Still Seeking

December 13, 2017

“What am I seeking this Christmas?”

That was a question that was asked this morning in my Preparing My Heart For Christmas Prayer Challenge by Heather Bowen. I have been dwelling on this question all day today.

The scripture passage was from Jeremiah 29:13:

¹³ You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.

Many people look at this verse and wonder why they do not feel the Lord is near to them. There is a condition to this verse. You cannot just read the first half. You must finish the verse. You find Jesus when you seek Him “with all your heart.” He needs to be what we seek above all else. What are my idols? What is it that I am putting in the throne of my life that should only be occupied with God? What does it mean to seek Christ “with all your heart”? I think it looks different for every person. For me it means not being on my phone as much. It means getting up early in the morning to spend time with Him. It means dropping everything to be obedient to the leading of the Holy Spirit. It means putting aside things that I would like to do, to do the things He calls me to.

The wise men did this. They dropped everything to be obedient and to seek him with all their hearts. They keep seeking until the found what they were looking for.

My devotional this morning had us reading about the wise men. Throughout this month where I have been focusing on the Advent season and the coming of Christ, this is not the first time that my attention has been brought to the wise men.

Matthew 2:10-12

¹⁰ When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. ¹¹ And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh. ¹² And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way.

There have been several observations that I have made this Advent season. The first one is that the wise men “rejoiced with great joy.” It made me really examine how I come and approach my time with God. Do I rejoice whenever I worship the Lord? I have come to look forward to the time in the morning when I get up early and the house is quiet. I get to have a little special time with just me and the Lord. I get up and put some comfy socks on and my fluffy robe. I come into the kitchen and fix myself a hot drink. I get out my Bible, Advent notebook, computer, and pens. I have come to cherish this time in the mornings. I even have found myself getting up earlier and earlier to spend more time with the Lord. I never want to lose the joy of meeting with the Lord.

The next thing that I see in this passage is the fact that they brought gifts to Jesus. What do I have to offer Christ when I come to Him? I love the quote by Emma Bombeck that says, “When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, 'I used everything you gave me.”

That is a goal for my life. I want to spend every day in service to the King of Kings and using the talents and gifts He has given me to bring glory to His name. I want for Him to say at the end of my earthly life that He was pleased with me.

Matthew 25:21

²¹ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant.^[a] You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’

I want to offer Jesus my time and my possessions to be used for his glory. I want everything that He has blessed me with to be used to give glory back to Him.

The next thing that I see in this passage is the fact that the wise men were obedient to the leading of the Holy Spirit. They did not allow the fear of man to make decisions for them. They were going to obey what God told them to do even if that meant that an evil king would come after them. I am working on being obedient to the leading of the Holy Spirit. Ever since Empowered and even before I have really been trying to listen and seek out what the Holy Spirit would have me do and say. I can truly say that when you seek the Holy Spirit and ask Him to move in your life you had better be ready for Him to answer that prayer. I have never had the Holy Spirit move in my life as much as he has in the past few years. My prayer is that I would continue to step out in obedience to what the Holy Spirit leads me to do.

The last thing that I see in this passage is what Heather Bowen pointed out this morning. She pointed out that the wise men went home a different way. It should be the same with us. She said, “You can’t have an encounter with Christ and walk away the same.”

In my prayer journal this morning I wrote, “Lord, help me to never walk away unchanged from my times with You. I want to let each encounter with You make me a little bit more like You. As I read and study and talk to You, allow me to walk closer to You. Help me to never be content with where I am but always seek and strive for more of You and to be more like You. Help me never walk away the same from each encounter with You. Help me to encourage my children and those around me to do the same.”

As I walk this Advent journey my prayer is that I would come out December better prepared for the new year. I would be closer to the Lord than when I started at the beginning of the month. I pray that each day I put the past behind me and walk in the Lord’s mercies anew. Each day is a new chance for me to walk closer to Him in His love and mercy and faithfulness.

Lamentations 3:22-23

²² The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;^[a]
    his mercies never come to an end;
²³ they are new every morning;
    great is your faithfulness.