Seeking the Lord - Part 2

Welcome to the In Touch Podcast with Charles Stanley for Thursday, March 24th. If you have ever felt spiritually dry, you'll hear some helpful insight for your journey toward spiritual renewal. Here's part two of Seeking the Lord. Well, all through the Scriptures, especially in the Old Testament, we're admonished to seek the Lord. So, what in the world does it mean to seek Him? Somebody says, well, why should I be seeking Him? I've been a Christian for a pretty good while, and I don't know why I would have to be seeking something I already have. Well, I want you to listen carefully. When we are admonished to seek the Lord, that means we're to come to Him, asking for direction, seeking to build a deeper, more intimate relationship with Him, because that's what He's up to. He said He predestined that you and I would be conformed to the image of His Son, and that would involve our having an intimate relationship with Him. So, when I seek Him, I want to know more about Him.

I want to have a more intimate relationship. I want to talk to Him. I want to listen to Him. I want to have a conversation with Him.

I want to be able to observe Him working in my life in some fashion. If I'm seeking Him, I want to know Him better, more deeply, more intimately than ever before. He says we're to seek Him. Now, which leads me to what I want to consider here for a moment, and that is, so we talk about listening to Him, seeking and all this. What's required of me? What's required of us if we're to seek the Lord? Listen, we're talking about having a relationship with Almighty God.

Well, what's required of me? Can I say, well, you know, when I decide to pray, I will. I'll read the Bible, I will. And when I go to church, I will.

Oh, is this serious business? So, first of all, let me say, we're to seek Him with all of our heart. And that means He's a priority. He's number one. He's first. He's the most important person in our life.

Listen to this. Isaiah fifty-five, and because this is very, very, very important. If I'm going to seek the Lord with all of my heart, here's something I have to remember. In this fifty-fifth chapter and the sixth verse says, Seek the Lord while He may be found, Call upon Him while He is near, Let the wicked forsake His way, And the unrighteous man his thoughts, And let him return to the Lord.

Now, watch this carefully. If I love Him, if I'm seeking Him, I'm willing to get rid of all the stuff and things in my life that don't fit who I am as a follower of Jesus. Then when I seek Him, I'm going to discover, I'm going to find out something.

I'm going to have a relationship that is so deep beyond my comprehension. But I must seek Him with all of my heart. Now, seeking God is like coming to a gold mine with all the tools you need and you find out that there's no bottom to it. It's endless.

Here's what most people do. They say, Well, I'll tell you what I believe about seeking God. I have a whole list of things I'm seeking God for. Here's what I'm seeking God for. You're not interested in God. You're interested in what God can give you or do for you. What He says is, I just want you to be satisfied with me. Now, if you're not a Christian, that won't make one bit of sense with you. And I understand that.

But most of you are. You believers, where does He fit in your desire pattern? And if you'll think about it, if He's not number one, then I have an idol in my life. You say, Oh, my wife's not an idol. Is she number one or is God number one? Are your children number one or is God number one? Is your job number one?

Is God number one? What do you treasure most? What do you possess that you treasure most?

You possess Christ. Do you treasure Him most or is there something else in your life that you treasure more? Whatever it is I can tell you, because He loves you, He's going to knock on your door. So, I'm to seek Him with all of my heart. Second, I'm to seek Him diligently. I'm to seek Him with all of my heart. I'm to seek Him with all of my heart. I'm to seek Him with all of my heart. Okay, listen to what He says in Proverbs chapter eight and verse seventeen. Proverbs eight, seventeen.

Listen to what He says. I love those who love Me, and those who diligently seek Me will find Me. Now, why does He say diligently?

Here's the reason. Because we have a thousand things to divide our mind, many things aside, it becomes, number one, it's a priority in my life. I'm going to work at that, that above everything else. He says when we diligently seek Him, because most people do not. And see, let me just say this, and God knows I love you all. When people just go to church, for example, and they say, Well, you know, I've sort of done it for this week. What have you done? You've satisfied some sense of guilt you have.

If that's all the relationship you have with Jesus Christ, there's something desperately wrong. We can seek Him diligently. For example, you're looking for a job, for example, and they give you a test and you're diligently studying. If you knew that your livelihood and your future was determined by how you did well on this exam, what would you do? You would diligently study it. What are you diligent about? Are you diligent about anything?

You will exert the effort and the time. For example, are you diligent about your children, spending time with them? Are you diligent about your wife or husband? Are you diligent about how you handled your finances? Are you diligent about your health?

To be diligent means it's important. And I'm going to give it time. I'm going to study. I'm going to pray. I'm going to seek. How can I do my very, very best? To seek the Lord diligently means I'm not putting something else in front of it.

And then we should seek Him continually. Let me ask you a question. Can you name anything in your life that you should never pray about? Anything. Is there anything that you don't need to pray about at all? You say, I don't need to pray about what I'm going to dress, how I'm going to dress tomorrow.

Well, that depends on who you are and how you dress. Can you name anything of any significance at all that you shouldn't be praying about and asking God about? Living in the society in which you and I live? We should be praying and seeking the Lord. In other words, every time you and I have a decision to make, He is the number one person to consult. Number one. You say, always, always.

Why? We just seek Him diligently and we just seek Him continually. Not sometimes, but all the time. Go back to Isaiah again and here's a passage that says, yes, I should be diligently seeking Him, but I should also, listen, I should also continually do so and here's the reason why. Let's say, for example, this week you're going to face some decisions.

We may all face decisions this week that we had no plans for whatsoever because we didn't know it was going to crop up. But whatever the issue may be, here's the reason you and I should be seeking Him at all times, because He says, For my thoughts are not your thoughts, and on my ways your ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts higher than your thoughts. So, if I want to make the right decision in the situation, I should go to someone who has the highest of thoughts, the highest of ways, who knows every single solitary thing there is to know about this situation or circumstances. For example, you plan to get married, you think you love somebody, and I would simply say to you, you need to be very diligent and you need to be continually seeking the mind of God about whether this is the right person or the right time. Because, listen, He's so willing.

He's so willing to accurately guide you in every single decision you make. And this is why people say, Well, I don't have to pray about that. That's just natural. You know what natural is in the Bible?

It's bad news. The natural man is the lost man. And it's our naturalness that gets us in trouble. And so, we're to seek Him continually. And the reason we're to seek Him continually is just what He said. He said, Seek Me continually because my ways are higher than your ways, my thoughts are higher than your thoughts, and if you're always seeking Me and seeking My direction and My divine guidance, I'm going to protect you from making the wrong decision, which could be a terrible decision in your life. Then, of course, we're to seek Him confidently.

And you see, this is part of the issue. Some of you have been sitting here already and saying, Well, that's what He does in your life, but He won't do that in my life. Yes, He will, because He loves every single one of us. And that's why He says those who come to Him must come to Him believing Him, trusting Him, seeking Him. More homes, more people, more trouble, more trial, more heartaches.

But more uncertainty for the future than ever before in the history of this nation. We need a personal, intimate relationship with God, second to none, seeking Him above everything else there is in life. And when we do, we're going to come out wise. Then, He says we're to seek Him, for example, humbly. And Psalm chapter ten for a moment, listen to this passage. It says in the fourth verse of the tenth Psalm, everything that we need some direction about is in the Word of God. Listen to what He says in the fourth verse of the tenth Psalm.

Watch this. The wicked in the heartiness of His countenance does not seek Him. All His thoughts are there is no God.

Here's the worst thing that can happen to you. When you get to the place in life you think, They don't need to go to church. They don't need God.

And you think, Well, people don't say that. Yes, they do. They don't need God. They don't need God. They don't need God. They don't need God. They don't need God.

They don't need God. I have my family. I have a nice home. I have a nice car. I got a good job. I got income.

I got plenty of money in the bank. Why do I need God? And I want to say to them, The only assurance you and I have in this life is Jesus. He is the only assurance we ultimately have. And because He's the Lord, He is the Lord. And because He says, He says, He says, He says, He says, He says, He says, He says, He says, He says, He says, He says, He says, He says, He says, We are to come to Him because we know we need Him and we desire Him and love Him.

Now, there's a lot of other things I could say, but I want to bring this down to when should the unbeliever seek the Lord? to do when we seek Him, and there's a list of things. He, for example, He says He'll reward us, bless us, be good to us, do good things for us, and we won't miss out on any good.

In other words, His promises are multiple. But what about the unbeliever? When should the unbeliever seek God? So, I want to give you a couple of verses.

When I go back to Isaiah fifty-five for a moment, when should the unbeliever seek God? And here's what He says. Read it to you already. There's a key word here.

Look at this. The Bible says, watch this, verse six, you listen and say amen? That's a little light, amen? Seek the Lord while He may be found. Secondly, call upon Him while He is near, while He may be found. If you sin and sin and sin and sin, and you become hardened to the things of God, what happens is you don't care. It isn't that God ceases to care, you don't care.

This is why it is so absolutely dangerous to listen to the gospel. He says, seek Him while He may be found. When you listen and you sense something in your heart, it may be conviction, it may be questions, doubts, whatever it is. But listen, while He may be found, oftentimes God is knocking on your heart's door and you don't even realize it, you think it's something somebody else is doing.

Seek Him while He may be found. Listen, He says, call upon Him while He is near, that is a sense of the nearness of God. You can't put your fingers on it.

You can't explain it. You just know that God's there. And you know what that is? That's the Holy Spirit making you aware that you are sitting or standing or lying in the presence of Almighty God, and He is ready to do something in your life. And if you're willing to ask Him to forgive you of your sins and to cleanse you based on what He did at Calvary, He's willing to radically change your life in that given moment. You will have responded to the conviction of the Holy Spirit, and in doing so, He forgives you, cleanses you, writes your name in the Lamb's Book of Life.

Your life is changed forever. He says, seek Him while He's near, while He can be found. Or if you let your heart get hard and you, listen, you walk out of church and you say, well, I've got some friends I'm meeting with. You go out tonight and you drink and you carouse around, and you know what happens?

You just got a little bit harder. It's dangerous. It's dangerous to hear the gospel and to reject it, but it's dangerous to hear the gospel and to reject it. It's dangerous to hear the gospel and to reject it. It's dangerous to hear the gospel and to reject it. It's dangerous to hear the gospel and to reject it. And if you get the hardness of your heart, you become callous.

You've, I've heard that for years and years and years, and it hadn't made any difference in my life. It can be one of the worst things you could ever say. He says we are to seek Him and we're to seek Him with all of our heart. And there's no time in our life when we shouldn't be talking about it. There's no time in our life when we shouldn't be talking about it.

There's no time in our life when we shouldn't be talking about it. I'll give you an example in my own heart. There are times, for example, and this is not the only time, especially when I'm studying and I'm sitting there reading the Word and I'm not trying to get something for me.

I'm just sitting there reading the Word of God and sometimes I'm just working on a message. All of a sudden, I break out crying. It usually confuses me. It confuses me, it confuses me, it confuses me, it confuses me. And sometimes I just get on my knees and weep and weep and weep and weep, and you know what, when I get up, if you ask me, well, what happened? I guess God was just loving me. That's all I can tell you.

Watch this. It has nothing to do with being a pastor. Nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing. It has to do with if you and I are available for the Lord to show up sometime and just love on us and remind us how good He is and realize why we should be seeking Him because He's seeking us. He's seeking to sit on the throne of your heart.

He's seeking to be number one in your life. He's seeking you to listen to Him so He can position you, so He can bless you with His best. It's God working. It's God working. It would be a shame for you to listen to this message and just lay it aside.

It'd be worse than a shame because remember this, you and I are responsible for all the truth that we hear, and all you've done is hear the truth. And all I've really said to you is listen, seek the Lord. Talk to Him, listen to Him, build a relationship, watch how He works, observe His work in a way that you can profit from it, that you can be drawn closer to Him, more intimately with Him so He can use you to the maximum of your potential. You don't want to waste your life if you don't get but one trip. And that's my prayer for you. If you've never trusted Jesus Christ as your Savior, here's what you can do. Realizing that you've sinned against God and that your sins, the Bible says and God says, have separated, in other words, between you and God is that sin. And that sin blocks out His blessing.

It hinders what He wants to do in your life. He will radically change your life for good. Listen, you will be eternally grateful that He put up with you and was patient with you until the moment you trusted Him as your Savior. If you ask Him to forgive you of your sins, not based on how good you've been, you don't have any goodness. But based on the fact that He went to the cross, laid down His life, paid the price. You say, what's this price? God is a just God.

Watch this carefully. God is a just God, which means He only does what's right. When He said, the soul that sinned it shall die. The wages of sin is death. Well, how can God forgive you when He says the soul that sinned it shall die, spiritually, eternally?

Here's how He did it. When God the Father, who gave the law, sent His Son to down the cross, He was His perfect Son, the perfect sacrifice. He killed His Son on the cross as an atoning sacrifice for your sins, the only sacrifice that could possibly have been acceptable because He was perfect. And when He said, the soul that sinned it shall die, He was His perfect sacrifice for your sins, the only sacrifice that could possibly have been acceptable because He was perfect. And it's His death.

And God's acceptance of His death is payment for the sin of the world so that any person who comes to Him based on the fact they're accepting Jesus Christ as their personal Savior, you're forgiven of your sins. Your name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life. You're forever a child of God. You're the Son of God, the Son of God, the Son of God, the Son of God, the Son of God, the Son of God.

And when you're in the midst of the old world, the future of your life, everything changes. And Father, how grateful we are. We don't have to beg, we don't have to plead, we don't have to wonder, we don't have to doubt. We just know that everything You've said is absolutely the truth.

Everything changes for all eternity, and we are grateful beyond our ability to express thanksgiving in Jesus' name, amen. Thank you for listening to part two of Seeking the Lord. If you'd like to know more about Charles Stanley or In Touch Ministries, stop by intouch.org. This podcast is a presentation of In Touch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia.