Nothing can stop God's will from being fulfilled in your lives - in every detail - if you seek God's kingdom first and if you desire to please God alone, because all authority on earth is in the hands of our Lord. Jesus made two important statements before Pilate:

(1) "My kingdom is not of this world" (and so I don't fight for earthly things) (John18:36).

(2) "You can have no authority over Me except what My Father permits you to exercise over me" (John 19:11).

This double confession is what Paul reminded Timothy of, when he told Timothy to be a good witness for the Lord (1 Tim.6:13,14 ).

This is the confession I also have made to God and to Satan and to people, when faced with difficult situations and difficult people.

You can be at rest always, only if you have no idol in your life. Good jobs, houses and earthly comforts have become idols to many Christians. That is no better than worshipping an idol of wood or stone! But many Christians do not realize this. Even the spiritual gifts God gives (like a ministry) can become an idol, like Isaac became to Abraham. When God alone is everything to us and if we can truly say to the Lord, from our hearts, "Lord, there is nothing and no-one I desire on earth beside you" (Psalms73:25), then alone can we say we are free from idolatry and begin to worship the Lord. I pray that all of you will break free from every idol and worship the Lord alone.

Our trust and confidence must always be in God alone - and never in men, lest the curse mentioned in Jeremiah 17:5 , 6 wither us up: "Thus says the Lord, 'Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind and makes flesh his strength, and whose heart turns away from the Lord. For he will be like a bush in the desert and will not see when prosperity comes but will live in stony wastes in the wilderness."

Our true wealth is not to be counted in money or property, but in the knowledge of the Lord that comes through failures and deep trials. Jeremiah 9:23 , 24 (Living) reads thus: The Lord says, "Let the wise man not bask in his wisdom, nor the mighty man in his might, nor the rich man in his riches. Let them boast in this alone: That they truly know Me and understand that I am the Lord whose love is steadfast, and that I love to be this way."That is the only thing that has value, ultimately. Every accomplishment in the world is garbage compared with that. The sooner we discover that truth, the wiser we will become.