Three Ways to Seek God with Your Whole Heart

1. Dear Jesus, What Are Our Goals Together?

What are the ways that God is leading you to grow spiritually? What lessons is He prompting you to learn? How is He showing you spiritual difficulty that you might combat?

First, meditate on a passage about laying your life down for the Lord, such as Romans 12:1, which says: “Therefore I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God — this is your true and proper worship.” Think about the ways you can commit your path to the Lord.

Second, make a list of what God brings into your heart and mind.

Here are some ideas of spiritual goals:

- Read through the Bible in a year

- Read through the New Testament in a year

- Set aside time in the morning for prayer

- Memorize more Scripture

- Make it a point to pray for others’ spiritual walks with Jesus

- Determine to analyze each piece of entertainment you consume, comparing it against Scripture

- Form new spiritual habits, such as rejecting legalism in favor of God’s marvelous grace, or rejecting licentiousness by remembering that Jesus is calling you to holiness

- Set aside personal times of worship

- Fast for a period of time each week

- Fight against a particular sin

If the Lord is leading you to grow, to make pledges to Him, and to delve into more of His grace, here is where you can document that with Him.

2. Dear Jesus, Where Are We Going Together?

What is the movement of your relationship with the Lord? What new spiritual truths can you move toward with Him?

First, meditate upon how your life is not your own, but you are moving in spiritual directions with Christ being in charge of you and your movement. Think of Galatians 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. And the life that I now live in my body, I live by faith, indeed, by the faithfulness of God’s Son, who loved me and gave himself for me.” This verse indicates that we are no longer independent people, but God-dependent people. We are looking to Him for the direction of our lives.

Second, make a list of where God is moving your spirit. Have faith that what He sets out to do in you, He is able to accomplish.

Here are some ideas of spiritual movement with the Lord:

- Moving into the arms of Jesus for comfort in difficulty

- Moving away from spiritual temptations (list them)

- Drawing your heart into a direction of purity (meaning, having Jesus as your controlling desire)

- Drawing near to God for healing in a specific way or for a specific area of your life

- Opening some of the hardened areas of your heart with Him

- Fellowship with Him at the table of grace

- Binding yourself to Him with renewed commitment

- Laying yourself down as a living sacrifice to Him, holy and pleasing to God

- Open your heart to mourn sins that you are just now noticing

If the Lord is moving your spirit in certain ways, here is where you can write those particular movements of your heart.

3. Dear Jesus, What Joys Can We Anticipate Together?

One of my favorite ways to think about my relationship with the Lord is to anticipate joys together.

First meditate upon the joy that relationship with God brings into your life. I think of Psalm 16:11, “You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” God wants you to know that a fruit of His Spirit within you is joy in Him. So, how can you taste of that joy? How can you anticipate more of that joy in Jesus? Take some time to ask Him.

Second, make a list of the ways you long to experience more of the joy of the Lord in your heart.

Here are some ideas of joys to anticipate as you seek the Lord:

- More fully understanding what it means to be the Bride of Christ, in close relationship with Him

- Increased fruits of the Spirit apparent in your life

- Seeing answers to prayer for a heart that is devoted to the Lord

- Enjoying His felt presence during times of prayer

- Feeling the illumination of the Scriptures to your heart — God speaking straight into your life from the inspired Word of God

- Letting go of the world to have more of Christ

- Resting with Jesus on Sundays

- Learning to love righteousness and hate wickedness like Jesus does

- Turning your eyes to the heavens and heavenly realities

- Being filled with hope that you belong to another eternal land

If you are longing to experience the joys of the Lord in a particular way, here is where you can record those desires of your heart.

Jesus is highly pleased when we seek Him by faith. He wants to be bound up closely with us. He wants our days, our hearts, our inward movements, our activities, our longings, and our thoughts to be more and more closely reflecting a Spirit-led life. The Holy Spirit brings to mind truths as we seek God, and the Holy Spirit illumines the truth to our hearts as we read the Word. So, having faith and being led by the Spirit, we can lay out the foundations of our walks with Jesus and see where we are going and all that we are anticipating with Him.

Enjoy your relationship with the Lord. It is such a gift that the God of the universe would interact with our spirits and lead our spirits — is it not? I don’t want to lose sight of how precious it is that we can fellowship with God; I want to draw near to Him all the more.

As I consider these ways of seeking the Lord and keeping Him at the forefront, there is such joy in defining and considering the contours of our relationship. I imagine looking back at these goals and pursuits together and rejoicing at how far we’ve come. Use these questions and ideas to refresh your relationship with the Lord, remembering that He is leading you all the way.

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Lianna Davis is author of Keeping the Faith: A Study in Jude and Made for a Different Land: Eternal Hope for Baby Loss. She is also a contributor to We Evangelicals and Our Mission with Cascade Books. Lianna is a graduate of Moody Bible Institute and a student at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. She lives in Illinois with her husband and daughter. You can learn more about her writing at her website.