{"id":14335,"date":"2016-04-27T09:36:52","date_gmt":"2016-04-27T13:36:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=14335"},"modified":"2016-04-27T12:48:01","modified_gmt":"2016-04-27T16:48:01","slug":"what-do-you-want-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=14335","title":{"rendered":"What Do You Want?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Do you seek great things for yourself? \u2014<a href=\"http:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?version=31&amp;search=Jeremiah+45%3A5\" target=\"_blank\">Jeremiah 45:5<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<div class=\"col-sm-4\">\n<div class=\"mobile-sharing-button\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/VgGP3g1rjA8\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe>Are you seeking great things for yourself, instead of seeking to be a great person? God wants you to be in a much closer relationship with Himself than simply receiving His gifts\u2014 He wants you to get to know Him. Even some large thing we want is only incidental; it comes and it goes. But God never gives us anything incidental. There is nothing easier than getting into the right relationship with God, unless it is not God you seek, but only what He can give you.<\/div>\n<div class=\"mobile-sharing-button\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"mobile-sharing-button\">If you have only come as far as asking God for things, you have never come to the point of understanding the least bit of what surrender really means. You have become a Christian based on your own terms. You protest, saying, \u201cI asked God for the Holy Spirit, but He didn\u2019t give me the rest and the peace I expected.\u201d And instantly God puts His finger on the reason\u2013 you are not seeking the Lord at all; you are seeking something for yourself. Jesus said, \u201cAsk, and it will be given to you\u2026\u201d (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=Matthew+7:7\">Matthew 7:7<\/a>). Ask God for what you want and do not be concerned about asking for the wrong thing, because as you draw ever closer to Him, you will cease asking for things altogether. \u201cYour Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him\u201d (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=Matthew+6:8\">Matthew 6:8<\/a>). Then why should you ask? So that you may get to know Him.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<section class=\"entry-content\">\n<div class=\"post-content\">\n<p>Are you seeking great things for yourself? Have you said, \u201cOh, Lord, completely fill me with your Holy Spirit\u201d? If God does not, it is because you are not totally surrendered to Him; there is something you still refuse to do. Are you prepared to ask yourself what it is you want from God and why you want it? God always ignores your present level of completeness in favor of your ultimate future completeness. He is not concerned about making you blessed and happy right now, but He\u2019s continually working out His ultimate perfection for you\u2014 \u201c\u2026that they may be one just as We are one\u2026\u201d (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=John+17:22\">John 17:22<\/a>).<\/p>\n<p>____________________________________________________<\/p>\n<p>April 27 2016<\/p>\n<p>Journal Entry for Today-JDV<\/p>\n<p>Good morning Lord. This devotional convicted me Lord. Even as I read it I knew that I was and am guilty of seeking an intimacy with You so that You would assuage life\u2019s uncertainties, hurt and pain while helping me make a better life by making me a better person here on earth. So many of my prayers have been about what you can or \u201cshould\u201d do for me or mine. Now I am focused and motivated to seek You for a more intimate relationship as an end in itself. I do not believe I have explored and lived in that space as often or as completely\u00a0as I could. Thank You for this reminder. I pray for Your strength and power to focus more on our intimate relationship as an end in itself.<\/p>\n<p>And God says\u2026\u201d<em>It is not wrong to ask Me for blessings, gifts or your daily bread. It is not wrong to pray to avoid temptation and the evil one. However, sometimes the things requested in prayer like peace, daily bread, courage, financial security and health for you and yours, become the ends in themselves. I can respond and your life becomes transformed when you first seek Me and our intimate relationship. Strive to be surrendered so that we have an intimate relationship and connection that leads you first to Jesus and His love, mercy and grace. Seek first the kingdom of God, which is Jesus, and I will provide everything else you require for your daily living. Take time to simply engage Me for the sake of knowing Me more intimately, and I will provide everything else you require. Acknowledge the Lord in all your ways, and do not rely on your own understanding and I will make your paths straight. Let My word and direction be a lamp that lights your way, one step at a time as we live in intimate connection that springs from your surrender.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Do you seek great things for yourself? \u2014Jeremiah 45:5 Are you seeking great things for yourself, instead of seeking to be a great person? God wants you to be in a much closer relationship with Himself than simply receiving His gifts\u2014 He wants you to get to know Him. Even some large thing we want [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14335"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14335"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14335\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14342,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14335\/revisions\/14342"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14335"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14335"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14335"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}