These last two chapters have been jam-packed with goodness. With all that we have learned by reading Mathew 5 and Luke 6, combined with what we are studying this week with Mathew 6-7, it’s a fantastic time for introspection. This week’s challenge is to examine and observe yourself. As you read the chapters, have a notebook handy and write down the areas that the Lord is pointing out. Then pay close attention this week to see how you’re doing. Makes notes of strengths and weaknesses. This will help us to remember those areas we need to work on, and it will aid us in moments of difficulty to know which way to turn. As we mentally choose to improve this week, we will be strengthening our foundation, so we can stand strong during rough storms.

Here is my list of introspection:

1. How am I doing at serving others? Have I contacted my ministering friends? Am I praying to know what others need? Mathew 6:1 Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven.
2. How are my prayers? Are they reverent and sincere? Am I taking the time to listen? Mathew 6:6 when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father
3. Is my fast full of humility? Or am I just starving? Mathew 6:18 That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.
4. Where is my focus? Where am I looking? What do I spend my spare time doing? Mathew 6:22The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.
5. Am I trusting the Lord with my worries and problems? Or am I trying to solve them alone? Mathew 6:30 Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?
6. Do I seek FIRST the kingdom of God? Mathew 6:19-20 19 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: 20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:
7. Do I judge others? Mathew 7:1 Judge not, that ye be not judged.
8. Am I knocking on the Savior’s door? Am I believing in miracles in my own life? Mathew 7:7-8 Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: 8 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.
9. Am I more concerned with what people think or what God thinks? Mathew 7:14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.
10. How firm is my foundation? Can I handle severe storms of persecution? Ridicule? Hardship? Loss? Mathew 7:24-25 Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:25 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.