Intentionally Living: a heart of wisdom, fear, joy, satisfied.
I was asked to share a devotional at one of the places I hold dearest on this earth. I love sharing with others, not because I love getting in front of people, but it always proves to be an incredible time for me to process and ask Jesus what He is teaching me. And that's what I share. I was once told that God always gives us enough to share, it's not supposed to be kept to ourselves. So share I did, I shared where I'm at, I shared words that I hadn't known that I was going to share, I asked God to take whatever I had to say and use it, and I'm believing He did:
A week ago I read Psalm 90 in which it says Lord teach us to number our days that we may present to You a heart of wisdom. I had always heard the first part of "numbering our days", making our lives count, so to speak, but I had never caught the last part there. The reason we are to number our days is so that we can presents to God a heart of wisdom. I was talking with my brother about it and we had both never really seen that, in his words he said, let me think about how that actually makes sense, and so we did. If we are living intentionally, we are living out a heart of wisdom-the fear of God. Numbering our days is to mean having an eternal perspective, looking to heaven, looking to Jesus, to focus on today. We are not promised tomorrow, and tomorrow has enough worries of its' own. What are you doing today to make a difference? And fearing God? To be in awe of, to honor, to fear. However, you can't be in awe of, honor, or fear someone you don't know. So first you need to know who God is, and then what He says about you. And it's sweet that it says teach us, show us, or grow in us; meaning that He is willing to show us how. And then! It's our gift back to Him! We get to present it to Jesus.
To give some background to where I'm at, a week and a half ago, I walked out of work for the last time. I had a pretty decent job as a "medical professional". And I quit. Honestly, going home, I have no idea what I'm doing with life. But I've realized some things through this: I miss relying on Jesus. There have been some pretty intense times in my life that I absolutely needed Jesus, but for the last year, I had a job, a steady income, I had become more self-focused. I got this, I can do this mentality. But somewhere along the way I had lost focus on relying of Jesus. I miss the times of good communication with Him telling Him my needs, wants, desires, and wathcing/waiting for Him to show up. I have seen Him work in incredible ways, I've seen Him show up, I mean I've seen Him provide me with fruit every week for a year, I've seen Him keep me alive in 2014 when I really shouldn't have been able to survive, give me odd jobs at just the right times, and tell crazy stories of His goodness. How much have I seen that take place in the last year? Not because He isn't moving, but because I've stopped communicating. I've stopped relying on Jesus. It was Jesus or nothing. And I had moved to a place of independence. I'm not telling everybody to go and quit their job, but I am saying to look at where your focus is. For the last while, the word satisfy has been something I keep coming back to. Just a couple verses later in Psalm 90 it says. "O satisfy us in the morning with Your lovingkindness,That we may sing for joy and be glad all our days." First, we need to go to Him, but I've seen a big portion of having my focus right when I get caught up in the daily grind of getting up, doing your thing, and just looking forward to going to bed, and doing it all over again is that I lose my heart of thankfulness. And joy comes from thankfulness. Even if I just jot down a few things that God had given me today, how He has blessed me, what I'm thankful for today, it makes such a huge difference. In Psalm 145 it says the following:
You open Your hand
And satisfy the desire of every living thing.
The Lord is righteous in all His ways
And kind in all His deeds. The Lord is near to all who call upon Him,
To all who call upon Him in truth. He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him
A week ago I read Psalm 90 in which it says Lord teach us to number our days that we may present to You a heart of wisdom. I had always heard the first part of "numbering our days", making our lives count, so to speak, but I had never caught the last part there. The reason we are to number our days is so that we can presents to God a heart of wisdom. I was talking with my brother about it and we had both never really seen that, in his words he said, let me think about how that actually makes sense, and so we did. If we are living intentionally, we are living out a heart of wisdom-the fear of God. Numbering our days is to mean having an eternal perspective, looking to heaven, looking to Jesus, to focus on today. We are not promised tomorrow, and tomorrow has enough worries of its' own. What are you doing today to make a difference? And fearing God? To be in awe of, to honor, to fear. However, you can't be in awe of, honor, or fear someone you don't know. So first you need to know who God is, and then what He says about you. And it's sweet that it says teach us, show us, or grow in us; meaning that He is willing to show us how. And then! It's our gift back to Him! We get to present it to Jesus.
To give some background to where I'm at, a week and a half ago, I walked out of work for the last time. I had a pretty decent job as a "medical professional". And I quit. Honestly, going home, I have no idea what I'm doing with life. But I've realized some things through this: I miss relying on Jesus. There have been some pretty intense times in my life that I absolutely needed Jesus, but for the last year, I had a job, a steady income, I had become more self-focused. I got this, I can do this mentality. But somewhere along the way I had lost focus on relying of Jesus. I miss the times of good communication with Him telling Him my needs, wants, desires, and wathcing/waiting for Him to show up. I have seen Him work in incredible ways, I've seen Him show up, I mean I've seen Him provide me with fruit every week for a year, I've seen Him keep me alive in 2014 when I really shouldn't have been able to survive, give me odd jobs at just the right times, and tell crazy stories of His goodness. How much have I seen that take place in the last year? Not because He isn't moving, but because I've stopped communicating. I've stopped relying on Jesus. It was Jesus or nothing. And I had moved to a place of independence. I'm not telling everybody to go and quit their job, but I am saying to look at where your focus is. For the last while, the word satisfy has been something I keep coming back to. Just a couple verses later in Psalm 90 it says. "O satisfy us in the morning with Your lovingkindness,That we may sing for joy and be glad all our days." First, we need to go to Him, but I've seen a big portion of having my focus right when I get caught up in the daily grind of getting up, doing your thing, and just looking forward to going to bed, and doing it all over again is that I lose my heart of thankfulness. And joy comes from thankfulness. Even if I just jot down a few things that God had given me today, how He has blessed me, what I'm thankful for today, it makes such a huge difference. In Psalm 145 it says the following:
You open Your hand
And satisfy the desire of every living thing.
The Lord is righteous in all His ways
And kind in all His deeds. The Lord is near to all who call upon Him,
To all who call upon Him in truth. He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him
Again, it talks of those who fear Him, when I get to heaven, I hope to hear the words well done, but am I living in a way that shows that? Am I focusing on Jesus? Am I living out a heart of wisdom? Am I numbering my days? I have already potentially lived a fourth of my life, does what I'm doing now matter for eternity?
I challenge you to, first, if you don't know who God is, find out. Then, if you don't know what He says about you, seek it out. I challenge you to live intentionally, live out a heart of wisdom. To walk in joy, relying on Jesus, He's got your back.
I'm excited for where I'm at, mostly because I have no idea what I'm doing, but Jesus does, and I get to see Him show up.
I challenge you to, first, if you don't know who God is, find out. Then, if you don't know what He says about you, seek it out. I challenge you to live intentionally, live out a heart of wisdom. To walk in joy, relying on Jesus, He's got your back.
I'm excited for where I'm at, mostly because I have no idea what I'm doing, but Jesus does, and I get to see Him show up.
Comments
Post a Comment