keep a pure heart...

God is going to bless His people. Habakkuk 3:17-18 says: "Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation." We can't control what people do around us or when people work against us, but we can control how we react. We can say, "No matter what happens around me or what others choose to do, I'll rejoice in the Lord." God wants us to look on the positive side. If our heart's not right, we can't uphold the standard of God's Word. We may try in the flesh, but if we don't have the Word and the Spirit working together, though you have understanding, we can't uphold it. It'll quickly fade away. I thank God that we each can have a pure heart. If we keep our heart pure, God will honor that. Friend, none of us knows how much time we have left on this earth before the Lord comes again. The way things are looking causes us to think it won't be long. However, we need to continue to work with and for God. I once read a story about a king and his kingdom. The king called in two servants. He told the first servant, "I want you to go throughout the kingdom and gather weeds of all different varieties and bring them back to me." Then the king told the other servant, "I want you to go around the kingdom and gather flowers of all different kinds and bring them back to me." He told them that they each had one week, and then the two servants went out. The first servant came back after a week with armfuls of all different kinds of weeds. He said, "I never knew there were so many weeds. I'm convinced that all we have in this kingdom is weeds." Soon the other servant returned and said, "Look at all these flowers. I didn't realize we had so many flowers. We have flowers of every variety imaginable. The way I see it, all we have in this kingdom is flowers." One servant saw only weeds; the other one saw only flowers. Why was that? That was what they were looking for. The man who was looking for weeds found weeds, and the man who was looking for flowers found flowers.

Likewise, if we look for negative things, that's what we're going to see. On the other hand, if we look for positive things and look to help others, we'll be lifted. We find what we look for. God is faithful to His people. If we seek Him for help and divine direction, He'll give us what we need. We should look for positive things and be thankful. "Be Careful for Nothing" Paul said in Philippians 4:4-6: "Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice. Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand. Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God." Paul said, "Be careful for nothing." We need to pray about everything. Sometimes people forget to pray about the little things which are really the most important things for us to be able to learn to trust in HIM always.