As this year
is coming to a close and a new year is almost upon us, we typically start
thinking of New Year's resolutions. These
resolutions start off strong but by late February or early March, we can no
longer remember what our resolution was.
One of the reasons we sometimes fail at keeping our resolutions is
because we do not have an accountability partner. Someone who will encourage us and keep us
honest, someone who will help us stay on track and who we do not want to tell them,
"we quit". We pick some very
odd resolutions sometimes like giving up chocolate. Who is their right mind would want to give up
chocolate? I think the biggest reason we
fail with our typical resolutions might be, we do not ask for God's help with these
things, we just choose and think we can do it on our own.
I was so
thankful I had someone today to keep me accountable and encouraged me. That is what having an accountability partner is all about. After a couple of days of suffering, I
finally reached out and asked someone in our group to just pray for me. She immediately started praying, I felt the
load lightening over the next couple of hours.
She called me that evening and I was slowly able to share with her the
trials of what was going on. I must
admit it was very difficult to share. I
am a strong person and I like to handle things on my own. I do feel like I have a strong relationship
with God, and the majority of the time I can just lay something at His feet and
walk away. But occasionally I need help
even doing that, and that is what she helped me do. For me it was difficult to share because I
was sharing something of my inner most thoughts and feelings. Not the outside appearance of what I portray
but the real me. When I do that, it
makes me feel very vulnerable. I think
God is trying to teach me something about sharing better with others. We all have the person we portray to others
and what we allow others to see of us.
But we all have an inner self, that for many of us is very private.
In sales
sometimes, the top producers will have pictures of something they really want
to motivate them like a fancy new car or a exotic vacation. They look at these pictures everyday to
motivate them to keep pushing and to make that next sale and not be lazy. It reminds them why they are working so hard. The majority of the time when sales people do
this, they become very serious and focused on achieving their dreams. By visualizing
themselves having the fancy car or being on this vacation, it helps them
accomplish their goals. It is also a
reminder of working toward those goals every day. But I got to thinking . . . instead
of a fancy car or crazy vacation trip, why not visionalize what God wants me to
be. God wants me to be holy but I fail
at this miserably every day.
1 Peter
1:13-16
Therefore,
with your minds ready for action, be serious and set your hope completely on the grace to be
brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the desires of your former
ignorance. But as the One who
called you is holy, you
also are to be holy in all your conduct; for it is written, Be holy,
because I am holy. Holman
Version
1 Peter
1:13-16
Therefore,
prepare your minds for
action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given
you when Jesus Christ is revealed. As
obedient children, do not
conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do;
for it is written: "Be holy,
because I am holy." Life
Application
I love the
Life Application version the best.
"Prepare your minds", what does that mean? I think it is to being mentally alert. If we were to prepare for a test, we would
study for it. If we are preparing for a
race, we would practice. Jesus is
returning, how are we preparing? He
wants us to prepare by practicing to be holy.
The verse tells us to be "self-controlled". We are probably patting ourselves on the
back, thinking we are self controlled, that was my first reaction. But then that little voice in my head
reminded me that I was not showing very much self control today, when I let
worry and fear consume my thoughts. To
be self controlled requires vigilant practice.
God has set
the standard and he wants us to follow him.
What are we doing every day to practice or work out so we can be closer
to God's standard which is holy? We
cannot become holy on our own, but God gives us the Holy Spirit to help us and
to give us the power we need to become holy.
We will never
get better at something until we realize we have a problem and we become conscious
of it. After you become conscious of it,
you choose to either change or keep doing it.
Changing can be difficult at first, it may even be uncomfortable and it
maybe something we really do NOT want to do.
It is our choice how we handle it.
What things about myself does God want me to change or do differently? The first thing He did was to show me some
areas He wants me to be mindful of in my life and how I act or react.
Below is a
list of the things that I believe God has laid on my heart that He wants me to
be cognizant of and to work on so I can work toward the goal of being holy.
- I will not allow negative
thoughts to enter my mind or come out of my lips.
- I will remember to praise Him
even in my most troubled times or situations.
- I will stand up for Jesus even
when it is not comfortable for me.
- I will look for opportunities to
serve others in my community.
- I will stop dwelling on my
problems.
- I will work on fixing me and no
one else. (This
included spouses.)
- I will humble myself and check my
motives.
- I will love and pray for the
people that I do not like, frustrated or ticked off with.
- I will do my best to build up my
spouse and not tear him down.
- I will not judge other
people. I will look at them from
God's perspective.
- I will do my very best to become
Holy everyday and draw closer to God.
- I will thank him specifically for the many blessings He gives me every day.
Pray about
what God wants you to be aware of in your life?
What does he want you to work on so you can work toward the goal of
being holy? Now here comes the hard
part. Once you have these things and you
start to become aware of your short falls, it's up to you to make an important
decision. Do you want to take the step
of handling it the way God wants you to handle it, or do you want to stay
exactly where you are. The sad part is
if you choose to keep doing the same thing you are not staying the same but
moving further from God. We cannot play
the ignorant card if we are aware of our mistake and still choose to do
wrong. When we do that we are moving
away from God, not just staying the same.
In other words, we are either
moving toward God or away from God with every decision we make; there is NO
standing still.
Once you have
this list from God and if you have trouble figuring it out, ask a close friend
and ask them to be honest with you and I am sure they will help you get it started. Try to list approximately, but no more than ten
(10) to twelve (12) things that God wants
you to be. If I tried to list everything
I need to work on, I would never finish with the list. Write your list down in big bold
lettering. Post it somewhere you can see
and read every day. Maybe even post it
several places, like your bathroom mirror, your computer screen, etc. Every time you see that list take just a
couple of minutes and ask God to help you recognize each of those issues in
your life, for His help to give you the courage and strength to make the right
choice and grow closer to Him.
If we pray
for the Holy Sprit's help and we have faith, we will make these right choices,
we can help ourselves accomplish these goals.
It is also a reminder of working on ourselves every day. We should continually pray on these things so
the Lord can help us, for we cannot do these things on our own. Really take the time and pray about each item
on your list. Find the Bible verses that
apply to each one. There could be several verses that apply. If you do not have tools to help you find
them, the internet and Google is wonderful and can help you. Write down how you should react when the
specific situation comes up, and how you will make that right choice. If you are not prepared to make that right
choice when the situation comes up, you will only have a split second to make
the choice. If you are prepared, it will
be a lot easier to make the right choice and know how you can handle it. This may sound like a lot of work. Well, it is! I could definitely see this taking me several
hours to complete. But it does not have
to happen all at one time. It's your
choice. This is a great way to study on your own, God's word!
Next let's
share our lists and our research with each other and let's hold each other
accountable. At least find one person in
our group that you will reach out to for help.
We need each other.
Let's do
something every day to bring us closer to our vision, closer to being holy,
closer to God. It is sin that separates
us from Him, and as we work on ourselves we draw closer to Him because we need
His help. But also with His help we
drawer closer to Him because we are trying to eliminate the sin in our lives.
It's not
about what we want; it's about what God wants us to be.
So now, I am
asking you . . . who is in with me? Some
of you since September have become very vigilant with your time reading our
email devotions every day. That is
totally awesome! Now it's time to move
to the next level. Are you ready? Some of you are thinking, "I'm too busy,
does she not realize it is the holiday season, and I have to cook, and clean,
shop, put up decorations and work for a living?" I really do believe that God has laid this
message on my heart and He wanted me to share with you. If He wants you to do this and draw closer to
Him don't you think He will make a way for you to get it done? It's about choices and priorities. Do you have a time waster (i.e. TV, Facebook)
in your life you could get rid of to make the time? Could you get up thirty minutes earlier every
day? Could you do it while you are
eating lunch? It's your choice, your
decision.
Let's plan a
time for those of you that want to do this to share with the group. How about sometime between Christmas and New
Years? Let me know if you are ready to
jump in and move closer to God.
No comments:
Post a Comment