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Seek the Lord your God and you will find him, if you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul (Deuteronomy 4:29, ESV).
Pursuing God means pursuing God’s will.
God gave Adam and Eve a calling; God gave Noah a calling; God gave Abraham a calling; God gave Moses a calling; God gave David a calling; God gave the major and minor prophets a calling; God gave Jesus a calling; God gave all the apostles a calling —and even though we aren’t Bible-mentioned saints, we aren’t left out.
God calls each of us to a task. As Paul exhorts. . .
I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called (Ephesians 4:1).
Since God has given us a calling, pursuing God means pursuing God’s will. (Yes, it’s Biblical to use the words calling and will interchangeably as one implicates the other.)
There is a general nature of this calling/will that all believers should follow. . .
Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you (Matthew 6:33).
There’s a specific aspect of God’s calling that He assigns to you. . .
You ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that” (James 4:15).
Recognizing that God has something for us to do, we must pursue God’s will with all our heart, mind, and strength! But, please, understand this Principle of Pursuit warning from Andrew Wommack in his book How to Find Follow Fulfill God’s Will.
A popular misconception in the church today is that God winds us up like a doll and then lets us go our own way, leaving us to figure life out on our own. “If I get in a bind,” the thinking goes, “I can call on God and maybe He’ll help me.” This kind of philosophy leads people to do their own thing in life and then ask God to bless what they are already doing—instead of seeking Him for direction from the beginning.
Follow these steps to apply the Principle of Pursuit. . .
- Ask God to reveal His will!
- Journal during this timeframe, as His voice is often soft, and journaling helps us reflectively increase the volume of His words.
- Seek peace. At first, we may struggle with God’s will, but as we listen, pray, and obey, a sense of divine peace wraps around our souls, giving us confidence.
I love reading Psalm 16:11 as it describes the blessing of the pursuit. . .
You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore (Psalm 16:11).
Much of the frustrations encountered in our daily lives result from vain glory or fleshly desires. We feel stymied and unproductive. Then we find His calling, and despite the difficulties in walking this narrow path, our stubborn pursuit of God’s will brings. . .
Fullness of joy and pleasures forever!