Monthly Archives: June 2022

Excerpt – God Focus, from Our Daily Bread

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This morning I flipping through my copy of the June edition of Our Daily Bread and stopped on the June 4, 2022 Devotional, God Focus by Adam Holz. The scripture reference is 1 Timothy 6:6-11.

Our Daily Bread

I am sharing this because the title immediately captured my attention. Some 26 days later it was speaking to me and as you read this, most likely many of you. You see, I fall in the category of being a maximizer. My husband is a satisfacer. It worked well when I was younger or so I thought. Actually it kept me up nights. I was never really content. The truth is, I was always envious of my husband who was as a satisfacer and was content with life as it was, not to overlook the fact that he slept well. There is a saying that I guess satisfacers understand and live, ‘let go, and let God’. Others of us hear it, but are not ensconced in it.

In delving into my past, I now realize you can be a satisfacer, content with what you have and where you are in life and still pursue the path of your God given destiny. Wanting more is not wrong if you do not allow it to govern your life, as the money pleasers in the Bible learned being driven by greed and the need for attention is nothing more than an albatross around your neck.

It is time for me to transition from being a maximizer, always seeking more, perfecting more, and needing more and begin to open my life to being a satisfacer. How many of us are loosing time being maximizers? In looking back being a maximizer caused me to loose time, and the enjoyment of life. When you are a maximizer you are in the maximizer prison, striving for more and missing out on life. As you read this, think about my last post, do you need to view life through a new lens, a new perspective? Is it time to look through our makers eyes as Paul was instructing Timothy to consider. Is contentment all you really need?

EXCERPT, Adam Holz

When I was shopping for engagement rings, I spent many hours looking for exactly the right diamond. I was plagued by the thought, What if I miss the best one?


According to economic psychologist Barry Schwartz, my chronic indecision indicates that I am what he calls a “maximizer,” in contrast to a “satisficer.” A satisficer makes choices based on whether something is adequate for their needs. Maximizers? We have a need to always make the best choice (guilty!). The potential outcome of our indecision in the face of many choices? Anxiety, depression, and discontent. In fact, sociologists have coined another phrase for this phenomenon: fear of missing out.


We won’t find the words maximizer or satisficer in Scripture, of course. But we do find a similar idea. In 1 Timothy, Paul challenged Timothy to find value in God rather than the things of this world. The world’s promises of fulfillment can never fully deliver. Paul wanted Timothy to instead root his identity in God: “Godliness with contentment is great gain” (6:6). Paul sounds like a satisficer when he adds, “But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that” (v. 8).


When I fixate on the myriad ways the world promises fulfillment, I usually end up restless and unsatisfied. But when I focus on God and relinquish my compulsive urge to maximize, my soul moves toward genuine contentment and rest.

Reflect – Would you say you tend to be a content person? Why or why not? How do you think your relationship with God affects your overall contentment in life?

Pray – Father, help me to remember that only You can fill my soul.

Insight – One of the most misquoted statements in Scripture is 1 Timothy 6:10: “The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.” Notice that money itself isn’t the root of evil, but when it becomes the object of our love, that’s when the problems begin. Because money is so seductive, Jesus addressed this issue at the launch of His public ministry. In the Sermon on the Mount, He spoke of the value of pursuing treasure in heaven rather than money. Why? Matthew 6:21 explains that “where [our] treasure is, there [our] heart will be also.” Jesus also addressed a primary reason we seek security in money—worry. He reminded us that the God who cares for “the birds of the air” values us and can be trusted to provide for our needs (vv. 25–27).

I highly recommend downloading the Our Daily Bread App from your App Store or visiting their Website – https://odb.org/. It is a great tool to begin your day.

It’s A New Day, A New Lens

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The Lord has blessed us with a new day. A new day means we have new opportunities, new hopes and of course new mercies.

KOA

I pray that we can all experience this new day in the way He designed.

As an older Christian, I can say that we will experience dark moments and challenges, throughout our lives, being a Christian does not exempt us from the woes of this world. Like so many, I have tried to resolve things on my own more than once, and even with successful resolve, the outcome is never as welcoming as when I take my cares to the Lord in prayer and wait for his direction on how to resolve the issue, trials, and challenges.

This does not mean we should sit back on our laurels in desperation failing to make a move. However as Christians it is our gift from God to ask for the Holy Spirit‘s help and guidance. His guidance provides confidence and peace of mind as we walk through the darkness. Darkness and light cannot coexist, we are either in the dark or the light. Walking with Christ places us in the light, hence we experience confidence and peace as we walk through life’s circumstances.

Having lived through the darkness, and experiencing the light, I’ve learned to understand my relationship with the Lord in a much deeper way. I appreciate each step he is leading me through to continue strengthening my relationship and relying on him more readily. Only God can create the conditions in which we prosper.

Missionaries of prayer

In all instances, I find relinquishing my fear results in outcomes I could never have imagined or fashioned on my own.

It is amazing that the Lord will confirm what I write with a devotional, reading, or conversation. This post was confirmed by my pastor’s devotional whose Daily Devotional focuses on stepping away from being religious like the Pharisees and Sadducees (Old Testament) and choosing a relational life with the Lord. We can know the Word but without living it we are empty and lost. Relying on the Word creates the alignment we need to establish a deep relationship with the Lord. One in which we reside in the light despite the challenges we may face.

A new lens provides a new perspective on life. We can choose to remain in the dark or step out into the light of day walking with our Lord and relying on his strength, guidance, and wisdom.

The Function of Prayer

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The function of prayer is not to influence God, but rather to change the nature of the one who prays.
~Soren Kierkegaard (goodreads.com)

Praying hands. Freeimages.com

Prayer is the conduit of relationship. It connects us to our Lord and Savior and to other believers. It changes us and gives us fertile ground to graze on. It feeds us, nourishes us, empowers us, and sustains us. When we pray we become one with the Lord. Throughout the years I have experienced how prayer has changed me from the inside out. When we are new believers, our prayers connect us, then as time moves forward, one day we pray and find ourselves at a new, deeper level of relationship with the Lord. As we mature and our relationship deepens, He is able to convey His wishes for us on a much deeper level.

As our nature changes internally, so too does our outer nature. We no longer view the world as we had previously. Since we see the world differently, we respond to situations, circumstances, trials and tribulations differently. We also look at the joyous moments in our lives differently. We begin to see the world through God’s eyes expressed through His Word.

I also believe our prayers become less myopic, and no longer singularly focused on self. We begin to focus on more than our needs and look at God’s world and it’s needs.

Young Woman praying. Freeimages.com

God directs our path through the Holy Spirit who resides in us, as well as through His Word. The Holy Spirit teaches us to focus on our prayers. It nudges our perspective and removes old bias, stereotypes and, hatred towards others.

Prayer provides spiritual empowerment. There is an article in Bible.org entitled, 7. Prayer #2: A Prayer for Spiritual Empowerment (Ephesians 3:14-21), in which the author shared that the “theme of this prayer is: “When you pray, pray boldly.”” As you do so, you are asking God to give you deeper understanding. As we mature, and our prayers become more selfless, they also become more bold. Bold prayers are a form of radical faith, a faith that does not falter or doubt.

This radical faith empowers us to be the soldiers and ambassadors He called us to be. When we pray, as Soren Kierkegaard expressed, our nature changes.

We cannot influence God, but we can, through prayer, influence the world around us through our actions, thoughts and deeds. We are empowered through the Holy Spirit to conform to the image of Jesus Christ, to be like Christ in all that we do. To reflect His Will in our actions, thoughts and deeds. Ultimately we change our nature through prayer and that change flows out into the world affecting others.