{"id":161442,"date":"2022-12-31T04:56:44","date_gmt":"2022-12-31T10:56:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/?p=161442"},"modified":"2022-12-28T08:08:58","modified_gmt":"2022-12-28T14:08:58","slug":"41-l","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/2022\/12\/31\/41-l\/","title":{"rendered":"41.l.         &#8220;Reflect on this past year&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p class=\"p2\">Psalms 107:9<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>For\u00a0He satisfies the longing soul, And fills the hungry soul with goodness.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"verseid:23.55.1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Isaiah 55:1-3<\/b><\/span><\/a><b>\u00a0<\/b>\u00a0\u00a0\u201cCome, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.\u00a0\u00a0Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food.\u00a0\u00a0Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live; and I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"verseid:24.31.25\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Jeremiah 31:25<\/b><\/span><\/a><b>\u00a0\u00a0<\/b>\u00a0\u00a0For I will satisfy the weary soul, and every languishing soul I will replenish.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"verseid:40.5.6\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Matthew 5:6<\/b><\/span><\/a><b>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/b>\u00a0\u00a0\u201cBlessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"verseid:42.1.53\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Luke 1:53<\/b><\/span><\/a><b>\u00a0\u00a0<\/b>\u00a0\u00a0he has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"verseid:66.7.16\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Revelation 7:16-17<\/b><\/span><\/a><b>\u00a0<\/b> \u00a0They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat.\u00a0\u00a0For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p class=\"p2\">What fills your desires? What consumes your time? What defines the purpose of your life? What are you chasing after? Could it be that you are chasing after things in this world to fill the void and emptiness in your soul?<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">When we give thought to what drives us and satisfies our soul and fills us with purpose, it is eternally important that we identify that longing within us as spiritual and godly hunger. Billy Graham, often said that this longing for purpose is the ultimate intent of our creator. It is a void (space\/emptiness) inside each of us. It\u2019s that void that many people try to fill with wealth, possessions, sex, drugs, alcohol, sports, gambling, power, beauty, work, recognition, etc\u2026\u2026 They search for their purpose or significance to fill this void by every possible means but do so in vain.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">The problem is, things that seem right in our eyes and even the culture that we live in are the things that will never fill this void. <span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Our natural intents are toward every conceivable idea that seems right and has been confirmed by all means possible by others who say this is how they found purpose and satisfaction in their lives. The problem is that all of these attempts mask it, cover it with brief moments of satisfaction but will always fall short of putting one drop of soul-satisfying nourishment into this void. The only way to satisfy it is with more of the same or trying something different, but in the end, they lead you right back to where you were, or worse. The world offers what it can never give. The problem is that these may be brought to us through temptations by Satan and we are easily tempted by them, or worse we are not even tempted, we just choose to close our minds to things of God.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Satan does not need to tempt us at all.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>How sad is that?<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">God stands at the door of our hearts, knocking. He offers forgiveness of sin. He fills those who repent, believe, trust, follow, and obey His Word to come into them and give them living water and the bread of life, not only now but for eternity. He promises to fill them with the Holy Spirit. To those who keep their eyes and focus on Him with the single purpose of honoring and glorifying Jesus Christ, he promises to fill this void with the fruits of the Holy Spirit, love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. To these, their longing for purpose and satisfaction has not only filled but it is overflowing continually.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>You may think this is not true and how can this satisfy the emptiness I am feeling deep within my soul?<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>It is a promise of God. He never lies. He loved us so much that He gave His only Son to redeem us. He gave us the written Word of God to encourage, convict, and lead us to the very point of exposing the void in our hearts with a purpose and satisfaction this world can never do.\u00a0 Intentionally choose to examine your heart in light of God&#8217;s Word and what satisfies it and gives your purpose. If you find an emptiness or void open the door to your heart and purpose to honor and glorify Jesus Christ anew with all you think, say, and do.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; &nbsp; Psalms 107:9\u00a0 For\u00a0He satisfies the longing soul, And fills the hungry soul with goodness. \u00a0Isaiah 55:1-3\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201cCome, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.\u00a0\u00a0Why do you spend your money for that which is not &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/2022\/12\/31\/41-l\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;41.l.         &#8220;Reflect on this past year&#8221;&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[81,2725,1785,4893,1983,2468,171,6182,1776,2974,646,15563,2971,463,16377,4558,3273,706,15513,56,109,3887,121,2707,3279,16378,2391,179,5230,3886,2387,4557],"class_list":["post-161442","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily-prayers","tag-blessed","tag-come-to-me","tag-delight","tag-empty","tag-everlasting-covenant","tag-everyone","tag-good","tag-good-things","tag-goodness","tag-guide-them","tag-hunger","tag-hungry-soul","tag-incline-your-ear","tag-lamb","tag-languishing-soul","tag-listen-diligently","tag-live","tag-living-water","tag-longing-soul","tag-love","tag-money","tag-replenish","tag-righteousness","tag-satisfies","tag-satisfy","tag-satsified","tag-shepherd","tag-steadfast","tag-thirsts","tag-weary-soul","tag-wipe-away-every-tear","tag-without-price"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161442","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=161442"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161442\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":161571,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161442\/revisions\/161571"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=161442"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=161442"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=161442"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}