Would the Real Seekers Please Stand Up? - The Wake-Up Call

Podcast Summary: The Wake-Up Call — “Would the Real Seekers Please Stand Up?”
Host: John David Walt (with David Walt & Jeff Estes)
Date: April 12, 2026

Episode Overview

In this episode of The Wake-Up Call, John David Walt leads a reflection inspired by Ephesians 1:15-18 titled “Would the Real Seekers Please Stand Up?” The discussion explores what it means to be a true spiritual seeker, challenging the common assumption that “seekers” are only newcomers or non-believers. Instead, John David draws from the Apostle Paul’s prayer to argue that deeply committed Christians are called to continuous seeking—a pursuit of ever-deeper knowledge, gratitude, and dependence on God’s wisdom. The episode blends scriptural teaching, personal practice, communal encouragement, and concludes with prayer and song.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Understanding “Seekers” (00:48–06:45)

Scripture Focus: Ephesians 1:15-18 read aloud.
Context on “Seeker-Sensitive” Churches:
John David reflects on the church trend of “seeker-sensitive” services, aimed at making newcomers comfortable.

“Churches began to reorganize their Sunday morning worship services to be ... seeker sensitive or friendly toward newcomers. ... The well-intentioned assumption was that newcomers did not know God and were coming to church to seek God.” (05:15)
Paul’s Actual Focus in Ephesians:
Paul is not addressing newcomers but praying that longtime believers receive “the spirit of wisdom and revelation so that you may know him better” (Ephesians 1:17).

2. Christians as “First-Order Seekers” (06:46–10:22)

Reframing the Seeker Identity:
John David highlights that Paul prays “for real Christians to become real seekers.”

“The Bible seems to identify the most earnest seekers as those who already know Jesus.” (07:40)
The Ongoing Call to Seek:
- Christians’ “appetite is not satisfied by discovery, but deepened.”
- “We are awake yet ever in need of deeper awakening ... to know Jesus better, so the eyes of our hearts can be more enlightened, so we can know the hope and live into the inheritance and walk in the incomparably great power of faith.” (08:35)
Paul’s “Muscle Groups”: Thanking & Asking
- Paul models the habits of never stopping giving thanks (v.16: “I have not stopped giving thanks”) and continuously asking (v.17: “I keep asking”).
“Could these be the two main muscle groups the Holy Spirit wants to strengthen in us?” (09:50)

3. Practical Spiritual Exercises: Thanking & Asking (10:23–14:54)

Journaling as Spiritual Practice:
- John David shares how listing things he’s thankful for and things he’s asking God for leads to a deepened spiritual life.
Personal Story: Gratitude Practice:
- Inspired by a friend (Rob Holifield) who daily recorded three things he was thankful for with his sons, John David describes how adopting this discipline years later has changed his life.
“Now it's one of the last things I do before I go to sleep. ... I'll just select two or three photos that are particular. ... And then ... I'll just say, I'm thankful for ... something specific there.” (13:14)
- Reviewing past gratitude entries has become a form of “counting your blessings.”
“There's something about gratitude that just opens up the floodgates of heaven on earth.” (14:36)

4. Journal Prompts and Reflective Questions (12:34–15:58)

Three Prompts for Listeners:
1. Are you a stronger seeker when it comes to thanking or asking?
2. How might you participate more deeply in the Holy Spirit's work to strengthen the seeking muscle of your soul?
3. Reflect on the difference between striving with human strength and seeking in the spirit's strength.
Encouragement:
“Sometimes you just need to take ... the next step of tangibility ... getting it out of just the sort of fuzzy intent in my mind and onto a page.” (11:20)

Memorable Moments & Quotes

On Paul’s Prayer for Seekers:

“Paul prays for real Christians to become real seekers. ... The Bible seems to identify the most earnest seekers as those who already know Jesus.” – John David Walt (07:35)
On Thanking and Asking:

“I have not stopped giving thanks. And in verse 17 I keep asking. Could these be the two main muscle groups the Holy Spirit wants to strengthen in us?” – John David Walt (09:50)
On the Practice of Gratitude:

“Now it's one of the last things I do before I go to sleep. ... And it's just like a way of counting your blessings.” – John David Walt (13:24) “There's something about gratitude that just opens up the floodgates of heaven on earth.” – John David Walt (14:36)
Encouragement for All Listeners:

“Thank your mom and your dad for sharing God with you, for sharing Jesus with you, for wanting you to know God's word and to stand on it every day.” – John David Walt (16:26)

Notable Segment Timestamps

Scripture Reading and Introduction: 00:48–03:18
Reflection on Seeker Movement: 04:40–06:30
Paul’s Model of Seeking: 06:30–09:50
Thanking and Asking Spiritual Muscles: 09:51–11:00
Personal Gratitude Practice: 11:01–13:24
Journal Prompts for Listeners: 12:34–15:58
Community Encouragement: 16:10–17:10

Worship & Closing (17:47–22:45)

Hymn: “He Leadeth Me”

John David, David Walt, and Jeff Estes lead all four verses.
Reflection on the faith statement of the hymn:

“You don't have to ask God to lead you. He is leading you. ... Sometimes I think we ask things Jesus would rather us just say, I receive it. You're doing it. I'm with it.” – John David Walt (17:54)

Messages of Encouragement:

For those facing hardship (hospital rooms, assisted living, classrooms): “God's with you and he wants you to stay there. ... There's encouragement that you can bring right there.” – David Walt (17:00, 17:05)
On sharing Christ’s goodness: “We're so in goodness so people can believe that he's good. We're so in love, so people that can know that he's love. We're so in kindness and faithfulness and patience ... everything is Jesus.” – John David Walt & David Walt (21:59–22:10)

Final Blessing:

The episode ends on the affirmation that “the meeting with Jesus” continues as listeners go out into their day.

Conclusion

This episode redefines spiritual seeking as a lifelong journey for believers, not merely newcomers. John David Walt artfully intertwines scriptural insight, practical challenges, and stories to invite the whole community—whether at home, in school, at work, or in difficult circumstances—to cultivate deeper gratitude, persistent prayer, and joyful responsiveness to God’s leading. The encouragement: Be awake, be a seeker, and follow Jesus, who is already leading the way.

Transcript

David Walt (0:00)

Foreign

John David Walt (0:04)

Good morning Sower Nation. It is Sunday, April 12th in the year of our Lord 2026. I'm John David Walt and this is your wake up call. Now we are in yet a little bit different season here. We're in the Eastertide season and you know, through the days of Lent on Sundays we mostly read just a simple scripture text and now we've got seven day a week entries. So we're going to have a normal entry today on the wake up call. And we're going to go to church too. We're going to church right here at Gillette Methodist here where we are. Love for you to join us if you want to online come on YouTube or Facebook just search for Gillette Methodist Church. And interestingly enough today I'm going to be in Springfield, Missouri at a Methodist church preaching and looking forward Schweitzer, Schweitzer Methodist Church and I'm looking forward to that. We've been there for the weekend and yeah, let's dive in this morning. You ready? Wake up sleeper. Rise from the dead and Christ will shine on you. Jesus, I belong to you. I lift up my heart to you. I set my mind on you. I fix my eyes on you. I offer my body to you as a living sacrifice. Jesus, we belong to you. And we're praying in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Well, today's entry is entitled Would the real seekers please stand up in our text. We're to Ephesians chapter one. We're still in Ephesians chapter one. We'Re just now to verse 15. We'll read 15 through 18. Hear now the word of the Lord. For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all God's people, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation so that you may know him better. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people. That's the word of the Lord. Now consider this. Some years back, a trend sprung up in churches across the country known as the Seeker movement. Churches began to reorganize their Sunday morning worship services to be what they called, quote, seeker sensitive or friendly toward newcomers. But the well intentioned assumption was that newcomers did not know God and were coming to church to Seek God. Therefore, we should do everything possible to make them feel welcome and comfortable and not put off by anything that might smell like church to them. Now note Paul's assumptions. First, he is speaking to real Christians. Ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all God's people. Now watch how Paul prays for these saints. He prays for them to receive the spirit of wisdom and revelation so that you may know him better and that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people. And to borrow a gem from verse 19, his incomparably great power for us who believe. In short, Paul prays for real Christians to become real seekers. That's interesting, isn't it? Sure, seekers may be people who are lost in searching for God. However, the Bible seems to identify the most earnest seekers as those who already know Jesus. Okay Christians, now go back and read the list again and tell me you don't want every one of those gifts. In ever increasing measure. Followers of Jesus, you are seekers of the first order whose appetite is not satisfied by discovery, but deepened. We are awake yet ever in need of deeper awakening of the spirit of wisdom and revelation so we can know Jesus better, so the eyes of our hearts can be more enlightened, so we can know the hope and live into the inheritance and walk in the incomparably great power of faith. This is Paul's idea of a seeker sensitive church. He identifies himself as the lead seeker. I am so challenged by the words he uses to frame his approach to to the church. Did you catch them? In verse 16 he says, I have not stopped giving thanks. And in verse 17 I keep asking, could these be the two main muscle groups the Holy Spirit wants to strengthen in us? Thanking and asking I never stop thinking. I keep asking. Two lists. I am thankful. I am asking you. Take it from here. Let's pray. Abba Father, we thank you for your son Jesus, who teaches us to ask, seek, knock and who beckons us, who have found to seek first the kingdom of God and your righteousness. Come Holy Spirit and grant us this holy obsession to never stop thinking and never stop asking. Make us seekers. Make me a seeker of the First Order. We pray in Jesus name. Amen. Journal prompts Today are you a stronger seeker when it comes to thinking or asking? How might you participate more deeply in the Holy Spirit's work to strengthen the seeking muscle of your soul? And number three, reflect on the difference between striving with human strength and seeking in the spirit's strength. Yeah, those are. Those are some good ones. You know, in my. In my journal, my workbook actually created two columns, and I'm going to work through them. But you'll notice if you're looking on the YouTube, you can see on one column I have thanking, and on the other column I have asking. And I'm just going to start listing, what am I thanking God for? What am I. What am I thanking God for? And on the other one, what am I asking God for? Sometimes, you know, it's just. It's just so tempting. I don't know. Tempting is not the right word. It's typical. We just hold a lot of good thoughts and good intentions in our heads. I do. I think, yeah, I'm thankful. And, yeah, I'm. I'm in need, but sometimes you just need to take. Or maybe I should say, I just need to take the next step of tangibility. How about that word? Tangibility? My intention into, like, action and getting it out of just the sort of fuzzy intent in my mind and onto a page and. And just writing it down. You know, something that I started doing that's been a couple of years, and it's something that I had intended to do for a long time. I remember some. A friend of mine was telling me that he would sit down with his two sons. Is actually my old friend, longtime friend, Rob Hollifield, who's a pastor in Rogers, Arkansas. He told me he used to work on my staff at Asbury Seminary. He said, you know, every night I sit down with my two sons and we write in a notebook the three things from that day that we're thankful for. And I'm like, man, that's good. I like that. Writing it down in a notebook. And so for about three or four more years, or maybe 10, I just admired that practice. And. And I thought, you know what? I think I'm on. I'd like to do that. I'd like to be more thankful just like every day. And he was telling me, he said, you know, we actually think through, like, details. Not like I'm thankful for my family or I'm thankful for whatever, but, like, granular with it. Well, finally, about 10 years later, or longer maybe, I started doing it every night. Now it's one of the last things I do before I go to sleep. I do it on my phone, on a little journaling app that I have called Day One or something like that. And I open a new post and I write gratitudes. That's the head of the entry, Gratitudes. And then the reason I do it on my phone is because I'll go to my camera roll and I'll just scroll through the screenshots or pictures that I took of that day, and I'll just select two or three photos that are particular. Oftentimes they're of my dog and my cat, Lucy and Taco, or my kids or somebody I ran into and took a selfie with. I'll select those photos and then I'll just. Number 1, 2, 3. Sometimes I'll go 4, 5, and 6, and maybe I'll make a comment about the particular photo. I'll just say I'm thankful for, and I'll put something specific there. Maybe it's not one of the photos. Maybe it's beyond the photo. But, guys, this has helped me so much. Thankfuls, Thankfuls. Gratitudes. Every single night. I've been doing it now for two years, and I wish I would have started back there. You see, I just had the fuzzy antenna in my head when I heard Rob tell me about it. And some of you, you're gonna get that fuzzy antenna in your head. You may be 10 years before you start this. How about give now you got a workbook. You could start writing them in, or that little phone idea is a good one. But sometimes I'll just flip back through and I'll just look and I'll read day after day after day. What was I thankful for? What was I thankful for? And it's just like a way of counting your blessings. And it's just easy, I know. You know, just to hold it in a fuzzy way in our heads and. And it. And it doesn't ever really land again on Earth as it is in heaven. There's something about gratitude that. That just opens up the floodgates of heaven on earth. All right, I'm going to stop there. I didn't even know I was going to tell you that today, but it blessed me. I hope Rob Holifield will hear about this. He changed my life. Even though it was delayed. Delayed planting or growing. All right, you ready to sing today? We got a great song, and Dad's going to help us lead it today before we go to the house of the Lord. Okay, Sowers, that's where we're headed to the fields today. And the fields I know for some of you is a classroom at school. I know there's a lot of you kids riding in the back of the van or in the car. The the minivan. You're on the way to school. And I appreciate knowing that you're out there singing with us. Even if you're not singing, you're at least acting like you are. Thank your mom and your dad for. For sharing God with you, for sharing Jesus with you, for wanting you to know God's word and to stand on it every day. And some of you are going to work. Some of you are sitting in a hospital room today. And we know how that is, don't we?