“Arise, shine, for your light has come! And the Glory of the Lord is risen upon you!” Is 60:1

May the Grace of the Father and the Peace of His Son be released to you today through the power of Holy Spirit!

Dear friends,

Today I would like to share with you some practical applications of spiritual principles to our daily life. We are living in a specific season, and there is much going on in both the spirit realm and the earth realm. However, God has instructed us in His Word, “Seek ye first the Kingdom of Heaven...”

And so today, I will share what “seeking the Kingdom” translates to in terms of our daily life outlook.

We are currently in a season where our number one priority is yielding to God. Everything else that we do, all of the choices we need to make in response to the many situations that we will face, will be the correct choice, will result in the right outcome, if we first seek to yield to God in everything.

How do we do that? Well, it’s so straightforward that I almost missed it, because I was looking for something much more exotic.

Each time we come to a circumstance that impacts us—good, bad, or simply one requiring a response—we should stop for a second and ask ourselves: “What attitudes and what motives does this circumstance show me that I am carrying around with me?

It sounds straightforward, and it really is, but its often something we don’t do. We don’t recognize that God allows the circumstances that we face, to provide the incentive and training grounds that prepare us for the type of “ruling and reigning” that is spoken of in the Book of Revelation.

And because we don’t recognize these circumstances for what God can use them for—opportunities for us to learn how to walk in the Spirit and become victorious overcomers—we often treat these circumstances, particularly the negative ones, simply as they were intended by the enemy—which is to say, opportunities to get stuck in depression or discouragement, throw ourselves a pity party, or simply yield to what is a sabotage mission designed to get our spiritual ship way off course.

Imagine how quickly the devil would stop bothering you if, every time he threw something your way, you came out of it with more spiritual wisdom, greater health, or increase in money or position? It would not be long before he stopped trying!

So, how do we accomplish that?

First, it takes a change in mind-set. That’s why, as a first step, you must ask yourself each time that you encounter a “significant circumstance”, what your attitudes and motives are.

Anytime you find an attitude or motive that is based in attitudes of the flesh, or attitudes of the soul, you know that you must replace that attitude or motive with one of the attitudes or motives that God speaks about in His Word as being the types of attitudes and motives that believers need to operate out of.

Second, you must stop before taking any action in response to the circumstance. Ask yourself these two questions: 1) How does my “flesh” want to respond to this situation or circumstance? and, 2) How does God want me to respond to this situation or circumstance?

Three, you must make right choice. That is, you must decide to respond the way God would want you to, not the way your flesh wants you to.

Note, I didn’t say that you should pray for God to deliver you from wrong choice. I didn’t say you should ask Him to choose for you. You shouldn’t even ask someone else to choose for you. We have each of us been given as a gift from God, the power of free will choice, and our responsibility as sons and daughters of God is to make right choice.

Note, right choice always lines up with what God says in the Word.

Fourth, having made the right choice, you must act in accordance with the choice made. If you believe one thing, but do another, that’s double mindedness. It’s choice that has no power because it’s been eviscerated by disobedience.

And, my friends, it’s really that simple. But, there is one more step—and that step involves the second most important priority we have.

That priority is this: Rejoice! Having gone through the process, submitted to God, making as right a choice as we possibly know to make, and having followed through with action that complements the choice, we must now REJOICE over how God will triumph over and through the situation.

Note, I didn’t say “wait and see how it turns out”. No, because we walk by faith rather than by sight, we rejoice before we ever see God’s “solution” begin to manifest.

Now, in this season, the two primary areas that God will be addressing in our lives is the area of finances and relationships. And sometimes, our choices in one will affect the circumstances of the other.

So, get ready to deal with lots and lots of issues in these areas. God will give each of us plenty of opportunity to clean up unfinished business, and He will be looking at our attitudes and motives to see if we “stay stuck” where we are, or allow our choices to move us off our “old stuff” and into His future for us. And, as always, we are free to choose.

Angela Gulartie, October 05, 2008

This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it