Day 04/21

Day 4, January 7th:

Focus:  What Does My Heart Really Want?

Psalm 27:4: One thing I ask from the Lord, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple.

Psalm 37:4: Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Jesus taught in Matthew 6:25-34 about worry, or better yet, the way to be worry-free.  He not only tells us that He doesn’t want us to worry, but he gives us action steps to take in order to achieve a worry-free lifestyle.  We are to seek first His kingdom and His righteousness.  In order to set our hearts desires to where God wants them, we must turn to God for help and fill our hearts with His desires, not our own.

Jesus says that worry can be damage our health,  consume our thoughts, make us unproductive, give us a negative attitude toward others and affect our trust in God.  Do any of these symptoms of worry sound familiar to you?  If so, it’s time to evaluate what make up the real desires of our heart.  Do people, objects, goals and other desires compete with God for your heart space?  If so it’s time to take action!

Two things to take away.  Planning for tomorrow is good but worrying is wasted time.  Also worrying incapacitates you, but concern will move you into action to work toward a Godly solution to any problem.  Jesus said, “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.  Each day has enough trouble of its own” (Matt. 6:34 NIV).

So what’s the point of this?  If you remove the worry from your heart there is so much more room to seek God’s kingdom and His righteousness.  Our hearts can be cleaned out by throwing away the worry and concerning ourselves with God’s desires for ourselves and for others.

Reflection:

• How often do you worry about what you will wear or what you will eat?  Do you worry about things in which you have absolutely zero control?
• What does it mean to you when Jesus instructs to seek God’s kingdom and righteousness?

Prayer:

Heavenly Father, I want You and only You to be the top priority in my heart. Help me to fill my heart space with You and Your desires more than I ever have before. Help me to be at peace and throw away the worry. I want to trust You to take care of these things for me.  I want You to fill my heart so that everyone can see Your love and grace through my words, thoughts and actions.  Let me never show a worrisome attitude to others.  Let all see your peace through me!