With All Your Heart

Then you will call upon Me, and you will come and pray to Me, and I will hear and heed you.
Then you will seek Me, inquire for, and require Me [as a vital necessity] and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. ~ Jeremiah 29:12-13 AMP

Years ago the Lord gave me this illustration...

You're up one morning and you're all ready to head to work. You have everything in hand and you're about to go out the door. All of a sudden you realize you can't find your keys. You throw everything down and frantically start going through the house looking for your keys. You know your car is sitting outside but without those keys, you can't go anywhere. You don't want to be late for work so you are in a desperate search for them.

Then the Lord began to speak to my heart. He began to so sweetly tell me how He wants His children to seek after Him with that same desperation. He wants us to be so dependent on Him that we know we can't take one step without Him. He must be a vital necessity in our lives.

We put so much emphasis on earthly things. People panic if they walk out the door without their cell phone. We depend on so many things that really aren't a necessity. They have just become a priority in our lives. It's not wrong at all to enjoy all the technology and the things that make life much simpler. But we can't afford to put God on the back burner and think our cell phone or any other thing is more important than Him.

Jeremiah 29:13 says that we will find Him when we search for Him with all of our heart. As we begin each day, do we jump out of bed and frantically begin the busyness of the day that awaits us? Or do we slow down just to spend some time with Him before all the craziness begins? He wants to be first in our lives. If we will take the time each day to give Him our undivided attention, our day will go so much smoother! Begin your day with Him. Spend time in His Word and talking to Him. Also take time to listen to what He wants to say to you. You will be surprised at the strength that comes from spending time with Your Father. Don't try to tackle the day all alone. Don't walk out that door without ever acknowledging Him. Start your day with Him and let Him walk with you through everything the day brings. Then you will find joy, peace, and His grace that is sufficient for each day!