Your Life An Answered Prayer

The following is an excerpt from "Big Choices," part 2 of the series, "Choices," by Mark Batterson of National Community Church.

Oswald Chambers said, “As we obey the leadings of the Spirit of God, we enable God to answer the prayers of other people.” I love that perspective! I don’t think Chambers is over-spiritualizing. I think we’re guilty of under-spiritualizing. Chambers said, “Our lives, my life, is the answer to someone’s prayer, prayed perhaps centuries ago.”

Committed

Committed: The Dictionary Version
The Apple Macintosh Dictionary, (the ultimate source of dictionaries, right Windows users!) defines "committed" as the following:

committed |kəˈmitid|
• adjective
feeling dedication and loyalty to a cause, activity, or job; wholeheartedly dedicated : a committed Christian.

Take a look at the example they gave too, "a committed Christian"...pretty cool!

Committed: The Scripture Version
Now, look at what the Source of all sources has to say about being "committed..."

For the eyes of the LORD range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.
2 Chronicles 16:9 (New International Version

Your Strength
The other day I talked about the difference between a committed heart and an undecided heart. Read it here, Success and The Committed Heart ...it's real short and to the point...

So here's the deal: Do you want God to strengthen you? Maybe God is waiting until you have fully committed yourself to Him....Have you? If not, why not?

Commit to Him today, right now and receive His strength...God is full of Grace and Love, but He is also looking far and wide for those who are fully committed to Him...He wants to use you for His purposes but you can not live totally for Him if you are lukewarm and "striding the fence"....You must choose this day whom you will serve...

The Benefit Of Others
If you are fully committed to God, He will not only infuse your life with Strength, but it will also pour into the lives of those around you...

Jesus fully committed His life to God and through Him, we have life to the Full...Meditate on that....

Think about who you play for, who you live for, those who depend on you...How can God bless them because He blesses you with strength...Your commitment to God could change someone's life today....

Seeking And Focus

Here are a few thoughts the Holy Counselor has been sharing with me and I would like to share them with you!

Seeking God
Are you seeking God? Do you want him to speak to you? The step to hearing his voice is really very simple even as complex as it may seem....

You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.
(Jeremiah 29.13)

Read Jer 29.12-14 in context and you will find the "solution" to this great "mystery" of hearing from God...here are the steps to take:

1. Call upon God
2. Pray To God
3. Seek Him With All Your Heart

Do this and God says, "I will be found by you..."


God In The Way or On The Way
Are you so absorbed in what you are doing that you don't even see God right in front of you?
The end part of Romans 8.20-33 (MSG) says...

If you're looking for me,
you'll find me on the way, not in the way.

Our Focus Becomes Our Reality
I believe in a sense that we live as a result of self-fulfilling prophecies. God has given us free will to choose, to think, to decide on what we choose to focus on and how to live our lives. Now I understand there are other circumstances in life that shape our thoughts and decisions and outcomes, but I know this, as Mark Batterson has said, "Our focus becomes our reality."

Odds are you are living a life right now that is the sum result of the choices you have made, (choices as we all know have consequences), the thoughts you created, and the mentality you have meditated upon. So how do you live a life of achievement instead a life by accident? You need to ask yourself one question...

The question to ask is, "Do I really believe The Word of God?" In essence, does your life reflect your beliefs? Do you set goals, make decisions, and live life as though "Nothing is impossible with God?" (Luke 1.37 NLT) ...I also like the way the New Century Version puts it...

"God can do anything!"

Application: Make a list of 5 goals. God-Ordained Goals. Goals that if God does not come through than you are through. Goals that make you lean on every fiber of God. Goals that make you seek Him and Pray to him with the same necessity that you need from water to drink and air to breathe. Start thinking thoughts and meditating on Scripture that reflect the promises of God and watch how your "self-fulfilling" prophecy plays out...

This is not a magic formula or some kind of new age philosophy. This is the mentality and the focus of a God-Fearing Champion For Christ.

So what are you focused on today? Are you focused on yourself and your limitations or are you focused on The One and Only God who can do anything? Stop putting God in a box and bringing him down to human levels. He is set apart and bigger and greater than the human mind can imagine.

However, as it is written:
"No eye has seen,
no ear has heard,
no mind has conceived
what God has prepared for those who love him"

but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit.
The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God.

(1 Corinthians 2.-10 NIV)

So here are the 3 steps to take in order to change your life and the lives around you, because remember, it's not only about you, it's about the "domino effect" that living the life God expects of you has on those around you as well!

A. Focus on God
B. Meditate on His Word
C. Activate Your Faith

Activate your faith...you must activate your faith. James 2.17 says...

In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

It's not enough to know God intellectually, we must know Him intimately. The only way to do that is to go out into the "Lab Of Life" and put into action what He calls you to do. He has high expectations of us...He should, He created us...He sent His Son to die for us and Jesus came in order that we would have life to the full (John 10.10)...

I will close with a quote from William Scolavino that sums up the connection between what you achieve and what you believe...

"The height of your achievements will be determined by the depth of your convictions."

~ ~ ~

Opportunity of a lifetime!

Having a "D" moments with my twin bro, Justin, today. We were talking about a cool pastor who we listen to and read. The pastor is well known and has a great demand to speak around the world. Well, this guy talked about how he has had "OPPORTUNITIES of A LIFETIME" offered to him to speak in certain places. This got me thinking: what are "opportunities of a lifetime?" From now on, "opportunities of a lifetime" will be called "OOLT" in this blog...

First thing: What is opportunity?

Ob Portu

www.bible.org (Bits & Pieces, March 2, 1995, pp. 16-17) explains it this way:

In the days before modern harbors, a ship had to wait for the flood tide before it could make it to port. The term for this situation in Latin was ob portu, that is, a ship standing over off a port, waiting for the moment when it could ride the turn of the tide to harbor.

The English word opportunity is derived from this original meaning. The captain and the crew were ready and waiting for that one moment for they knew that if they missed it, they would have to wait for another tide to come in.

It would be like a SURFER waiting for the perfect wave. It would be like an Olympic sprinter waiting for the gold medal race...opportunities of a lifetime, right!

What would be your "OOLT"?

I can think of some:

• Meeting the president of the U.S.A.
• Meeting David Hasselhoff!
• Watching the U.S. Open tennis championship in person
  
• Watching the gold medal 100m, 200m, 400m dash in person
• Being the one who wins the above races!
• Winning a free vacation to Disney World and Universal Studios
• Being asked to play a main speaking role in your favorite movie
• Having the opportunity publish a book
• Cooking Thanksgiving dinner with Paula Dean :)...right moma?
  
• I'm sure you can think of many more....

Want to know what God is teaching me about "my" "OOLT"?

Praise GOD, I have an "OOLT" each day I wake up and each day I come home. My wife and children are my opportunities of a lifetime. My mom, dad, twin, older bro/family are "OOLT's"! The chance to love them like Jesus is an "OOLT". The chance to get to do it tomorrow...another "OOLT"! Seriously, most of the time when we think of "OOLT's", we think of something BIG and something we may only get ONE shot at. But listen, what could be bigger than loving your family more tomorrow than you did today? What could be bigger than discipling the ones God has given you? What could be bigger than shaping someone's life? I can't think of anything bigger than my daughter's smile...I can't think of anything more beautiful than my wife's face.

With God's help
With the help of God and the affection of Jesus Christ, I want to make the most of my opportunities to love my family like Christ loves the Church. I am married to someone too good for me; I have a daughter who is a taste of Heaven; I have a son on the way who is the promise of God; I have a mom and a dad who demonstrate the generosity of the Trinity; I have a twin bro who sharpens me like iron; I have an older bro/sis-in-law/a nephew and niece who make me feel like a rock-star! To love them is an OPPORTUNITY of a LIFETIME! You want to talk about ONE SHOT at something? How 'bout this...I will never again have August 15th, 2008. I hope I made the most of my opportunity to love and pray for my family today...it was the OPPORTUNITY of a LIFETIME! Thank you Jesus! Amen!

Ways to make the most of your "opportunities" with family:

1. Pray for them
2. Make conversation with them
3. Listen to them
4. Sit with them
5. Read Scripture with them
   

"Love God & Do What You Want"

Psalm 37:4 (New International Version)

4 Delight yourself in the LORD
and he will give you the desires of your heart.

"What Is God's Will For Your Life?"

• The answer to this question is DEEP, but a "simple" answer comes from Psalm 37.4 noted above
• You must have a relationship with God
• You must talk with and seek Your Creator
• You must DELIGHT yourself in The Lord

Nutshell: "Love God And Do What You Want." ~ Erwin McManus

If you love God, if you DELIGHT in Him, He will begin to shape your heart and mold your character into the person He created you to be. You will want what He wants, you will love what He loves, you will desire what He desires.

The sin you use to love and think you were free in will no longer be attractive to you. When the light of Christ enters your life, the darkness you use to live in will be exposed and it will make you wonder how in the world you ever use to live like that.

Delighting In God = Freedom
Delighting in your sin = Imprisonment

•••

Jesus Gives Us The Full Life

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
John 10.10

Nutshell: Gain by Giving = You want the full life, Give your life to Jesus

•••

Jesus Is Knocking

Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me (Revelation 3:14,20), emphasis added

I want you to focus on the word "open." Jesus wants to open up our lives, He wants to expand our territory and widen our spaces. He did not come to condemn, (John 3.17) but instead to save.

Nutshell: Open your life up to Jesus The Christ and He will open up your life to the full!

Listen, Watch, & Wait

I need God's direction. I need to hear the whispers in my ear and the nudges on my back from The Holy Spirit in order to live the full life that Jesus gave His life for. So what do I do? How do I go about Hearing His Voice and how do I really know if it is His Voice I am hearing??

The above questions are very packed and can be answered with much detail, but take a note from two Champions of the Old Testament and allow them to give you some advice...

Listen
Joshua, the successor of Moses, is leading the people of Israel into the Promise Land. They are about to Cross The Jordan River and they need God's direction. Sound familiar? Do you need God's direction in your life? As you are searching and wanting to enter your Promise Land, you need to Listen for God, then you will know that He is alive among you! Tune out the world, turn the volume of culture on mute, and LISTEN to God...

Then Joshua addressed the People of Israel: "Attention! Listen to what God, your God, has to say. This is how you'll know that God is alive among you...(Joshua 3.9-10 MSG)

~emphasis added~

Watch and Wait

Habakkuk was questioning God and he needed answers. Habakkuk had "Prayer Post," a place where He would go and Pray and listen to The Voice Of God. There he watched and he waited, having faith that God would speak...

I will climb up to my watchtower and stand at my guardpost. There I will wait to see what the Lord says and how he[a] will answer my complaint (Habakkuk 2.1)

~emphasis added~

Zone In

When athletes are wanting to zone in before the big game, they normally do one of two things. They either walk around and pace or they find a quiet place, even if it's among other athletes in one room, like a locker room. Their is also a common denominator among the majority of the athletes: They are listening to their iPod, iPhone, or cd player. What they are doing is entering into their "Watchtower" and tuning out the world. They are tuning in to their minds with inspiration of music or speeches that will give them direction and focus for their "Promise Land" of the big game.

Are you listening? Are you going to your "watchtower" to Hear God's Voice? The Heroes of The Bible did...Joshua listened. Habakkuk found his watchtower and waited. Jesus went to The Garden to Pray and listen to The Voice Of God.

If You want to know God's Will for your life, you must stop acting on impulse, stop listening to culture, put down the new age philosophy, and listen to The Voice of The One who created your ears to hear, your mind to think, your eyes to see...God wants to Journey with you...Listen for Him!