LIVING IN SONSHIP
A 52 Week Devotional Series By Barry Adams
DEVOTIONAL #36
A SON HAS THE RIGHT PRIORITIES
In this week's passage of Scripture, Jesus encourages His disciples not
to worry or focus on all the things they need, but to seek first His
Father's Kingdom. Just prior to making this statement, Jesus says that
they are not to take even one thought for their life. Not one thought.
Have you ever considered what life would be like if you didn't have to worry about the mortgage, about your future, about your daily needs? I have often pondered the words of Jesus and wondered how this could practically work in my life. If it were possible (and I believe that it is), then if I wasn't preoccupied with all of the daily demands in life, what would I think about?
I believe we find our answer in verse 32 and 33. When we are convinced that our Heavenly Father knows what we need and has promised to provide, it frees us up to focus not ourselves, but on the things that are important to God's heart. After all, could you imagine how much free time and emotional energy that you would have available if you didn't have to battle fear, anxiety, worry, condemnation, etc. etc. on a daily basis?
For those of you who have young children... How would you feel to walk into your house and see your little ones sitting in a corner worrying about whether there would be enough food in the house? A loving parent's natural response would be to dispel every one of their fears so that they could simply enjoy life moment by moment. I believe God feels the same way towards us. He doesn't want us to live a distracted life where we are living in fear of the future, or in regrets of the past, He wants us to live in the moment... with Him.
He is the great I Am ...not the I Was or the I Will Be, and He wants to walk with you and I just like He walked with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden in the cool of the day. But for us to be truly present with God in every moment, we must be able to commit all of our cares and concerns over to Him. As 1 Peter 5:7 says... Cast all your cast on Him for He cares for you!
I believe that our Heavenly Dad loves it when we entrust all our needs into His loving care! I believe that it demonstrates to Him that we really believe every promise He makes is true when we choose to cast (throw upon Him) every one of our cares and concerns onto His big strong shoulders. The more we are able to do this, the more we will be able to truly seek first His kingdom and His righteousness.
When we struggle with an orphan mindset, we are not convinced that our Father will truly take care of us as He promised. And if He doesn't take care of us, who will? With that kind of belief system, we have no choice but to make the meeting of our own needs our first and primary priority... just like Jesus said the pagans do.
My prayer today is that the Holy Spirit that lives in the hearts of every believer, would convince us more today than yesterday that we can truly cast every care of ours upon the Lord because He has promised to care for us. My prayer is that we would have the grace to take each one of the boulders of worry and fear that we have been carrying around in our backpack and drop them to the ground, one by one.
I pray that we will become more and more convinced that God is for us and He is a good Father who always provides for His kids. My hope is that as we become more convinced of this truth, we will find relief from all the burdens that have weighed us down for years. May each one of us find a new freedom in Christ to be able to focus on the eternal things that really matter to God.
May each one of us have a renewed focus so that we could minister to our Heavenly Father's heart and make His priorities our priorities!
Psalm 27:4
One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire"in his temple. (ESV)
Have you ever considered what life would be like if you didn't have to worry about the mortgage, about your future, about your daily needs? I have often pondered the words of Jesus and wondered how this could practically work in my life. If it were possible (and I believe that it is), then if I wasn't preoccupied with all of the daily demands in life, what would I think about?
I believe we find our answer in verse 32 and 33. When we are convinced that our Heavenly Father knows what we need and has promised to provide, it frees us up to focus not ourselves, but on the things that are important to God's heart. After all, could you imagine how much free time and emotional energy that you would have available if you didn't have to battle fear, anxiety, worry, condemnation, etc. etc. on a daily basis?
For those of you who have young children... How would you feel to walk into your house and see your little ones sitting in a corner worrying about whether there would be enough food in the house? A loving parent's natural response would be to dispel every one of their fears so that they could simply enjoy life moment by moment. I believe God feels the same way towards us. He doesn't want us to live a distracted life where we are living in fear of the future, or in regrets of the past, He wants us to live in the moment... with Him.
He is the great I Am ...not the I Was or the I Will Be, and He wants to walk with you and I just like He walked with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden in the cool of the day. But for us to be truly present with God in every moment, we must be able to commit all of our cares and concerns over to Him. As 1 Peter 5:7 says... Cast all your cast on Him for He cares for you!
I believe that our Heavenly Dad loves it when we entrust all our needs into His loving care! I believe that it demonstrates to Him that we really believe every promise He makes is true when we choose to cast (throw upon Him) every one of our cares and concerns onto His big strong shoulders. The more we are able to do this, the more we will be able to truly seek first His kingdom and His righteousness.
When we struggle with an orphan mindset, we are not convinced that our Father will truly take care of us as He promised. And if He doesn't take care of us, who will? With that kind of belief system, we have no choice but to make the meeting of our own needs our first and primary priority... just like Jesus said the pagans do.
My prayer today is that the Holy Spirit that lives in the hearts of every believer, would convince us more today than yesterday that we can truly cast every care of ours upon the Lord because He has promised to care for us. My prayer is that we would have the grace to take each one of the boulders of worry and fear that we have been carrying around in our backpack and drop them to the ground, one by one.
I pray that we will become more and more convinced that God is for us and He is a good Father who always provides for His kids. My hope is that as we become more convinced of this truth, we will find relief from all the burdens that have weighed us down for years. May each one of us find a new freedom in Christ to be able to focus on the eternal things that really matter to God.
May each one of us have a renewed focus so that we could minister to our Heavenly Father's heart and make His priorities our priorities!
Psalm 27:4
One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire"in his temple. (ESV)