Pursuing God

Church Growth Magazine
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Peggy Kannaday
1 Peter 3:11-13
King James Version (KJV)
11 “Let him eschew evil, and do good; let him seek peace, and ensue (pursue) it.
12 For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and His ears are open unto their prayers: but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil.
13 And who is he that will harm you, if ye be followers of that which is good?”

Pursuing God is no longer an option or a luxury of the top spiritual leaders in the Body of Christ.  It has become a requirement for all true Christians in order to avoid all deception from the enemy and his servants who seem to be working around the clock with overtime.

The pursuit of our God, His holiness and His Truth will make the difference between our salvation and our being led to the slaughter by the prince of lies.
He always comes as an angel of light, and he always deceives those who are not walking hand in hand, mind to mind and heart to heart with our glorious Savior and Lord Jesus Christ.

One of the definitions in the Greek for dioko,  which is: the term  for the verb pursue means to:
:” to seek after eagerly, earnestly endeavor to acquire”.  In the Vines Expository Dictionary pursue means to seek after eagerly.
In the Spiritual realm; it will be crucial to pursue the real, true, living God, the Creator of the universe in order to overtake, capture, kill or defeat the enemy of our souls, satan, lucifer, the devil and all of his principalities, powers and strongholds that are trying to take over the world and everything in it.

In Jesus Christ, we Christians have been given all authority over the enemy of our souls in order to overtake him, capture his illegal territory gained, and to defeat all of his evil works.  To pursue God is to seek Him and His righteousness first, and then to pursue the enemy is to take back the territory that he has confiscated from God’s people.

The Bible tells us to love God with all of our hearts, minds, souls and strength, and to Seek His Kingdom First and His righteousness first, and then all the other things will be added unto us (Matthew 6:33,” But seek ye first the Kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you”.

Each and every day we need to pursue God, as we work out our own salvation with fear and trembling.   Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling “For it is God that worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure” (Philippians 2:12-13).

Our salvation is both positional and progressive.  We need both methods of becoming sanctified, which is to become holy, as our Lord is holy.

We must not be passive in our pursuit of God daily.  He is always doing His part, but our part is to seek Him with all of our hearts and pursing Him through prayer, studying His Word, praising Him, worshiping Him, speaking His Words, seeking His will and His Way, witnessing about Him, and being led by His Holy Spirit.
The Bible says, “Be ye holy as I am holy”.  This is not a suggestion; it is a commandment.  Pursuing God produces holiness, which brings cleansing, sanctification and purity.
David prayed in Psalm 51, “Create in me a pure heart, and renew a right spirit within me.”
We need to ask The Holy Spirit to do His mighty work of revealing our sins of commission and omission to us, so that we can repent, and then He cleanses us from all sin.  We are also to be purified through the Truth.  The Word of God is Truth, and It washes us and sanctifies us; it is the washing of water by The Word.
Some Christians have stopped their pursuit of God after praying the sinner’s prayer.  This is only the beginning of our walk with almighty God.
We will receive as much of Christ and being in Him, as we spend the time and effort in pursuing Him daily.  One day without doing everything heartily unto the Lord can bring some opening for the enemy to use to divert our attention away from the Lord.
If  we think that we can forget about God one day; that could be the day that you make a disastrous decision in your own understanding and you fall.’
David fell, and so we can fall as well.  Even though David repented; it was a long arduous process for him with many losses and much suffering before he was restored unto the Lord.  Falling only takes a split second, but restoration takes  time.
We must Pr.3:5-6, Trust in Him with all of our hearts, and “not” lean on our own understanding, but in all our ways; acknowledge Him and He will direct our paths.”
In short, we need Him every day.  The one day that we decide to do it “our” way, could be the day that you make a wrong choice or decision like David did when he saw Bethsheba.
Every day has a life of its own.  We cannot say we will do this or that in the future, but we are to take one day at a time.  Every day has enough evil of its own, and we must walk closely with our Lord in order to have the power to submit unto The Lord, resist Satan, and then He will flee from us.
If we neglect to put God first each day; the evil of even one day could come upon us.  Satan is like a roaring lion; seeking any Christian he can deceive, trick or devour.  He is working very hard to take as many as he can with him to hell.
Satan works 24/7, and he is always ready to pounce upon the weak, the weary, the wayward and those who are not pursuing God at all times.
What is our goal in pursuing God?  It is to become more and more like Jesus Christ.  He needs to increase, and we need to decrease on a daily basis.
Every day in this lifetime is very important.  This life goes by so quickly, and it is like  vapor compared  to all eternity.
James 4:8 “Draw nigh to God, and He will draw nigh to you”.
The Word of God constantly admonishes the Christians to draw nigh to God.  Pursuing God daily should be our top priority especially in these perilous days.
The only way that we can grow up into the image of Jesus Christ is to pursue
God with all of our hearts 24/7.
The world has every kind of distraction, that pulls us away from our glorious Lord Jesus.  We are bombarded by the temptations of Satan everywhere we go.
That is why our constant pursuit of God must be totally conscious and intentional on a daily basis.
To pursue God must be our daily prayer and objective.  We are to rejoice evermore, pray without seeking and in everything we need to give thanks.  This is the will of God  in Christ Jesus concerning all of us.
If we do the will of God; we will stay close to Him, and we will not go astray and disobey.
Our wonderful Lord Jesus Christ has made His Word so clear and easy to understand.  It is as simple as the song, trust and obey; there is no other way to be happy in Jesus but to trust and obey.
In these last days, it will be imperative to “know” God intimately. Why?  Because there will be so much deceit, deception and lying wonders all around us.  To know the real and authentic Jesus will be our salvation and our protection from all of the lies of satan.
Knowing the real will eliminate our being tricked by the counterfeits that will be manifested in the coming times.  Pursue God with all of our hearts, and stay so close to Him that nothing can get between you and the real Lord Jesus Christ and our awesome King of kings and Lord of lords.
Many false prophets, apostles, pastors, teachers, evangelists will be trying to deceive countless multitudes.  The horrible lies of satan are rampant in the church today in some locations.
Beware, and cling to The Lord Jesus Christ and you will be able to escape the mass deception that is coming upon the earth through the anti-Christ and his system of control, manipulation, lying wonders and deceptions of trickery.
Satan has all kinds of tricks up his sleeve, that he has been using for ages, but always remember that they are sorry copies of the real thing which comes from our Creator, almighty God.
Satan has no power unless he deceives his victims, and that is why we Christians must pursue, The Truth, The Way and The Life daily without interruption.  It is crucial to our very success in this life and in the life to come.
Pursue God with all of your hearts during these end time days.
God will then be able to bring you through to total victory in Him.
Peggy Kannaday has been the Managing Editor for “Church Growth International” since 1991.
The “Church Growth International” is the English Outreach of The Yoido Full
Gospel Church headquartered in Seoul, Korea under the leadership of Senior Pastor Emeritus Yonggi Cho and Senior Pastor Younghoon Lee.
Contact:  chgrint.homestead.com and cgiusahq@yahoo.com