What Have You Sought Today?

Good afternoon.

When you woke up this morning, what was first on your mind? What was the first thing you asked off the Lord? Was it for your benefit or for His? What was the first concern you had in your mind about this week and about your life? Did it involve yourself or the Kingdom of God? What was it that troubled you?

I started this message this morning, but needed to go to church before I could continue with it, and was I glad, for I had a conversation after church with a sister in Christ, which turned out to be a good example of what we’re talking about. She is in a job where she gets involved with extremely rich and materialistic people and felt that she didn’t want to be so constantly involved with that kind of influence, since Christianity is so much different from materialism. Her first thoughts were about what effect it had on her. The Lord led me to encourage her that He could win some of those people over to His kingdom by means of the light that shines through her (Matthew 5:14-16) and she could influence such people to use their fortunes for good causes. This seemed to have turned her focus away from what she felt about herself to what God wanted from her and hopefully set her on a mission within her job.

All of us can affect the world with Kingdom principles wherever we are. So if you got up this morning thinking about what the Lord wanted to accomplish through you today and during this week, you have grown much into Jesus’ principle of seeking first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness (Matthew 6:33).

Since this is very close to God’s heart, the devil will make it his business to put our focus on self. We become so much aware of our burning needs and how we will be influenced by evil, that it doesn’t occur to us how much we can influence evil with God’s power. We often make our plans and have our mind on what we want. In the meantime the Lord had in mind something He wanted, but we miss it because our hearts are tuned in wrongly.

Because I’m naturally a person who wants to understand where I’m headed, the Lord found it necessary to tell me at church this morning, through a sister, to simply surrender to Him. Resting in Him and His plans for me will let me relax and stress less.

So how did you start your day this morning? Did you think about God’s kingdom and what He had in mind for today and this week? Did you think of what the Lord needs to do in your life to get you in line with His plans for your life (His righteousness)? The Lord needs us to do His bidding, to think of Him first and to rest in Him.

“The spirit of man is the lamp of the LORD, searching all his innermost parts (Proverbs 20:27).”

 “I the LORD search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds (Jeremiah 17:10).”

We see that God is constantly testing us. Shall we pray the following?

“Examine me, O Jehovah, and prove me; purify my heart and my mind (Psalm 26:2 MKJV).”

“Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my thoughts, and see if any wicked way is in me; and lead me in the way everlasting (Psalm 139:23, 24).”

If you benefited from this, why don’t you link it to your Facebook or Twitter to make it available to your friends? You can also use the e-mail link to pass it on. Please also pray for the spreading of it to those who need it. Please feel free to ask questions or discuss thoughts.