BUT SEEK FIRST [GOD’S] KINGDOM AND [GOD’S] RIGHTEOUSNESS, AND ALL THESE THINGS WILL BE GIVEN TO YOU AS WELL (MATTHEW 6:33).
TODAY’S DEVOTION
If you are one of those people who have trouble praying because you never know what to pray for, I have just destroyed your last excuse. You don’t have to pray long as long as you pray right. Take the time every day—at your bedside when you first get up, while in the shower, while getting dressed, while driving to work, or whatever—to pray simply, “Lord, let Your Kingdom come and let Your will be done in my life today as it is in Heaven.” Start praying that prayer, and look for opportunities that God gives you for fulfilling it. Tend to God’s business this way, and watch how He starts tending to yours.
Even Jesus’ prayer for His followers in John chapter 17 is a “yeast” prayer:
My prayer is not that You take them out of the world but that You protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; Your word is truth. As You sent Me into the world, I have sent them into the world” (John 17:15-18).
(God’s Big Idea, Chapter Six)
CONSIDERATIONS
1. When we focus our hearts and minds to pray for Heaven to come to Earth, then the next part of Jesus’ Garden expansion prayer makes more sense: “Give us today our daily bread” (Matt. 6:11). What connection can you draw from this statement?
2. “Daily bread” certainly refers to food, but also the ancient Jews often used the word bread as an idiom that meant everything necessary for life. Do today’s believers need more than physical nourishment when confronting challenges? Explain.
3. How can the yeast of His influence help us bring about His Kingdom expansion on Earth?
4. What are several differences between saying,“I am in business for myself for my own profit,”and saying,“I am in His business for His influence.”
5. We are not here to escape; we are here to reshape. Are there times when believers should take a stand about issues, circumstances, injustice? List a few.
MEDITATION
Many believers say, “I want a Christian job with a Christian boss in a Christian workplace.” While there certainly are believers whom the Lord has called to such positions, He calls most of us to bloom and prosper right where we are, in the middle of the finance field, or the hotel field, or the food industry, or education, or government, because there is a whole lot of dough out there with a whole lot of needs. He wants us to infect the hospitality industry, banking, business, politics, sports.
(God’s Big Idea, Chapter Six)
Are believers effectively infecting their workplaces, communities, and families, with the Kingdom?