Pursuing Hard After God: A Call to Deepen Our Relationship with Him

 

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Key Passage: “My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me.” ~ Psalm 63:8, ESV

Authentic Christianity, at its core, is about one essential pursuit: a passionate, relentless pursuit of God. But what does it truly mean to "pursue hard after God"? Is it simply about seeking Him in moments of crisis, or does it require a daily, committed pursuit that reorients our entire lives toward Him? The Bible is filled with calls to pursue God, but understanding how to actively engage in this pursuit is where the real transformation happens.

In this post, we will explore what it means to pursue God wholeheartedly, the role of God’s sovereign grace in this pursuit, and how we can respond to His call in a way that deeply shapes our lives. We’ll look at scriptural truths, real-world applications, and how to cultivate a personal relationship with God that leads us into a deeper, more vibrant faith.

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The First Step: God's Pursuit of Us

Before we can truly pursue God, we must recognize that it all starts with Him. The reason we seek after God is because He has already sought after us. In fact, the very desire to know God comes from Him. As A.W. Tozer writes in his book The Pursuit of God, "We pursue God because, and only because, He first put an urge within us that spurs us to the pursuit" (2013). This is a powerful truth: We are drawn to God because He first calls us into relationship with Him.

This foundational truth is rooted in Scripture. Jesus Himself tells us in John 6:44, “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him.” This means that our pursuit of God begins with His grace. We cannot take credit for coming to God on our own—His Holy Spirit convicts our hearts, stirs our spirits, and regenerates us. The Apostle Paul explains this in Titus 3:5, saying, "He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of His mercy." God’s pursuit of us is not based on any merit we bring to the table, but solely on His mercy and love.

In Ezekiel 36:26, God promises, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you.” This is the heart of regeneration—the moment when God breathes life into our dead spirits, creating a desire for Him that wasn’t there before. This new heart and spirit enable us to hunger and thirst after righteousness, as described in Matthew 5:6. The pursuit of God is a response to the work He has already begun in us.

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Pursuit: A Response to Grace

To pursue God is to engage in a daily, conscious effort to draw nearer to Him, not because we are earning His love, but because we recognize the immeasurable grace, He has already extended to us. Jesus invites us to pursue Him in Matthew 11:28-30, saying, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”

In this pursuit, we move from spiritual infancy to maturity. The desire to follow hard after God is cultivated through a personal relationship with Jesus, where we learn from Him and rely on His strength. Just as we don’t earn the love of our earthly parents, we don’t earn God’s love or favor—yet, because of His love, we seek Him with our whole hearts. This is not about striving in our own strength, but about aligning ourselves with His will, recognizing that the more we seek Him, the more we will be transformed by Him.

As Tozer writes, “The impulse to pursue God originates with God, but the outworking of that impulse is our following hard after Him.” It is in this ongoing pursuit of God that we experience the fullness of life that He offers. As we draw near to Him, we discover the depths of His love and the riches of His grace.

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What Does it Look Like to Pursue God?

Pursuing God requires intentionality. It means making time for Him, seeking Him with all of our hearts, and aligning our thoughts and actions with His will. It is not a passive waiting for God to move on our behalf—it is an active seeking of His presence, His will, and His heart.

1. Hunger and Thirst for Righteousness

As believers, we are called to hunger and thirst after righteousness (Matthew 5:6). This means that we long for the things of God—the fruits of the Spirit, the life of holiness, the obedience that comes from faith. We are not satisfied with the world’s empty promises, but we desire the fullness that only God can give. This hunger can be cultivated through spending time in His Word, praying earnestly, and allowing our lives to be shaped by His truth.

In Psalm 42:1-2, the psalmist expresses this longing beautifully: “As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.” When we pursue God with this kind of longing, we find that He fills us, and our satisfaction in Him deepens.

2. Prayer and Worship

Prayer is the lifeblood of our relationship with God. Through prayer, we communicate with Him, express our desires, confess our sins, and seek His guidance. Worship, too, is an essential part of pursuing God—it is the act of adoring Him for who He is and responding to His greatness. Both prayer and worship draw us closer to God, enabling us to hear His voice and experience His presence.

In James 4:8, God promises, “Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you.” This beautiful exchange happens when we actively seek God’s presence through prayer and worship, knowing that He will meet us in those moments.

3. Obedience and Faithfulness

Pursuing God also requires obedience to His commands and faithfulness in the small, everyday things. Jesus said in John 14:15, “If you love me, keep my commands.” True pursuit is demonstrated through our willingness to follow God, even when it is difficult. It is not enough to merely desire God; we must actively choose Him, His ways, and His will in our lives.

This pursuit means denying ourselves and taking up our cross daily, as Jesus commanded in Luke 9:23. It’s about saying “no” to the desires of the flesh and “yes” to God’s will. It’s a daily decision to follow Him wherever He leads.

4. Fellowship with Other Believers

Pursuing God is not something we do in isolation. God created us for community. In Hebrews 10:24-25, we are encouraged to “consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another.”

Fellowship with other believers strengthens our pursuit of God. We learn from one another, pray for one another, and hold each other accountable. The body of Christ is a support system that helps us stay focused on the ultimate goal of knowing God more deeply.

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The Power of God's Sovereign Grace

Ultimately, our pursuit of God is only possible because of His grace. We do not pursue Him in order to earn salvation, but because He has already given us the gift of salvation through Christ. As Ephesians 2:8-9 says, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.”

God’s grace not only saves us, but it also sustains us in our pursuit. Without His grace, we could never truly seek Him or draw near to Him. It is through grace that we are enabled to pursue a life of righteousness, faith, and holiness. This grace compels us to keep going, even when the road is hard, because we know that He who began a good work in us will bring it to completion (Philippians 1:6).

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A Call to Pursue God with All Your Heart

So, where do you stand in your pursuit of God? Are you actively seeking Him with all of your heart, or have you grown weary in the journey? The truth is, God desires to be found by you. He is always calling you into deeper fellowship with Him. If you feel distant, know that He is nearer than you think, waiting for you to turn your heart toward Him.

Reflection Questions:

1. What does pursuing God look like in your daily life?
2. What are some areas where you feel God calling you to draw nearer to Him?
3. How can you actively pursue God through prayer, worship, and obedience this week?

Call to Action:
Take a moment to reflect on your relationship with God. Are you pursuing Him with the passion and intensity that He deserves? Share your thoughts in the comments below—how are you pursuing God in your life, and what steps can you take to grow closer to Him? Let’s encourage one another in this beautiful pursuit.

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How God meets us where we are

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One of the most challenge things in being a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is having to constantly be aware of one's on-going work toward perfection. Many times, as a Mormon, the constant teaching of, "you have to do this in order for this to happen," came across the pulpit, at firesides and in Sunday School. The tragic loss of this message is that most people who have left the Church finally realize the real freedom in a relationship with Jesus Christ and not being obligated to prove one's self-worth to God.

The simple message of the Gospel, and of the sacrifice the Savior made, is diluted, confused and wrapped in a more humanistic effort to please God. The reality is that because God is sovereign, loving and merciful, he meets us where we are at in the present moment - not where he desires us to be in order to bless us, redeem us, or even forgive us when we falter. Unfortunately, the Mormon faith, it's leaders and many members seemed to have lost sight of this important truth.

Sitting in counsel with the clinical director at the non-profit agency I work at, she said, if you really want to make an impact on the client's life, you have to meet them where they are at and not where you desire them to be. What is being said here is that as much as I want the client's that I work with to be free from their addiction and moving into a healthier lifestyle (which is nothing wrong to have such desire); the reality is that they may not even be ready to be at that point in their own recovery.

In essence, I have to meet them exactly where they are at in the present moment and be aware of their own brokenness, their own perception, and their own challenges and obstacles. Because, for me to constantly desire them to be where I want them to be, they are going to have that much more resistance to change. However, if I meet them where they are at in the present moment without judgment, criticism or expectation, they may eventually find the means necessary to slowly move into their own recovery and change will inevitably happen.

The sovereign creator of the universe also meets each and every one of us where we are at in the present moment. Regardless of what we have done up to that point. Regardless of what may or may not happen after that point. In the present moment of our mortal existence, our loving God meets us. Of course, His desire is to see that we move into a changed lifestyle and have a deep, intimate and meaningful relationship with us. However, that will eventually come to fruition. What matters is in that moment God meets us, we are right where we need to be for him to be there.

Throughout the Bible, we see exactly this pattern of God - meeting people exactly where they are at in the moment of their own need. The savior of the world met people exactly where they were at in the moment of their own need. Without criticism, judgment or expectation. These individuals did nothing to prove to God their worth in meeting their presenting needs.

A simple message, the Gospel, in that we all come to faith at that precise moment when the Grace of God floods our hearts and changes us into a new being - a new person because of the power of the Cross. We did nothing to earn it. Nowhere in the Bible does God say, or Christ say, that we have to first come before him with clean hands and clean hearts. For example, the woman caught in adultery was brought before Christ. The people were prepared to stone her as it was the custom and applicable to the law. However, Christ simply wrote in the sand and asked which one of them is free from sin? When he looked up and sees only the woman, his words are comforting - neither do I judge you, go and sin no more! (John 8:2-11, ESV)

Christ knew the hearts of those surrounding the woman. He met them exactly where they were at in their own sinful state. There was no statement of judgment. he who is without sin, cast the first stone. The only person present that was without sin was Jesus. Stoning, at that time, was a form of condemnation and punishment based on judging one's behavior. The crowd realized they were not perfect in that present moment. The woman realized she was not under condemnation and judgment for what she was caught doing.

Today, many members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are being misled that they must perfect themselves and possess clean hands and a clean heart before God will even consider approaching them. Each member has to stand in counsel with someone to confess their sins in order to determine whether or not they are specifically "deemed worthy" to engage in some of the more esoteric rituals and forms of worship. One speck of sin in that person's life (where they are not following the direct commands) may bar them from participation. However, the scripture says that we are not perfect - only because of the sacrifice Christ made are we perfected in Him, because of His righteousness (Colossians 1:22, ESV) and we stand blameless and without reproach before a Sovereign and merciful God.

Even as Christians, we may stumble and may have at some point walked away from the faith - however, God is still merciful and just in that he does meet us where we are at - not where he desires us to be. No man has the right to say to another, "come, clean your garments and rinse the filth from off you before coming into the presence of God." For we all stand filthy, no matter how clean we may seem to believe. Only God can cleanse us from all unrighteousness and that by the power of Jesus Christ.

Pursuing Hard After God

 Authentic Christianity begins with one main experience: pursuing hard after God. What does it mean to pursue hard after God?

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My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me

~ Psalm 63:8, ESV ~

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A. W. Tozer writes:

We pursue God because, and only because, He first put an urge within us that spurs us to to the pursuit (The Pursuit of God, 2013).

We approach the Sovereign creator because he first calls us into relationship with Him. Not of any good we have done in our own lives. He regenerates us by creating a new heart and gives us a new spirit (Ezekiel 36:26). We are drawn to Christ because it is God who draws us (John 6:44). Tozer continues:

...it is by this very prevenient drawing that God takes from us every vestige of credit for the act of coming. The impulse to pursue God originates with God, but the outworking of that impulse is our following hard after Him; and all the time we are pursuing Him, we are already in His hand...

This idea of pursuing God requires we hunger and thirst after righteousness (Matthew 5:6). It is our genuine response to what has already occurred in our own lives. We cultivate a genuine and personal relationship with the Savior because of God's grace in that while we were yet sinners, Christ had died for us (Romans 5:8).

Being made in His image we have within us the capacity to know him. ... The moment the Spirit has quickened us to life in regeneration our whole being senses its kinship to God and leaps up in joyous recognition. That is the heavenly birth without which we cannot see the Kingdom of God. It is ... not the end but an inception, for now begins the glorious pursuit, the heart's happy exploration of the infinite riches of the Godhead (Tozer, 2013).

Are you pursuing hard after God? Have you experienced the power of God's sovereign grace in your life and received a new heart and spirit whereby you hunger and thirst after His righteousness? Have you truly been saved and been born-again by the simple message of the Gospel and have truly received Christ as your Savior? Where do you stand in relation with God?

The days are growing short, the time is almost at hand. Come unto Christ and know that through God, we receive eternal life because he sent His only Son to die for each and every one of us. Through Christ, we receive forgiveness of our sins, and it is through Christ we may enter into the Kingdom of God.

 

Lost Art of Speaking Kindly

 There is a deep-rooted problem in society today.

It appears that many people in our society have lost the art of speaking kindly to one another. Sure, there are probably small pockets of decent humanity where the art of speaking kindly is a delicatessen. However, in general, we seemed to have forgotten the importance of how we speak with others. This has a significant impact. And, majority of the time, we make up foolish excuses as to reasons we do not speak kindly to others.

In my early twenties, I had a gentleman counsel me. His words still ring true today. He remarked how people have an emotional bank account. With any bank account, we want to make sure that we always make enough deposits. If we do not, and we take too much money out, the account becomes overdrawn.

Today, we seemed to be making more withdrawals than we are making deposits.

And not only are we making significant withdrawals from other individuals, but we are also making significant withdrawals from our own emotional bank accounts.

“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” — Maya Angelou

The lost art of speaking kindly to one another, and to our own self, starts with how we come to understand the way we treat self and others.

We begin to speak kindly too ourselves

This is important because we want to consider how we treat ourselves first. How we treat ourselves stems from how we speak to ourselves. Once we understand how we speak and treat our own personage, we begin to realize how we speak and treat other people around us. We fail to grasp the extreme and rigid viewpoint of either being selfless or selfish.

How do we repair an emotional bank account that is overdrawn? We start making daily deposits until the account goes from being a negative balance to a positive balance. We keep going to ensure that there is enough to cover any possible withdrawal. Yet, most of us tend to walk away in the hopes of avoiding the negative. Unfortunately, we continue to carry the negative balance throughout our lives. However, when we stop running from our fears and emotions, we begin to embrace and take responsibility for how we feel, and what we are saying; we begin to heal by speaking kindly. 

This requires grace toward self-identity. And the more grace we show ourselves, the more we pour into speaking kindly, the outcome naturally follows to where we are capable of speaking kindly toward other people.

How we speak into other people's lives leaves a significant impression on them

People will not remember what we have done for them. They may even forget what was even said to them. As Maya Angelou teaches us, they will remember how we have influenced the way they felt. If we speak harshly, with condemnation and judgment, they will remember how they felt angered, hurt, betrayed, or frustrated. However, if we speak with thoughtful and genuine kindness, they will remember the comfort and peace it brought into their lives.

Better than a thousand hollow words, is one word that brings peace ~ Buddha

When we are speaking into people's lives, we are using a powerful influence to contribute something meaningful and purposeful; or we are exerting our powerful influence to injure and hurt another person. This is because our tongue has a significant power to speak life or death:

There is one whose rash words are like sword thrusts, but the tongue of the wise brings healing. ~ Proverbs 12: 18, ESV

Our words either tear someone down or are uplifting and comforting them.

8 simple principles to remember

First, we want to begin speaking thoughtfully toward ourselves, and then toward other people. We speak with validation. There is acknowledgement, compassion, and empathy in how we speak to self and toward others. Our words truly reflect and illuminate who we are.

Secondly, we want to be kind toward self and others when we speak. This does not mean we have to forfeit our need to be direct and assertive. We have the capacity to show kindness even when we are making a firm and direct stance.

We have the power to influence people through our kindness than we do in detracting them with unpleasant and unkind methods.

Third, we develop a genuine need to listen attentively. This requires some patience on our part. Instead of processing what we want to say next, we are failing to connect with and understand the conversation. Even our own body language shows whether we are speaking kindly or not. In those quiet moments where we tend to listen attentively in order to show kindness toward self and others.

The next principle requires the art of mindfulness. Speaking kindly to self and others requires our ability to reserve any form of judgment. We all have personal biased opinions. As human beings, we also have a proneness to be reactionary from an emotional viewpoint.  We like to say, think before you speak! Yet, how many of us follow this rule of thumb? By reserving our judgment, we are thoughtfully engaged in hearing what another person is saying. It is when we are consciously aware of their own humanity, we become more invested in the interaction with them.

Fifth, we want to be honest. We want to speak kindly by maintaining integrity. We want to speak with truthfulness with compassion - even when speaking truthfully maybe hurtful for self and others to hear. There is no pussyfooting around the mulberry bush; especially when we are engaged in a more serious conversation.

Sixth principle is to understand the need to consider the other person's opinion. Many times, we are speaking in a manner to prove our sense of right! Some years back, I had engaged in an innocent conversation over Excedrin. It involved my daughter's mother. I had mentioned that I lived with a gentleman who liked to chew on Excedrin tablets. His reasoning was because of the codeine contained in the medication. We engaged in a bantering debate. Inevitably, she pulled out a bottle of Excedrin and had me read the ingredients. Sure enough, I was wrong. The problem: I pushed the issue because I believed I was right, especially without evidence.

We want to value the other person's opinion and we want to be open and receptive regarding their opinion. Because, when we are speaking kindly with self and others, we may be open and receptive to new possibilities and opportunities we may not have considered.

One of the important things we want to consider is not to yell. When we raise our voice, whatever it is we say becomes irrelevant. We are no longer talking with other people; we are talking at them. We also have come to a place where we've lost control and the conversation becomes different, sometimes volatile. We want to be at a place of managing our emotions so that we are not becoming emotionally reactive. Once we are emotionally reactive, we may say things that upon later reflection, we might regret, or say something that may cause a serious withdrawal from their emotional bank account.

We want to ensure that we bring ourselves to calm, collect our thoughts, take ownership of our own feelings, and respond kindly that communicates our own frustration and emotional state.

Finally, we want to show our appreciation and gratitude. Nothing speaks more volumes of kindness and appreciation than a simple "thank you for your time," or "I appreciate the hard work you are doing."

Where do we go from here?

Each of us has an emotional bank account. When we speak kindly to ourselves, and toward other people, we are engaging in a lost art of conversation. We are empowering, lifting others up, and being a person of influence. And, as we engage in this lost art of society, the hope is that by our speaking kindly and gently toward self and others is the motivating factor to influence others to begin speaking kindly.