One thing I have desired of the Lord, that will I seek: That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the Lord, and to seek Him in His temple. – Psalm 27:4
A few years ago I was in a prayer room crying out to God to visit me. I began praying a prayer that is very familiar to most people – God, I put you first in my life. I was sincere in my heart for God to take His rightful place but His response was not at all what I expected. The Lord spoke to me in that moment and said, “I will not be the first thing, I must be the only thing.” This phrase has sent me on a devotional journey that has consumed the last three years of my life. You see, if Jesus was first then there is also a second. This implies that there was a competition and He does not compete. He rules alone or He departs.
I have found that when I allow one thing to occupy my heart, everything else ceases to be important. Here is an example. Since I married my wife, I am not spending the rest of my life saying no to every other woman. My “yes” to her cancels my opportunity to respond to anyone else. In the same way, when you allow the Lord to become the one desire in your heart, you don’t have to walk around saying no to sin. Your “yes” to Him becoming the one thing will cancel the authority of every other thing! Holiness is not saying no to sin, it’s saying yes to Jesus! The Lord does not measure your love for Him by the degree that you are able to say no to sin, He only measures your love for Him by the degree to which you say yes to Him.
So how do we allow Him to become the one thing in our hearts? It’s very simple. Spend time alone with God. What you do with your time tells far more about what reigns in your heart than your Facebook status and T-Shirts. What you spend your time on is what you most value. This will show what you truly worship. There is nothing more important in life than spending time with Jesus in the secret place. He will only become the one thing when you get alone with Him and allow Him to deal with all the other things that you have in your heart. He loves you and He longs to visit you in the secret place. All you have to do is show up and wait!
My prayer is that we would be a people that live for one thing – the presence of Jesus. May we spend all of our days gazing upon His face and seeking Him in His temple.
One Thing 