Stalking Jesus…
Jeremiah 29:13 You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.
Have you seen my (fill in the blank)?
I’ve looked EVERYWHERE!
Everywhere?
How about where you left it?
And don’t forget to look UNDER all the stuff you’ve since laid on top!
Every parent, across the world, in every generation has been asked and has answered this question… thousands upon thousands of times…
The same is true for God. We whine that He isn’t answering our cries… We throw a hissy fit that includes declaring our foolishness of unbelief… We search in the corners… we search in the man-made places of worship… and we search in the “Rock Stars” of Christianity and the concerts they play at. We read all about Him in the pages of every book written by the Paparazzi showing what He’s done for others and plan our strategy to corner Him when He comes out of hiding… the hiding place we have prepared for Him… the place under all those layers and layers of things we use to cover our need for Him.
And we still claim we can’t find Him.
Maybe we really don’t want to find Him… or maybe… we want to find Him ONLY if it requires little effort and NO, NADA, ZIP commitment to participate in keeping Him found. Is there an APP for Him? Can I just enter my zip code and have a little pin show me where He is and the three routes to get to Him? And once found… I want Him to stay where I put Him… in the little box I call religion!
Don’t mess with me, Jesus! I am ready, willing, and able to throw a tantrum… and I will do it in a heartbeat rather than facing the truth about You, me, and my old nature. I don’t want to hear the bad news of mankind (of which I DO NOT DESERVE the same politically incorrect lies about my ways). I refuse to embarrass myself in front of all those just like me, looking for a way to escape the true judgement of God, our Creator. So, if I find You, we need to keep it all anonymous… Shhh!
So… I have to ask you… I know you’ve searched (at least once – for a minute)… but…
What was/is the condition of your heart?… when you search for Me with all your heart.
Have you assessed your heart? Have you stood before the truth, cast all your desires aside, and asked Jesus to come to you? Come, Lord, come… as YOU are! Have you asked and asked and asked with a desire that builds with each asking? A desire, whose flame can not be extinguished no matter how many ways and means to avoid are applied.
In my life, I KNOW there have been times that I have asked in a whisper, hoping He didn’t hear me. I KNOW there have been times He has been there and rather than jumping into His arms, I have turned my back because I didn’t want to hear. I KNOW there are times when I purposely look in all the wrong places so I can lie to myself and others that He didn’t come!
Oh, it is with my whole heart… but what does my heart want?
Jeremiah 29:14 I will be found by you,’ declares the Lord,
And here… is the crux of the whole dilemma of our heart… He will be found! But at what cost to our heart?
Jeremiah 29:12 Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.
He promises to LISTEN… But He can no more change His nature than I can overpower Him and make Him into the idol of my dreams.
Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.
He will listen… But He will act according to His will because it is PERFECT.
1 Corinthians 13:11 When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, reason like a child; when I became (an adult) I did away with my childish things.
This world is FILLED with children! Children who play everyday, all day long with the toys and dolls of a world created in our imaginations. We bully each other on our playgrounds and we declare victories in our constant game of King/Queen of the hills. We stomp our feet and yell to be heard over any and all competition. We say, “Yes ma’am” and “No sir” and snicker because SOMEDAY we will be the one in charge. We have no intention of our obedience, we intend to make every way, OUR WAY. We intend to manipulate people, places, and things to OBEY US. When we come up against the pain of reality, we grieve… we wail… we suffer!
Because the reality is… Romans 8: the whole of creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. And NOT because our Creator wanted it this way! But because we get to choose. Because true love is not based on slavery… true love is solely based upon not only the willingness to love but the commitment to love and the actions of love in the midst of our rejection of our Lover. We CHOOSE who we love and we CHOOSE to receive or reject the love we are given. And we CHOOSE to give or withhold our love in return… Free Will… the gift of our creator God to every man, woman, and child.
And, when in our childishness, we handed it over to our enemy who then became the Prince of our earth… God refused to allow His creation to suffer for eternity.
John 3:16-17 For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.
However, the God of this kind of love, would never allow His children to continue in the childishness of a world that is now not their home. The God of love would “Train them up”… Our God of love would make them His own…
Romans 8:15 – 17 For (we) have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but (we) have received a spirit of adoption as sons… and daughters… by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ,
He listens… then He loves us!
Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.
So…
If you say you’ve sought God but He hasn’t answered…
If you say you want to find God…
If you say it must be God who doesn’t want to be found…
You haven’t STALKED Jesus!
Jesus IS… Jesus is God’s plan for your life… Jesus says… “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.”
That’s the GREAT news!
He will be found… but you will have to grow up and KNOW THE TRUTH… You will have to give up your version of Jesus and pursue… STALK… the great I AM!
The good news… when you STALK the TRUTH…
John 8:32 you will know the truth (Jesus) and the truth (Jesus) will make you free.
In this case, stalking is the only way to go!
**All Scripture quoted comes from the “Bible Gateway” app and is the NASB version of the Bible