Matthew 6:33
So above all, constantly seek God’s kingdom and his righteousness, then all these less important things will be given to you abundantly.
3/30/21 — 3:03 AM
I awoke to find the fire I had set at 2PM yesterday fully ablaze inside the trash can I was burning miscellaneous items in earlier that day.
Nothing had been added to the can since it’s last deposit and when I went to bed that evening, there were no signs of life as the top layer sat singed & hot from the day’s flames.
Now it is night.
There is a light drizzle outside,
and a slight wind.
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It’s no coincidence I saw this flame tonight.
It is a reminder of what we see in the natural not being representative to what’s going on in the supernatural.
Like a person wearing a mask or walking out a false identity, the outer appearance doesn’t truly reflect what’s hidden just underneath the surface, beyond our sight.
We become cloudy as the years go by. Often wearing layers of decay & hardness placed upon us through pain & hardships. We become heavy and dark due to trials we have walked through. Whether it’s an absent father, an overweight childhood, an addictive gene, or even an act of evil which touched our life, pain comes for us.
Pain is inevitable.
We spend years of our lives trying to avoid pain. Doing our best to tip-toe around it, ensuring our toes do not touch it’s dark waters in an effort to save ourselves from what we see lying ahead. We make choices which we believe will take us further from it. We cut ourselves off from others who we believe cause it.
We teach our children not to run with scissors because surely that will end in pain. Severe pain. And we do our best to model all the behaviors we know which walk us further away from it.
But in the end, pain finds us.
Sometimes due to our own accord, and others, by something completely out of our control.
It is something we must ALL walk through.
The world will teach you to avoid pain at all costs. Or encourage you to feel it in order to hit that next fitness goal. Pain = muscle.
But what does the bible say about pain? What do the scriptures teach us?
When we look to the life of Jesus, we see a testimony which leads to the ultimate pain. A pain he kew was coming and yet continued to walk toward. A pain so severe it lead to his physical death.
And what did Jesus say when he was at the highest point of his pain threshold: “FORGIVE THEM FOR THEY KNOW NOT WHAT THEY DO.” (Luke 23:34)
Even in the midst of what must have been excoriating pain for himself, Jesus called out to his Father for forgiveness. Not forgiveness for himself, or his closest friends & family, but forgiveness for his enemies. The ones who didn’t believe, who were responsible for his physical death and the mockery he was enduring. (Luke 23:35-36)
As a crowd stood watching life leave his body, shouting profanities and gambling over his clothing, he asked Father God to forgive for he knew the ones causing his pain truly didn’t know any better.
That is what a Kingdom-mind sounds like and the way one thinks. That is what being Kingdom-minded is all about.
It defies odds. It surpasses logic. And it acts on behalf of a Kingdom greater than what our eyes can perceive on the surface.
It aligns with a burning fire deep within, hidden under the surface of our pain, awaiting the day winds of change are breathed upon it, igniting the burning embers planted deep below the surface of our skin.
Let us remember, we are ‘clothed in Strength & Dignity’ (Proverbs 31:25) and are called to advance a Kingdom which is far greater than anything our eyes can see on Earth.
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“So above all, constantly seek God’s kingdom and his righteousness, then all these less important things will be given to you abundantly.” ~Matthew 6:33
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From His heart to mine to yours,
Amanda
