Most Thoughtful Lord, You encourage me to give careful thought to the way I am conducting my life. While investing a lot of time in it I do not seem to get a lot from it. I eat, but my hunger returns until I satisfy it. I drink, but my thirst never goes away so I seek out more to drink. I put on clothes, but they don’t fit right so I try on something else. I read the sports page and business sections of the local paper but I struggle to find time to read Your Word. Is my problem the fact that I spend an too much time dealing with daily life and ignoring the care of the spiritual aspects of my life? Do I fail to trust You while knowing that You supply all of my needs? I’m realizing that putting You lower on my priority list causes my efforts at living unfulfilling and unproductive. Without You in Your proper place in my life, I’m seeing it is mostly unfruitful. With all my laboring, my material possessions do not bring me “true” happiness.
I should not lose sight of the fact that whatever I do must cause You to take pleasure in it and brings You honor. You expect much and, in my own strength, I do not accomplish much that is meaningful. Since I am busy with the affairs of life, I neglect the one that I gave to You. To get to where You want me to go, I must come to grips with the fact that Your thoughts are quite different from mine and the way You want things done is not the way I would do them. Therefore, to become more like You, I must be willing to be changed through the work of the Holy Spirit. I think that my biggest problem is confused priorities. There are so many things to deal with that drain away my time and strength. There are times when You speak to me and I think “That is an excellent idea … I ought to do it” only to move on and forget it. When I hear You speaking to me, I should pursue what You asked and make plans to accomplish it.
As I move forward with You, I shift from a life of sin to one led by the Holy Spirit. I must rely on the Holy Spirit to move my life in the right direction … that requires yielding to Him. You gave Him to me for the purpose of helping guide me to a productive life. I must be encouraged when He tells me “Be strong for I am with you.” I must become a person of the Bible, spending time on my knees in prayer, and worshiping You for who You are and what You are doing in my life. In addition, I must get out and do what You asked of me when You brought me into the world. Your desire is to use me to change the world around me. I must no longer conform my life to the ways of the world but instead allow the Holy Spirit to renew, reeducate and redirect my thinking to be in line with Yours. It is through careful thought and examination that I align my priorities with Yours. And it’s in Jesus’ name I pray. AMEN!!
Haggai 2:15 Now give careful thought from this day on – consider how things were before and how they must be done now.