whilst he went on and on about different things and how God really wasnt that interested in him despite now attending a church regularly.He talked about how much he loved music and wasnt happy that the church wasnt too happy if he led the worship. I said to him the words of Jesus in Matthews gospel “unless you love me more than your own life you are not fit to be my disciple”. This guy got very angry and left. 20 mins later he came back, apologised and said “your right…Im luke warm….not only am I luke warm but I love it this way and I am not prepared to give up my “idols”.
Honesty….truth in the inmost parts……..many many people are decieving themselves but then blame God for not being everything to them that they think He should be.
As Butch says “it’s either real or fake. There is no middle option”
Good post Seth
The Lord himself provided His example when he told the tempter: “Man shall not live by bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.”
By casting his Word, as bread upon the water, you help many people throughout the earth to be encouraged and renewed.
Thanks for the reminder about our Jehovah Jireh, Jesus.
So true. I know a lot of disillusioned young men who are completely unwilling to pursue the men above them, even when those men are totally willing to pour into their lives. There’s comes a time where you just have to be “hungry enough” to run after it. Praying more of these men catch that idea and that it grows more in myself too.
Bobbie, how do you really feel?
Disgusted!
Bobbie, why don’t you email me? gary@theblacktribe.com I would like to hear why…
making my core students read this tonight.