WHAT ARE WE STRIVING TOWARD?
·
Where have I come from?
·
Where do I want to go?
Two questions I most frequently ask myself.
I always take stock of where I am at in life. I look at what
I am doing and analyse what is working for me and what is not.
I look at the lessons God has been trying to teach me and
"grade my own paper" (as Dr Phil says).
Am
I getting it?
I have done that in my own life for a long time now and now I
also have to do it with The Storehouse Church people in mind.
The short answer is YES. I am happy how things are going. My
expectations have been more than met for this year.
Sometimes I get caught up in the moment...
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Do I have everything I want NOW?
·
Have I attained ALL my goals NOW?
But that is an unrealistic view of the way we
achieve success in life yeah?
We need to look at where we have come from and what we have
achieved within a specified time limit. Dr Phil says: "The difference
between a dream and a goal is a timeframe with an end date.
To me dreams are awesome. I dream ALOT and I try to
understand what my dreams are telling me... whether they are warnings or
encouragements or instructions or what.
But then my Dad's voice will ring in my head, "Nicole,
get your head out of the clouds!"
Dreaming is great, but they are fluffy and hard to grasp. I
have to make tangible goals that I can cling onto when my focus gets blurry. I
need something I can work towards and measure.
In February this year God was speaking to me about the time
being right to embark on something big. With a fair bit of opposition from some
- together with a lot of good counsel others - we decided to give it a go and
we started the process in opening The Storehouse.
To do some measuring from 12
March to December (10 months) I would have to say that we have achieved more than
I thought was possible in such a short amount of time.
Especially since the stuff I have been doing is completely
new to me and have no experience at all.
Makes that scripture:
Eph 3: 20 Now to
him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or
imagine, according to his power that is
at work within us..."
very real to me!
________________________
We are heading into 2014 and I know you will agree with me
that time goes much quicker when your older!
Have you taken stock of where you are headed lately?
Have you had a good look at where you have come from and
whether you are heading in the direction you want to go?
Do you have specific things you would like to accomplish that
have been forgotten?
_______________________________
We hear sermons on how God wants to do "BIG" things
in our life.
So are we seeing the Kingdom of Heaven manifesting in our
lives?
__________________________________
He wants us to have a "MINISTRY" to use those
"TALENTS" He's left us with.
So, is God doing things for you and are you doing things for
God?
All of these encouragements are great and true but they are
very open ended.
Is changing 15 nappies a day "the Kingdom" living?
Is working at a job for very little money "the riches of
heaven" flowing in your life?
Is sitting with papers up to my ears learning how to keep
legal financial records for a Church, showing the love of Christ?
________________________
I actually think the answer is yes to all those questions,
but if we haven't set a goal it would seem like a big waste of time doing all
these things, when all that is in our heads is: "We need to make disciples
of all nations and baptise them."
I mean far out, where do you even start with that goal?!
What does account keeping have to do with Baptising someone?!
____________________________
There is a lot of LIFE that happens while we are heading
towards our goals and that is what God uses to enable us to KEEP and ENJOY our
success when we hit the target.
If we don't
have the character to sustain what God wants to give us in our life, it will
slip through our fingers when we get there.
This scripture keeps coming to mind lately:
1 Corinthians 9:24-2724 Don’t you realize that in
a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize? So run to win!25 All athletes are
disciplined in their training. They do it to win a prize that will fade away,
but we do it for an eternal prize. 26 So I run with purpose in every step. I am not just shadowboxing. 27 I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what
it should. Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be
disqualified.
Training is the changing nappies and learning to work for a hard boss. Training is being who you are in front of people as you are when no one is looking. Training is the attitudes we have toward people who are awful to us and so much more. It's hard and we will get it wrong.... many times.
Then I find this awesome encouragement when I fail...
Eph 3:12 Not
that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I
press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers
and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one
thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and
straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for
which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
So a few things we can take from this is:
There is an eternal prize.
We need to train to attain it.
It takes a long time to obtain it.
The best way to move toward it is FORGETTING WHAT IS BEHIND
and PRESSING ON TOWARD THE GOAL.
Now we just need to define what our goal is.
AND THAT'S BETWEEN YOU AND GOD!
When we are wondering
where we can find some wisdom, love and encouragement... we can see in:
Colossians
2
2 For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at
Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face, 2 that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the
riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God's mystery, which is Christ, 3 in whom are hidden all the
treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
When we feel like
everything is against us and we are not succeeding.... we can see in:
2
Corinthians 2:14
And when we have people around us
who don't support us and ridicule us... we can see in:
2 Peter
3
KNOWLEDGE
OF CHRIST
When we are looking at what the future for our
lives hold while we are working toward our goal... we can see in:
2
Peter 1:3
3 His
divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to[a] his
own glory and excellence,[b]
When we are wondering
where we can find some wisdom, love and encouragement... we can see in:
Colossians
2
2 For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at
Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face, 2 that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the
riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God's mystery, which is Christ, 3 in whom are hidden all the
treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
When we feel like
everything is against us and we are not succeeding.... we can see in:
2
Corinthians 2:14
14 But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere.
And when we have people around us
who don't support us and ridicule us... we can see in:
2 Peter
3
17 You therefore, beloved, knowing
this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of
lawless people and lose your own stability. 18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ.
The
commonality in us succeeding in our future is getting to know Jesus better.
Growing in knowledge of Him. Very exciting to do that together with you in
2014!
Let's pray:
Father you have created each one of us with a plan for our
lives. We need you to tell us what that is and give us the wisdom to see the
distractions. We want to glorify you in our lives - not ourselves.
Bless everyone here with a fresh understanding of the call on
their lives and a renewed motivation to strive toward You in 2014. In Jesus
name, Amen.
