Diligently Seek Him

Diligently Seek Him

by Lahry Sibley, Sr.

John 17:17 Sanctify them [purify, consecrate, separate them for Yourself, make them holy] by the Truth; Your Word is Truth.(Amplified Bible)

Heb 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please and be satisfactory to Him. For whoever would come near to God must [necessarily] believe that God exists and that He is the rewarder of those who earnestly and diligently seek Him [out]. (Amplified Bible)

Jesus, the Son of God ever sought fellowship with the Father from infancy to ascension. When He was not busy obeying the Father, He was alone with Him seeking Him for what to do next. This was His lifestyle. This seeking and obeying was and is a key to His success in ministry as the God/Man. It is the key to our success, not as man defines success, but as God defines it.

Success in the kingdom of God is to be separated by Him for Himself. That is what the Lord prayed above for His disciples, that the Father would separate the disciples for Himself (2 Cor 6:17). Those who are so separated, or set apart (sanctified) are done so by the revelation of Truth and God empowered obedience to it.

God’s Word is Truth. To be separated for Him by Him is to become a “saint”, a “called out one”. It happens not at a burning bush. It happens by and through the revelation of His Word. He said “the Holy Spirit will lead us and guide us into all truth”. It is a work of God, front to back, start to finish. However, God does not force feed us. We have to cooperate and obey.

Heb 11:6 says that without “faith” it is impossible to please God. Religion is all about man’s understanding and man’s futile attempts to please God. Nowhere does it say that without “works” it is impossible to please God. Faith pleases God. Faith in the Father, and in His great love for us as revealed through the life and sacrifice of His Son Jesus. It is by faith that we begin to reap the rewards of being in the family of God. When we begin to diligently seek Him, God begins a work of reward in us.

Heb 11:6 - But without faith [it is] impossible to please [him]: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and [that] he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

These rewards are not of this world. Jesus did not slip away to be alone with the Father for the rewards of this world. The reward of God is the revelation of Himself (Gen 15:1). It begins with faith, faith comes by hearing, hearing by the Word of God. (Rom 10:17)

So we begin to see a flower of truth blossom here. God Himself, His Son, and His people, all united in one Holy accord by the Word of His Truth; and the revelation of His life begins to shine in us and through us as His Word and His truth take hold in our hearts and we begin to become separated from this world and find true rewards that can only be found in His kingdom.

So I must ask myself have I been seeking Him or have I been seeking His rewards? In all honesty, must you ask yourself the same question? Personally, I don’t like the answer I had for me. You may not like the answer that comes to mind for your question about you. That’s ok. It only means that we both need to right the course and get back into the flow of God instead of the struggle of man. God never struggles. Men who know God do not struggle. Encounter difficulties? Oh most certainly. But we struggle not.

I’ve made up excuses for my lack of obedience to the leading of His Holy Spirit. I’ve found substitutes for His Truth that satisfied the desires of my flesh. I have tragically fallen short of the Glory of His Majestic Truth and the loss of reward is beyond description or measure. It is a loss that cannot and will not be recovered because of the loss of opportunity that could have been mine but sadly will not ever be again. Because to me, like so many countless others, there was a way that “seemed right”, but its end has no reward, no true inner contentment, no peace, no joy, no presence of His glory in the way of my own choosing that “seems right”. I often knew to do good, but did not do it….sin!

See, I’ve fallen short because I’ve left His Way and have chosen a way of my own design and determination. It’s nothing new really. Did not Aaron and the Hebrew children fashion a “way” (golden calf) that was not His Way? (Ex 32:24)

What is His Way? John 1:1 says that “in the beginning was the Word”. That means that before all else as we know and understand it, the Word was, His Word of Truth. John says that “the Word was with God and the Word is God”. Then just down the page, He states the Truth of God revealed to man, “and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). Who is this “Word that became flesh”? Is it not the Christ%