Dear Friend,
Seems that each time we talk, anxieties rise to the surface of our conversations. Have you noticed? So, as I’ve prayed for the both of us, Matthew 6:31-33 has returned to speak to my heart. “Do not be anxious….But seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added to you.” Herein lies the key to freedom from worry.
The word “kingdom” stuns me when I look at its original meaning. Thayer’s Greek Lexicon says “kingdom” means “royal power, kingship, dominion, rule – not to be confused with an actual kingdom but rather the right to rule over a kingdom“.
When I seek His right to rule over me first and foremost, I am promised that everything else will fall into place. Could it be that we are worrying about things only as they affect us? “You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spent it on your pleasures” (James 4:3). Are our thoughts desirous of His way of thinking and acting or only our own? When the Lord is truly our Shepherd, we shall have no wants (Psalm 23:1). Let’s pray for this state of surrender within the both of us.
Father,
There is so much going on in our heads. We are anxious about so many things. But You’ve shown us the solution. Simply turning to face You.
My friend and I begin this day giving You the right to make our decisions. Regardless of whether it is the time we spend on tasks or free time — the words that come out of our mouths and what we put into them. I ask that You take our every thought captive, underneath Your rule (2 Corinthians 10:5).
Just hoping our thoughts improve isn’t the key. We are both old enough to have tried that self-improvement program and found it useless. Please flow Your own thoughts and emotions within us. Change our desires and make them Your own. When Your people who are called by Your Name humble themselves and pray, and seek Your face and turn from their selfish ways, then You are free to give us what we need and go on to heal our land (2 Chronicles 7:14). May we rest in Your goodness. So be it….
Photo courtesy of Tom Clark.
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