Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered outside the gate. Therefore, let us go forth to him outside the camp, bearing his reproach. For we have no continuing city here, but we seek one to come.
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From Sister Sandy’s testimony in a Sunday morning prayer meeting.
After a time of seeking, and finding, the Lord, Sister Sandy gave us all this holy advice concerning what kind of seeking God actually leads to finding Him: “It isn’t hard seeking that finds God,” she said; “it is heart seeking.”
Sandy’s testimony reminded me of the brother who, after seeking to receive the holy Ghost baptism over five years, received it, while praying with a group of saints in Sister Nannie’s home one evening. Shortly after receiving it that night, he made a comment that went something like, “I’ve been seeking this for over five years,” to which a Brother Jimmy quickly replied, “You sought this for fifteen minutes.” What did Brother Jimmy mean by that?
Our God promised that in the very day we seek Him with our whole heart, we will find Him (Jer. 29:13). This is what Brother Jimmy was trying to tell the newly-born brother. He may have been seeking the holy Ghost for over five years, but it could not possibly have been with his whole heart. What he had been doing for all those years was “hard seeking”; but what he had done that night at Sister Nannie’s house was what Sandy called “heart seeking”, and it bore fruit, just as Sandy said it would. It was on that night, shortly before being filled with the Spirit of God, that he surrendered his will and sought God with his whole heart. When he did that, he received the cleansing baptism of the holy Ghost within fifteen minutes or so, just as Brother Jimmy said, and just as God had promised.