How to Find God

What do you do when you need to find something?  Let’s say you’re getting ready to go to the store but you can’t find your wallet.  What would you do?  You would seek for it.  Seeking is the action; finding is the result.  And in the case of going to the store, you would probably not stop seeking until you found your wallet, that’s how important it is. 

It’s the same way with God, you need to seek him.  And if it’s important enough, you will not stop seeking until you have found him. If you don’t think it’s important, please read my post “Does it matter if God exists“.

Why Doesn’t God just show Himself?

I asked myself this question for most of my life.  If God is really there, why not just show himself to me?  Now that God has revealed himself to me, I think I get it.  God gave us free will.  You, at any moment in time, have the freedom to think however you choose.  You have the choice to seek God or not. 

God didn’t create us as a bunch of robots under his control.  He created us in his image, and he clearly has free will himself.  If God were to simply show himself to us for no reason, it would take away our free will, because then we would have no choice but to believe.

But as I will show you, I believe that God will reveal himself to you, if you seek him the right way.

Are you Afraid to Find God?

And then there’s your friends and family.  If you find God, do you have to go find all new friends? Will your friends or family reject you if you find God and they haven’t? If you really think about it, the Bible promises eternal life, and if that’s true, which is more important to you? The rest of your life here on Earth is a drop in the bucket compared to eternity. What’s more, if you are able to find God, maybe you could help your friends and family find him as well.

For me, finding God was a life changing experience. But I didn’t have to give up any friends, in fact I’m making new ones. My relationship with my family did not drastically change as a result of it.

Finding God is nothing to be afraid of. In fact, not finding God is what you really should be afraid of!

The Brick Wall

Maybe you had bad experiences with religion. Maybe you don’t like the idea that you have to follow a bunch of rules. Maybe you’ve heard a lot of people say that there is no God, or that true happiness can only be found inside yourself.

Whatever the reasons are, you need to be open minded to the possibility of God in order to find him.

So what should you do?

Throughout my life I had heard the expression “seek and ye shall find” many times.  But I really didn’t understand what it meant or how to put it into practice.  I had no guidance on how to seek God.

So if you are to seek the God of the Holy Bible, what should you do?  It would make sense to see what the Bible says about it.  Here’s an important hint to start:

Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.

Jeremiah 29:12-13

Ah ha!  Our first bit of guidance.  If you pray to God, he will hear you.  But here’s a bit of a catch, how can you pray to him if you’re not even sure if he’s there?  You can still pray.  Because if you’re praying to him to find out if he’s there, you are in reality praying to him. 

Also notice how it says “with all your heart”.  You have to really want to find out if he’s there.  If you’re thinking “I guess it would be nice to find out, but I’m not really that worried about it”, then you may not be seeking with all your heart.

Here’s another clue from the Bible:

I love those who love me, and those who seek me diligently find me.

Proverbs 8:17

Note the word diligently.  It’s not likely enough to simply look up one time and say “God, do you exist?”  That doesn’t sound very diligent if you ask me. 

Here’s one more hint:

And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.

Luke 11:9-10

So you can ask for something and it will be given to you.  It also says “seek, and you will find”.  That’s perfect, because that’s what you’re doing is seeking.  Now you might be thinking, “Maybe I’ll ask for a million dollars instead”.  Not so fast.  Check this one out:

And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us.

1 John 5:14

Notice how it says “according to his will”.  This suggests that if you ask something that’s not according to his will, he may not hear you.  So for now, you are asking God to reveal himself to you.  So is that “according to his will”?  Here’s an answer:

This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

1 Timothy 2:3-4

God wants us all to come to the knowledge of the truth, and it seems fairly certain that asking him to reveal himself to you would fall into that category.  He also wants all people to be “saved”.  If you’re not sure what that means exactly, that’s okay, it just means that it’s something you can ask him for, because it’s something he wants.

So it seems we have an answer to the question.  One possible way to find God is to pray to him diligently and with all your heart, and ask that he reveal himself to you.

So How Do I Pray?

As for praying, you may have heard of the Lord’s Prayer, you know, the one that starts with “Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name”.  Jesus gave that prayer to his followers after they asked him how to pray.  It was meant to be an example. In order to seek God, you probably need a different prayer, one that’s a little more specific, because you are asking for one specific thing, which is for God to reveal himself.  The Bible has another clue about prayer:

And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words.

Matthew 6:7

So you can’t “heap up empty phrases”.  You have to really mean what you’re saying, and it needs to come from the heart.  Reciting a bunch of lines that you don’t really mean might not cut it. Then there’s the question of when and where should you pray.  The Bible has an answer for that too:

But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

Matthew 6:6

So my suggestion is that you do as it says.  Find some place private, with nobody else around.  After all, you are asking God to give you something personal.

There’s one more thing about prayer that’s important. Jesus spoke the following words to his disciples:

“… I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you.”

John 16:23

So you should ask in the name of Jesus Christ.

So now the question is: what do you say?  I have some suggestions that I’ll get to in a minute.  First, let’s keep it simple, so that you don’t “heap up empty phrases”.  Simpler is better.  You need to be clear about what you’re asking, and you need to really want it.  I mean, wouldn’t it be great to know the truth?

If you feel awkward or even foolish at first, that’s fine, don’t get discouraged.  You may have to do this over and over again (i.e. diligence), and each time it will feel more comfortable as you get used to it.  You will need to get past the uncomfortable feeling, to where you are more focused on the meaning and intention of the words.

I don’t think posture is important, but try to be physically comfortable so you can focus on what you’re saying.  Kneeling down is not required, but you can do that if you want.  You can also sit in a chair, or lie down in your bed, whatever works for you. I would suggest closing your hands together in front of your face with your palms touching, just to put you in the mindset that you are praying. 

Try to clear your mind and relax.  Remember and focus on what it is you want: you want to find God.  You need to really want it. Also the volume that you speak with is not important. You can even whisper if you’re afraid of someone else hearing you.

So now for the prayer itself. You may notice in the lines of the prayer that I’ve used the word “Lord” instead of “God”.  The reason for this is that people sometimes overuse the word God in ways that aren’t actually referring to God, for example “God, I really like this”, or “God, it’s nice outside”.  Even people who don’t believe in God will use that word, so it becomes far less meaningful.  By using Lord, there will be no confusion between you or God as to whom it is you’re praying to.

Say each line slowly and thoughtfully, and make sure that you put meaning into it. You can repeat the prayer as many times as you want. Also, feel free to add your own lines.

What Should I Expect?

Now you may be wondering what you should expect to happen next. You should expect and believe that God will reveal himself to you in some way. But you must be open to receiving his message, because I can’t tell you how he will do it, only he knows. In my experience, God can communicate with us in many different ways, so I don’t want to give you specific expectations.

Also, as I stated earlier, you must seek God diligently and with all your heart, so don’t be discouraged if it doesn’t happen immediately. We live in a day and age where people can be impatient, and want instant gratification. If you don’t feel like God has revealed himself, keep praying. It could take days, weeks, months, or more, it’s up to God.

Conclusion

I have shown you one possible way to find God. And because God has revealed himself to me many times, and has revealed himself to many others, I know that he is there, and that he reveals himself. And he wants us all to come to the knowledge of the truth, including you. I hope that you will try to find God. Just remember, you have nothing to lose by trying, and everything to gain if you find him.