Notes from sermon, CBC, (viewed by streaming online - missed the first part): 5/15/11
Fasting doesn't have to be just from food. Consider fasting from the "junk" that clutters up our lives with secular culture. Secular TV/movies, secular music/reading material, frivolous internet usage, etc.
"The habit of performing an action is more powerful than the action itself."
"Your daily habits are creating your future success or failure."
Remove from your focus at all costs anything that poisons your God-given future!!!
Successful people do daily what unsuccessful people do occasionally.
Successful Christians do daily what mediocre Christians do occasionally.
There is only TODAY! Time is the greatest resource of life. Time is not a force - time is a resource. Time will not do anything for you; it is what you do with it.
Hebrews 11:6 - And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.
Thoughts: Once again, God has convicted me of my current lifestyle and has used a sermon to say exactly what I needed to hear. I no longer want to be a (less-than) mediocre Christian. I want to be a successful Christian! My daily habits are horrendous. I need to give up the things that don't matter so that I may focus on incorporating - DAILY - the things that do. I need to use every day as a way to show God that I love him and find ways to serve Him in this day. I need to decide what I will do with my time, and follow that to the best of my ability. Just like we need to decide what to do with our money and follow that. I need to remove the potentially destructive time-wasters of our lives (TV, video games, internet, etc.) and use that time for growing, learning, and teaching.
The time is now. The day is today. I WILL make changes. Baby steps towards God. Towards rewards in Heaven.
Sunday, May 15, 2011
My Walk Today
What a shame that I have let this part of my life go, as in pretty much every other spiritual aspect of my life. At present, my Christian walk looks like this:
*I pray, but mostly for myself and my family, about what I want and need, about what I'd like God to do for me. I don't really listen for His still, small voice during these prayers, and when I pray with the children (at mealtimes and bedtime), it is mostly a generic, canned, and repeated prayer, void of real depth and meaning.
*I rarely read the Bible. Most of the scripture I am exposed to is through sermons, and is not followed up on and meditated upon.
*I do not go to church regularly, even though I LOVE our church and feel that it is where God wants us to be. We are not members, and are not plugged in in any way. We don't go to Community Group and we haven't been to Wednesday night services for pretty much the whole school year.
*I am not involved in a Bible study, though I paid for and started (but never got very far) in an online Beth Moore study over a year ago.
*We haven't been tithing regularly either, though we are trying to do better in this area as we are trying to implement Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover for our finances.
So there it is, in all of its ugly truth. My walk with Christ. A total joke. So much for making an impact. So much for leaving a legacy. So much for helping others. So much for showing my gratitude and love for my Savior who gave everything so that I might live. But I want to change. I want to know Him. I want to give up my current life and live a life that will bear much fruit. It's time to start over. It's time to start writing new pages in this book of my life. I know my spirit is ready. Now I need to (with help from God) overcome the weakness of my flesh.
*I pray, but mostly for myself and my family, about what I want and need, about what I'd like God to do for me. I don't really listen for His still, small voice during these prayers, and when I pray with the children (at mealtimes and bedtime), it is mostly a generic, canned, and repeated prayer, void of real depth and meaning.
*I rarely read the Bible. Most of the scripture I am exposed to is through sermons, and is not followed up on and meditated upon.
*I do not go to church regularly, even though I LOVE our church and feel that it is where God wants us to be. We are not members, and are not plugged in in any way. We don't go to Community Group and we haven't been to Wednesday night services for pretty much the whole school year.
*I am not involved in a Bible study, though I paid for and started (but never got very far) in an online Beth Moore study over a year ago.
*We haven't been tithing regularly either, though we are trying to do better in this area as we are trying to implement Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover for our finances.
So there it is, in all of its ugly truth. My walk with Christ. A total joke. So much for making an impact. So much for leaving a legacy. So much for helping others. So much for showing my gratitude and love for my Savior who gave everything so that I might live. But I want to change. I want to know Him. I want to give up my current life and live a life that will bear much fruit. It's time to start over. It's time to start writing new pages in this book of my life. I know my spirit is ready. Now I need to (with help from God) overcome the weakness of my flesh.
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