Love RiotSample

Day 5

Seeking Hard…or Hardly Seeking?

Hebrews 4:11-16, 2 Timothy 3:16-17, James 4:7-10, Luke 10:38 – 11:4

How often do we make excuses about our time with God? Over the years, I’ve received messages from frustrated teens saying things like: 

I’ve grown so distant from God. 

I haven’t been reading my Bible, because I feel stuck. 

I don’t know how to genuinely pray. 

These messages always hit close to my heart, because I completely understand. But all our excuses are simply that—excuses. When we say, “I can’t seem to feel God when I pray,” “The Bible never seems applicable to me,” or “I don’t have time to study the Bible and pray,” it’s really just our way of saying, “It isn’t important to me.” We think we’re seeking hard and coming up empty, but in reality, we’re hardly seeking.

It’s hard work to seek God. It requires time and effort. It’s not something we can simply “fit in.” It’s something we have to be intentional about. What does that look like?

There are two major ways to spend time with God: Bible study and prayer. You might think they’re separate, but they’re actually closely connected. Both are channels of communication with God.

Imagine: through prayer, you get to pour out your heart to God. Hebrews 4 tells us we can “come boldly before the throne of grace.” Not only can we come before God, He wants to hear from us! Psalm 116 says God “inclines His ear” when we pray. 

If God inclines His ear to us, shouldn’t we incline our hearts to Him? In Scripture, that’s exactly what we get to do—listen to God’s heart. The Bible is a book about God. That’s why it’s important to read it in its entirety—even parts that are hard to understand—and know it, study it, think about it, memorize it. Like author Jen Wilkin says, “The heart cannot love what the mind does not know.” The Bible is how we come to know God.

Don’t settle for simply knowing a lot about the Bible or recognizing a few random verses—strive to know it in its entirety. Don’t even settle for short devotionals like this and think it’s enough. It’s not. Don’t give God a few rushed minutes before you head out the door—devote the best part of your day to Him. Don’t compromise on your prayer time—be intentional to come before the Father. Seek God hard. Rouse your soul, follow after Him and focus your heart on Him through every day and moment.