Jeremiah 29:13

Verse of the Day Devotion: Jeremiah 29:13

“You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.” – Jeremiah 29:13

There are two basic ways to seek after God.  We either look for Him with all our heart, or we casually seek Him putting on a pretense.  The method we use depends on what our purpose is in seeking Him.

If we are really serious in finding God; in love and humility presenting ourselves to Him, He will definitely show Himself.  “I love those who love me; and those who diligently seek me will find me.” Proverbs 8:17.  This is a very great promise He has declared.  If we call upon Him with all our heart, not just with words but with a true desire to find Him, to connect with Him and fellowship with Him, He will make Himself known to us.

God is always hearing our prayers.  And He knows our hearts regarding our prayers.  If our prayers are truly from our heart, He will hear and answer.  However, if we simply throw up a prayer so that we can say we prayed, then He may not be there for us.  Prayer is a very serious thing.  This is communication between us and the Almighty God, the all-powerful creator of all that is.  And when we seek Him in prayer, our focus needs to be Him and His will, not me and my will.  We must trust Him completely that what we ask for will be given to us if it is what is best for us.  We should not expect Him to hear us if we ask for something and expect Him to deliver as we desire.

God loves us.  He wants to be there for us.  He wants us to spend time with Him, giving Him the praise and worship He deserves.  He wants to speak into our lives and help us to become the man or woman of God He desires.  However, we must want it; with all our heart, soul mind and strength.  And we must want it on His terms and not our own.  Case in point, the rich young ruler.  “A ruler questioned Him, saying, “Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments, ‘DO NOT COMMIT ADULTERY, DO NOT MURDER, DO NOT STEAL, DO NOT BEAR FALSE WITNESS, HONOR YOUR FATHER AND MOTHER.’ And he said, “All these things I have kept from my youth.” When Jesus heard this, He said to him, “One thing you still lack; sell all that you possess and distribute it to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” Luke 18:22.  Jesus answered this man’s question.  This young man was asking about eternal life with God.  But note his response.  “But when he had heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich.”  He was searching for God and an eternal relationship, but on his terms, not God’s.  Jesus said to give up all his wealth, but the man wanted to keep it, showing where his focus was.

Remember our focus verse, “You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.”  If our focus is on wealth, fame, or having our own way, then are we truly seeking Him with all our heart?  We must be willing to humble ourselves before God and make Him Lord of our lives, which means His way is the only way.  And we must love and trust Him, knowing that He desires the best for us.  He must be our focus.  Then we will find Him.

William Funkhouser MDiv, ThD, Founder and President of True Devotion Ministries, Inc.

Matthew 16:25

Verse of the Day Devotion: Matthew 16:25 

“For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.’ – Matthew 16:25

This is a difficult thing Jesus told His disciples.  In order to understand the full picture of what Jesus said, we must go back a few verses to understand the context of these words.  Starting in verse 21 we read, “From that time Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the third day. Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “God forbid it, Lord! This shall never happen to You. But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s.”  Matthew 16:21-23.  Jesus had just foretold His death and resurrection to His disciples.  After He does this, Peter pulls Him aside and rebukes Him, stating that it will never happen.  I cannot imagine anyone rebuking Christ, however, Jesus rebukes Peter, telling him to go away, for this is God’s plan for the Messiah to fulfill, not what man thinks it is.

After this, Jesus told the disciples their role in this if they wish to follow Him.  “Then Jesus said to His disciples, If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.” Matthew 16:24.  Jesus came here to die for the sake of mankind, giving each of us the opportunity to be saved and spend eternity with Him.  He gave His life for us.  What He is saying here is that He expects His followers to do the same if need be.  If doing the work of God meant sacrificing their lives, would they, or would they do what was necessary to save their lives.  If they were not, then they needed to stop following Him because they were not giving all of themselves to the work required of them.

He then builds upon the idea brought forth on the prior verse with our focus verse.  “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.”  Matthew 16:25.  In essence he is saying those who are doing the work of the Lord and choose to stop because they will be killed if they do not have a choice.  Either he can continue and trust that God will either save his life or allow him to give the ultimate sacrifice, or He can walk away from Christ and His work. 

The question we need to ask ourselves is are we willing to give all for Christ?  Is our life more important that Christ?  As stated above, Jesus came for the express purpose of suffering and dying for our sake so we can be reconciled with the Father.  Are we willing to do the same in order to spread the gospel throughout our areas of influence?  This is the question Jesus is asking.  And we must be ready to give an answer.  Search your heart and pray that God will help you know what your true answer is.  If it is yes, than you are willing to give everything for the sake of Christ.  If it is no or I do not know, then pray and ask God to give you the strength and courage to say yes.  He is much more important than anything else in our lives, including our lives.  Give your all to Him and His work.  You will find it to be more satisfying than any other.

William Funkhouser MDiv, ThD, Founder and President of True Devotion Ministries.