A New Year’s Resolution That God Will Accept

Jeremiah 29:13-14 says, “And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. I will be found by you, says the LORD…” The Lord in His mercy and grace spoke to the children of Israel even while being carried off in their captivity. That’s right, they were in captivity! Think of it – God’s people in bondage? Why? How could this possibly be? What happened?

Here it is…it was because of their constant rebellion and disobedience towards God. You can’t say that God didn’t try to warn them. You can’t say that He didn’t tell them what would happen if they would not heed the warnings sent by God! He repeatedly reached out to His own through the true prophets (pastors) of God. But Israel (Old Testament church) wouldn’t listen. Imagine that! They wouldn’t listen! They did their own thing, went their own way, worshiped false gods, and disobeyed the Word of the Lord. A remnant of God’s people stayed true, but most did not. Therefore, the Lord had no other choice than to chasten His people by allowing the Chaldeans (Babylonians) to take His people captive.

But in our text, the Lord was telling His people that if they will seek Him, and search for Him with all their heart, He will be found by them! That’s what God yearns for! He desires for His people to seek Him with all their heart! There are so many things these days pulling our hearts in different directions. But the one thing God desires is for His people to seek Him! That’s right! Seek Him! Run after God! Serve Him with every fiber of your being, holding nothing back! Give Him your all! Love Him! Adore Him! Live for Him! Cry out to Him!

Several times in Psalm 119 the psalmist used the term, “whole heart.” Psalm 119:10 says, “With my whole heart I have sought You; Oh, let me not wander from Your commandments!” Here we see a deep expression of a heart (soul) that desires more of God. He also has a deep yearning for the Scriptures, not wanting to drift away from God’s Word. He wants to know the Word of God, live by it, and never to wander away from it.

We see this again by the Psalmist in Psalm 119:34, “Give me understanding, and I shall keep Your law; indeed, I shall observe it with my whole heart.” Again, we see the terrific expression of love and deep devotion to God and His Word!

Psalm 119:145 says, “I cry out with my whole heart; Hear me, O LORD!” Here we have a desperate cry for more of God! I believe the church today as we know it has lost its heart cry for more of God. We have so many luxuries of our time that we’ve misplaced the one thing that’s needed most – a desperate, loving cry for God’s presence! Oh, how we need His presence! May we have the cry of Moses when he said, “Show me Your glory!”

What do we have today in the modern church? We have money, prestige, fame, status, wealth, popularity, talent, sophistication, and a multiplicity of modern conveniences! But we can no longer do what Peter and John did and spontaneously pray for a lame man to be healed by the power of God! Oh, dear God in heaven, how we need Your presence and power to once again fall upon the church of the living God!

Truth be told, we have popularity, but without power! We have status, but without the Spirit of God! We have the flavor of Pentecost, but without the Holy Ghost! We will take God, but don’t ask us to change! We want the modern conveniences, but without conviction! Is this not true? Do you not feel the Spirit of God bearing witness within your heart? Do you not sense the spiritual depravity that has fallen upon the church in the recent decades?

God is looking for is for His people to seek Him with a whole heart. I do believe that whatever it is we want bad enough, we will find a way to get it. If there’s a will, there’s a way! If we want God, then we will seek Him. If want His presence, we will seek Him! If we want His will, we will seek Him!

I’ve never seen such indifference towards God like today! We need revival! We need a fresh baptism in the Holy Ghost and fire! We need a spiritual awakening that will bring us out of our religious stupor and put a fresh fire and faith in our hearts that will reignite the church with a renewed love and hunger for God!

I can hear people saying, “Doesn’t the pastor know that we’re busy people and have many responsibilities?” “We just don’t have the extra time to seek God’s face.” “Why is he always trying to get me to spend more time with God?”

The truth is, Christians with this attitude of heart will always find themselves distressed, frustrated, powerless and mediocre. This is exactly what we are seeing today among denominations! God is looking for His church to once again rise to the great call of seeking Him! There must be within each of us a desperate cry for God!

If we would have a true, authentic, genuine, sincere heart cry for the Lord, I do believe we just might witness a great move of God! Healings, miracles and refillings with the Holy Ghost would be evident within our services. There would be a great renewal in our hearts! There would be a rekindled love and devotion towards God.

When we seek God, we will be found by Him! He will hear our cry! He will answer our prayers! He will comfort our hearts! Time seeking God is never time wasted! I invite you, starting right now, and for this coming year of 2023, to join me in seeking God’s face together both corporately and individually! Will you, do it? Will you make the commitment? Resolve in your heart right now a renewed devotion to God and see what happens. You won’t be sorry you did. This will be a New Year’s resolution that God will undeniably accept. – Pastor Mark