A Penny for Your Thoughts

by Rhonda Barnes

Years ago, I walked into an Adult Bible Fellowship class with a box of pennies. After giving a penny to each person present, I asked what the coin represented to each of them. Although I received some interesting responses, I did not get the one I was searching for.

As you look at the above photo of a penny, what does it represent to you? The answer I am searching for today is: ONE. This is a word that seems to have lost its value. There are so many voices and so many choices, so many distractions and so many priorities, that focusing on just one thing seems impossible. Yet David, who is credited for being a man after God’s heart, penned this important truth. ​

The one thing I ask of the Lord—the thing I seek most—is to live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, delighting in the Lord's perfections and meditating in his Temple. For he will conceal me there when troubles come; he will hide me in his sanctuary. He will place me out of reach on a high rock. (Psalm 27:4-5 NLT) 

This passage provides us with sound instruction for the unprecedented times we are currently living in. When we seek the ONE true God first, our priorities can come into alignment, and His voice can resonate above all the noise.
  
While I do not believe God sent our current world crisis, I do believe He is using it to help us remember the Power of One--the importance of His voice and instruction over all other; the significance of making Him our number one priority.
 
We are unable to possibly decipher the many conflicting reports, agendas, and opinions that bombard us each day. Many of our former priorities which competed for our time with God, no longer exist. Could it be that God is reminding us to seek Him first? Is He asking us to make Him number one yet again? In our seeking, we can find many benefits.
 
First, we can access the promise of the second part of the Scripture above. It doesn’t say, “If trouble comes,” it says, “When trouble comes,” we can be hidden in the secret place of the Most High. As a Christian, I am not promised a life with no storms. However, I am promised I will be sheltered and God will never leave or forsake me. I have the assurance He will calm the storm or He will cross with me through it to the other side.
 
Secondly, if we, the Body of Christ, would all focus on one thing and one voice, we will see a spirit of unity prevail as it did in the New Testament Church. This group of believers was known for having one heart, one mind, and operating in one accord. They turned their world upside down!
 
What if the Body of Christ would do that today? What would happen if collectively we all united with His agenda and focused on His priorities instead of our own? Now is the time for today’s Church to arise with a spirit of unity and in one accord, to ask our one true God to have mercy on the United States of America and restore her to be “One Nation Under God” once again.
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I do not believe God is finished with His church on this earth; I believe her best days are in front of us if we will remember the value of One. We are given the key on the face of the coin: “In God We Trust”! ​

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Rhonda Barnes is author, speaker, Christian blogger, and gifted teacher of God’s Word. Credentialed as an Assemblies of God minister in 2002, Rhonda currently serves as Associate Pastor at Grace Community Church in Salem, Missouri. Her first book, Road to Transformation, Journey to God’s Glory, was released in 2014. Since then, she launched the Christian teaching blog Secret Place Revelation, inspired by Psalm 91:1. In 2017 two additional books, Keys to the Kingdom, and It is Written were released. Rhonda is passionate about sharing the truths of God’s Word and enjoys writing, speaking in many settings, and teaching small groups.
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To contact Rhonda, please visit www.secretplacerevelation.com or email rhondabarnes@embarqmail.com

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