When God Says, What If? How Your Purpose Will Impact The World

Chapter 8 - What are you seeking?

All of my life I had it wrong. All of my life I was seeking the wrong things, in the wrong ways and in the wrong places. You know the things that most of us seek. We want to be wealthy, we want an amazing career, we want security, we want to stand out, or maybe we want to be famous. We want to be better than others at something, we want recognition for what we do, and we want to be liked by everyone. On and on we seek after things that we believe will make us happy, make us fulfilled. But one day we wake up and we realize that the things we have sought, achieved and moved on from never brought us to the one thing we were truly after – inner peace. The kind of peace that allows us to sit silently with the knowing that we are living our lives the way they are meant to be lived.

In the Gospel of Matthew 7:7-8 Jesus says, "Keep on asking and it will be given you, keep on seeking and you will find; keep on knocking [reverently] and [the door] will be opened to you. For everyone who keeps on asking receives; and he who keeps on seeking finds; and to him who keeps on knocking, [the door] will be opened." For me, it took many more years than I care to admit, but now I understand that what I am meant to seek is only God and his plan for my life. It was that simple and right there in front of me to see, yet how long did I seek and not find, ask and not receive and knock and not have the door opened?

Sure I had things, I had accomplishments, but the key to what showed me more than anything else that I was not moving in the right direction, was that in each accomplishment, after each new thing I obtained, what was always missing was peace. Sure I had it briefly, I felt good at the highs of accomplishment, but it never lasted. It was fleeting and then I would be seeking it again through something else I thought I had to have to be happy. The problem was, I never understood that real peace, real joy, real happiness was only through Him.

So what are you seeking? What are you asking for? What door are you knocking on? Do you know how you find out? Look at what you are finding and you will immediately see what you have been seeking. Look at your current circumstances, and like it or not, you will see clearly what your mind has been seeking. It is true that we will bring into our lives what we think about the most. I read that scripture so many times before I saw it. When I looked closely at my life, my circumstances, the truth was staring me right in the face. I may have told myself that I was seeking God, seeking peace, but my life told the real story. What circumstances you have in your life will show you exactly what you have been seeking. The bible says that we will reap what we sow. While you may want peace, love, joy, happiness, abundance, if you aren't seeking them through God your life may look a lot like mine did.

We are not meant to live in frustration, pushing our way through the days as if by force, yet at times, many times in my life that is exactly how I was living. I knew that I wanted peace yet my results weren't even close. Even as I began my walk with God it took me many years before I even saw just a flicker of true inner peace. I would get frustrated, I would let fear take over, and then I would be spinning back into my old ways of getting angry and trying to move mountains with sheer force. UGH was I frustrated!

It also wasn't that I didn't have success or accomplishments, because I did. My earthly accomplishments were many. But I now understand that those accomplishments alone never could bring the peace my soul wanted more than anything else. I wanted real peace that comes only from the inner knowing that you are living your destined purpose. Not the life the world says you should live, not some glamorous existence that would make you stand out, but the one life designed uniquely for you by God.

Let me also state that there is nothing wrong with wealth, fame, success or any other earthly accomplishment. I love having money to do nice things for my family and friends, and to be able to be a blessing to those in need. Don't think that I am preaching about poverty, because I know I can do so much more for others out of abundance. Many of my goals have resulted in financial wealth, but what I am saying is that peace will never live in things. God's peace lives in walking through life towards the dreams he has placed in our hearts. It comes from having a strong relationship with Him, and through using our amazing and unique gifts to serve others in love. Abundance is a wonderful result of trusting God, whether abundance in love, kindness, faith, wisdom, prosperity or anything else. God wants us to have a good life, and enjoy the fruits of our labor, but how do we get there from here?