There are millions in this world who are craving pleasures,
of earthly things they can’t afford.
But none can match the wondrous treasure
That I have found in Jesus Christ my Lord.
One day I was driving into Manhattan from Connecticut and I was praying and asking God for something else I felt was needed to make my life fulfilled. I had a whole hour and a half, just driving and talking to the Lord and LISTENING (for a change). The Lord began to show me that I was the problem. Of course, my first response was – “Uh excuse me, I am saved, I pray, I go to church, I am good! What do you mean I am the problem?!?!”
The first thing the Lord did was He began to bring to my remembrance one by one every answered prayer to the issues I described in part one…. He was showing/saying to me…. “You have asked for all these various things throughout your life and you’ve gotten most of them. Not just the emotional things you asked for, you have gotten many of the material things you have asked for as well. You wanted a house…you have a house! you wanted a car… you have two! Yet, you still aren’t satisfied, you aren’t content in the place you are in, and you continue feeling like you’re missing something or that it going to take something else or MORE to fulfill your life! So, what is it going to take for you to recognize that none of these things will ever fulfill you? The void you are feeling can’t be filled by another human being. It can only be filled by Me and building a closer relationship with Me!”
As I began to reflect and contemplate those things, the scripture in Philippians 3:3-4 KJV started to make so much more sense to me – “……..Put no confidence (trust) in the flesh………”. Not because they are bad but because our confidence (trust) should be in God. We put more on each other as humans than any of us can handle (i.e. higher expectations, higher value, and higher responsibility). Holding another human responsible for my happiness is too much pressure to put on another person, as they could never meet that expectation. You can’t get it from a person (mother, father, husband, wife, daughter, son or friend), from a place (work, church, vacation, house), by getting a better job, or having more money, there is nothing that is going to fill that void, but God. Blaise Pascal wrote the following (425ad) “What else does this craving, and this helplessness, proclaim but that there was once in man a true happiness, of which all that now remains is the empty print and trace? This he tries in vain to fill with everything around him, seeking in things that are not there the help he cannot find in those that are, though none can help since this infinite abyss can be filled only with an infinite and immutable object; in other words, by God himself.”
As I continued to dwell on what the Lord was saying to me, I recognized that I had been so busy looking toward everything and/or everyone else but God. The Lord brought to my remembrance the scripture: Matthew 6: 33 “….Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His Righteousness…..” If you don’t recognize that, you will always be seeking and searching for something else. You must allow your mind to be renewed. When I did finally did recognize and realize that I needed God to fill that void in my life, that is when life truly did get better. I began to understand more deeply why I needed to make God the priority in my heart, mind and most importantly my life. You can hear others say it over and over but until you understand the need for it in your life, it is not effective.
God wants us to seek Him out and unbeknownst to us, we are not satisfied until we find Him. I encourage you to read the entire chapter of Acts 17 (putting special emphasis on verses 22-27) but I would like to bring your attention to verse 27 that states, “God wanted them to look for him and perhaps search all around for him and find him, though he is not far from any of us.” That is why the scripture, “seek ye first the kingdom of God and all his righteousness and all these things will be added unto you,” (Matthew 6:33) is so important for us to apply to our lives. My expectations also changed because I wasn’t expecting my husband, my job, even my church to be my happiness or make me happy. I recognized that God, once He filled that void in me, my life was filled with “righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost”.
Even though things are not perfect, even though we still have problems and issues, even though people still die, and we don’t get away from the cares of this life, the way we respond to these circumstances should change when we fully recognize that God is our source! Understanding and living our lives knowing that God is how we will sustain life and allowing Him to be the Lord of our life is key. If you are like I was, you may be saying to yourself okay but HOW do I go about doing these things???
Before we get to that, I have some things for you to reflect on:
- How can you practically apply the following scriptures to your life?
- Matthew 6:33
- Acts 17:22-27
- Philippians 3:3-4
- Recognizing that God is our source and needed to fulfill the void in our lives, also reflect on these scriptures:
- 1 Corinthians 6:19-20
- Romans 5:5
- John 7:37-39
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