Are You Searching?

FOCUS TEXT

Matthew 7:7-11

“Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for bread, will give a stone? Or if the child asks for a fish, will give a snake? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him!

Jeremiah 29:11-13

For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope. Then when you call upon me and come and pray to me, I will hear you. When you search for me, you will find me; if you seek me with all your heart.

DAILY BYTE

Yesterday, Sunday the 17th of July, I had the privilege of preaching at the 1 p.m. worship service at Manning Road Methodist Church. I was greatly blessed to see how God’s people at that worship service responded to an altar call. Seeing God’s people come before God in search for God’s blessing while praying on their knees is an experience that I will never forget. Hearing God’s people praying in eager expectation of God’s glory was very inspiring. This experience has taken me to reflect on how all of us search for God and for the things of God. Thus, I would like for us to focus, during this week, on how to search for God effectively.

In today’s text we hear the voice of Jesus telling us to search. Jesus promises us that if we do search, we will find. We also hear God’s voice through the prophet Jeremiah. God tells us that if we seek God with all of our hearts we will find God. Dear sisters and brothers in Christ, it is time to search for God. Why? There are many reasons why we must seek God. But I sincerely believe that the most important reason and the most valid reason why we must seek God is simply because God is there to be found! We believe in a God who has made God’s-self available to us through Jesus Christ. We believe in a God invites us to search for God’s face. A God who tells us today that if we knock on the door, the door will be opened, that if we ask, we will receive, and that if we search, we will find. A Good who tells you today: “I know the plans that I have for you, plans to do you good and to grant you a future with hope. Seek for me and you will find me.” Let us search for our God with our whole hearts. Let us call for our God and pray to our God. Our God is there to be found!

PRAY AS YOU GO

Father, we praise you for Jesus Christ through whom you have made yourself available to us. We call for you God, we need you. It is to you that we pray… we hunger and thirst for you. Come, and satisfy us. Feed us with your bread of life and give us of your living water. It is our heart that seeks after you who are our hope. We pray that through your Holy Spirit you guide us into your plans for us and that you allow our hopeful future to become a tangible reality. Amen.