Christians are besieged by the faithless teachings of religious men, accepting them without thinking, without discerning the obvious poison within them. One of the most insidious of these teachings is the notion that we should not seek blessings from God, but instead seek God himself. It sounds pious, but it is a contradiction, an absurdity that distorts the nature of the relationship God desires with his people.
They make it seem like there is a categorical difference between seeking blessings from God and seeking God himself. But is there truly such a difference? Or has this distinction been fabricated or exaggerated by men who have neither the courage nor the faith to approach God on his own terms?
Suppose we assume a clear distinction and say that seeking blessings from God is not to seek God at all. Suppose asking God for things is not to honor and worship him. Then let me ask: would it be acceptable to seek a blessing from the devil, since by this logic it would not mean that one is seeking the devil at all? What if you seek God, but pray to the devil? Would you remain clean and innocent? No religious person would agree with this. The suggestion would provoke alarm and clarity. Everyone would recognize that to seek anything from the devil is to seek the devil himself, and even to love him and to admire him. To seek help and success from the devil is to submit to him, to align with him, and to embrace him and what he represents. Praying to the devil for a blessing is devil worship. And it is no better to seek “just a little” from the devil. To consider the option at all is already a sign of a corrupt heart.
Why would this logic suddenly fall apart when it comes to God? Why do people so readily accept that seeking something from God, such as healing, success, and supernatural gifts and powers, is somehow inferior spirituality, if not outright corrupt or wrong? It is because when they think about God, a religious veil covers their hearts, confounding their thoughts and preventing them from seeing clearly. This veil is woven from the fabric of human tradition and false piety. In faithless religion, there is a fundamental estrangement from God, a deep suspicion of him, and an aversion to faith and positive expectations. It teaches people that to want anything from God is unholy, that to desire his blessings is selfish and immature.
The Bible teaches the opposite. Jacob wrestled with God and said, “I will not let you go until you bless me.” So God blessed him, and called him Israel, meaning “a prince with God.” Jacob’s tenacity, his refusal to let go until he received God’s blessing, was counted as faith. This persistence brought him into a deeper relationship with God. Jacob did not separate God from his blessing, but he understood that to seek the blessing of God was to seek God himself.
Consider Jabez, who prayed, “Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain.” He said, “Give me success! Prevent any suffering!” He wanted prosperity from God, and God granted his request. There was not even a hint of disapproval. Jabez did not separate God from the blessings he desired. He recognized that true prosperity comes from God’s hand and sought it boldly.
It is not humility to supposedly seek God but downplay his blessings. That is just arrogance masquerading as holiness. It is the attitude of a stuck-up piece of garbage, too proud to admit needs and desires, too self-righteous to relate to God on this level. It betrays a lack of spiritual aptitude to think that one can truly seek God without also desiring what God wants to give. Someone like this is like a child who says he wants his father’s presence but dismisses his father’s gifts, boasting that this makes him more virtuous. In reality, this is the ungrateful self-righteous attitude of a stuck-up brat. He insults and dishonors his father while imagining that the father prefers it this way. He thinks that he is the best son, when the truth is that there is but a hollow appearance of a relationship. Yet this depicts most of Christendom.
To seek blessings from the devil is to seek the devil. It is to honor and worship the devil. But is seeking blessings from God the same as seeking the devil? If not, then what is it? Is it not to seek God? To seek blessings from the world is to be worldly. But somehow, religious hypocrites want us to believe that to seek blessings from God is still worldly, that to seek his gifts is selfish, that to desire his healing, his prosperity, his power represents a low level of piety, or even impiety. It is utterly idiotic. But this is the thinking that passes for orthodoxy and spirituality in the wasteland of human tradition. Those admired as the best of the theologians think this way. Faithless incompetent stuck-up trash.
People who become religious, yet have no faith or reason, always end up negative and stupid. They embrace a false holiness and false humility. They separate God from his blessings, and in doing so, separate themselves from God. Their faithless religion destroys their minds, and they become fanatical morons. It is as if they say, “I will seek God, but I am too good to seek his blessings. If he wants to give them to me, perhaps I will accept them, but I will not expect them.” This is arrogance wrapped in religious pretense. They are left with nothing but a religious farce.
True religion, true faith, has the courage and humility to seek good things from God, and to boldly approach the throne of grace, expecting to receive what God has promised. God himself invites us to ask, to seek, to knock. Jesus said, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.” He did not say, “Ask only for spiritual things” or “Seek only my presence but not my gifts.” No, he said to ask, to seek, to knock, and to come to God with our desires, trusting in his goodness. Consider the kinds of miracles Jesus performed: healing the sick, feeding thousands of people, stopping storms, raising the dead. These miracles illustrate the kinds of things Jesus included when he told us to ask.
God is a generous Father who delights in giving good gifts to his children. Jesus said so. Do not worry that it might be wrong or selfish to seek blessings from God. Do not allow dead religion to intimidate you. Seek God, and seek everything that has to do with God. Seek his gifts, his blessings, his healing, his prosperity. Seek his power, his presence, his goodness. Seek his wisdom, his holiness, his grace. Take it all. God will fellowship with you around his gifts. He will make your prayers and desires the context in which he teaches you about himself. As you seek his blessings, you will find him. As you desire his gifts, you will discover his heart. The blessings are not separate from God. They are an expression of himself.