Prayer Tip: Where Your Treasure Is...
Daily Scripture
Matthew 6:19-24 (CEB)
“Stop collecting treasures for your own benefit on earth, where moth and rust eat them and where thieves break in and steal them. Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
“The eye is the lamp of the body. Therefore, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how terrible that darkness will be! No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be loyal to the one and have contempt for the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.”
Prayer Tip
by Ashly Cooley, Executive Assistant to Locations & Care at Resurrection
Matthew 6:33: But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
Rev. Dr. Anne Gatobu once told us, “When there is a song running through your head, pay attention to it. It could be telling you something.” As I prepared to write today, the song that set Matthew 6:33 to music kept looping through my head. “Seek ye first the kingdom of God”–it made this easier to write.
This is the part of the GPS where we focus on prayer. I want to share an idea of what it looks like to meditate on the fruit of the spirit. Many people have heard of a “vision board.” You put pictures (or words) of everything you want on the board, look at it every day and envision that you had it. I asked a pastor friend if this was okay to do. It felt out of line with my priorities to focus on a bigger house (even though I would love a bigger house). She suggested that I envision qualities that align with God’s heart. What if we spend ten minutes envisioning God’s peace and inviting it into our hearts? With a physical vision board, or just an inner one, clear your mind and focus on love, gentleness, kindness, self-control, faithfulness, patience, and joy.
Spend your prayer time with God meditating on aligning your heart with God’s priorities. As we do this, and we train ourselves to put God first, good financial habits and generous spirits can follow naturally.
Dear God, sometimes our hearts are out of alignment. Something feels off, something is wrong, but we can’t quite figure out what it is. When you are not first, when our hearts are not centered on you, life tends to fall into chaos. Thank you for being the good shepherd who leads us towards truth and light. Amen.
