Just a quick review regarding part 1 of this series we talked about
- Don’t be afraid to try new things – we can not expect different results if we continue to simply live life the same way.
- Along with number 1 is….Don’t be afraid to fail
- Be willing to change – life is changing around us so quickly. If we don’t change with it, we will find ourselves doing nothing but whining and complaining about everything changing
If we want to grow closer to the Lord, accomplish more of his plan and purpose this year, fulfill the dreams we have then perhaps those three and this next three will help us get there
- Personal mission statement – businesses come up with a business plan that they follow. It helps keep the business focused on their purpose. There are lots of opportunities out there but they need to stay focused on their call. It also helps keep them motivated, reminding them of their purpose.
What is your purpose? Yes you are a husband, wife, mother, father and these are all purposes from God but looking at your gifts, what others see in you, and discovering what brings you joy will help you find that purpose….why is it important? God says it is!
Proverbs 29:18
Where there is no prophetic vision, the people cast off restraint,
but blessed is he who keeps the law. (ESV)
NLT translates it this way
When people do not accept divine guidance, they run wild.
But whoever obeys the law is joyful.
Without knowing what your call is you can get into all kinds of things that will not be your skill set, your call, or bring you joy and you will miss the things that you were created to do? When tend as humans to run with the crowd, we have a natural herd mentality….style of dress, places we go to eat, even tattoos are all governed by herd mentality which is OK but you can get lost in who you are and what you are called to do if you don’t know your personal vision…
God had given Habakkuk a vision, he had been seeking the Lord, keeping his heart right, always in prayer, always in the Word and God gave him a vision and here is what God told him to do….
Habakkuk 2:2-4
“Write the vision and make it plain on tablets, That he may run who reads it.
3 For the vision is yet for an appointed time; But at the end it will speak, and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it; Because it will surely come, It will not tarry. 4 “Behold the proud, His soul is not upright in him; But the just shall live by his faith.
Fulfilling God’s vision is not something that will happen if you are prideful, it takes faith. You were designed with a divine purpose in mind but it takes getting out of yourself, out of your comfort zone to do the things He has called you to do!
Pray about your personal mission statement
Write it down so you can stay true to it
Review it on a regular basis to make sure you are accomplishing it
Adapt it if you need to
Watch how productive you are as you stay focused
- Don’t get hung up on being perfect – it is not that we have an excuse and should not strive to be better at all that we do… but we can have a paralysis of analysis where we do nothing until we can do it perfectly
The scripture tells us plainly that none of us are perfect that we all have flaws and sin
1 John 1:8
If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth.
Romans 3:23,24
For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. 24 Yet God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins.
As Christians, we are to live by grace and faith. This is not an excuse to not accomplish the things God has called us to, but a challenge to not rely on our strength but His Spirit.
Yes, we have all been given gifts, abilities, skills, anointings, and personalities to accomplish things for God but there is a freedom when we trust His Spirit to lead, guide and flow through us rather than relying on solely our strength and fortitude. In fact, many are burnt out because we have not learned to rest in Him and allow Him to lead and guide using our gifts trusting that he is going to accomplish things His way rather than through our perfection….
God speaks through Isaiah to tell us that as we are functioning learning to be led by His Spirit with our gifts that we will blow it but we will not fail….listening to His Spirit is the greatest thing we can do to grow to be who we are called to be!
Isaiah 30:21
Your own ears will hear him. Right behind you a voice will say, “This is the way you should go,” whether to the right or to the left.
- Be selfish (and be unselfish) – I know it sounds weird coming from the pulpit to hear me say this but bear with me for a few moments to understand what I mean….
Mark 12:28-31
One of the teachers of religious law was standing there listening to the debate. He realized that Jesus had answered well, so he asked, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”
29 Jesus replied, “The most important commandment is this: ‘Listen, O Israel! The LORD our God is the one and only LORD. 30 And you must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.’ 31 The second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.”
Jesus is quoting Leviticus 19:18….he is answering the religious leader with the basic word of God….what is the basics of how we are to live our lives?
Love God….love mankind
As Christians many of us strive every day to love God more but the one way we miss loving him sounds very selfish but it is necessary for us to become who God is calling us to be….we can not truly love our neighbor, love others unless we have learned to value the gift that God has created in us…..many Christians are too self-critical, too insecure, always feeling less than the way God sees you
We must learn to believe that we are God’s master pieces that we are warriors in the Kingdom, that we are princes and princess in the Kingdom…that according to God we are the most important valuable people on earth
You have been created by God as….
A child of God.
But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name. (John 1:12)
A branch of the true vine, and a conduit of Christ’s life.
I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. . . . I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. (John 15:1, 5)
A friend of Jesus.
No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you. (John 15:15)
A fellow heir with Christ.
. . . and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him. (Romans 8:17)
A saint.
To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, saints by calling, with all who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours. (1 Corinthians 1:2; Ephesians 1:1; Philippians 1:1; Colossians 1:2)
A temple of the Holy Spirit.
Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? . . . Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? (1 Corinthians 3:16; 6:19)
We have to be a little selfish and recognize who we are and take care of the gift God has given us through proper rest, nutrition, exercise, develop your skills, your mind, your personality all to be the best version of you that you can be….all of that honors God and the gifts He has given you…..then you have to be unselfish and share all of that through using them to bless God, His family, and the world
So, what do you want to be when you grow up?
Your personal mission statement will remind you!
Don’t allow the need for perfection to stop you
Be a little selfish and unselfish at the same time
Try new things
Don’t be afraid to fail
Be willing to make the changes necessary to get you where you need to be!