Living the New Life

We all deal with frustrations.  Yesterday was one of those days for me.  I can at least laugh about it today.  When I am frustrated I have the tendency to not handle things as well as I should.  I get agitated, aggravated, and ill.  I should be in better control of my moods.  Maybe you struggle with some of the same things when frustrations arise.  John Maxwell says, “It’s not what happens to me, it’s what happens within me that makes the difference.”  I hope to do better today and I hope that you will as well in the future.

There is a children’s song that I remember that says “I have decided to follow Jesus, no turning back, no turning back.”  I have noticed that sometimes Christians start out strong, but somewhere along the way they seem to fizzle out.  I want to give you a few ways that will help you to finish strong:

1) Intimacy with Christ
Our highest calling is to grow in our knowledge of Christ and to make Him known to others. A key secret of those who finish well is to focus more on loving Jesus than on avoiding sin. The more we love Jesus, the more we will learn to put our confidence in Him alone.

2) Practice the Spiritual Disciplines
Spiritual disciplines such as prayer, fellowship, study, worship, and submission are not ends in themselves, but means to the end of intimacy with Christ and spiritual growth. 

3) Understand the Biblical Perspective on the circumstances of life.

Part of the purpose of our suffering and trials is to drive us to dependence on God alone. God responds by revealing more of Himself to us. This knowledge increases our faith and our capacity to trust His character and His promises through the times we do not understand His purposes and His ways. When we view our circumstances in light of God’s character instead of God’s character in light of our circumstances, we come to see that God is never indifferent to us, and that He uses suffering for our good so we will be more fully united to Christ.

4) Be teachable, obedient, and humble

Humility and  obedience are the keys to maintaining a teachable spirit.  As we mature in Christ, we learn to trust God’s character and promises in spite of ambiguity or trials.

5) Invest in the lives of others
Spirit-filled living requires us to discover and develop the spiritual gifts we have received and exercise them through the Spirit’s power for the edification of others. Believers who finish well are marked by ongoing outreach and sacrificial ministry for the good of other people.

Finish Stong!

This morning as I was walking around the yard I noticed that I have one section of my grass that is so much greener than all of the rest.  My first thoughts were “Why is this area so much greener?”  I then realized that this particular section of grass is where the water runs off to when my children pull out their slip n slide.  This area gets so much more water than the other areas making this grass look super compared to the others.

If you want your life to lush and vital then you must make sure that it is nurtured properly.  Make sure that you are tapped into the well of living water that flows from the throne of Jesus Christ.  When you are connected to His flow you will find that you shine with His glory and be healthy in the spirit realm.

How many times have you been in a rush?  One of the primary causes of accidents is due to being distracted or driving too fast.  In our spirit life we also can have a crash by rushing God and by not being focused on the main thing.  The main thing is our relationship to God.  Too often we try to rush God so that we can go in the direction that we want to go.  The Bible teaches that His ways are higher than our ways.  What happens when we rush God?  We often times will crash!

I was reading the scriptures this morning and the story of Daniel really caught my heart.  We know that as Christians we are supposed to be thankful.  Many times though we are thankful to God only after our prayers have been answered.  The thing that caught my attention was the fact that Daniel went home and gave thanks to God in the midst of a trying situation to say the least.  In my opinion that is true thanksgiving.  My prayer for each of us today is for us to be thankful regardless of the situations that we face.