COMPETITORS NEED NOT APPLY

In 1736 John Wesley was in Savannah, Georgia on a mission to evangelize.  While there he began to examine his own heart and later wrote in his journal, “I went to America to convert the Indians, but oh, who shall convert me?”  A struggle was brewing in his heart; a struggle to know Christ fully and to experience all God would have for him. 

 While in Savannah Mr. Wesley wrote a prayer in his journal that is a wonderful prayer for everyone who would take God seriously.  He prayed,

Is there a thing beneath the sun,

That strives with thee my heart to share?

Awe!  Tear it thence, and reign alone,

The Lord of every motion there!

The weeping prophet, who turned out to be a great prophet of hope, told a hurting people that God had made Himself available to them, and that what they needed to do was seek Him with all their heart (Jeremiah 29:13).  The prophet, whose name means, “the Eternal One is Salvation,” told the people of his day to “Seek the Lord while He may be found; Call upon Him while He is near” (Isaiah 55:6).

As in ancient Israel, God was at work in Savanna, Georgia in the heart of Mr. Wesley and began to create a spiritual hunger in him that led him to realize that any so called fulfillment not rooted and Grounded in the Living God, was only temporary and shallow and ultimately, empty.  So it was that Mr. Wesley came to a decision not to allow anything “beneath the sun,” to compete with the living God in his life.

As in Savanna, Georgia, in the restless heart of a man who knew there had to be more to spirituality than personal striving and good efforts, God is at work here today.  He is here for each one of us, to meet us at the point of our need and to bring us into the full meaning of His presence. 

If there is anything in your heart that competes with God, let God “tear it thence.”  Then invite Him to “reign alone, the Lord of every motion there” in your heart.  Don’t let anything “beneath the sun” compete with the God who loves you with an everlasting love.

Seek Him.  You will find Him.  Call upon Him.  He will answer you.

I know the plans that I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. 'You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart” (Jeremiah 29:11-13)