{"id":1843,"date":"2010-05-18T06:04:39","date_gmt":"2010-05-18T14:04:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/wordpress\/?p=1843"},"modified":"2010-05-18T08:20:05","modified_gmt":"2010-05-18T16:20:05","slug":"living-simply%e2%80%94-yet-focused-may-18-2010","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=1843","title":{"rendered":"Living Simply\u2014 Yet Focused 5-18-2010"},"content":{"rendered":"

Living Simply\u2014 Yet Focused<\/h2>\n
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May 18 2010<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Look at the birds of the air . . . Consider the lilies of the field . .\u00a0 \u2014Matthew 6:26<\/a>, 28<\/a><\/div>\n

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Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin\u201d\u2014 they simply are! Think of the sea, the air, the sun, the stars, and the moon\u2014 all of these simply are<\/em> as well\u2014 yet what a ministry and service they render on our behalf! So often we impair God\u2019s designed influence, which He desires to exhibit through us, because of our own conscious efforts to be consistent and useful.\"\"<\/a> Jesus said there is only one way to develop and grow spiritually, and that is through focusing and concentrating on God.<\/strong> In essence, Jesus was saying, \u201cDo not worry about being of use to others; simply believe on Me.\u201d In other words, pay attention to the Source, and out of you \u201cwill flow rivers of living water\u201d (John 7:38<\/a> ). We cannot discover the source of our natural life through common sense and reasoning, and Jesus is teaching here that growth in our spiritual life comes not from focusing directly on it, but from concentrating on our Father in heaven. <\/strong>Our heavenly Father knows our circumstances, and if we will stay focused on Him, instead of our circumstances, we will grow spiritually\u2014 just as \u201cthe lilies of the field.\u201d<\/p>\n

The people who influence us the most are not those who detain us with their continual talk, but those who live their lives like the stars in the sky and \u201cthe lilies of the field\u201d\u2014 simply and unaffectedly. Those are the lives that mold and shape us.<\/p>\n

If you want to be of use to God, maintain the proper relationship with Jesus Christ by staying focused on Him, and He will make use of you every minute you live\u2014 yet you will be unaware, on the conscious level of your life, that you are being used of Him.<\/p>\n

Here at CO2 we call it “being connected”. We are learnning that if we stay connected to the Spirit of God through the Spirit He gave us through our conversion, all our other spiritual needs\u00a0 and physical circumstances will be\u00a0addressed.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0JD<\/em>V\/DJR
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A Journaling Entry for Today<\/p>\n

May 18, 2010<\/p>\n

Over and over again we seem to be learning that the underlying issue, the underlying truth for a believer to know is to be connected to God through the person of Jesus Christ via the Spirit of God that lives within us. Connection, or as some say, an intimate relationship, is where we find our direction, peace and all of the answers we crave in face of our circumstances.<\/p>\n

And God says\u2026\u201dWhen we are connected I can direct you, I can speak to you and you hear me. You will speak to me and I hear you, and you know my will. The mountains will not seem so far, nor the storm so powerful when we are connected. Your hopes and dreams will all seem possible and your joy is full of hope. This is the Kingdom of God on earth. This is life and life more abundantly. This is where \u2026meeting all your needs\u2026takes place, inside this intimate relationship.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

5 18 10
\nGood Morning Trinity,
\nI\u2019m feeling bad. I realize I missed an opportunity yesterday. I coulda, woulda shoulda prayed with 2 friends. I think anyway. It seems perfect. Now from retrospect.
\nWell what were your dashboard indicators?
\nThe anxiety meter was pegged. I hated it\u2026 being asked without being asked for money.
\nSounds like the gages are working, did you just not trust them?
\nI only asked for an amount. I missed looking to you for additional opportunities. I didn\u2019t even think of praying together until later. This devo today is right on target. I guess I just need more practice?
\nMore practice, coming right up. You\u2019ll have another chance today.
\nOK, I want to do better, you know.
\nWe know, You\u2019ll do better
\nAm I missing anything?
\nYes of course. It might be called front burner focus.
\n….. Later with JD,,, the dash board doesn’t tell us what to do. It just tells us that something is up. something can happen. Opportunity is lurking, ready to be siezed the direction comes thru the connection….<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Living Simply\u2014 Yet Focused May 18 2010 Look at the birds of the air . . . Consider the lilies of the field . .\u00a0 \u2014Matthew 6:26, 28 Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin\u201d\u2014 they simply are! Think of the sea, the air, the sun, the stars, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1843"}],"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=1843"}],"version-history":[{"count":21,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1843\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1866,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1843\/revisions\/1866"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1843"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1843"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1843"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}