Action Speaks Desire!

A while ago, I heard a girl (on YouTube) say, “The proof of desire is in the pursuit.” When I heard it, I had to pause the video to meditate on that statement. It applies to everything in life when you think about it.

If you want that job, truly want it, you look for ways to make yourself appealing to those hiring. If you’re in a relationship or seeking a relationship with someone, you chase them (hopefully, not in a perverted way or to cause harm), you make yourself “desirable” to that person and ultimately, it applies to your walk with God.

When you love God or want a relationship with Him, you start to pray more; start to read your Word more amongst other things. Basically, you start to pursue Him. It led me to modify that quote into: “The proof of your desire of God is in your pursuit of Him.”

The proof of your desire of God is in your pursuit of Him.

And it’s Biblical. A while ago, I was reading Jeremiah 29:11; the famous scripture about God’s plans for us and something―the Holy Spirit― led me to read further and I found Jeremiah 29:13. I don’t think a Bible verse has ever come at the perfect time to me as that one did.

I was struggling in my relationship with God at that time; it felt like I had plateaued. I wasn’t going deeper with Him and I was stagnant. Deep within, I knew that that wasn’t the bus stop, I knew that there was more to God than what I was aware of but I didn’t know how to go deeper. I also wasn’t aware of the role of the Holy Spirit in my life… a conversation for another time.

That day, I opened my Bible due to a personal exercise to Jeremiah 29:11 and when I found verse 13, I was like, “Hold up, why haven’t I heard of this before?”😂

I read and reread that verse until it stuck and I want to share with you today what I got and understood from it. Jeremiah 29:13[NIV] says, “You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart.”

God gave us the cheat code here to deepen our intimacy with Him and we’ve been sleeping on it. You know how I said a while back I was struggling in my relationship with God? Yeah, during that time, I wasn’t studying my Bible as I used to because, “Well, I’ve been doing it and nothing’s changing, might as well read for reading's sake.” Now, I didn’t say that out loud but that was where my head was at. I cared but didn’t care at the same time. I would say a prayer for routine purposes and then go about my day. There was no intentionality behind my actions.

When I read that Bible verse, things began to change. I became aware of what God was saying in not so many words.

I will only find God when I seek Him with all my heart.

I will only deepen my relationship with Him the moment I choose, regardless of how I feel to pursue Him from the depths of my heart.

Remember when you had a crush on someone, you found them attractive and you wanted to talk to them at all times. It didn’t matter what your friends thought about them, all that mattered was having one-on-one time with them. You’ll go out of your way to do things for them or you’ll stay somewhere you know they will be because then you have the opportunity to spend time with them and if you’re successful, you go to your room later, you find yourself smiling at your interaction with that person. It’s happened to all of us… *I’m looking at you sus by the way😅😏

At that moment, you sought to know the person better. You wanted to have something personal with them; something that was just between the two of you. You were seeking them from your heart―maybe all your heart wasn’t involved but some part of it was and that was why you did what you did.

Now, bringing it back to the Bible verse, we can’t just say we want to know God deeper; more intimately if we don’t know that that desire comes from somewhere in our heart and like that crush you once had, you have to choose to spend time with Him more and set time apart that you know you can have something personal with Him.

God has assured us so many times in the Bible that He is with us; whether we feel like our relationship with Him is there or not. The one truth we can count on is that He is always here for us but like a Lover, our God wants to be pursued, wants to be sought, wants to know we value Him and when He sees that, sees that our hearts are intent on Him, then He comes forth to us in a way we never imagine. The analogy I love to use is: He unfurls Himself like a flower in bloom.

Here in Nigeria, it might be hard to imagine what that looks like because there are not many flowers around us but if you can, check it out on YouTube or Google. When a flower unfurls, it does so in such a beautiful way; one of the incomprehensible creations of our God and that is how He unfurls Himself to us.

But don’t forget, you have to seek Him first. Proverbs 8:17[NIV] says: “I love those who love me and those who seek me find me.” This isn’t to say that God doesn’t love those who don’t love Him. He loves every one of us because we are His creation and He is our Father but the second part of the verse that says, “…and those who seek me find me,” is an assurance given to us by God that when we seek Him we will surely find Him.

Another Bible verse is the one we learned as children in Sunday school; Matthew 7:7[GNT]. It says, “Ask, and you will receive; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you.”

These are all assurances that God has given us right from time about His presence because, at some point in our lives, He knew that there would come a time when we would want to fill that God-shaped hole in our lives. There will come a time when we realize that every other thing isn’t working and only He can help us. Thing is, He’s been here all through our lives. The times we’ve not wanted Him and the times we have. He’s always been present.

Imagine always being present for someone all their lives and they treating you like a second or third option whereas they’re your first option. This is a horrible analogy to use because God is so so good even when we don’t deserve it all. His goodness is still with us. Anyways, consider it. No matter the love you have for them, you know you can’t trust them with every detail of your lives because what if when you need them they disappoint or when you’re going about, you hear that which you told them in secret being spread around in public?

God won’t reveal His mysteries, wisdom and knowledge to someone who won’t treasure it because He won’t cast His pearls before swine (Matthew 7:6). Jesus won’t tell us to do something He didn’t already practice. And true intimacy cannot be developed if there is no knowledge of the other from either side.

What I’m saying or trying to say in simple terms is this: You won’t have intimacy with God if you don’t know Him and you won’t know Him if He doesn’t reveal His truth to you. His truth won’t be revealed if we don’t desire to know Him and act like it.

When I was struggling, I laid on my bed and sometimes, I’d wallow in how there was no true intimacy between me and God and how everyone seemed to be getting things with God right but as for me, I was just stagnant. The thing is I had the desire to know God. I had the desire to deepen my relationship with Him. I just didn’t act like it.

There’s this thing where people giving advice (mostly to girls) say: Don’t listen to his words. Watch his actions. And it’s true, at least in this case. Imagine saying I want to know God more and all I’m doing is scrolling on YouTube, lying on my bed and just there not following my words and desires with actions. I look like a joke but when I say I want to know God deeper and I study my Bible every day, I pray whether I want to or not. I start to surround myself with the things of God like gospel music, Christian podcasts and what have you, then I’m beginning to make sense and look like I mean what I say.

And that is what I mean when I say that your proof of your desire of God is in your pursuit of Him. How much you want God is defined by the actions you take with respect to that desire and not the desire alone.

And the Holy Spirit helps us in this if we let Him. Jesus sent Him to us as our Helper, amongst other things and He helps us in any place we are lacking, in places where we don’t know what to do. When you want to wake up and you find it hard to pray or study the Bible, you ask the Holy Spirit to help you because, by your strength, you can do nothing. On our own (in our flesh), no matter how hard we try, the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak (Matthew 14:38) but by His Spirit, we can do all things.

So the Holy Spirit is our pillar. He is the one who helps us. Even when we read the Bible and we don’t understand, the Holy Spirit reveals to us the mysteries of God hidden in the Bible.

There’s something I must add. Most of us, when we start to match our actions to our desires and things are moving slowly and it seems that little to no progress is being made, we become discouraged and begin to compare our walk with God to everyone’s walk with Him, but remember the flower analogy I used.

The flower doesn’t just unfurl at once. It does so in layers and that is also how God reveals Himself to us. We don’t expect Him to reveal all the hidden mysteries to us the day we begin to commune with Him… The proof of desire is in the pursuit. You continue to pursue Him whether you think you’re gaining anything or not, it speaks of how deeply you want to know Him and how embedded that desire in your heart for Him is.

I heard a story recently of a boy who asked his grandpa why nothing sticks when he reads his Bible. Their family was a coal mining one and they lived near a stream. The grandpa asked the boy to go get one of the bags they used for mining and go to the stream to fetch water to bring it for him. The boy―like many of us would do at that moment―rolled his eyes and did as he was told.

When he got back, there was no water left in the bag. The grandpa asked him to repeat the action two more times and both times, the bag was empty when he got back. When his grandpa was about to send him off again, he said, “Okay, I get it, nothing’s happening.” And the grandpa replied, “You think nothing’s happening because no water is being retained but look inside the bag, it’s clean now.”

When I heard that story, it was a bust my head moment. More often than not, we think nothing’s being achieved or retained in our walk with God, but surely, He’s purifying us from the inside. He’s cleaning up our hearts and when your heart is clean and free from debris, then you start to retain the new things you’re learning.

Much Love,

Uche 🤍

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Did you relate to the crush analogy I used and if so, does it apply to your walk with God?

• Yes, I did and it does apply
• No, I didn't relate to it
• I haven't had a crush before so I don't know *🙄*