Seek First The Kingdom Of God




I wanted to share a testimony about my past week. I was struggling financially and wasn't so sure how I was going to be able to make it through the week. I knew I had a couple things that had to get done but I just didn't know how I was going to make that happen. While listening to K-Love one day I heard this quote by Francis Anfuso:
'Do you feel like your prayers aren't being answered? What percentage of prayers initiated by God are answered? 100%! What percentage of prayers initiated by me are answered? None. Hmm? Sounds like there’s a pattern here. The Bible promises, “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.” (1 John 5:14-15) God has already figured out what is best for every part of your life. Trust Him! Stop asking God to do things that are in your heart, and start asking Him to do what’s on His heart. It’s the only guaranteed way to get all of your prayers answered.'

When I heard this two prayers came to my mind. But right at that moment I thought about my financial struggle. I had to stop myself from worrying about how I was going to make it through the week and just give it all up to God. He was going to get me through the week and I had nothing to worry about. 
Philippians 4:19 says 'And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of His glory in Christ Jesus.' I have nothing to worry about; God has this under control. God will provide what we need and always remember that Jesus alone is enough. Well the next day my mom comes up to me and just reminds me that she still owes me back some money and why haven't I mentioned it to her. I had to stop myself and say 'Wow. I knew she still owed me money, just didn't think to ask her. And now she just suddenly brings it up.' Thank you Jesus. I was able to get the funds I needed into my bank account so that I could pay the bills that were due and make it to a job earlier today. It's just something that simple that shows God's glory. He will provide. 

After I heard that quote on K-Love the other day, another thing that stuck out to me was something I had begun to make a bigger deal than what it really was. I found myself constantly thinking about this and worrying that it wasn't going to turn out the way I wanted it to. Isn't that the point though? Things aren't suppose to turn out the way we want them to. Just like Anfuso said, 'Stop asking God to do things that are in your heart, and start asking Him to do what's on His heart.'
Wow. How true is that? We aren't living this life for us so why are we always so concerned about keeping our self happy with worldly things. We need to start making God happy which will lead to us be internally happy with our selves. 
'When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.' James 4:3
When we pray about some wants we have, we have to make sure we aren't hoping for wrong motives. I realized I have been praying two years for a certain want/need but once I started to get in reach of it, I started to want the wrong motives. This isn't what God had in mind and I was messing it up. I needed to start praying differently, the way I was when this wasn't even in eye sight. Then I noticed it coming back into view. Sometimes we just need to change the way we pray. Stop worrying! And change the words we use to pray. 
Matthew 6:25-34 speaks all about worrying. Don't worry about simple things in life that don't really matter. Don't worry about anything because doing so won't add a extra hour to your life. Worrying is literally just a waste of time. Time you spending worrying is time wasted from fellowship, happiness and joy. Non-believers are the ones who run after their worries but God knows what we truly need and will provide that for us. We need to seek first the Kingdom of God; meaning turn to God when you find yourself worrying. He will provide - escape your mind - free yourself from thought (worry) and turn to God. A lot of people struggle with the thoughts that go through their heads. I am one of those people. I will make up every scenario that can happen in my head. I let my thoughts take over my heart. This is only the enemy who is trying to take over. He has won over my mind multiple times, too many to count. That is a killer. You start to over think everything and it will literally drive you to the ground. We need to free our selves from what goes on in our mind. Asking God to take over is the only way this is possible. I get myself through the day by just asking God to clear my mind and rebuke the devil. The devil has no control over my mind. In the name of Jesus, the devil needs to get away. If we don't let God control our minds and hearts it will only get worse for our soul. Altogether just stop worrying about your tomorrows and just live for today. God doesn't promise that we are even going to see tomorrow, so what is there to really worry about. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

In Prayer

Image
Do you want to grow spiritually?  Of course we do! I do!  Pastor Greg Laurie goes more into depth of prayer while studying The Lord's Prayer in Luke 11.  The basic things are the main things we need to focus on. Stating the most important things are the simplest things. Prayer is communicating and listening to God. In Luke 11 the disciples are asking Jesus to teach them how to pray. Jesus then began ' The Lord's Prayer '.  And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth. Luke 11:2 We must pray according to the will of God. We need to ask God to give us the plan for our life. His will for us will be done on this earth, only if we ask.  And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. Luke 11:4 We need to confess our sins, even if we don't believe we have do
Read more

The 'Traditional Family'

Image
Tuesday while listening to Greg Laurie, he said something that really hit home and I began to feel sad, upset, hurt and even a little angry. This is what he said and I quote  "The idea of a traditional family seems to be something of the past. So many broken homes today... We have to visit dad and his new wife and we have to visit mom and her new boyfriend and I have all these new step brothers and sisters and the whole thing is sort of...icky. Uncomfortable. Awkward." -Greg Laurie  Well Pastor Greg, you hit that one spot on. Before he made that quote he addressed that there are broken home in the result of divorce. However, to be in that situation he described doesn't always have to be the result of a divorce. It could simply be the result of ignorance as well!  Growing up, I always told myself I would never have a broken family, and if you have kept up with my blog you have heard that plenty of times.  Well no one ever wants to have a broken family. But for me, that was
Read more

Who Are We?

Image
I listened to a sermon on the 4th and I have been trying to put all my thoughts together to write a post about it because it was so meaningful for me. It helped me realize a lot about myself and my faith. I am still trying to get all my ducks in a row for that post but I just wanted to give a little bit of encouragement. It seems like most sermons preached lately are about this craziness but out of that craziness there is a lot to learn! In Exodus 13-16 we read about how Pharaoh finally let the Israelites out of Egypt. All the Isrealites wanted was to be let go and what was one of the first things they did when they got out of Egypt? They complained. They started complaining about how they 'missed' things from Egypt.  Exodus 16:3 says   The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the  Lord ’s hand in Egypt!  There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food  we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death.”
Read more