God gives to beggars.

“Do not beg! You are a queen! It makes you look weak!”

That’s a line from a series called ‘Reign’ which i have been watching non stop for almost a week now. It is said by the queen mother to the new queen, in an attempt to teach her to be strong and confident.
I, however, have no such title, so I will beg… shamelessly.

The bible is filled with verses by the apostles encouraging us to put God first. To want Him only. To set our minds, and our sites on Him and to not allow distractions.
Matthew 6:33 – But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

Proverbs 16:3 – Commit thy works unto the LORD, and thy thoughts shall be established.

Matthew 22:37 – Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

I think verses like these almost become a cliche to Christians. We read over them and think “Truth!” but how often do we actually practise it? How often do we encourage others to do the same? Sure, we might mention them, but how often do we have difficult conversations with friends, encouraging them not to abandon God’s words and the advice of the disciples? These words were written by extraordinary men, who lead extraordinary lives, and who wrote these words to us because they knew! They lived them! These words come from experienced, men who faced many challenging circumstances, and were tempted, many times to back down… to settle… to give up… but they didn’t, and they found out that following Jesus, as difficult as it can be sometimes, is absolutely worth it, every single time.

The challenges we face nowadays look rather different to what they went through. We don’t have to worry about losing our heads … but with the world at our fingertips we need to do everything we can to protect our minds. Our tongues are free to worship God, but we don’t give much thought to our words. Instead of allowing our emotions to be an expression of what we know in our heads, we are too quick to talk ourselves into what we feel.

So I beg and plead this of God:

I pray that I will NEVER settle for anything less than what i know God wants for me. That i will forever be in His will, to lead a life that blesses Him and aligns me perfectly to receive His favour.
I pray that I will always want more of Him and never believe that I don’t need Him. That i will always desire to be extraordinary, and not mediocre.
i pray that even when it seems too difficult to put one foot in front of the other, i will remember that i have come this far. I have made it through every difficulty that lies behind me and in His strength i will make it through again and again and again.
I pray that I will never be lukewarm, saying one thing and doing another. That what I believe and who I am will forever be one in the same.
I pray that I will learn to get absolutely everything i need, from my Father, and that in all my days I will have the wisdom and the strength to follow Him, and encourage others to do the same, no matter how loud the flesh screams for earthly satisfaction, and …
I pray that you will pray these prayers too, because if there’s one thing i’ve learned in my mere 33 years on earth, it’s that there is absolutely NOTHING more fulfilling than living a life dedicated to the One who gave it to me in the first place.

Jolene.