Dear People Who Keep Company With God,
How content are you with your life? Do you bear through daily life while holding out hope that one-day your ship will come in and your real life begins? I think most of us struggle with unfilled dreams, promises and prophetic words over our life. When we look with natural eyes at what could be versus what is, discontentment tends to be birthed in our hearts. Discontentment blinds us to the spiritual blessings we already have in Christ.
Godliness coupled with contentment enables us to see the treasures from heaven we already have on earth (1 Tim. 6:6). It is truly a source of great gain! Contentment does not stifle the desire to better your self, but in doing so with a content heart you will recognize that everything you have comes by the grace of God (John 3:27). Contentment means satisfaction with what God provides.
Contentment does not depend on outside circumstances. It is not a natural response. It is counterintuitive. Contentment must be learned (Phil. 4:11) and there is an art to learning it. Here are three keys that have helped me in my journey toward contentment.
1. Be Simple (2 Cor. 11:1-3)
We live in the information age. It is everywhere and it is mostly a blessing, but it can create issues if mishandled. Although we may have access to some of the greatest thinkers, preachers, artist, etc., at the end of the day all this information can make life more complicated than it needs to be and we wind up bogged down. It can make us mentally and emotionally sluggish. I have discovered as I clear my mind of all the external stuff coming at me and think simply then I can see what is truly important.
2. Be Needy (John 15:5)
It sounds bad, but it isn’t. The Christian life seems paradoxical in that we must have full confidence that we can do all things through Christ. While at the same time we must have full consciousness that we cannot make it without Him. We have to marry these two truths in our heart. On the one hand is the acknowledgment that you are nothing apart from Him. On the other hand is the acknowledgment that you are everything in Him. When these truths are married you are confident, have a healthy self-image and self worth, while at the same time there is an internal softness that says, “I need you God.”
3. Surrender and Become a Prisoner (Eph. 4:1)
This is really counterintuitive. Paul the Apostle was one of the most powerful effective Christians who has ever lived and was also a prisoner of the Lord (2 Tim. 1:8). Paul was a literal prisoner of the Roman government, but he understood it was not Rome, but the Lord; he saw beyond the natural into the spiritual. Some of Paul’s greatest works happened while he was in prison; Colossian, Philemon, Philippians and Ephesians are the prison epistles.
We know more about freedom in Christ than being a prisoner of Christ; freedom appeals to all of us, but prison is not appealing. A prisoner has no rights. You obey regardless of how you may feel about it yourself. To be a prisoner of the Lord Jesus means you are chained to Him, wherever He goes, you go. What He says you say and what He does you do without regard for man’s opinion.
Many Blessings, BW