I want to ask a couple of things.
How does someone find God?
We find God by believing in Lord Jesus after hearing the gracious universal call and invitation of God through the Gospel - the universal drawing of God by the Word and Spirit.
John 3:16 (WEB) 16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
1 Corinthians 1:21 (WEB) 21 For seeing that in the wisdom of God, the world through its wisdom didn’t know God, it was God’s good pleasure through the foolishness of the preaching to save those who believe.
John 12:32 (WEB) And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”
God draws all men to believe and so be saved, but many will refuse to listen, and so believe. But to those who do listen and believe (
the humble and spiritually crushed) are drawn by the universal indiscriminate invitation of the Gospel and Spirit.
Psalms 25:8-9 (WEB) 8 Good and upright is Yahweh, therefore he will instruct sinners in the way. 9 He will guide the humble in justice. He will teach the humble his way.
Matthew 11:28 (WEB)
28 “Come to me, all you who labor and are heavily burdened, and I will give you rest.
Luke 4:18-19 (WEB) 18 “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because
he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor (
humble, spiritually crushed).
He has sent me to heal the broken hearted, to proclaim release to the captives, recovering of sight to the blind,
to deliver those who are crushed, 19 and to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.” [Isaiah 61:1-2]
Matthew 11:5 (WEB) 5 the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, [Isaiah 35:5] the dead are raised up,
and the poor (the crushed or humble) have good news preached to them. [Isaiah 61:1-4]
Acts 10:34-35 (WEB) 34 Peter opened his mouth and said, “Truly I perceive that
God doesn’t show favoritism; 35 but in every nation he who fears him and works righteousness is acceptable to him.
Those who believe are the ones who find God, and God saves them.
I have a bit of knowledge of theology, and pray about things but I live in my head a lot - and i wonder if am in touch with reality, if my praying is real, or if it hypocritical, and I am really denying God.
There is a verse which says : "I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me, I was found by those who did not seek me." Isaish 65:1
Can a person exercise faith when they want?
Definitely! Faith always remains yours. Faith or lack of faith is what each of us commits to in life and which God impartially judges each person.
The Gentiles, who did not know God, were preached the Gospel, and so came to learn about Him whom they previously were not seeking. By believing the Message, the Gentiles found God, and God found them through the preaching work coupled with the Spirit - both working together to call and invite the Gentiles to faith in Lord Jesus.
For The Christian, God holds each of us responsible for our faith, and continue faith, before Him -
a faith demonstrated by following Lord Jesus into a sanctified life of love and righteousness.
Faith must be demonstrated in a righteous life, for only as we walk in the light, as Lord Jesus is in the light, will God cleanse us from all sin.
1 John 1:6-7 (WEB) 6 If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in the darkness, we lie, and don’t tell the truth. 7 But
if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and
the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanses us from all sin.
Consider carefully the following Scriptures which all teach about that Gospel Faith by which God saves us. Apply these Scriptures to yourself to test the authenticity of your faith...
1 Peter 1:6-7 (WEB) 6 Wherein you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved in various trials, 7
that the proof of your faith, which is more precious than gold that perishes even though it is tested by fire,
may be found to result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ
If you possess this faith, then you are not hypocritical.
All the saving promises of God are ours by faith in Lord Jesus.
Hebrews 10:35-36 (WEB) 35 Therefore do not throw away your boldness, which has a great reward. 36 For
you need endurance so that, having done the will of God, you may receive the promise.
Galatians 5:24-25 (WEB) 24
Those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and lusts. 25
If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.
1 Thessalonians 4:3-8 (WEB) 3
For this is the will of God: your sanctification, that
you abstain from sexual immorality, 4 that
each one of you know how to
control his own body in sanctification and honor, 5 not in the passion of lust, even as the Gentiles who don’t know God, 6 that no one should take advantage of and wrong a brother or sister in this matter; because
the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as also
we forewarned you and testified. 7 For
God called us not for uncleanness, but in sanctification. 8 Therefore
he who rejects this doesn’t reject man, but God, who has also given his Holy Spirit to you.
1 Peter 1:16-18 (WEB) “
You shall be holy; for I am holy.” [Leviticus 11:44-45] 17 If you call on him as Father,
who without respect of persons judges according to each man’s work, pass the time of your living as foreigners here in reverent fear, 18 knowing that you were redeemed, not with corruptible things, with silver or gold,
from the useless way of life handed down from your fathers
Hebrews 12:14-17 (WEB) 14 Follow after peace with all men, and
the sanctification without which no man will see the Lord, 15
looking carefully lest there be any man who falls short of the grace of God, lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and many be defiled by it, 16 lest there be any sexually immoral person, or profane person,
like Esau, who sold his birthright for one meal. 17
For you know that even when he afterward desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for a change of mind though he sought it diligently with tears.
Hebrews 12:25 (WEB) 25
See that you do not refuse him who speaks. For if they didn’t escape when they refused him who warned on the earth,
how much more will we not escape who turn away from him who warns from heaven
Matthew 5:13 (WEB)
Speaking to His followers
13 “
You are the salt of the earth, but
if the salt has lost its flavor, with what will it be salted?
It is then good for nothing, but to be cast out and trodden under the feet of men.
Luke 14:33-35 (WEB)
The followers of Lord Jesus are referred to as “salt.”
33 So therefore whoever of you who does not
renounce all that he has, he cannot be my disciple. 34 Salt is good, but
if the salt becomes flat and tasteless, with what do you season it? 35
It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile. It is thrown out. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
Mark 13:32-37 (WEB) ... 35
Watch therefore, for you don’t know when the lord of the house is coming, whether at evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or in the morning; 36
lest coming suddenly he might find you sleeping. 37
What I tell you, I tell all: Watch.”
Luke 21:34-36 (WEB) 34 “
So be careful, or your hearts will be loaded down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that day will come on you suddenly. 35 For it will come like a snare on all those who dwell on the surface of all the earth. 36 Therefore
be watchful all the time, praying that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will happen, and to stand before the Son of Man.”
John 15:10 (WEB) 10
If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and remain in his love.
Romans 6:21-22 (WEB)
21 What fruit then did you have at that time in the things of which you are now ashamed?
For the end of those things is death. 22
But now, being made free from sin and having become servants of God, you have your fruit of sanctification and the result of eternal life.
Romans 8:12-13 (WEB) 12 So then,
brothers and sisters, we have an obligation, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. 13 For
if you live after the flesh, you must die;
but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.
1 Corinthians 10:11-12 (WEB) 11
Now all these things happened to them by way of example, and they were written for our admonition, on whom the ends of the ages have come. 12
Therefore let him who thinks he stands be careful that he does not fall.
Hebrews 3:12-15 (WEB) 12
Beware, brothers and sisters, lest perhaps there might be in
any one of you an evil heart of unbelief, in falling away from the living God; 13 but
exhort one another day by day, so long as it is called “today”,
lest any one of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. 14 For
we have become partakers of Christ,
if we hold the beginning of our confidence firm to the end, 15 while it is said,
“
Today if you will hear his voice, Do not harden your hearts, as in the rebellion.” [Psalm 95:7-8]
Hebrews 4:1 (WEB)
Let us fear therefore,
lest perhaps anyone of you should seem to have come short of a promise of entering into His Rest.
Hebrews 4:11 (WEB) 11
Let us therefore
give diligence to enter into that Rest,
lest anyone fall after the same example of disobedience.
Hebrews 6:11-12 (WEB) 11 We desire that
each one of you may show the
same diligence to the fullness of hope even to the end, 12 that you won’t be sluggish, but imitators of those
who through faith and perseverance inherited the promises.
2 Peter 1:8-11 (WEB) 8 For if these things are yours and abound, they make you to not be idle or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 For
he who lacks these things is blind, seeing only what is near, having forgotten the cleansing from his old sins. 10 Therefore, brothers and sisters,
be more diligent to make your calling and election sure. For
if you do these things, you will never stumble. 11 For
thus you will be richly supplied with the entrance into the eternal Kingdom of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
James 1:12-16 (WEB) 12
Blessed is a person who endures temptation, for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life, which the Lord promised to those who love him. 13 Let no man say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God,” for God can’t be tempted by evil, and he himself tempts no one. 14 But
each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own lust and enticed. 15
Then the lust, when it has conceived, bears sin. The
sin, when it is full grown, produces death. 16
Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers and sisters.
1 John 2:15-17 (WEB) 15 Do not love the world or the things that are in the world.
If anyone loves the world, the Father’s love isn’t in him. 16
For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, isn’t the Father’s, but is the world’s. 17 The world is passing away with its lusts, but
he who does God’s will remains forever.
Revelation 2:10-11 (WEB) 10 Do not be afraid of the things which you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested; and you will have oppression for ten days.
Be faithful to death, and I will give you the crown of life. 11 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the assemblies.
He who overcomes won’t be harmed by the second death.
Revelation 3:1-5 (WEB) “I know your works, in that you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead. 2
Wake up and keep the things that remain, which you were about to throw away, for
I have found no works of yours perfected before my God. 3 Remember therefore how you have received and heard.
Keep it and repent.
If therefore you won’t watch, I will come as a thief, and you won’t know what hour I will come upon you. 4 Nevertheless you have
a few names in Sardis that did not defile their garments. They will walk with me in white, for they are worthy. 5
He who overcomes will be arrayed in white garments, and I will in no way blot his name out of the book of life,
and I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.
Revelation 3:11-12 (WEB) 11 I am coming quickly!
Hold firmly that which you have, so that no one takes your crown.
Revelation 14:12 (WEB) 12 Here is the
perseverance of the saints,
those who keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.”
Revelation 16:15 (WEB) 15 “Behold, I come like a thief.
Blessed is he who watches, and keeps his clothes, so that he doesn’t walk naked, and they see his shame.”