A life of balance & purpose!

Gimmie, Gimmie!

Many times we are not blessed in certain areas because our motives are wrong or simply because we are not ready spiritually to have it (whatever your “it” is).  You see God will not give us more than we need for that season.  He knows how greedy we can become and He knows how easily we are distracted.  He will not bless us with something that will distract our hearts from Him (see James 4).

Isn’t God good?  You see He saves us from ourselves.  He does give us opportunities to make certain decisions and it’s those little things that reveal our true character or lack thereof.

You can rest assured that He will provide all you need from day to day.  He longs to bless you in every area but He longs to have a relationship with you more than He wants to give you things.  The things are a by-product of the ‘real’ blessing which is a connection, a communion with Him.  The things of this world can never quench the longing of our hearts to feel _______(you fill in the blank).  This longing, this desire can only be quenched by Him.  We must  toss away our plans and be open to whatever He so desires for us.  Once we do this, yearnings for simple material pleasures are choked out because we are filled with the oxygen of His breath…and that is we really need!

Read Matthew 6:25-34…a highlight on verse 32 & 33.  Actually here it is below for your ease:

Matthew 6:25-34 (New Living Translation)

25 “That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. Isn’t life more than food, and your body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are? 27 Can all your worries add a single moment to your life?

28 “And why worry about your clothing? Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow. They don’t work or make their clothing, 29 yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are. 30 And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith?

31 “So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ 32 These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. 33 Seek the Kingdom of God^[a] above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.

34 “So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today.

Nakisha Guzman

Check us out: www.balancedandpurposed.com

Give me more...of what?

Often times we dig ourselves into the miseries of life by our pursuit of worldly pleasures and securities.  We do not realize it until we are engulfed in its vicious fury.  Sadly many do not realize it all.  They blame their problems on past relationships, go figure…needing more money, and ‘rainy day’ planning but we are deceived in our thinking.

Throughout the Word we are warned of the dangers of pursuing wealth, yet and still we do it any.  We justify it under stewardship & plans to do things for Christ but could we not locate more practical ways to serve others and serve the Kingdom.  Habakkuk 2:5, tells us that “Wealth is treacherous…”, that is a very strong statement and goes against anything the world would have us to believe. 

How can we stay clear of this temptation? How can we avoid being the greedy?  We have to re-train our minds in the Word.  Make our pursuits of service to God and dying to self.  Honestly seek to please Him.  Seek His guidance.  Better yet, do the opposite of what the world is doing.

What would life be like if we truly relied on God?  What if we all had the same amount of money and our needs where already met?  What would we do?  What would we pursue?  What would be our purpose?  This must have been what the Garden of Eden was like.  Just chill!  Free to just be!  With this in mind, your heart should yearn for the coming of Christ.  Your soul should yearn to save the souls of the lost so they too can join you in the mission to save others. 

Our most intense pursuit should be our seeking after Christ.  When our souls prosper then shall we.

See Matthew Henry’s Commentary on Habakkuk 2:

The lusts of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life, are the entangling snares of men; and we find him that led Israel captive, himself led captive by each of these. No more of what we have is to be reckoned ours, than what we come honestly by. Riches are but clay, thick clay; what are gold and silver but white and yellow earth? Those who travel through thick clay, are

hindered and dirtied in their journey; so are those who go through the world in the midst of abundance of wealth. And what fools are those that burden themselves with continual care about it; with a great deal of guilt in getting, saving, and spending it, and with a heavy account which they must give another day! They overload themselves with this thick clay, and so sink themselves down into destruction and perdition. See what will be the end hereof; what is gotten by violence from others,

others shall take away by violence. Covetousness brings disquiet and uneasiness into a family; he that is greedy of gain troubles his own house; what is worse, it brings the curse of God upon all the affairs of it. There is a lawful gain, which, by the blessing of God, may be a comfort to a house; but what is got by fraud and injustice, will bring poverty and ruin upon a family. Yet that is not the worst; Thou hast sinned against thine own soul, hast endangered it. Those who wrong their

neighbours, do much greater wrong to their own souls. If the sinner thinks he has managed his frauds and violence with art and contrivance, the riches and possessions he heaped together will witness against him. There are not greater drudges in the world than those who are slaves to mere worldly pursuits. And what comes of it? They find themselves disappointed of it, and disappointed in it; they will own it is worse than vanity, it is vexation of spirit. By staining and sinking earthly glory,

God manifests and magnifies his own glory, and fills the earth with the knowledge of it, as plentifully as waters cover the sea, which are deep, and spread far and wide. (Hab 2:15-20)

Prayers that get heard!

In my study this morning, I came  across John 9:31, it reads: God doesn’t listen to sinners, but He is ready to hear those who worship Him and do His will.  Think about that for a moment.  Our Elohim (unlike humans) considers no sin greater than the next.  Sin is sin to Him.  With this in mind, when you choose to not pay your tithes, gossip, tell a ‘little white lie’, have un-marital sexual relations, watch a little porn, speed down the highway, abort precious babies and so forth…then later that evening pray for His divine blessings, protection & provision in your life, you can rest assured that your answers will be delayed!  So, if many of your prayers are going unanswered maybe (of course not all situations), just maybe, those continuous, remorseless acts of sin in your life are putting a barrier between your communication with God.

How can you fix this problem?  Read the second portion of the same verse.  “Those who worship Him & do His will be shall be heard”.  Now for you ultra religious & legalistic folks (this was me just a few months ago), don’t go thinking it’s all about saying, “Lord forgive me for all my sins known & unknown before you get into any prayer” out of ritual.  It is good & right to ask for forgiveness in prayer; as it is the model Jesus gives us in Matthew 6:9-13 but it is really about our core desire to be in love with & always pleasing to our Heavenly Father, it is about our relationship with Him.  When we truly want to show our dedication to someone, we tend to want to do nothing that will damage they way they see us.  We go out of our way to impress them.  When we have this type of passion & desire on the inside of us for our El Elyon; we naturally move away from things that would cause us to break His heart be it the music we listen to, the groups we join, the places we go, the things we say, the way we respond/act, the way we think..what it is we simply remove it & replace it with things that are pleasing to Him.  You see the Bible tells us plainly in Luke 16:10,11 NLT: 10 “If you are faithful in little things, you will be faithful in large ones. But if you are dishonest in little things, you won’t be honest with greater responsibilities. 11 And if you are untrustworthy about worldly wealth, who will trust you with the true riches of heaven?”. 

Note: please don’t think money, a big house,  a good job or prestige are indicators of your righteousness.  This is the world’s way of thinking.  These things are nice to have & God desires to bless us with material things but our ‘real’ riches are in Heaven depending how much ‘real’ work we put in. 

When we view life through our Heavenly glasses we can see the ease of life, we desire to obey Him and with this obedience all the things that the world chases, pursues, and rejects God for are given to us without any work at all because He blesses us with all we desire & adds no sorrow with it (Proverbs 10:22).  Our hearts, our core self must desire to always do the things that are pleasing to God!

Fall on your face before God and be honest with Him about your selfish motives, your sinful desires or your lack of knowledge.  He is waiting to reconnect with you!

Elohim means Our Creator & Judge

El Elyon means The Most High (Sovereign)

Until Next Time,

Kisha Guzman

Check us out at: www.balancedandpurposed.com