Tag: Faith

5 Real Life Ways to the Life God has for You

What does it really take for a Christian to succeed? How can we go from where we are to the place that God wants us to go? There are some skills that are necessary for each Christian. Sometimes we can have such a broad generalization when it comes to our Christianity that we put everything under the umbrella of being a Christian and none of it protects us from the ups and downs in our life.

The following are skills that will help us succeed. They will help us get in the place of where we can go from just trying to be a better Christian to actually being able to see God change our lives.

1. Read the Bible.

Most times we treat this as a chore and not as a necessity for life. People struggle to read the Bible everyday because our approach to it is wrong. Instead of approaching it like a child that doesn’t want to do chores, we should approach reading the Bible as a kid opening gifts on Christmas day. We have to find a way to make Bible reading  enjoyable and not a chore. Bible apps such as YouVersion and BibleGateway are excellent tools for this.

2. Pray.

Prayer can become one of those things that we take for granted and don’t fully give ourselves to. Without it, we can’t get the best or the fullness of our relationship with God. He communicates with us through prayer. When we need to be encouraged or get direction, many times we get those things through prayer.

3. Write down what God says.

If you’re like me, there are have been plenty of times either during prayer or meditation when God will give me something. Some instructions, an idea, or inspiration that I need. Too many times I’ve told myself that I would write it down later. Only to not be able to remember what it was that was so important in that moment.

4. Take steps of Faith.

There have been many times where God gave me an idea and then I still fail to see it manifest in my life. I can get in my head where I want to see the big picture or I want to see what the end will look like before I take the first step. I’m continually working on this. To get over this, the first thing to do is to take a step. Just one step. Then another. Whether you call them baby steps or steps of faith, the point is to get moving in the direction that God is telling you to go.

5. Develop Consistency.

In the world that we live in, everything has to be done in the fastest way possible. We need things faster and faster than any time in the past. There are times when I get frustrated with my WiFi signal, and I have to remember the old dial-up signal and how slow that was. While there are times that God can bring things to us instantly, I have found that even in those times, I have to consistently seek God out. I have to be patient and make God a real priority in my life and not a genie in a bottle.

This list is not exhaustive when it comes to succeeding in life. These five things will, however,  set up a foundation to build on. I’d love to hear from you on the success and struggles of doing what God has called you to do.

Staying the Course

Where Are We Going?

Stay The Course

Many times as Christians we hear the phrase “Stay the course.” While it sounds great and most people would agree its necessary, few understand what it truly means?

Staying the course should start with “a course”. I’m currently writing this while I sit in an airport terminal. There is a hustle and bustle as the sea of people make there way from one place to another all with a specific destinations in mind.

What is the course we are on? Where are we going? Observing the people in the airport I notice a couple of things that I think can be applied to our spiritual lives.

FOCUS

1. The destination is the focus. Whether exiting from a flight, making a connection, or boarding a flight people are walking with a focus. There are signs, “Terminal C”, “Gate 27”, and as people look for the specific location that will take them to their destination they are determined to make it where they need to be. God has a destination and plan for everyone. We should pursue it purposefully like we do when we are in an airport.

DISTRACTIONS

2. Ignoring the distractions. Walking through an airport, people are so focused that they do not stop for the distractions that surround them. We know how important it is that we make it to our destination. We know the investment that we have made whether money or time and how valuable it is that we make our flights. There are so many times that we know God has given us something to do, but we let distractions get in the way. When it comes to doing what God wants, there seems to be a ready made distraction waiting.

 

TIME

3. The time is accounted for. By this I mean that when we know we are going the airport, we calculate the cost of our time. We think of how early we need to leave home in order to get the airport. We think of the car ride there, the weather, and how much time we will need to get through security. When we want to see God’s plan in our lives we need to do the same thing. Let’s think of the “cost.” Do we need to rearrange our schedule? How much time do we need to commit to this to see it come to pass? What other areas of our lives do we need to commit to God and what will it cost?

I don’t believe that staying the course is as hard as we make it out to be, if it’s important to us. We can absolutely finish, whatever it is. Let’s tell ourselves that it’s important and then treat it as such. The things that we value, we make room for in our lives. We can do this! Once we do, we’ll race to see God’s amazing grace and plan come into our lives.

The Moses Principle Part 2

Last week I talked about the Moses Principle and how Moses tried to make excuses when God called him. Today I wanted to share a little more about the Moses Principle. There is more that we can learn from Moses about ourselves

In Moses’ life there came a time where he had to lead the children of Israel. It came in stages for him as he acted on God’s Word and did what God told him to do. There are some leadership principles that we can learn from Moses.

Leadership is obedience.

Leadership is obedience Click To Tweet

Where did Moses learn how to lead the children of Israel? He learned through obedience. His obedience to God is what propelled his leadership. Moses learned how to lead by being obedient. As God gave Moses direction, he would relay the directions to the people. In the eyes of the people Moses was seen as a leader. In the eyes of God, Moses was a man that would follow His commands and have a heart for his people.

From this, there is an aspect of leadership that we can learn. The key to leadership is to obey the voice of God. Just as God gave Moses directions for every situation, He will do the same for us. Our focus, has to be on hearing the voice of the Lord.

Instead of giving the excuses that seem to be readily available when we need them, we must press through.

Today we have access to opinions, studies, polls and all types of  information.  The access to information is so great that we can let it drown out the voice of God, if we let it.  All the information that we have in this world falls short of the wisdom of God.

Leadership is action.

The first step to leadership is to obey the voice of God. The second step is to take action based on those instructions. Hearing God’s voice will only get us partially there. We must take actions that are based on those instructions.

An example of this is when the children of Israel needed water. The first time God told Moses to strike a rock and the water would come. The second time around, God gave Moses a different set of instructions. He told Moses to speak to the rock. Moses decided to do what he did the previous time.

He disobeyed the voice of God. He did not follow the instructions and it cost him dearly.

As we obey the voice of God, we will be elevated to positions of leadership. Not because we are great and have more knowledge than those around us. No, our leadership will come from being obedient.

Be encouraged today!! We don’t have to aim to be a leader, trendsetter or anything like that. Let’s just aim to be obedient and God will direct us on where we are supposed to be.