Reflections from Corinne’s Garden: God’s Designed Pathway to the Sacrifice of Praise
Jeremiah 29:13 “If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find Me”
(NLT)
As we near the end of our week following God’s Designed Pathway to the Sacrifice of Praise, What is your total focus today? selfies, your phone, busyness….Ummmmm………do we ever stop to ask ourselves this question? Not usually. It is so easy to let ourselves get swept away, into the world, and lose our focus on God.
Falling leaves are changing the seasons in Corinne’s Garden today, and my thoughts are centered on how God has sharpened my focus on Him over the years when I was connected to God, not centered. Dr. John MacArthur described this best, “The more you focus on yourself, the more distracted you will be from the proper path.”
The question is how did I refocus? I pursued Jesus when He said…..“If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me.”(NLT) Old habits are hard to break and refocusing on God and His Word was only possible with the leading of the Holy Spirit.
I am aware that this is not new encouragement to you, but I also know how easy it is to give in to the chaos of the day. I continue to learn that God’s word is adequate to equip us for all the stop outs and detours along our journey. We hear Jeremiah speaking to the exiled Jews in our scripture verse but let’s apply these words to us; we are His people and His word is relevant. Is your mind focused on God? I can truthfully say early in my spiritual journey I didn’t think about anything but making it through each day; I didn’t focus on God’s presence; yet here I am today with great experience in sorrow and joy, covered by great grace, humbled by God to encourage you to stay focused on who you serve. Together let’s lift our focus on God as a Sacrifice of Praise. Scripture says, “turn my eyes from looking at worthless things; and give me life in your ways.” (Psalm 119:37 ESV)
Thoughtful Reflection
God invites us to intimately focus on Him through prayer, and His Word and what better way to do that than to use His own words in the Bible to pray back to Him. So allow the Holy Spirit to pray for you when you can’t think of what — or how — to pray yourself.
John MacArthur: “biblereasons.com”