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Daily Insight
Putting God first is more about knowing the waymaker rather than knowing the way. About trusting God enough to follow Him even when everything is falling apart at your feet.
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James 1:2–3 (CSB)
Consider it a great joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you experience various trials, because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance.
When your heart is set on something and the door closes in your face, it may be that God is rescuing you from yourself. Because your heart will mislead you. Here is what the Bible says about your heart in Jeremiah 17:9: “The heart is more deceitful than anything else, and incurable—who can understand it?” Sometimes your heart gets set on things, people, and places that can pull you away from living your Kingdom purpose.
And so God has to shut the door, pull you away, and break off the heartstrings that you have allowed to get wrapped around the wrong thing. At this point, you may feel like God is not good, that He's being mean, or that He doesn't understand, but it's quite the opposite. Your Father knows what you need.
1. God knows that some of the things that look sweet in your eyes, will lead to long term bitterness in your heart.
One of the signs of spiritual maturity is the ability to be content in any and every circumstance (Phil. 4:11–12). When you live under the Kingdom authority rule of Jesus, you can trust that the sovereignty of God is working in all circumstances to give you what you need to live your Kingdom purpose. God can change your circumstances but more importantly He is turning around your heart. He is turning it from a selfish, wordily pursuit and a self-less Kingdom pursuit. It may not be what you want, and in the moment, it may be painful. It may seem like God is being unfair. But your loving Father sees the whole picture; He sees your life from the beginning to the end, and He's always at work. God is working in your life even when you don't see it, even when you don't feel it, and especially when you're not getting what you want.
As a child of God, your loving Father won't always give you what you want. But rest assured, He is always providing you with what you need. Don't allow your trust in God to be shaken. In your current season, you may not understand His ways, but have faith that in time you will. Your path may be full of zigs and zags, ups and downs, but always keep in mind that it is your heavenly Father who is holding the map. Know this: He is always leading you into your Kingdom purpose, and eternal joy. When it is all said and done, you'll realize that all along, your loving Father was saving you from yourself.
1 Peter 2:5 (CSB)
You yourselves, as living stones, a spiritual house, are being built to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
Are you exhausted just from living life in this world?
If so, the foundation of your exhaustion might be found in the location where you choose to draw your strength. Your sin nature tends to drift towards self-reliance and not towards Kingdom dependence. The problem here is that self-reliance will eventually crush you. When you are relying on yourself, your own power, and your own wit to control everything and navigate your life circumstances, then it’s inevitable that you're going to be striving. When you're striving, you're living a life that is filled with stress, fear, and worry.
2. The opposite of striving is abiding. This is where God wants you to live. This is where you see how God is turning everything around in your heart.
Jesus said in John 15:5 (ESV), “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” When we're abiding, we're at peace. Our main focus is just staying connected to Jesus, and His life giving, strengthening, guiding, and all sustaining Kingdom power will flow through us. He will do the leading, guiding, protecting, and providing. Because that is what our King does for those living under His Kingdom rule.
You must be careful not to drift away from this truth. When I was 11 years old, I made a profession of faith, and for the first 10 years of my Christian life, it was like living on a floaty on the open sea. As long as all of life's circumstances were good, the sun was shining, and the wind was calm, life was good. But when the storms hit, it was frightening, and my faith would unravel in the face of the storm.
Jesus said if we not only listen to His words but put them into practice, we won't experience the anxiety of self-reliance during the storms of life. He put it like this in Matthew 7:24–25 (CSB), “Therefore, everyone who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain fell, the rivers rose, and the winds blew and pounded that house. Yet it didn’t collapse, because its foundation was on the rock.” The rock represents the stability that comes from living under and obeying Jesus' Kingdom rule.
The person who is self-reliant is illustrated in the following verses when Jesus says, “But everyone who hears these words of mine and doesn’t act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. The rain fell, the rivers rose, the winds blew and pounded that house, and it collapsed. It collapsed with a great crash.” (v. 26–27)
The person who hears the teachings of Jesus but decides not to put them into practice, is choosing not to live under Jesus' Kingdom rule. They're like a foolish man who builds his house on the sand, and when the storms of life hit, they lack stability and collapse under the stress and pressure of the storms of life.
Life in this world can be overwhelming and exhausting, especially when you go at it in your own strength, relying on your own power. It's a natural thing to drift into self-reliance because the message of the world is: "Rely on yourself. You're the captain of your own ship. Live your best life now." But this mindset typically leads to a path filled with struggle, stress, fear, and anxiety. The secret to Kingdom living lies in the embrace of abiding in King Jesus, who is offering you a life of support, guidance, strength, and stability.
So, dear friend, be careful not to build your house on the shifting sands of this world. But evaluate your life today and make sure you're aligning your life with the teachings of Jesus and acting on them as a means of constructing your life on a solid, immovable Kingdom foundation.
3. The storms of this life are inevitable, but the teachings of Jesus are rock solid and unmovable.
Be like the wise builder, steadfast and filled with Kingdom grit, embracing your Kingdom purpose in this world. In doing so, you will live a life that is abiding in Christ, filled with the fullness of God, and capable of facing the storm this life will send you. Peace, stability, and fortitude are yours for the taking in the Kingdom. So keep pressing on, keep digging in, keep placing one stone upon another, and keep building on the strong foundation of King Jesus.
2 Corinthians 1:8 (NLT)
We think you ought to know, dear brothers and sisters, about the trouble we went through in the province of Asia. We were crushed and overwhelmed beyond our ability to endure, and we thought we would never live through it.
4. Don’ get the goodness of God and the pain of this world mixed up.
The problem with most Christians is that they get the goodness of God and the pain of this life mixed up. Do you ever struggle with this? When everything falls apart and crumbles at your feet, do you question the goodness of God in your life? If you do, then join the crowd. We all, at one time or another and to one degree or another, have struggled with this.
When you choose to live under the Kingdom authority-rule of God, then know that God will intentionally send affliction into your life with a purpose. The objective is not to destroy you but to develop your spiritual life. Paul said that the affliction that he experienced in 2 Corinthians 1:8 taught him something about the goodness and strength of God. Look at what he says in 2 Corinthians 1:9 (NLT), “In fact, we expected to die. But as a result, we stopped relying on ourselves and learned to rely only on God, who raises the dead.”
Paul learned one of the most valuable lessons anyone living in the Kingdom can learn. He learned to stop relying on himself and start relying on God. This is how God turned things around for the Apostle Paul. We must understand that Paul felt the full brunt of pain and suffering as He lived His Kingdom purpose. It was a difficult life at times just like it is for everyone. But God was turning around Paul’s heart and helping him to see that in his suffering God was turning Paul’s heart to Himself, His goodness, and His faithfulness.
Pain has a way of burning lessons deep within your heart. When you learn something through affliction, you don't easily forget it.
So will God put more on you than you can stand? Absolutely! But you must remember that there is always a Kingdom lesson to be learned in the pain. The purpose of your pain is to open your eyes to the goodness, strength, and glory of God in your suffering. When you get to the point that you find yourself breaking under pain but you see the goodness of God, then you're truly seeing the Kingdom; you’re learning Kingdom values, and you're no longer living for yourself and this world.
So dear friend, the next time you find yourself under a load that you're unable to bear, shift your focus from your circumstances to the goodness of God. Don't allow the pain of your life to distort your perception of the goodness of God. Know this: God is always good, He is faithful, and He is always working in the lives of His children, especially in the pain and sorrow.
This is one of the most difficult Kingdom concept to live out, but it's important that you get this: It's in the breaking, the falling apart, and the undoing of everything you trust in this world that you will truly begin to understand the goodness and faithfulness of God. Your faithful, loving Heavenly Father doesn't only want you to live in His Kingdom, but He also wants to build grit in your soul. He wants you to no longer live for yourself and this world because they will crush you. But He wants you to live for Him and His Kingdom because that is where you will find purpose, meaning, and eternal joy.