Monthly Archives: June 2012

One of the first things I do each morning is to weigh myself. I don’t do it because I’m vain, but because I have a goal weight that I am trying to get to. The scale gives me a daily measurement of how well I’m doing towards that goal. It reminds me of how far I’ve come and let’s me know how far I have to go.

In my life and in my job I have specific goals that I am trying to attain. I have safeguards and measures along the way to make sure I stay on track and am moving in the right direction. As I was reflecting on those goals, I began to wonder what my spiritual goals were. If I have physical goals, I should have spiritual goals too.

Here are some ways to help you set spiritual goals.

1. Determine what you want to accomplish

All goals start with the finish line in mind. You have to know where you are going if you are going to get there. Be as specific as possible (i.e. win 6 people this year, read the bible in a year, pray 15 minutes a day). Being specific helps you to see where you are in your journey and how much further you need to go.

It should also be something that you can’t attain in your own strength and ability. It is a spiritual goal which means it should be God ordained and require His strength and help to get you there. Pray and ask Him for guidance on what your goals should be.

2. Put a time limit on it

If you don’t put a deadline on it, you will never get there. You need to create a sense of urgency in reaching your goals. Set your goal in a timeframe you know that you can work in. If a year is too long to maintain your focus, set it at 6 or 3 months. Divide up your goal into that time frame so that it is in bite size chunks. If it is to win 3 people in the next 6 months, then look at it as 1 person every 2 months with a final goal of 3 total at the end.

Just like I look at the scale every day, look at your goal each day to see where you are. If you hit it early, then set a new goal that challenges you more. Another reason the time limit is there is to help you reevaluate and to reestablish new goals. Paul said that he had not yet attained his goal. He was pressing on and keeping his eye on the goal. We should too.

3. Get an accountability partner

Any time you have a goal, you need to let others know. They will make sure that you are sticking with it as well as to offer encouragement along the way. It’s easy to get discouraged, especially when you set large goals. Having someone to run along side of you and challenge you will help you to attain it faster.

There is something about being vulnerable and honest with someone else that helps us. We can’t do everything on our own even though we try. Bringing in someone else to challenge you will also challenge them. You will find that they will share their goals with you and you can help them. You are not alone in this.

What spiritual goals do you need to set for yourself today? When do you want to accomplish those by? Who can best hold you accountable and help you to reach them? Don’t delay. Take that first step today to start moving towards where God wants you.

My son is getting to that age where he follows me around the house and tries to do what I do. If I’m talking, he babbles. If I’m in the kitchen, he’s opening cabinets. If I’m eating, he wants to eat what I’m eating. I absolutely love this about him.

In John 5, Jesus explained that he did the same thing. He said that he only does what he sees the Father doing. Whatever the Father does, the Son also does. We need to emulate that as well. We need to be doing what the Father is doing.

That same passage lists 4 things that Jesus said His Father does and that we can too.

1. Do greater works

There is more that each of us can do for the Kingdom. Jesus’ ministry on earth was more than teaching. It was doing. He got out there and went where the religious leaders refused to go so that He might win those who were unreachable. He went into their homes and lived a life that challenged them.

Rarely do we see Jesus preaching to someone inside their home. He ate with them and conversed with them. By his actions in their home, they were convicted and changed their ways. He was concerned with building relationships to win the lost…and it worked.

2. Give life

Jesus spoke life into others. He looked for opportunities to give life to others. Most of us look for reasons not to give life. We make excuses why we shouldn’t speak to someone else about what God has done for us. Jesus didn’t make excuses and neither should we.

The world is looking for someone to bring them a life changing message. They are spinning their wheels and going nowhere. They are lost and alone. They need someone to bring light into their world and to speak life to them. Don’t hold back and pick and choose who you give life to. Share it with everyone you have the opportunity to.

3. Judge no one

Judgement is not yours to give. This passage makes it clear, that is Jesus’ job. Your job is to extend grace. We are quick to withhold grace from others but expect others to offer us grace. Extend the grace you think you deserve to others. Show them the love that the Father has for them.

When the religious leaders wanted to stone the woman caught in adultery, they brought her before Jesus first. He didn’t judge her. He said, “Let him without sin cast the first stone.” She was clearly guilty, but that didn’t mean she needed judgement. She needed grace. Look for opportunities to share the grace of Christ with others.

4. Honor the Son

When you honor Jesus, you honor the Father. How do you honor the Son? By doing what He asks, living like He commanded and recognizing that nothing you do or have is of your own doing. He gives to us what He can trust us with. He expects us to use the talents and resources we’ve been given for His glory and His purpose.

If you want to honor the Son, do what He asks you to do. Speak to those He wants you to speak to. Go where He wants you to go. It’s easier said than done. He asks for us to surrender to His will and to carry His cross, not to do our will and to carry our burdens. Give Him honor by living a life worthy of the call He has given you.

What can you do today that you see the Father doing? What implications will that have on someone else’s life? You have the opportunity today to do what you see the Father doing. Step out in faith and accomplish His will for you.

Have you let your problems consume your mind? Are they all you can think about to the point that it distracts you from everything else? I’ve been there. There are sleepless nights, strained relationships and an over all lack of productivity. They stand in the way of everything you do and the stress becomes more than you can bear.

You can choose to let them overtake your life or you can take your life back. Jesus didn’t say, “Come to me and I’ll take all your troubles away.”. What he said in John 16:33 was, “In this world you will have trouble, trials, distress and frustration.” Sometimes it seems we get all of them at the same time and become overwhelmed.

Here are some steps to help you if you find yourself there.

1. Cheer up

That’s what Jesus said to do in that same verse. It seems odd, but really what happens is that when you get under that kind of stress is that you become depressed. Depression sucks the life out of you and the will to do anything to combat the problems.

Find a way to get your joy back first. The joy of the Lord is your strength. When you have your strength, you have the ability to overcome your problems. God has made us more than conquerors and that includes our stresses and problems. I heard someone say recently, “Don’t tell God how big your problems are. Tell your problems how big your God is!”

2. Don’t worry

Worry is your enemy. It leads to doubt. Doubt leads to a lack of faith. A lack of faith leads to defeat. I’m not saying don’t take your problems seriously. I’m saying that worrying about them won’t fix them and will ultimately consume you. When you are consumed by your problems you can’t see your future.

God knows your needs before you even ask. He sees you buried under those problems. He says, “Take courage; be confident, certain, undaunted. I have deprived it of power to harm you.” Gain that confidence that with God you can overcome your problems. Then attack them one by one.

3. Take action

God did not call you to fight defensively. Go on the offensive. Don’t look at the mountain ahead that you have to climb. Look at the next step and take it. Gain small victories where you can. Build your faith and gain your strength as you move up the mountain.

Inaction leads to ineffectiveness. You can stand and do nothing and allow yourself to be consumed and ineffective or you can stand and fight. Ephesians 6 says when you have done all the crisis demands to stand firmly in your place. Stand therefore and hold your ground. Don’t back down from the challenge that presents itself. Overcome it one step at a time.

What mountains are standing in your way today? Have you chosen to succumb to them or to stand and overcome? Find your joy to find your strength, get rid of worry and doubt and then take action to overcome. Greater is He that is in you.

Someone put up an 8 foot tall cross on the frontage road near my house. Every time I drive by it, I get upset because someone took their business sign and posted it on it. From the looks of it, the business put up the cross to advertise that they are a Christian owned business. To me, it looks like the cross has a sponsor like a stadium or a race car does.

It got me wondering how many of us have our faith for sale. There is a saying that everything has a price, but your faith should be priceless. There should be nothing more important to you in life than it. Here are a few examples of people selling their faith.

1. It is exchanged for a lie

There are a lot of people out there who want to convince you that you all roads lead to heaven. They want you to water down your faith because it is too intolerant or exclusive. They want you to doubt what you believe. Romans 1:25 says that people exchanged the truth of God for a lie.

You will fall for these lies and exchange the truth of God for them unless you are deeply rooted and grounded in God’s word. David said, “I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin.” If you are not daily reading the Bible, you are opening the door to believing lies.

2. It is exchanged for physical comfort

Many people would rather satisfy their physical desires than their spiritual needs. Esau did it. He traded his birthright for a single meal. He gave into what his body wanted because he didn’t value the promise of God. He valued what was temporary over what was eternal.

Truly living for God requires that you live differently than the world. Romans 8 says that if you let your sinful nature control your mind, it will lead to death. We have to learn to be controlled by the spirit that brings life and peace so we don’t give into physical things.

3. It is exchanged for money and fame

A lot of famous musical artist were raised in church. They were taught the truth, but have given it up for money and fame. They treasure the things of this world more than the things of God. We know that where your treasure is, your heart will be also.

In Acts 8, a man offered Peter and John money if they would give him the power that they used when they laid hands on people. Peter’s rebuked him and said that God’s gift can’t be bought. His faith was not for sale.

Have you been tempted to give up your faith because things would be easier? What have you thought about giving it up for? You have been given a priceless treasure and the cross should not be for sale. Value your faith and cherish it or you will be tempted to trade it in for something temporary.

This past Sunday, the preacher asked a question that rocked me. He asked, “Is God a convenience for you or a necessity?” When God becomes a necessity to us, then we will see His hand become more prominent in our lives. Sadly, for most of us, God is a convenience that we use when we need Him. I wonder what would happen if we allowed ourselves to be used by Him when He needed us?

How do we know if he is a convenience to us? These things will tell you.

1. We want intimacy without relationship

The world has made it the norm to have intimacy with others without having to have a relationship with them. Somehow we think that we can take that same philosophy into our relationship with God. Yes, He wants to use you, but He also wants to spend time with you.

Anyone who is continuously used by God, continuously spends time with Him. He is not looking for us to just have that daily time where we throw all our prayers up to heaven and hope some make it past the ceiling. He wants us to sit down at His feet like Mary and to listen to Him.

2. We don’t step out in faith

We expect others to step out in faith to help us, but we don’t allow ourselves to step out in faith to help others. When you step out in faith, it is raw dependence on Him. There is no shelter for you. You become completely vulnerable and unprotected. God wants you in that place with Him where you will hear His voice, step out of a boat in the middle of a storm and walk on water.

Any one of the twelve men in that boat could have climbed out and walked with Jesus. Only one was willing to take that step of faith. Later Jesus told him (Peter) that he would build His church on him. It wasn’t because he had it all together. None of us do. It was because he knew Peter was willing to trust Him and step out when He said to step out. Faith is stepping out not knowing the end result or how you’ll accomplish it. It’s knowing you can’t accomplish it on your own.

3. We need Him less than our next breath

When you need God more than your next breath, things will start to happen. Paul understood this concept. He said that to live was Christ and to die was gain. He knew that his next breath didn’t matter as much as his relationship with God. It’s that raw dependence on God that He wants from us.

That kind of dependence will get you to step out of that boat in the middle of a storm and trust Him with your life. We often say that we trust Him with our life, but we live like our trust is in the things we posses. They make us feel secure, but that security is a lie.

When we learn to make God a necessity in our life, we will change the world. We will do greater things than Jesus did. We will live an overcoming life and others will be able to notice.

What steps can you take today to make that change in your life where God becomes less of a convenience to you and more of a necessity? It won’t happen over night, but taking that first step in faith to make it happen will get you on your way to the life He wants you to live.

Waiting on God to fulfill His promise can be like waiting to open a present at Christmas. We see it there with our name on it. It is ours, but we have to wait. Every day you see it there. You’re ready to open it and use it, but the time has not come. There is always a waiting period from the time you are promised something and the time that you get it. How you spend that time matters.

There are 3 lessons we can learn from Abraham and Joseph while waiting on God to fulfill His promise to you.

1. Don’t preempt God

When God spoke to Abraham and promised him a son, he was about 85 years old. He could not see how God would do what he said he would do. He decided to intervene on God’s behalf and make the promise come true. He ruined a relationship and started a feud that goes on to this day.

When God makes a promise, our desire is to see it come to pass immediately. Often we are the ones who are unprepared or ready at the time a promise is given. We think we are, so when it delays, we try to step in. God does not need your help to bring about what He has promised. He needs you to prepare to receive it.

2. Bad things may still happen to you

Joseph received a dream that everyone, including his brothers and parents, would bow down to him. Being young and foolish, he had no problem telling others what God had intended for him at the time. While he waited on God’s promise he was beaten by his brothers, sold as a slave, taken to a foreign land against his will, worked as a slave, was wrongly accused, thrown in jail and forgotten about.

I’m sure it was difficult to trust God to fulfill His promise in any of those situations. You never read of Joseph complaining or crying out “why me, God”. The bible simply says that in each instance, he worked. In working, he found favor with those around him. God used those situations to prepare him and to get him in place for the promise. You may not like or understand what is happening to you in the waiting, but if you trust God and work for Him, he will fulfill it in His time.

3. Have patience

This is easier said than done. Abraham waited 15 years before God fulfilled his promise of having a son. He just thought he was too old at 85! For Joseph, it was 13 years before he interpreted pharaoh’s dream. It was at least more than 7 years after that before his brothers came and bowed down before him. I’m not saying you will have to wait 15 or 20 years for God to fulfill his promise to you, but it could.

We want God to act in our time. We want Him to fulfill His promise when we think we are ready, not when He thinks we’re ready. Patience is tough. Waiting is hard. God may show you then end result now, but wants you to take one step at a time. He may not show you the step after that until you take this one.

What step has God called you to take right now to move towards the fulfillment of His promise? Are you willing to trust Him and His timing? Take each step one at a time. Don’t preempt God. Understand that things may happen between now and the time of fulfillment. They are there to prepare you and to place you. Above all, have patience as He works to bring it about. He keeps His promises.