A Few Simple Treasures

When a few days have past since I last blogged, I start to get "blogger's overload"! I have too many things I want to write about that its hard for me to "choose"!

Today the Lord reminded me of a few very important promises He gives us in His word. The passages I read today in my Bible and unsurprisingly my daughters Bible study book she is doing for school, went together and the Lord hit me square in the face with some good stuff!

"...yet because of the man's boldness (persistence) he will get up and give him as much as he needs. So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened."

Luke 11:8b-10

So often I pray for something, then check it off my list and keep worrying about it or letting it fester in my mind. We aren't supposed to do that, we are to pray persistently, boldly and keep knocking at heavens door. We are to keep asking until He gives us an answer. Now, just because you ask over and over, doesn't mean He'll say yes. It is important to note that! I have found that when He doesn't give me the answer I seek, its because His answer is better than I ever could have asked for. He knows and sees the whole picture, which I can only see today, this moment I'm in. I don't know what lies ahead tomorrow or in a year from now or in 30 years from now...but He does! He knows what bothers my heart, what disrupts my peace and I must keep praying about it. I am not to bear my burdens alone. How often I forget to do that!

"Let your eyes look straight ahead,

fix your gaze directly before you,

Make level paths for your feet

and take only ways that are firm.

Do not swerve to the right or to the left;

keep your foot from evil."

Proverbs 4:25-27

I know I talked about this verse not that long ago, but it crept up again this morning. In an earlier verse He says, "Above all else, Guard your heart..."(4:23). I must guard my heart and keep looking straight ahead. I can't look at my neighbor or what he is doing. I cannot compare my situation with anyone else. I must look ahead, keeping my eyes on Him because He has a plan, greater than I can ever imagine. If I guard my heart and daily, moment by moment turn it over to Him, He will show me what I am to be praying for, He will show me the treasures I seek. When you give your heart to Him, He helps you pray according to His will-not your own. That is so important, but so hard to do. It is also hard to take the "me" or the "I" out of my prayers and replace it with "Your will, not my own". Anything given outside of His will is second best, and who wants that?

"May He give you the desire of your heart

and make all your plans succeed...

Some trust in chariots and some in horses,

but we trust in the name of

the Lord our God."

Psalm 20:4 and 7

I remember learning this verse in Bible drill as a child. I fell in love with it. How many material things do I trust in, things I can see and feel. How often do I try and figure out a situation by looking at what is in front of me. Instead, I should be trusting in what I cannot see...in the God I cannot see, but know is there. I should trust in a name, a simple name that has more power than anything else here on earth.

I absolutely love the way He takes verses and passages of the Bible that I have read over and over since a child and He uses them in a whole new way. He unlocks secrets and treasures that I need in that moment. He is a moment by moment God, all we have to do is choose Him in those tiny moments! How blessed we are that He will speak so clearly to us if we earnestly seek Him and pray according to His will.