God led me to attend a wonderful revival at Victorious Praise Fellowship in Durham, NC last Wednesday evening. As I was standing there praising The Lord, the minister spoke of the problems we are having in our lives. For the first time in my life I stood there sincerely thinking that she was not referring to me. At that moment I realized that I do not consider myself to have problems. I literally had to stop and remember that I still had some challenges in my life.

This really struck me. This may sound odd, but after many, many years of focusing on trying to fix my problems, and close the gaps in my life, to stand there in a problem-free reality truly left me baffled. I became consciously aware that God had expanded me in this area of my life.

In the midst of the musicians playing their crescendos, the minister moving through the aisles roaring her sermon and hundreds of believers unashamedly praising God, I went within to seek The Holy Spirit for clarity. I clearly heard, “When you seek the higher things of me, it takes care of everything and you have no problems.”

Let me repeat that in slightly different terms, “When you seek the higher things of God, it takes care of everything else, problems disappear and only solutions remain.”

Whoa! I immediately thought of Philippians 3:13 as Paul spoke of pressing on toward the goal of his high calling in The Lord and he no longer had time to look back. As you create a life that focuses and revolves around manifesting what God called you to do, it effects every area of your life and everything else is taken care of through the pursuing of your high calling – the calling above all of the other callings in your life.

I pondered this throughout the evening and the next day. Then, I began to run scenarios from my past that I considered problems at the time. Was it true? Had I known then to simply seek the higher things of God, the problems would not have had the space to exist in my life?

I started to recall every issue or problem I experienced in relationships with men – they would have been handled. I had to laugh at this one because had I been focused on the higher things of God, I wouldn’t have been involved with more than half of them in the first place. Then, I continued to run past problems through my mind:

Single motherhood – handled. Financial stress and lack – taken care of. Challenges with friendships – no more. Family issues – done. Growing and expanding my vision – covered. Weight loss – not an issue. Self-worth – covered. Life’s major decisions – clear. Sickness – no more.

Yes! When you focus on the higher things of God, your problems, obstacles and challenges melt away from your life. As you ask, seek and knock on God’s door of revelation, He continues to answer and teach through His Holy Spirit. As you center your life around giving God the one-on-one time He commands, He will take you to places that transcend your day-to-day problems.

In order to fully understand what The Holy Spirit shared with me that evening, you have to understand what the higher things of God are. The higher things of God are whatever is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent and praiseworthy (Phil 4:8).  These things include His vision for your life, purpose, wisdom, miracles, overcoming, healing, deliverance, the power you have through Christ, eradicating Satan from your life (yes, it is possible), authority, submission, your role in the Body of Christ, producing good fruit, God’s abundance, etc. I keep a running list of these higher things and without fail, The Holy Spirit brings me the answers and points me to the scripture that explains it.

No, everything is not perfect and The Lord knows I am still a work in progress, but I can wholeheartedly say that the more God reveals the power, dominion and authority He has granted me as a believer, the less issues and more solutions I come to understand. God has left you with a road map to achieve all He has called you to. All you have to do is continually seek His guidance and revelation. Everything else is taken care of in this process. Try it, I am here to tell you that it works!

With Love, Ericka