Stuck In A Shuttle

Look for Him

Jeremiah 29:13 New Living Translation (NLT)

13 If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me.

When I was younger, I loved playing hide and seek. I think I was very good at it. I'd search for my friends like a geologist would search for gems. I looked in all places behind my mother's house. I'd look in the garden, and I'd move the little flowers without damaging mama's ornamental plants.

 I loved playing hide and seek. It made me work. It made me think. Now that I think about it in retrospect, I might as well been a detective. I never had any guns or weapons, but I searched and I found.

God is not playing hide and seek with anyone. Regardless, He wants to be found. If we are going to find Him, we need to search for Him. He says, we will find Him, we just have to look. God is everywhere. He is in the atmosphere. He is found in the word. He is in our hearts. When we search and seek Him, we ought to know that we are going to find Him.

Our search for God has to mean something to us. If He is our first love, we are obligated to finding Him. It's not enough just searching, we have to find Him. This kind of search needs our preparation. We need gadgets. We need tools. We need to research. We need to plot a plan on how well to find God. 

God has given us the word of God and given us the Holy Spirit. Jesus Christ needed to leave in order that someone else took over. He left us with the spirit of God. He told us, we'd have a gentleman guiding us and leading us everywhere we'd need to go. When He left, He had a plan for the events that would occur after His departure. He had the Holy Spirit in mind. He knew we needed someone to help us. He knew we'd need comfort. He knew we'd need a teacher. Jesus Christ left us with all we'd ever need. The Bible calls Him the High priest. He stands in proxy for us in heaven. He represents us. He speaks up for us. He speaks to promote us. He speaks to provide for us. He speaks to protect us. 

Luke 5:16 New Living Translation (NLT)

16 But Jesus often withdrew to the wilderness for prayer.

Jesus created an environment on which He'd find God. He created an online chat. It wasn't church nor was it corporate prayer. He was alone with God. Jesus discovered the secret of finding God. He did it every day and regularly. He isolated Himself from the busyness of the day and stayed in seclusion praying to God. 

He only secluded Himself when He needed to be alone with God. He wasn't shopping. Jesus built a personal prayer life. He created a channel that attuned Him to hearing the voice of God. That kind of thing can only happen between you and God. You have the power to create a channel where only you and God meet. No one else is entitled to having access,except you. It's a sacred line. 

Alone time with God is special. I know that even when we pray at church with other folks, God still pays attention to each of us. Sometimes I'd get distracted and dissolve in the magnitude of the massive prayer that my church kinfolk would offer. If you have ever been charismatic, you know what I'm talking about. This is not to say, praying at church isn't necessary. It's very important. My emphasis is on having a personal prayer life. 

In the Old Testament, the men that were greatly inspired by God were the men that offered themselves to God in prayer. Prayer is an offering. God gives responsibilities to men that pray. In fact, every human being is obligated to pray. When we don't pray, we ignore the responsibility of maintaining our relationship with God.

It took Jacob alone time with God to change His entire identity. His family had to leave. He needed an environment on which to meet God. (See Genesis 32:24)He had to send his family away just to have a special touch from God. Now don't you go chasing your family members away, the important thing is building a prayer life that involves God.

 Jesus, on many occasions sought God early in the morning. He made a commitment to God. If we are going to find God, we need to commit ourselves to Him. As we commit more of our beings to Him, we'll need to make more sacrifices. Especially, sacrificing a few hours of sleep to get in touch with Him.

 There is no way you'd sacrifice your sleeping time and not have a blessing from God. Each time we meet God, we are transformed. The more that we have light shining in us, the more that the darkness leaves. Now it may not look like a change is happening. To begin with, we won't feel anything. Wouldn't it be awesome to have our eyes covered with speckles after a moment with God? Boy that would rock! There's no telling that you had a meeting with the Most High. That should not stop us from praying. The change occurs in our spirit. Our bodies and souls may still be lagging behind but as we seek Him more, before we know it, we would have been saved from ourselves. We would have been saved from self-destruction.