Finding God

A prayer in response:

“O Lord, I rejoice in knowing I can find you when I search for you with all my heart. What a wonderful promise you have made in this verse. It is a simple requirement, not like the requirements needed to love you. You have told me to love you with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength; an impossible requirement for me to fulfill. I know I am able to love You in part but not completely and perfectly without ceasing. For I often times find that my affections are not wholly set upon You, but rather torn between you and the things of this world, serving my own desires, or the desires of others without regard for your holiness and your glory; my soul is often times not at rest in you, trusting in You, Your sovereignty, faithfulness and goodness, but is rather full of discouragement, hopelessness, and distress; my mind is often times filled with the thoughts of men and my own opinions that are not in submission to Your written word; and many times my hands seem strong in doing mine own will, but seem to fall weak in pursuing the things that make for righteousness, for doing that which is right and pleasing in Your eyes. I need Your grace, Father, to love you as I ought, if only to show toward You and my neighbor just a taste of that love You have shown me through Your Son, Jesus Christ; who being very God and very man took on Him my sins, including my lack of love for You, to pay the penalty for my sins, and obtain for me, as well for others, the forgiveness of sins, righteousness, salvation and everlasting life. It is only because of His death and resurrection that I can not only have any hope of eternal blessedness together with Him but also by His Spirit know and love You love, if only imperfectly. I thank you Father for Your love that You have given me by the washing and regeneration of the Holy Spirit through Jesus Christ.

“So it is with much relief that You will reveal Yourself to those only search for You with all their heart, with a sincere affection in finding the only true living God, who has revealed Himself in His word. Yet I find myself not even being able to meet this one required prerequisite for finding you, for my heart often strays from desiring you, My God, My Creator, My Savior. I often find my heart is not wholly fixed upon searching for You in Your word and by Your Spirit. And so I need Your grace to so work in me, a sinner with a divided heart, giving me the desire to search for You with my whole heart so that I might find the beauty of Your grace, the joy of Your mercy in Your justice through Jesus Christ, and the love that is unconditional and unearned. Father, let my whole heart search for You and my soul will find rest and hope through Jesus Christ My Lord. Amen!” – Soli Deo Gloria!