ARE WE SEEKING THE LORD WITH ALL OUR HEARTS?

"I will be found by you, says the LORD,
and I will bring you back from your
captivity; I will gather you from all
the nations and from all the places
where I have driven you, says the LORD,
and I will bring you to the place from
which I cause you to be carried away
captive" Jeremiah 29:14

Something wonderful happens when we seek the Lord with
all our hearts. He begins a restoration. It hasn't
happened yet? How much is "all"? 50%? 80%? 99%? 100%?
I know for some this seems hard, but it is the way of
the Lord. He requires all. When you buy a car, do you
buy the wheels only? Ok, how about the wheels and the
frame? No? You mean you want all of it? With a full
tank of gas, too? You even want air in the tires? Of
course you do. You want to drive down the street with
the knowledge that you own a car -- lock, stock, and
barrel. The same goes for the computer you just bought.
You didn't just buy an Intel processor. You bought all
the components. You bought the fancy case, the monitor,
the speakers -- every thing that makes it run. See what
I mean?

When Jesus paid the price for your ransom, He bought
all of you, not just an arm and a leg. He bought your
body, your soul (composed of you mind and emotions),
and your spirit. He paid for it all and that's what
He wants. Let's go back to that shiny new car for a
moment. Let's suppose that you drive it home and see
a dent on the hood. Now it's no big dent, but it's
noticeable to you. What do you do? You drive it back
to the dealer and want it repaired. Why? You bought
a new car and you want it to look new. A little later,
you hear a tick in the engine. You repeat the process
for the same reason. It's a new car and you want to
keep it that way.

Jesus expects nothing less. Unfortunately, we tend
to want to keep parts of ourselves for our own use.
Won't work. Can't happen. If we want all the promises,
we must keep all the conditions. And look at those
promises: restoration of fortunes, restoration of
lands, restoration of freedom. Joel (chapter 2) adds
a few others: restoration of all that the cankerworm
and locust have destroyed, new crops, new wine and
much more. All that in exchange for the right of
ownership. "Sure," you say, "but it's easier said
than done." Indeed it is. It's a process. It begins
with a determination of the heart to seek God, to be
totally yielded to Him. It grows as we give more and
more of ourselves. It finds it's fulfillment in our
total obedience.

Fortunately, Jesus is willing to let us yield a piece at
a time. He is patient. He will grant us partial fulfillment
for partial dedication. With that in mind, we need to begin
today to yield ourselves. We need to continue
tomorrow and the day after that and the week
after that and the month after that and the
year after that -- until we have attained a
measure of maturity. If we do this, we will
see the restoration begin and amplify day by
day. Oh, it may not be in the form in which we
want to see it, but it will be there. We may
not see it today, but we will see it as time
goes by. Trust me on this. God has promised it.
Let it happen to you! Hallelujah, Amen and Amen.