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How do I find God?

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How do you go to Atlanta? In the past, you would visit a public library or a petrol station and request a map. You may now search the internet for driving instructions. You may always ask someone for assistance. Alternatively, you might utilize Global Positioning System (GPS) navigation technology. This technology is now standard in many new automobiles and available through smartphone apps. GPS, which uses satellites positioned miles above the planet to broadcast signals to ground-based equipment, provides a step-by-step navigation system.

However, a GPS can’t help you with life’s most basic question: “How do I find God?” 

Many people ask this question during a personal crisis that causes us to look for explanation, comfort, or relief.  Like looking for road directions, you could go to your public library and ask for books on religion – but there are so many religions that claim to be true even though logically not all of them can be.  You could Google for God – but when you do, you will come up with 356,000,000 pages — most of which raise more questions than they answer. 

“Trust in the LORD with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.” {Proverbs 3:5-6}

Or you could ask a family member for advice about how to seek God – but you probably did that already and feel more confused.  Or you can use technology already trusted by millions of people for thousands of years.  This technology is not available as standard equipment or on sale from any electronic stores.  Yes, it is a different type of GPS known as God Positioning System.  This spiritual GPS is simply reading a book known as the Holy Bible.  Year after year, more people buy the Bible, read the Bible, trust the Bible, and are inspired by the Bible more than any document on earth.  That’s because God himself gave us this book to seek him.  It’s a road-map … a road-map to heaven.  The Bible is more accurate and trustworthy than any Global Positioning System.

“That is what the Scriptures mean when they say, ‘No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.’” (1 Corinthians 2:9)

This spiritual GPS informs us that every person is wired to search for God, but God isn’t the one lost.  Spiritually, we are. Because of our personal sins we are lost eternally.  Hopeless and helpless, we need accurate directions to help us find a fulfilling life now and an eternity in heaven.  Simply opening the Bible activates this special spiritual kind of GPS as we start to read the words and apply them to our personal lives.  As we read these words of fact and reality, we soon find that the Bible’s central person is Jesus Christ, God’s own Son and our human brother who tells us all that we need to know about God.  Jesus tells us simply to believe that he lived a perfect life in our place, died the death we deserved on a cross, and rose physically from the grave to guarantee every believer an eternal life in heaven.  We find God as we believe in Jesus as the Savior.  As we review the pages of the Holy Bible, God also assures us that he will give us his unlimited Holy Spirit to help us believe what our limited human minds couldn’t possibly understand–that God loves us and also has a plan for our lives right now.

But this Spiritual GPS, the Bible, also directs us to a local Bible-believing, Jesus-centered church.  Talk with a pastor, participate in a worship service in person or online, attend a Bible study, apply Bible lessons to your life.  Taste and see that the LORD is good.  Earth-based GPS has it’s limitations:  it needs a power source and doesn’t work if it’s antenna is blocked leaves you wanting as you drive through the dark tunnel anticipating which turn is correct.  But God’s GPS, the Bible, works anytime, anywhere and it leads us in the right direction every time.  Look to God’s Word.  Believe in Him.

Does God have a plan for my life?

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“You’re never alone or without help.”

That could be the claim from a hands-free driving system to protect and assist you while you drive.

Some people mistake God’s plan and purpose for them as a means of transportation. They assume he takes you where he wants you to go from point A to point B while he drives. You climb aboard, and off he goes, without you even knowing where point B really is.

To better understand God’s plan and purpose for you, think of it more like communication. God is available to talk with you, to diagnose your dilemmas, guide your decisions, and help you when you are lost. Going it alone in life is not God’s will.

“We can make our plans, but the LORD determines our steps.” (Proverbs 16:9)

More importantly, God is active in caring for you. God is not a passive servant, idly sitting and waiting for your prayers. He offers more than a place to call for assistance. In his Word he tells you about your Savior, Jesus, and he encourages, directs, and empowers you.

God wants you to join him in heaven.

“Surely your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me all the days of my life, and I will live in the house of the LORD forever.” (Psalm 23:6)

God watches over his people with his angels. He also filters everything that happens to his people so that it accomplishes his eternal goal.

In the Bible God promised his people: “I know the plans I have for you, … plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you” (Jeremiah 29:11-12).

Purpose for Your Life

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“‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’” – Jeremiah 29:11

“Why did God allow…?” “What will my life be like…?” “Does anybody else know…?” Tell me why!

Questions from the lips and hearts of human beings have started with such words for long ages past, and many of our own questions still do.

“Why did God allow my grandma to die?” “What will my life be like after my kids leave home?” “Does anybody else know what it feels like to be this lonely?” “Why does God allow this disease to ravage my body?” “What will my life be like after we settle in to this new home in this new community?” “Does anybody else know what it’s like to battle this addiction?” Make all of this stop!

We would like to be able to connect the dots, wouldn’t we? We would like to be able to look into the future and see what it holds for us. We would like to be assured that others do know what we’re going through and, more importantly, that others care. But we can’t always connect the dots; we can’t ever look into the future. Many times others don’t know what’s going on in our lives, and sometimes they don’t even care.

So what are we to do when answers to those questions remain a mystery? I can’t figure this out on my own!

“For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.” (Ephesians 2:10)

The declaration of God recorded by the prophet Jeremiah point us to God’s answer. We look to the Lord. The answers to all of those questions are not a mystery to him. Nothing happens in this world that he doesn’t see. Nothing happens in our life that does not concern him. Everything has his divine purpose in mind.

His purpose is “to prosper you and not to harm you.” His purpose is “to give you hope and a future.” Far beyond mere earthly prosperity and a hope-filled future on earth, the Lord works for our spiritual prosperity and the sure hope of an eternal future in heaven. Everything he plans and does is with this purpose in mind—through faith in the Son of God whom he sent to be our Savior, we will one day live with him in heaven.

What comfort that is when we aren’t always able to connect the dots of life. What security that gives us when we can’t see the specifics of the future. What peace that provides when others just don’t seem to know or care.

The Lord knows. The Lord cares. The Lord plans. The Lord controls. All of it, with your soul’s best interests in mind.