We find God when our heart belongs to Him.

Jer 29:12 Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you.
Jer 29:13 And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.


Search for me with all your heart.


We know all about searching don't we? Every single one of us at one time or another has searched for something. Even if our search was simply in a text book at school looking for an elusive bit of information to answer a homework question. Or perhaps we've only searched a telephone book for a phone number- that analogy too out dated? Maybe it's only been a search in our smartphone, as we look for a phone number. Searching takes on many forms- we search for so many things. You've searched the laundry for a favorite shirt, right? You've searched the dryer for a sock match that just seems to have disappeared, yes? Suffice it to say we've ALL searched for one thing or another in our lifetime however short or long the searching. Yes, babies even search for a bottle or breast to suckle on to get nourishment. Toddlers search for toys- not always happy with a toy they are offered but preferring a favorite.


We search, we are searchers. If we aren't searching for something tangible we are searching for something intellectual- knowledge of some sort. The fact is we really are on a constant search throughout our lives, perhaps for a good meal, or something to wet our whistle, or a good nights sleep. We want these things and we live in hope of having things. Many search for love, yes? Wanting someone they're compatible with to give them love- to care about them. Others search for someone they can care for, not necessarily fall in love with, but they have a need to be giving. There are so very many ways we search throughout our entire lives. This isn't to say that some people don't give up on searching, they do. The world unfortunately has many people who would rather die by their own hands than keep living- which means keep searching for the many elusive things they need to give them the will to live. We have a daily quest for whatever drives us for whatever it is that keeps us holding onto life. There are many very sick people who cling to life searching for a little more time- holding onto life just because to be without it seems impossible.


While we search on many levels throughout our lives, how often do we search for something with ALL OUR HEART? You mean you did search for that lost ring with all your heart, giving it everything you had to find it? But there came a point didn't there, when it became futile to continue searching? You exhausted every possible avenue of search, turned everything upside-down and inside-out. You looked high and low even in the impossible places- just in case. Then finally you gave up the search. Inevitably we do get to a point when searching for something constantly begins to wear on us and hopelessness can set in. We might buy *another* if it's something that we can buy another of, hoping the replacement will do. Not everything has a replacement though. When we can't replace something we've lost and give up searching for it there is an emptiness where that something used to be. Time usually eases the pain of losing something we cherish and cannot replace, but sometimes there's always a little ache for that loss. Time might ease the pain of the lost thing or lost love, but it never fully fills in that spot where the loss occurred.


So as we go through life, is it safe to say some people search for happiness and they try to find it in many, many things and ways? Is it equally safe to say that we are all searchers even those most content in their lots in life? Even the most content might have to search for something to eat, yes? The search being they desire something and go to retrieve it. I'm not saying the search has to be for something impossible to find. We search a newspaper for information on current events. We search online search engines for answers to questions- again, wanting knowledge. We look for jobs, we look for a good place to see a movie, we search for a nice restaurant. Searching is something we are endlessly involved in. Even when we watch a movie on television aren't we searching for entertainment? Many search for good recipes, yes? Content, able to have others search for us, even then we are searching for their success at finding what we desire them to find. Some searches are much more active than others. Some searches require very little effort so we barely call it searching at all, but ultimately we search for much more than we care to realize.


Do you think God would tell us to search for something that is impossible to find? I don't.


Jer 29:13 And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.


So, if God isn't asking the impossible, just how do we seek Him, how do we search for Him with all our heart?

*******

Deu 4:29 But if from thence thou shalt seek the LORD thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul.
Deu 4:30 When thou art in tribulation, and all these things are come upon thee, even in the latter days, if thou turn to the LORD thy God, and shalt be obedient unto his voice;
Deu 4:31 (For the LORD thy God is a merciful God;) he will not forsake thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers which he sware unto them.


Turn to the Lord and be OBEDIENT unto His voice.


To find God as we search for Him with all our heart we must be OBEDIENT to His will. Does that seem contrary, it's not. We must believe God IS in order to search for Him otherwise we are searching for nothing. Those who search for Bigfoot, the Yeti, the Lochness Monster, the Abominable Snowman all believe these creatures EXIST. If they didn't believe they existed they'd be searching for nothing. You might laugh and say that's exactly what their doing, but the point is THEY BELIEVE in them. When we search for God with all our heart we believe that He is. By faith we believe in all He's done through the men moved by the Holy Spirit to write down His words. We know from the Word we read that our God would have us be OBEDIENT to Him. In searching for God we need to be obedient to Him- choosing to believe the commandments He's set forth for us. If we choose NOT to be obedient to the Lord then our heart is NOT fully believing in Him, we are NOT seeking Him when we choose to disregard His word. In fact we are searching for reasons NOT to believe, rather than searching with all our heart and soul to believe.


*******

Deu 30:6 And the LORD thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live.


Jer 4:4 Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, and take away the foreskins of your heart, ye men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem: lest my fury come forth like fire, and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.


Rom 2:29 But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.


Col 2:11 In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ


The LORD our God will circumcise our hearts- cutting off all that would keep us from Him.
Circumcising ourselves to the Lord- we open our hearts to our God's will.
Circumcised in spirit, made acceptable to God.
Circumcised without hands- cutting sin from our lives through Christ!
We find the Lord when we allow ourselves to be circumcised of all that would prevent us from finding Him. We can choose to keep sin in our lives, we can choose to accept sin, embrace sin and let it be a part of our lives- this is the choice we make. We can choose to not believe. We can choose not to accept Christ's sacrifice. We can choose to ignore all thoughts of God. But if we are truly desiring to search for the Lord with all our heart and soul then we will purge all that we can from our lives that we know is unacceptable to Him. We will give ourselves to Him and allow Him to purge us from all that is unacceptable through His power, we will trust that He will prepare us, that He will do all for us that we cannot do.

*******

Deu 30:10 If thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to keep his commandments and his statutes which are written in this book of the law, and if thou turn unto the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul.
Deu 30:11 For this commandment which I command thee this day, it is not hidden from thee, neither is it far off.
Deu 30:12 It is not in heaven, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it?
Deu 30:13 Neither is it beyond the sea, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it?
Deu 30:14 But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it.
Deu 30:15 See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil;
Deu 30:16 In that I command thee this day to love the LORD thy God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments, that thou mayest live and multiply: and the LORD thy God shall bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it.
Deu 30:17 But if thine heart turn away, so that thou wilt not hear, but shalt be drawn away, and worship other gods, and serve them;
Deu 30:18 I denounce unto you this day, that ye shall surely perish, and that ye shall not prolong your days upon the land, whither thou passest over Jordan to go to possess it.
Deu 30:19 I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:
Deu 30:20 That thou mayest love the LORD thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him: for he is thy life, and the length of thy days: that thou mayest dwell in the land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.


We MUST listen to God! He speaks to us and we MUST listen! Too many believe in God in a very abstract many. He's there but as a silent being who requires nothing of us. Like a genie in a bottle we just rub a little prayer and He'll listen and because He's a finicky genie He'll only answer when He feels like it. This idea of God is a false belief. God speaks to us through His Word and He has a lot to say to us. He'll put His word right in our hearts if we allow Him to, but we MUST listen to Him.


*******

Isa 55:6 Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near:
Isa 55:7 Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.


Listen to HIM! Forsake the evil thoughts and ways!


*******

Jer 3:10 And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah hath not turned unto me with her whole heart, but feignedly, saith the LORD.


Truly seek the LORD with your WHOLE heart!


*******

2Ch 31:21 And in every work that he began in the service of the house of God, and in the law, and in the commandments, to seek his God, he did it with all his heart, and prospered.

Psa 119:2 Blessed are they that keep his testimonies, and that seek him with the whole heart.

Psa 119:10 With my whole heart have I sought thee: O let me not wander from thy commandments.
Psa 119:11 Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.

Psa 119:145 KOPH. I cried with my whole heart; hear me, O LORD: I will keep thy statutes.

Joe 2:12 Therefore also now, saith the LORD, turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning

Act 8:35 Then Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus.
Act 8:36 And as they went on their way, they came unto a certain water: and the eunuch said, See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized?
Act 8:37 And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.

Psa 139:23 Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts

Ecc 12:13 Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.
Ecc 12:14 For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.


The CONCLUSION of the WHOLE MATTER!


Fear God and keep His commandments!


When we seek to do this from the heart we are doing so with a singleness of purpose, using our whole heart not just a tiny part of it, not just half of it, not even three-quarters but our WHOLE entire heart must be seeking God. He must be our all in all even in a world crammed full of people. When HE is our all in all, then others are precious to us for HIM, not for our selfish purposes. All those that live around us that are a part of our lives are precious to us because they are precious to Him and have the potential to fully give their whole heart to Him as well. He loves us and because He loves will love through Him! Is it no wonder Jesus could tell us to love our enemies… He could do that because it is HIS love we are loving them with, not our own. Our love comes from Him. And if He can love us- the sinners that we are- we must love others with His love.


Yes, we are to FEAR GOD and KEEP HIS COMMANDMENTS- everything else comes as a result of this obedience, of this faith in God.


Our searching for God must be a real and constant seeking, a believing, a living breathing believing that affects our entire lives. We find God when our heart belongs to HIM.


By His grace! By His mercy! By His righteousness! All through His love!


Amen.