{"id":15576,"date":"2017-05-18T09:27:36","date_gmt":"2017-05-18T13:27:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=15576"},"modified":"2017-05-18T09:31:32","modified_gmt":"2017-05-18T13:31:32","slug":"living-simply-yet-focused-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=15576","title":{"rendered":"Living Simply\u2014 Yet Focused"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Look at the birds of the air\u2026.Consider the lilies of the field\u2026 \u2014<a href=\"http:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?version=31&amp;search=Matthew+6%3A26%2C+28\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Matthew 6:26, 28<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<div class=\"col-sm-4\">\n<p><!--\n\n\n<div class=\"mobile-sharing-button\"><\/div>\n\n\n--><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/hnjeMwxFuBA\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><br \/>\n\u201cConsider 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 <em>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. Jesus said there is only one way to develop and grow spiritually, and that is through focusing and concentrating on God. 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 (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=John+7:38\">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. 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<\/div>\n<section class=\"entry-content\">\n<div class=\"post-content\">\n<p>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<p>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<\/div>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Look at the birds of the air\u2026.Consider the lilies of the field\u2026 \u2014Matthew 6:26, 28 \u201cConsider 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 as well\u2014 yet what a [&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":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15576"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15576"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15576\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15580,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15576\/revisions\/15580"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15576"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15576"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15576"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}