The Seeking God Lifestyle and Other Steps
By Dr. Chuck Hetzler
How can a follower of Christ contribute to a nationwide revitalization of Christianity?
There are 330 million people living in the United States with 231million identifying as Christians. As one voice in such a large multitude, David slaying Goliath can seem like a walk in the park compared to you and I contributing to another Great Awakening in America.
Knowing the mammoth task and our even more majestic God and Father, Christian Union deliberately takes aim at this goal of national revival and reformation. Consider these personal steps for promoting national revival.
First, learn about and adopt a seeking God lifestyle. As Christians, we must seek God wholeheartedly, for that is what pleases Him and that is when “revival” will come. The Bible promises that God is found by us when we seek Him with our whole hearts (Deuteronomy 4:29; Jeremiah 29:13), that the Father will answer those who ask, knock, and seek (Luke 11:9-10), and that He is the Rewarder of those who diligently seek Him (Hebrews 11:6). Seeking God is an absolutely essential Christian characteristic. Do you understand what it means to seek Him?
You may have some general notion of the idea. But how does the Bible describe the specific attitudes and behaviors of a person who seeks after God? That’s what the seeking God lifestyle is all about. You can begin to learn more about it by reading this article at Christian Union Day and Night, The Seven Principles of a Seeking God Lifestyle. Christian Union also makes available a full Bible course manual on this subject. You can request a free PDF copy of the Seeking God Lifestyle manual at the bottom of this page.
Once you’ve adapted your lifestyle to seek God yourself, then you ought to move to the second step towards promoting national revival – calling other people to seek God with you. This step is easier than you may imagine. Begin with the relationships nearest to you.
I was blessed to work with Christian Union in 2009 when the ministry began adopting the seeking God lifestyle, including two hours of prayer each day for direct ministry workers. As my own life began to change, I couldn’t help but share what I was learning and doing with my wife and young children.
My wife and I began rearranging our nightly schedule. Instead of our normal routine of crashing on the couch after the kids went to bed, we would often take time at night to pray together or separately. Both of our relationships with God went to places we had never experienced before. We were hearing from God in new and wonderful ways, and others started noticing the change, remarking how much they saw God in our lives.
My children were also invited in to the joy of seeking God. When I put my kids to bed at night, I started teaching them how to worship God and talking to them about the Lord’s presence. Formerly, a passing prayer would be sufficient for bedtime, but now we were taking time to raise our hands in praise and enter into God’s presence. I became passionate about speaking to their tender hearts about the Lord’s beauty and incredible love for them.
As we settled into our new lifestyle, we came up with the idea of a family prayer call with our extended families. Before Zoom was popular, we used a dial-in conference call number to share together and pray together. Neither of our families had done such a thing before, but everyone seemed to love the extra time together and certain family members blossomed in their faith during that time.
I could list other examples of ways that you could encourage Christian friends at work, in your neighborhood, or in your small group toward a seeking God lifestyle. Many of you have or will have even greater opportunities to lead groups within your influence to seek God as He requires. The Lord not only calls us to Himself, but He also expects us to call others to join us in following Him.
Lastly, you can personally promote national revival by accelerating the work of ministries like Christian Union, who make it their mission to develop and connect transformative Christian leaders until we see the gospel permeate every corner of society. Like David, we face this challenge “in the name of the LORD of hosts,” knowing “that the LORD saves not with sword and spear. For the battle is the LORD’s” (1 Samuel 17:45, 47).
Dr. Chuck Hetzler is the executive director of Christian Union Day and Night, a ministry that promotes spiritual strengthening in Christians across America, helping them thrive in order to make an impact in an increasingly secular culture by covenanting together for successive spiritual initiatives.
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