What Do You Choose?

I sat and thought, what to I say today?  I've said it before, I know some are probably getting tired of reading it.  We need to pray.  We need to pray with sincerity, we need to pray with fervency.  We need to pray until we see answers!


Now, I know sometimes God's answer is wait so that can be hard.  It can be very hard!  You pray for answers now yet at the same time you must recognize that it will be in God's time. 


Have you ever told God you know you need patience, yet your heart is saying 'but can You give it to me now?'  I know I have!  I've done it more than once.


Yet when we learn the value of focused prayer, I really feel the waiting is a bit easier.  Because at that time, it becomes a real conversation with God, not just a laundry list of wants and wishes and we can often hear His whispers that assure us that He hears and understands.


Quick prayers are at times essential but God longs for us to 'pull up a chair' and stay for a while when talking to Him and He wants to talk back, He wants you to hear His words.  He wants you to study His Word and seek to find the treasures He has buried there for you.


I love finding the little nuggets.  I love hearing a word from a preacher or a fellow Christian that resonates in my heart and makes me go to the Word to seek more information on it.   Sometimes those nuggets will come from something I read. 


I tend to be a bit curious, so sometimes even reading a Christian fiction book I'll find something that makes me go 'hmm, never hear that before, wonder if they did their home on this or if it just 'fit' in the story'.  With non-fiction books it happens more often that there will be a nugget that sparks that interest but anytime you read something that causes you to go 'hmmm' about the Bible or God, do some research, He may have 'planted' a nugget for you to find.


But the one thing that I have found to be true, the more I'm in His Word and praying, the less time I find for other things that might call me away from Him.  What we read, what we watch on tv, the places we go, they all filter through our brain.  The more we are filtering through the good stuff, the more good stuff we will find we want.


It's kind of like eating healthy.  I love cheeseburgers, fries, pizza, you know the stuff that isn't good for you.  Yet when I eat healthy on a regular basis I find that I don't crave that nearly as often.  I find myself saying, 'I think a salad might be good' or 'let me have grilled (not fried) chicken.


Our body and mind work alike, the more good you put in, the more you want the good stuff.  The more you exercise physically the easier it is.  The more you pray and study your Bible, the more you understand.  The parallels are amazing if you look at them.  They are so easy to see, yet we stumble all around and don't find them unless we are focused and determined.