Blast off!

3…2…1…Blast off!

Is that a picture that describes the resolutions you made at the New Year? Or have your resolutions sputtered off like a cork coming out of a flat champagne bottle?

What will make your resolutions propel forward so that they rocket off and soar?

Over the last few weeks I have written about our goals and resolutions. My sense is if we align our goals and resolutions around God’s design for us then we will accomplish them.

God has a plan for our lives. Generally, He created us to glorify Him by enjoying Him forever. Specifically, He has gifted you and placed you in the exact arena that He wants you in. He has called you to be part of His plan. He wants you to succeed in doing His will.

When our resolutions line up with God’s purpose for our life they will blast off. God will rocket them forward.

Do you need to rethink your resolutions? Do they line up with what God wants in your life?

Open The Eyes Of My Heart Lord

As I was running this morning, I began to pray one of the prayers that Paul had for the Ephesians in Ephesians 1. I was struck by Paul's desire that the eyes of our heart would be enlightened (Eph. 1:18). He goes on to say what he longs for them to see and grasp in their spiritual lives (1:18-23). It's a powerful prayer that we can pray for the church and for ourselves.
This morning though, I did not get to pray through the whole prayer because I began to sing a well-known worship song that I posted above. My hope is that it develops a deep groaning for you to see Jesus in your life today.

Life Goals

What is your goal in life? If you had a mission statement that guided your life, what would it be?

Everybody has some sort of purpose in their life. They might not be able to name it but when you take a closer look at their actions, it comes out. Some people live their life for an achievement. Others just want to have fun. Some try to do the minimum to get by while others do more but only look after their own interests. Everyone has some aim in their life that guides them, whether they know it or not.

Do you know what your goal is in life? Could you name that underlying purpose that guides all that you do? Have you ever taken the time to sit down and really think about why you do what you do?

More importantly, how does your goal align with what the Bible teaches? Is your goal in life to glorify God by enjoying Him forever (see last week’s blog post)?

I have personally wrestled with these questions over the last few years. I have spent a lot of time examining my life to try to determine what my goal is. I have looked at my actions and tried to figure out if they are aligned with what I think my goal is.

My goal is to worship God by being a disciple who makes disciples. Another way I put that is that I want to know Jesus and be like Jesus.

I am always trying to redefine my life around that. I set goals that will help me to live more like this in my life. I look ahead and try to find ways I can be more like Jesus. I am pushing myself to know Him more. I try to structure my life to accomplish this goal that I believe Jesus wants me to follow, because that’s what He wants for me as well.

Photo by Charlie Bird.

Who's Driving?

What is it that drives you? What is it that gets you out of bed in the morning to start the day? When things are not going well, what is that motivating force that gets you up off the mat?

The things that drive us are sometimes hard to figure out. We all have drivers in our life that motivate us towards our life goals. For some it might be the desire for success or another form of achievement. Others will do things because they are looking for acceptance. Others just want to please people.

Drivers are those things that motivate us in life. They are the cogs in our lives that just keep cranking and move us ahead. Ideally these drivers help us go after our life goal. They are the force that pushes us toward where we want to go.

Do you know what drives you? Is it a driver that moves you to your goal?

Scripture tells us of a few drivers that God has given us in life. One of them is the fear of God. This driver pushes people to obedience and awe, which helps them live the God-life. Others might be motivated by biblical rewards. They see the treasure that God has in store for them if they follow through on their commitments to God.

The driver that motivates me is also one that is found in Scripture--desire of God. I always want more of God in my life. I long to be with Jesus and be like Him. I wish this driver would always work at a feverish pitch. Sometimes I find myself further away from God than I would like. I have to do the work to grease the cog and crank it up again. But this is always good work because this driver is a powerful motivator. It pushes me toward my goal of being a disciple who makes disciples. It drives me to worship God. It propels me forward to where God wants me to be.

What is your driver? What is that motivating force that propels you to your life goal?

Photo by Leo Reynolds.

Resolutions

So, how are those resolutions going? Are you being good about what you eat? Are you continuing to work out? Are you finding it hard to make the changes you promised to make? Don’t those cupcakes look really good.

The other day someone asked me to help him with his resolutions. He wanted to know if I thought the resolutions he made were the right ones. I thought about what he asked and I realized that I had further questions. The questions were as follows:

· What does the Bible say is the goal of every human being?

· What is your personal goal?

· What is it that drives you towards that goal?

· How do the answers to the first three questions help me determine what my resolutions should be?

I ask these questions because I believe we often set New Year’s resolutions for the wrong reasons. Sometimes they don’t align with what our goal is in life. Other times they lead us to go after the wrong things in life. Even worse than that, sometimes our resolutions go against what God has designed us to do. It stands to reason that if we can line up our goal with what God’s goal is then everything should work easier.

What is God’s goal for our life anyways? For what purpose did He create us? On this note, almost everyone who takes the Bible as their guide agree. The highest goal of our life is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. We were made to worship Him. Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 10:31 that we are to worship Him in everything we do and at all times. The Psalmist Asaph should speak for all of us when he says that there is nothing on earth he desires more than God (Psalm 73:25).

So, we are to glorify God and enjoy Him. Actually, I think we can go a step further. John Piper, following the lead of Jonathan Edwards, has written that the way we glorify God most is by enjoying Him. In other words, we worship God the most when we find all of our joy and contentment in God. We honor Him immensely when we say we want to be with Him above everything else. We magnify His great name when we reveal to others that He is whom we are living for.

Does your New Year’s resolution say that? Is your life geared around the biblical goal of glorifying God by enjoying Him forever? Is it your personal mission to reflect this truth in all of your life?

My sense is, if we align our goals and our resolutions around God’s design for us, then we will accomplish them. We won’t be working against the current of how God designed us. And, more importantly, if we do set goals that go along with His plan, then the Holy Spirit will empower us to do what God has created us to do.

Is There Anything too Difficult for the Lord?

Some things just seem too good to be true. Do you ever think that? I know I do, and I believe the people of God during Zechariah’s ministry thought the same as well.

During that time, the majority of the people were in Exile in Babylon. Jerusalem was abandoned. The people were depressed and seemed without hope. They said to one another, “Don’t raise your hopes. God has punished us for good. Don’t dream anymore, it’s over.”

But God was not done yet.

God told them that Jerusalem would again be filled with people of all ages. There would be children running in the streets. Joy and hope would return.

But the Israelites couldn’t believe it. “It’s impossible. It seems to good to be true.”

I love God’s response. He says in Zechariah 8:6, “All this may seem impossible to you now, a small and discouraged people. But do you think this is impossible for me, The Lord Almighty?” He asks the same question in other places, “Is there anything too difficult for me?”

I read this passage this morning and God nudged me. Actually, He almost pushed me off the chair. God’s question was loud and clear. Deryk, what are you scared to ask Me about? What is on My heart, I will accomplish. Nothing can get in My way. If I can make the whole universe out of nothing, ‘Do you think this is going to be too hard for Me?’

Further in Zechariah 8, God shares part of the way He is going to accomplish His plans. He tells them that people from all nations will travel to Jerusalem. They will say to one another, “Let us go to Jerusalem to ask the Lord to bless us and to seek the Lord Almighty” (Zech. 8:21). They will grab the clothing of the Jew and say, “Please let us walk with you, for we have heard that God is with you” (Zech. 8:23).

I read those words and I thought of our church and other churches in the area. I got excited about the possibility of people traveling from all over so that they could be blessed from the Lord because they heard of God’s work among us. But then, I caught myself questioning it. That’s not what will happen here.

Deryk, is there anything too difficult for Me? What is on my heart I will do.

What’s on the Lord’s heart that you are scared about? What are you questioning and refraining from asking because you think it’s too outrageous? It seems to good to be true.

Is there anything too difficult for Me?

Photo by Marco Bellucci

Fasting

In a season filled with delicious cookies, why would someone ever fast?

At its heart, fasting is the physical prayer of asking for more of God and His presence in my life and the world around me. Sometimes it is done because the zeal and hunger for God is so strong that one would rather spend time with God than with food. At other times it is done when one recognizes that their spiritual appetite for God is in danger because it is so weak.

Fasting forces us to ask a question, “Do I really hunger for God? Do I want Him in my life more than anything else? Am I willing to do whatever it takes to glorify Him?” I love how John Piper puts it in his book A Hunger for God, “It is the physical exclamation point at the end of the sentence: ‘This much, O God, I long for you and for the manifestation of your glory in the world!’”

I started my fast on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. I have eaten no foods and have drunk few liquids. I feel fine. I’m not hungry. I admit, I look at cookies longingly, but otherwise I feel great.

I decided to fast for a few reasons. First and foremost, I am fasting for my own spiritual life. I want more of God in my life. I need more of God in my life. I looked at my own spiritual life and I was not satisfied. I sensed Him calling me to go deeper and frankly, I didn’t want to miss out on the opportunity to go deeper with God and glorify Him.

I have also sensed a great need to pray for our church. I believe God is calling us to go deeper and I wanted to make sure that I was going to give my all towards praying for God to work. I want God to work in and through our church to spread His Kingdom in this area. In short, I want revival, and I am willing to do whatever God asks to bring it about.

Where are you in your relationship with God? Do you want more of Him? Are you satisfied with your spiritual life? Do you believe like me that God is calling our church deeper? Do you want revival?

If you do, I plead with you, go deeper with God. Do all that you can to go after Him, even if it means fasting. Try it for a day or a few days and spend more time in prayer. Make the exclamation point and say “This much I want you, God!”

Just think, God could be bringing about this longing in all of us to do something greater than we could ever imagine. Could it be that He yearns to bring revival in this area? If that’s the truth, wouldn’t you be willing to do whatever it takes to bring it about?

Photo by C. Jill Reed