How to Seek God First in Your Life
“Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice. Look to the LORD and his strength; seek his face always.” ~ Psalms 105:3-4 NIV
One of the most beautiful walks on the faith journey is learning how to seek God first in your life. The truth is that the cost is high, but the presence and power of the Holy Spirit in your life is worth every second, minute, and hour spent seeking God first.
I am not sure if you are like me or not, but I am one of those people that just want to know how to do something. Just tell me how to do it, and I will get it done. When I first began maturing in my walk with God, I just wanted to know how to seek God first in my life. I learned very quickly that there was no formula to put God first in my life, but there were some important pillars in my spiritual walk that needed to be placed before I could seek God first.
If you want to know how to seek God first in your life, then you must hold onto these four pillars in your spiritual walk:
- A pure heart
- Humility
- Prayer
- Faith
How to Seek God with Your Whole Heart
“You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” ~ Jeremiah 29:13 NIV
“But if from there you seek the LORD your God, you will find him if you seek him with all your heart and with all your soul.” ~ Deuteronomy 4:29 NIV
The key phrases in Jeremiah 29:13 and Deuteronomy 4:29 include “with all your heart” and “with all your soul.” So, what do these phrases mean about your whole heart? What happens when just a little of our heart is contaminated with sin and darkness?
My children and I have severe food allergies to dairy, gluten, and/or eggs, so cross-contamination is a sensitive and real topic. My husband and I ate at a restaurant with another couple. I was very careful to order my salad without croutons. When the salad was served, guess what it had on it? You are right! There were croutons on the salad. I asked the server to return the salad explaining that I could not take the croutons off and eat the salad. If there was a small trace of contamination, the whole salad would cause me to become sick.
Our hearts are just like the salad. If one little bit of sin or darkness creeps into the heart, then we cannot seek God with a whole heart or a whole soul. A whole heart is a pure heart without sin and darkness.
A whole heart is a pure heart.
To seek God with your whole heart, you must first allow God to purify your heart by confessing sin through repentance. 1 John 1:9 NIV says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” Then, our hearts are free from the contamination of sin and darkness and ready for the fullness of the presence of God.
Spend a few minutes in prayer today, and ask God to reveal any sin and darkness that you may need to confess. Find a trusted friend to confess your sins because the Bible says that we should confess our sins to others and pray for others. Then hold on to the promise in Matthew 5:8 NIV, which says, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.”
How to Seek God First in Your Life
“Seek the LORD, all you humble of the land, you who do what he commands. Seek righteousness, seek humility; perhaps you will be sheltered on the day of the LORD’s anger.” ~ Zephaniah 2:3 NIV
A friend came to me recently to tell me that I was about to begin a new ministry through the eyes of a program and not through God’s eyes of discipleship. I listened to her and was thankful that she felt comfortable saying all the things that she said. You see, she was right! She even said I was very amenable to what God wanted. Just so you know, in my younger years, I would have become very defensive and taken every single word she said personally. I used to have a problem with pride, but seeking humility changed my heart and soul. Humility was the key to seeking God first in my life.
Seeking Humility
According to Philippians 2:3 NIV, humility means to “value others above yourselves.” Humility looks like listening rather than defending yourself when you are wrong, admitting your faults, and loving others with gentleness and patience. It is also about taking on the role of a servant rather than operating like royalty.
In prayer, ask God to show you some ways that you have wrongly defended yourself or failed to admit your faults. Ask God to show you how much He loves you so that you can love others with gentleness and patience through a servant’s heart.
How to Seek God in Prayer
“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” ~ Matthew 7:7 NIV
Matthew 7:7 is not an ordinary Bible verse, it is a promise. The promise God makes in this verse is that if you seek him through prayer, you will find him. In How to Make a Powerful Prayer List, we teach how to make a powerful prayer list by using scripture to pray regularly and persistently. Seeking God through prayer is the same: you must pray regularly and persistently. Then, you can expect that He will come.
How to Seek God through Faith
“And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” ~ Hebrews 11:6 NIV
Faith brings the expectation that God will come once you have repented, sought humility, and pursued Him in prayer. God keeps his promises, and faith is believing that every promise God makes in the Bible is true. You will not only find God if you seek Him, but He will also reward you with the presence and power of the Holy Spirit for earnestly seeking Him.
Dear friend, make the decision today to seek God first in your life. If you wonder how to seek God first in your life, continue to pursue Him with repentance, humility, prayer, and faith.
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