It has taken me some time to collaborate this thought together to truly bring out what’s been on my heart as of late! If one thing is certain, we currently live in a society marked by insatiable appetites that drive many people to the ends of their life. There is an inherent trait in every individual that has a yearning desire to be fulfilled. Our nature is one of instant gratification and gluttony for the pleasures of this life and we see this in full display in the Hollywood of our world: fame, fortune, promiscuity, drugs, alcohol, and many times suicide! Why, because their flesh could not be satisfied with the temporal things life has to offer!

The reality is, whether we acknowledge it or not, we were created By God Almighty and for His purpose; and we were created to be filled by HIS SPIRIT! As in the story with the Samaritan woman at the well, JESUS offered her the only thing in this world that could fill her empty soul: LIVING WATER! One of the qualities of being filled with His spirit is that it allows Him to produce the FRUITS of His spirit in US, thus allowing us to overcome “our nature” of instant gratification and living in a carnal frame of mind! One of those fruits known as Temperance or better known as self-control, enables us to live above the bondage of dis-contentment and instant gratification.

It’s painful to know many people will search to the ends of the earth to quench that longing void in their souls and never find the answer, simply because they never turned their life over to CHRIST. This is why we must reach out to this world because we have the answer to their problems. However, the spirit of dis-contentment attacks even us Saints of God. We are bombarded with the oppression of dis-contentment from T.V. to social media to the ever changing world we live in, -The theme is Dissatisfaction. The persona is why stay where you’re at, you deserve happiness and satisfaction, and this drives us to a never ending cycle of trying to quench that insatiable desire to always want more. Society tells us if you don’t like that way you look, plastic surgery or a little nip and tuck is right for you. If you’re unhappy with your spouse, $500 can get you a brand new start. Don’t mis-interpret me on this one, we all deserve to have a happy marriage, and biblically speaking there are grounds to end a marriage, but my point is society makes it so easy to give up simply because we’re “not happy.” Any wise Marriage counselor will tell you a Happy and successful marriage is HARD WORK. That’s something many people don’t want to put the time in to do, just hit the do over button. Then we have the disgruntled father who grows tiresome of his responsibilities as the head of his home, so he begins to look for an escape route because he’s lost the Diamonds in his field, so he feels the need to go out and look somewhere else: the end result is a family torn apart. Many times if not always, that man will soon realize The grass wasn’t greener, and the true diamonds in his life was right under his nose, he was just too selfish to see it! The problem many people have in life is a strong hold that I believe satan uses against us, “Even us Christians” is the spirit that NOTHING IS GOOD ENOUGH! I don’t believe this is far fetched, look at what he sold Eve in the Garden: Eve, God is keeping you from the knowledge of good and evil, you deserve to know. Yes, we know he lied and beguiled her, but he sold her a bill of goods that said “My current state isn’t good enough, my knowledge and understanding isn’t good enough -I DESERVE TO KNOW!! It goes back to the spirit of entitlement as well, -I deserve a better car, a better house, a better Job! It’s an endless road because the stronghold of want cannot be found.

I may have deviated a bit, but I believe it relates to my topic: Diamonds in the field! I recently read an article about a man by the name of Ali Hafed, story said he was a wealthy Persian from the 1800’s that had acquired his wealth from his thousands of acres of Orchard fields, grain fields, and gardens! One day Ali was visited by a Priest traveling from the East, and he begin to describe to Ali that somewhere out in the world was a field of Diamonds that if found could make him more money than princes and kings. The words spoken by the priest stuck in Ali’s heart and it changed him from the inside out. That morning Ali was a wealthy man, but that night he went to bed a poor man because he became consumed with the ideal there was bigger and better fields than his. Soon after, Ali sold all his land, took the money and began his quest for the Diamond Mine! Ali searched endlessly around the world searching for the buried treasure of Diamonds until he had spent all his wealth in his pursuit. Broken and in despair Ali reach the climax of void and want when he decided to take his own life. The pain of destitution was too great for Ali. The Story goes on to say that the man who acquired Ali’s land was out by a brook one day allowing his camel to quench his thirst when he stumbled upon a eye catching rock, he quickly realized the rock was a diamond. The land that was once Ali’s turned out to be the Diamond mine he had been searching for, he just didn’t give it time to allow the Diamonds to surface. You see, diamonds are formed from beneath the earths crust and it takes immense heat and pressure for the diamonds to form and slowly make their way to the surface. Had Ali stayed content with His field, He would have realized the Diamonds were right under his nose. You see the moral of the story is, we give up too easily in life whether it’s giving up on God, giving up on our spouse or our family, maybe giving up on a friend and we lose sight on the diamonds in our field. The spirit of entitlement and “I deserve better” robs us of seeing true Diamonds in our life. May I encourage you to open your eyes in the midst of your dis-content, dissatisfied life and see what blessings you have right in your own field right now. Too many of us look at others fields and automatically assume their life is better than ours, but that’s not always the case. Start by thanking God for what you have, and you will soon realize how rich you truly are, and no doubt you are currently standing on a field of Diamonds at this present moment!

1Timothy 6:6-12_(ESV) “But godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs. But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.”

God Bless, JDS