Day 31 Purpose Driven Life

DAY 31 Thinking about My Purpose

POINT TO PONDER: Nobody else can be me. 

VERSE TO REMEMBER: “God has given each of you some special abilities; be sure to use them to help each other, passing on to others God’s many kinds of blessings.” 1 PETER 4:10 (LB)

QUESTION TO CONSIDER: What God-given ability or personal experience can I offer to my church?

HIGHLIGHTS FROM BOOK :

*Woodworkers know that it’s easier to work with the grain rather than against it. In the same way, when you are forced to minister in a manner that is “out of character” for your temperament, it creates tension and discomfort, requires extra effort and energy, and produces less than the best results.

*This is why mimicking someone else’s ministry never works. You don’t have their personality. Besides, God made you to be you!

*You can learn from the examples of others, but you must filter what you learn through your own shape.

*Like stained glass, our different personalities reflect God’s light in many colors and patterns. This blesses the family of God with depth and variety. It also blesses us personally. It feels good to do what God made you to do. When you minister in a manner consistent with the personality God gave you, you experience fulfillment, satisfaction, and fruitfulness.

*You have been shaped by your experiences in life, most of which were beyond your control. God allowed them for his purpose of molding you.11 In determining your shape for serving God, you should examine at least six kinds of experiences from your past:

* Family experiences: What did you learn growing up in your family? 

Educational experiences: What were your favorite subjects in school? 

Vocational experiences: What jobs have you been most effective in and enjoyed most?

Spiritual experiences: What have been your most meaningful times with God? 

Ministry experiences: How have you served God in the past?

Painful experiences: What problems, hurts, thorns, and trials have you learned from?

*It is this last category, painful experiences, that God uses the most to prepare you for ministry. God never wastes a hurt! In fact, your greatest ministry will most likely come out of your greatest hurt.

*God intentionally allows you to go through painful experiences to equip you for ministry to others. The Bible says, “He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When others are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us.”

*If you really desire to be used by God, you must understand a powerful truth: The very experiences that you have resented or regretted most in life — the ones you’ve wanted to hide and forget — are the experiences God wants to use to help others. They are your ministry!

*For God to use your painful experiences, you must be willing to share them. You have to stop covering them up, and you must honestly admit your faults, failures, and fears. Doing this will probably be your most effective ministry. People are always more encouraged when we share how God’s grace helped us in weakness than when we brag about our strengths.

*Paul understood this truth, so he was honest about his bouts with depression. He admitted, “I think you ought to know, dear brothers, about the hard time we went through in Asia. We were really crushed and overwhelmed, and feared we would never live through it. We felt we were doomed to die and saw how powerless we were to help ourselves; but that was good, for then we put everything into the hands of God, who alone could save us, for he can even raise the dead. And he did help us and saved us from a terrible death; yes, and we expect him to do it again and again.”13

*If Paul had kept his experience of doubt and depression a secret, millions of people would never have benefited from it.

*Only shared experiences can help others. Novelist Aldous Huxley said, “Experience is not what happens to you. It is what you do with what happens to you.” What will you do with what you’ve been through? Don’t waste your pain; use it to help others.

*

Day 30 Purpose Driven Life.

 

THINKING ABOUT MY PURPOSE DAY 30 

POINT TO PONDER:

I was shaped for serving God.

VERSE TO REMEMBER:

“God works through different men in different ways, but it is the same God who achieves his purposes through them all.”

1 CORINTHIANS 12:6 (PH)

QUESTION TO CONSIDER:

In what way can I see myself passionately serving others and loving it?

HIGHLIGHTS FROM BOOK : 

You are a custom-designed, one-of-a-kind, original masterpiece.

To help you remember five of these factors, I have created a simple acrostic: SHAPE. In this chapter and the next we will look at these five factors, and following that, I will explain how to discover and use your shape.

Spiritual gifts... Heart... Abilities.. Personality Experience.

You can’t earn your spiritual gifts or deserve them — that’s why they are called gifts! They are an expression of God’s grace to you. “Christ has generously divided out his gifts to us.”

Have you taken the time to discover your spiritual gifts? An unopened gift is worthless.

SHAPE: Listening to Your Heart

The Bible says, “As a face is reflected in water, so the heart reflects the person.”11 Your heart reveals the real you — what you truly are, not what others think you are or what circumstances force you to be. Your heart determines why you say the things you do, why you feel the way you do, and why you act the way you do.

Repeatedly the Bible says to “serve the Lord with all your heart.”

People rarely excel at tasks they don’t enjoy doing or feel passionate about.

Day 29 Purpose Driven Life.

DAY 29 Thinking about My Purpose 

POINT TO PONDER: Service is not optional. 

VERSE TO REMEMBER: “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” EPHESIANS 2:10 (NIV) 

QUESTION TO CONSIDER: What is holding me back from accepting God’s call to serve him?

HIGHLIGHTS FROM BOOK : 

Anytime you use your God-given abilities to help others, you are fulfilling your calling.

The Bible says, “All of you together are Christ’s body, and each one of you is a separate and necessary part of it.”

There is no correlation between size and significance. Every ministry matters because we are all dependent on each other to function.

What happens when one part of your body fails to function? You get sick. The rest of your body suffers. Imagine if your liver decided to start living for itself: “I’m tired! I don’t want to serve the body anymore! I want a year off just to be fed. I’ve got to do what’s best for me! Let some other part take over.” What would happen? Your body would die. Today thousands of local churches are dying because of Christians who are unwilling to serve. They sit on the sidelines as spectators, and the Body suffers.

You are commanded to serve God. Jesus was unmistakable: “Your attitude must be like my own, for I, the Messiah, did not come to be served, but to serve and to give my life.”14 For Christians, service is not optional, something to be tacked onto our schedules if we can spare the time. It is the heart of the Christian life. Jesus came “to serve” and “to give” — and those two verbs should define your life on earth, too.

The old comparison between the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea is still true. Galilee is a lake full of life because it takes in water but also gives it out. In contrast, nothing lives in the Dead Sea because, with no outflow, the lake has stagnated.

The last thing many believers need today is to go to another Bible study. They already know far more than they are putting into practice. What they need are serving experiences in which they can exercise their spiritual muscles.

Serving and giving sum up God’s fourth purpose for your life. Mother Teresa once said, “Holy living consists in doing God’s work with a smile.”

Most of the time we’re more interested in “serve us” than service. We say, “I’m looking for a church that meets my needs and blesses me,” not “I’m looking for a place to serve and be a blessing.” We expect others to serve us, not vice versa.

The mature follower of Jesus stops asking, “Who’s going to meet my needs?” and starts asking, “Whose needs can I meet?” Do you ever ask that question?

The Bible says, “Each of us will have to give a personal account to God.”15 Think about the implications of that.

God will compare how much time and energy we spent on ourselves compared with what we invested in serving others.

The Bible warns unbelievers, “He will pour out his anger and wrath on those who live for themselves,”

We are only fully alive when we’re helping others. Jesus said, “If you insist on saving your life, you will lose it. Only those who throw away their lives for my sake and for the sake of the Good News will ever know what it means to really live.”17 This truth is so important that it is repeated five times in the Gospels.

God wants to use you to make a difference in his world. He wants to work through you. What matters is not the duration of your life, but the donation of it. Not how long you lived, but how you lived.

Hurts, Hang-ups,and Habits.

HURTS

A “hurt” could be classified as any life experience that may have damaged your heart, some offense against you that crippled your ability to deal with the world in a healthy way. Something that may have twisted your view of yourself, God or others. Some common hurts include:

 Abandonment

Abortion

Abused as a child, or by a spouse, employer, or the church

Adoption

Betrayal

Dysfunctional family (divorce, alcoholism, drug abuse, rage, etc.)

Neglect

Rape

Rejection

Same sex attraction

Cheating, affairs

Unforgiveness

HABITS

“Habits” tend to be unhealthy patterns that often start as a perceived “remedy” for some problem in your life, but end up turning into a chronic bad behavior or addiction. Habits are the repeat, default scripts you run to when the going gets tough and continually lead to trouble in your life. Some common habits are:

 Abusive behavior

Alcohol

Bitterness

Drugs

Eating disorders

Gambling

Gossip

Isolation

Lying

Self-harm

Sexual Integrity

Spending problems

Wasteful pursuits

Workaholism

Pornography addiction

HANG-UPS

And lastly, “hang-ups” are those road blocks that keep you from progressing further in God’s plan for your life. They are often shaped by some bent thinking you may have received as a child, or some unhealthy attitude you may have adopted as a means of coping with life’s challenges. Here are some common hang-ups.

 Anger

Anxiety, worry

Arrogance

Body image

Bullying, bigotry

Codependency

Control

Depression

Fear

Greed, envy

Guilt (false) and/or shame

Lack of self-control

Lack of trust in God

Laziness

Materialism

People pleasing

Perfectionism

Pride

Procrastination

Day 28 Purpose Driven Life.

 

THINKING ABOUT MY PURPOSE DAY 28

POINT TO PONDER:

There are no shortcuts to maturity.

VERSE TO REMEMBER:

“God began doing a good work in you, and I am sure he will continue it until it is finished when Jesus Christ comes again.”

PHILIPPIANS 1:6 (NCV)

QUESTION TO CONSIDER:

In what area of my spiritual growth do I need to be more patient and persistent?

MY ANSWER : This is one of my character defects. I am so impatient. My scripture I got for this was Psalm 46:10 "BE STILL AND KNOW THAT I AM GOD" 

But I am good at persistence. I use to think it was just being stubborn but some character defects can actual be helpful. 

HIGHLIGHTS FROM BOOK :

• It takes years for us to grow to adulthood, and it takes a full season for fruit to mature and ripen. The same is true for the fruit of the Spirit. The development of Christlike character cannot be rushed. Spiritual growth, like physical growth, takes time.
• When you try to ripen fruit quickly, it loses its flavor. In America, tomatoes are usually picked unripened so they won’t bruise during shipping to the stores. Then, before they are sold, these green tomatoes are sprayed with CO2 gas to turn them red instantly. Gassed tomatoes are edible, but they are no match to the flavor of a vine-ripened tomato that is allowed to mature slowly.
• God views our lives from and for eternity, so he is never in a hurry.
• Pastor-evangelist Lane Adams once compared the process of spiritual growth to the strategy the Allies used in World War II to liberate islands in the South Pacific. First they would “soften up” an island, weakening the resistance by shelling the enemy strongholds with bombs from offshore ships. Next, a small group of Marines would invade the island and establish a “beachhead” — a tiny fragment of the island that they could control. Once the beachhead was secured, they would begin the long process of liberating the rest of the island, one bit of territory at a time. Eventually the entire island would be brought under control, but not without some costly battles.
• Adams drew this parallel: Before Christ invades our lives at conversion, he sometimes has to “soften us up” by allowing problems we can’t handle. While some open their lives to Christ the first time he knocks on the door, most of us are resistant and defensive. Our pre-conversion experience is Jesus saying, “Behold I stand at the door and bomb!”
• The moment you open yourself to Christ, God gets a “beachhead” in your life. You may think you have surrendered all your life to him, but the truth is, there is a lot to your life that you aren’t even aware of. You can only give God as much of you as you understand at that moment. That’s okay. Once Christ is given a beachhead, he begins the campaign to take over more and more territory until all of your life is completely his. There will be struggles and battles, but the outcome will never be in doubt. God has promised that “he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion.”
• Discipleship is the process of conforming to Christ. The Bible says, “We arrive at real maturity — that measure of development which is meant by ‘the fullness of Christ.’”2 Christlikeness is your eventual destination, but your journey will last a lifetime.
• So far we have seen that this journey involves believing (through worship), belonging (through fellowship), and becoming (through discipleship). Every day God wants you to become a little more like him: “You have begun to live the new life, in which you are being made new and are becoming like the One who made you.”
• Today we’re obsessed with speed, but God is more interested in strength and stability than swiftness. We want the quick fix, the shortcut, the on-the-spot solution. We want a sermon, a seminar, or an experience that will instantly resolve all problems, remove all temptation, and release us from all growing pains. But real maturity is never the result of a single experience, no matter how powerful or moving.
• Growth is gradual. The Bible says, “Our lives gradually becoming brighter and more beautiful as God enters our lives and we become like him.”
• Why does it take so long to change and grow up? There are several reasons. 
• We are slow learners.
• We often have to relearn a lesson forty or fifty times to really get it. The problems keep recurring, and we think, “Not again! I’ve already learned that!” — but God knows better.
• The history of Israel illustrates how quickly we forget the lessons God teaches us and how soon we revert to our old patterns of behavior. We need repeated exposure.
• We have a lot to unlearn.
• Since most of our problems — and all of our bad habits — didn’t develop overnight, it’s unrealistic to expect them to go away immediately.
• There is no pill, prayer, or principle that will instantly undo the damage of many years. It requires the hard work of removal and replacement. The Bible calls it “taking off the old self” and “putting on the new self.”
• While you were given a brand new nature at the moment of conversion, you still have old habits, patterns, and practices that need to be removed and replaced.
• We are afraid to humbly face the truth about ourselves.
• I have already pointed out that the truth will set us free but it often makes us miserable first.
• The fear of what we might discover if we honestly faced our character defects keeps us living in the prison of denial.
• Only as God is allowed to shine the light of his truth on our faults, failures, and hang-ups can we begin to work on them. This is why you cannot grow without a humble, teachable attitude.
• Growth is often painful and scary.
• There is no growth without change; there is no change without fear or loss; and there is no loss without pain. Every change involves a loss of some kind: You must let go of old ways in order to experience the new. We fear these losses, even if our old ways were self-defeating, because, like a worn out pair of shoes, they were at least comfortable and familiar.
• People often build their identity around their defects. We say, “It’s just like me to be …” and “It’s just the way I am.” The unconscious worry is that if I let go of my habit, my hurt, or my hang-up, who will I be? This fear can definitely slow down your growth.
• Habits take time to develop.
• Remember that your character is the sum total of your habits. You can’t claim to be kind unless you are habitually kind — you show kindness without even thinking about it. You can’t claim to have integrity unless it is your habit to always be honest. A husband who is faithful to his wife most of the time is not faithful at all! Your habits define your character.
• There is only one way to develop the habits of Christlike character: You must practice them — and that takes time! There are no instant habits. Paul urged Timothy, “Practice these things. Devote your life to them so that everyone can see your progress.”
• If you practice something over time, you get good at it. Repetition is the mother of character and skill. These character-building habits are often called “spiritual disciplines,” and there are dozens of great books that can teach you how to do these.
• Don’t Get in a Hurry
• Believe God is working in your life even when you don’t feel it.
• Spiritual growth is sometimes tedious work, one small step at a time. Expect gradual improvement. The Bible says, “Everything on earth has its own time and its own season.”8 There are seasons in your spiritual life, too. Sometimes you will have a short, intense burst of growth (springtime) followed by a period of stabilizing and testing (fall and winter).
• What about those problems, habits, and hurts you would like miraculously removed? It’s fine to pray for a miracle, but don’t be disappointed if the answer comes through a gradual change. Over time, a slow, steady stream of water will erode the hardest rock and turn giant boulders into pebbles. Over time, a little sprout can turn into a giant redwood tree towering 350 feet tall.
• Keep a notebook or journal of lessons learned.
• This is not a diary of events, but a record of what you are learning. Write down the insights and life lessons God teaches you about him, about yourself, about life, relationships, and everything else.
• Record these so you can review and remember them and pass them on to the next generation.
• The reason we must relearn lessons is that we forget them. Reviewing your spiritual journal regularly can spare you a lot of unnecessary pain and heartache. The Bible says, “It’s crucial that we keep a firm grip on what we’ve heard so that we don’t drift off.”
• Be patient with God and with yourself.
• One of life’s frustrations is that God’s timetable is rarely the same as ours.
• We are often in a hurry when God isn’t.
• Remember that God is never in a hurry, but he is always on time.
• Contrary to popular book titles, there are no Easy Steps to Maturity or Secrets of Instant Sainthood.
•  When God wants to make a mushroom, he does it overnight, but when he wants to make a giant oak, he takes a hundred years.
• Great souls are grown through struggles and storms and seasons of suffering. Be patient with the process. 
• James advised, “Don’t try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed.”
• Don’t get discouraged.
• When Habakkuk became depressed because he didn’t think God was acting quickly enough, God had this to say: “These things I plan won’t happen right away. Slowly, steadily, surely, the time approaches when the vision will be fulfilled. If it seems slow, do not despair, for these things will surely come to pass. Just be patient! They will not be overdue a single day!”
•  A delay is not a denial from God.
• Remember how far you’ve come, not just how far you have to go. You are not where you want to be, but neither are you where you used to be.
• Years ago people wore a popular button with the letters PBPGINFWMY. It stood for “Please Be Patient, God Is Not Finished With Me Yet.” God isn’t finished with you, either, so keep on moving forward. Even the snail reached the ark by persevering!

Day 27 Purpose Driven Life.

Day 27

POINT TO PONDER: There is always a way out.

VERSE TO REMEMBER: “God is faithful. He will keep the temptation from becoming so strong that you can’t stand up against it. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you will not give in to it.” 1 CORINTHIANS 10:13B (NLT)

QUESTION TO CONSIDER: Who could I ask to be a spiritual partner to help me defeat a persistent temptation by praying for me?

HIGHLIGTS FROM BOOK :

*You may sometimes feel that a temptation is too overpowering for you to bear, but that’s a lie from Satan.

*Instead, we are advised to refocus our attention because resisting a thought doesn’t work. It only intensifies our focus on the wrong thing and strengthens its allure. Let me explain:

*Every time you try to block a thought out of your mind, you drive it deeper into your memory. By resisting it, you actually reinforce it. This is especially true with temptation. You don’t defeat temptation by fighting the feeling of it. The more you fight a feeling, the more it consumes and controls you. You strengthen it every time you think it.

*Since temptation always begins with a thought, the quickest way to neutralize its allure is to turn your attention to something else. Don’t fight the thought, just change the channel of your mind and get interested in another idea. This is the first step in defeating temptation.

*The battle for sin is won or lost in your mind. Whatever gets your attention will get you.

*The battle for sin is won or lost in your mind. Whatever gets your attention will get you. That’s why Job said, “I made a covenant with my eyes not to look with lust upon a young woman.”2 And David prayed, “Keep me from paying attention to what is worthless.”3 Have you ever watched a food advertisement on television and suddenly felt you were hungry? Have you ever heard someone cough and immediately felt the need to clear your throat? Ever watched someone release a big yawn and felt the urge to yawn yourself? (You may be yawning right now as you read this!) That is the power of suggestion.

* We naturally move toward whatever we focus our attention on. The more you think about something, the stronger it takes hold of you. That is why repeating “I must stop eating too much … or stop smoking … or stop lusting” is a self-defeating strategy. It keeps you focused on what you don’t want. It’s like announcing, “I’m never going to do what my mom did.” You are setting yourself up to repeat it.

*In the same way, a speaker who keeps repeating to herself, “Don’t be nervous!” sets herself up to be nervous! Instead she should focus on anything except her feelings —

*Temptation begins by capturing your attention. What gets your attention arouses your emotions. Then your emotions activate your behavior, and you act on what you felt. The more you focus on “I don’t want to do this,” the stronger it draws you into its web.

*Ignoring a temptation is far more effective than fighting it. Once your mind is on something else, the temptation loses its power. So when temptation calls you on the phone, don’t argue with it, just hang up!

*To avoid being stung, stay away from the bees.

*Spiritually, your mind is your most vulnerable organ. To reduce temptation, keep your mind occupied with God’s Word and other good thoughts. You defeat bad thoughts by thinking of something better. This is the principle of replacement. You overcome evil with good.Satan can’t get your attention when your mind is preoccupied with something else. That’s why the Bible repeatedly tells us to keep our minds focused: “Fix your thoughts on Jesus.”

*Follow Paul’s model: “We capture every thought and make it give up and obey Christ.”

*This takes a lifetime of practice, but with the help of the Holy

 Spirit you can reprogram the way you think. “Always think about Jesus Christ.”

*Let me be clear: If you’re losing the battle against a persistent bad habit, an addiction, or a temptation, and you’re stuck in a repeating cycle of good intention-failure-guilt, you will not get better on your own! You need the help of other people. Some temptations are only overcome with the help of a partner who prays for you, encourages you, and holds you accountable.

*God says it is the only way you’re going to break free: “Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.”

*Do you really want to be healed of that persistent temptation that keeps defeating you over and over? God’s solution is plain: Don’t repress it; confess it! Don’t conceal it; reveal it. Revealing your feeling is the beginning of healing.

*Hiding your hurt only intensifies it. Problems grow in the dark and become bigger and bigger, but when exposed to the light of truth, they shrink. You are only as sick as your secrets. So take off your mask, stop pretending you’re perfect, and walk into freedom.

*The reason we hide our faults is pride. We want others to think we have everything “under control.” The truth is, whatever you can’t talk about is already out of control in your life: problems with your finances, marriage, kids, thoughts, sexuality, secret habits, or anything else. If you could handle it on your own, you would have already done so. But you can’t. Willpower and personal resolutions aren’t enough.

*Let me ask you a tough question: What are you pretending isn’t a problem in your life? What are you afraid to talk about? You’re not going to solve it on your own. Yes, it is humbling to admit our weaknesses to others, but lack of humility is the very thing that is keeping you from getting better. The Bible says, “God sets himself against the proud, but he shows favor to the humble. So humble yourselves before God.”

*Jesus modeled this when he was tempted in the wilderness. Every time Satan suggested a temptation, Jesus countered by quoting Scripture. He didn’t argue with Satan. He didn’t say, “I’m not hungry,” when tempted to use his power to meet a personal need. He simply quoted Scripture from memory. We must do the same. There is power in God’s Word, and Satan fears it.

*Realize your vulnerability. God warns us never to get cocky and overconfident; that is the recipe for disaster. Jeremiah said, “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure.”16 That means we are good at fooling ourselves. Given the right circumstances, any of us are capable of any sin. We must never let down our guard and think we’re beyond temptation.

*Remember that it is easier to stay out of temptation than to get out of it.

*The Bible says, “Don’t be so naive and self-confident. You’re not exempt. You could fall flat on your face as easily as anyone else. Forget about self-confidence; it’s useless. Cultivate God-confidence.”

Power Of The Tongue : Gossip Hurts

A Good Friend, A Bad Enemy

Hubs got a new toy: a gas blowtorch that kills weeds. Oh, he dressed it up in environmentally friendly language—good for the earth, no chemicals leaching into the stream that leads to the Sound, yada yada. But I saw the gleam in his eye when he headed out to burn the weeds. Our son, for the first time ever, jockeyed to do yard work.

Hubs went up and down the driveway, the sides of which were lined with plants we wanted, not ones we wanted to get rid of. Although he was careful, he singed a few of the keepers. It took time, practice, and control to get rid of the weeds that were choking the desirable plants. What was left, finally, were the keepers: the plants that brought life and health and beauty.

Our tongues are like blowtorches—good friends, bad enemies. We can use them to do good or we can use them to work evil, and sometimes we use them to do both.
James admonishes, “Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be” (3:10).

A little gossip can poison a pleasant conversation among friends. A tacked-on criticism can completely undermine a compliment. A lie can decimate, perhaps forever, a previously good reputation. The desire to destroy another through words will, in fact, burn up one’s own life.

Each time I open my mouth and “turn on the gas,” I have the potential to hurt or to help. Whom can I speak life to today?

The tongue is a small thing that makes grand speeches. But a tiny spark can set a great forest on fire.

James 3:5, NLT