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When
I walked into church that Sunday evening, I wasn't seeking after God,
but His Spirit was certainly pursuing me. My only motivation for going
to church that night was to be with my girlfriend. Her father said that
if I didn't go to church, then I couldn't see his daughter. That was an
easy choice. I went to church. I was taken by surprise that evening
when something began to stir in my heart. I became convinced of my
guilt and shame before a holy God, and I was strangely drawn to seek forgiveness through Jesus.
After coming to Christ and experiencing His grace being applied to my heart, I was consumed with a desire to know Him more. I began to seek after Christ. The very fact that I wanted to know Him was a result of His initial pursuit of me. Herein, lies a great truth for the Christian - our pursuit of God is simply the fruit of His pursuit of us. We must never forget that the only reason that we even desire to know Him is because He first loved us and gave Himself for us. We seek Him because He sought us.
Our victory is an extension of His victory achieved in our hearts. In order to walk in and maintain that victory, we must earnestly pursue God. Jesus said, "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you" (Matt. 7:7 NIV). The verb tense in the Greek language connotes a continuous asking and seeking. In other words, we are to pursue God. There ought to be an intense desire to know God intimately.
There are two ways in which we need to pursue God. First, we need to pursue Him in prayer. It's in the intimate quiet moments alone with Him that we ought to "ask, seek, and knock." The passage in Matthew chapter 7 is a prayer passage. We are asking, seeking and knocking when we come into His presence in prayer. Many Christians only ask for handouts when they pray. They are not interested in seeking God's face. They are more interested in seeking His hand. The hand of God is wonderful. But nothing can compare with the face of God.
When we seek the hand of God, we are wanting Him to do something for us. When we seek the face of God, we are desiring to get to know Him. It's this desiring to know Him intimately that is the pursuit of God. Our heart's desire and number one priority in prayer ought to be to have fellowship with God. Sadly, few Christians approach prayer in this manner.
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