What am I pursuing?

The end of Matthew 6 talks about the importance of keeping our focus on God and not getting distracted by all of the stuff - food, clothes, etc. It then says, "Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all of these things will be added on to you." I need to make sure my heart is after God, and not the stuff He brings. James 1:17 further shows how that stuff is from the Giver..., "Every good and perfect gift is from above and comes down from the Father of the heavenly lights... ." Most of the time the problem is distractions, something causes me to lose focus. But I need to live in a state of constantly taking hold of God and pressing in to Him. Like the woman who had the issue of blood and would not lose focus from the goal of Christ, or the disciples on the road with Jesus in Luke 24 who urged Jesus to come with Him when He was leaving, focus is critical. For it is as the focus remains as it should that "all these things are added," and I (or you) get to see the goodness, faithfulness, and love of God. As we seek God for His Word, presence, wisdom, and to relate with Him, we will see just how faithful He is to His Word. If we keep Him at a distance or limit Him, we are robbing ourselves of the abundant life for something much, much less. However, the gifts of God are secondary to the joy of living in His presence. While blessings are wonderful, there is nothing like spending time in true heart-felt worship before Him. Maybe that will be occuring in heaven ;).
God can be found! "You will seek Me and find Me when you seek with all your heart" - from the book of Jeremiah. But where are our hearts?

Contentment

"We learn contentment through conditioning our minds to dwell on our blessings, and to turn to expressions of gratitude." - David Jeremiah p.265 (based off of Psalm 16:6) from the book A Bend in the Road
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I found it interesting (and right on) how Jeremiah (p. 268) uses 2 Sam. 12:22-23 as proof of children who die automatically entering heaven. We got into a discussion on that off at college in a class...

Part of an interview

"...When is the last time I had allowed myself to be remotely uncomfortable for God? I couldn't remember. As a Christian that is not ok. If we can't remember the last time we reached out to tell people about God, that is not o.k."
"We oughtta live so far out of the boat that we are desperate for the Holy Spirit's enablement. That's why what Jesus called us to do, we can't do without His strength. To be the witnesses He wants us to be, we have to have his enabling to be bold, to have courage, to have His strength. We gotta have His compassion and His love to do the things God has put on our hearts."

-Lori Albee and James Robison
www.lifetoday.org Click television-webcasts May 30.