Laying Hold of God

“And there is no one who calls on Your name, Who stirs himself up to take hold of You.”

Isaiah 64:7

“[Consecration is] voluntarily giving up legitimate pleasure for the sake of the power of Heaven resting on your life... If you’re not consecrated, God won’t love you less. But He will use you less… All moves of God are led by consecrated people.”

Jon Tyson

We want to believe that we can live however we want—covered by the grace and mercy of God—and still be used by God. And maybe it’s not even sin we’re refusing to give up, maybe it’s legitimate comfort and earthly pleasure.

But when you read the history of moves of God, they always seem to be led by people with an unusual tenacity.

Last week I sent out a clip of David Wilkerson’s message, “Men of Another Sort.” The men and women used most mightily by God in Scripture and in recent history all had a common trait of a disproportionate hunger for God. They fasted for 40 days. They wept over the sin of the people of God. They laid on their side as a prophetic act for over a year. They tore their clothes in anguish because of their nation’s idolatry. They had a relentlessness to press in until they laid hold of God.

What I would give to have an ounce of that kind of passion for God and for His Presence!

In Isaiah 64:7, the prophet mourns before God because, “There is no one who calls on Your name, who stirs himself up to take hold of You.”

Have we forgotten that it’s fervent prayer (James 5:16), not casual, halfhearted prayer that is powerful and effective?

God promises us that, “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart” (Jeremiah 29:13).

God never promises to respond to halfhearted seeking.

We seek Him with half the passion with which we pursue our hobbies, careers, and American dreams and we wonder why our Christianity feels empty—why we aren’t finding God.

It’s not that Christianity is empty, it’s that halfhearted Christianity is empty.

The kind of tenacious, relentless pursuit of God that refuses to rest until God himself has been laid hold of never disappoints.

And once you’ve laid hold of God, you’ll never be the same.

“Turn your eyes upon Jesus,

Look full in His wonderful face,

And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,

In the light of His glory and grace.”

Helen H. Lemmel