Just recently I have been reading Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster. One of the disciplines he discusses is worship. At the beginning of that section this definition of worship appears.
“To worship is to quicken the conscience by the holiness of God,
to feed the mind with the truth of God,
to purge the imagination by the beauty of God,
to open the heart to the love of God,
to devote the will to the purpose of God.” William Temple
Then Mr. Foster goes on to give these definitions:
Followers of Christ have heard these two prevailing themes:
Beware of the things of the world; they can hinder the relationship you have with God.
Be involved in the world so that you can influence the world for God.
Both themes are true.
God has placed us, His created beings in this time and space and this time and space has become more corrupt with un-Godly things. However, this does mean that Christ-followers should become recluse and holed up, all together, in some commune.
Tami Heim and Toni Birdsong in their book @StickyJesus give us practical guidelines about living in a society that is filled with the noise of technology; where this noise can keep us from hearing the voice of God.
For over ten years I have made it a part of my daily or at least five days a week routine to spend a dedicated amount of time in exercising. That chunk of time ranges from a minimum of 30 minutes up to two or more hours. During this time I have been faithful to keep up a ‘quiet time’ with God, however, I recently realized I have been giving more time to keeping my physical body in shape than my spiritual soul. Over the last six weeks this has all changed; intentionally I carve out a longer time each day for a conversation with God…just me and Him and His Word. I can tell a difference.
We cannot compartmentalize our lives…I cannot compartmentalize, giving attention to one part of my whole being over another.
I believe that we should take the bible verse in Romans 12:1-2 seriously…present our whole bodies as a sacrifice of worship. There are too many of us Christ followers who ignore our physical bodies and only concentrate on the spiritual. Granted being in top physical shape will not get you into heaven, but it will give you a better chance of living more years as a Christ-follower and then encouraging and leading others into a Christ relationship. There are too many Christ-followers, and I used to be one of them who let the spiritual exercise take a back seat to other areas. That was and is wrong.
I want to be a totally sold out follower of Christ…everything I am…balanced so that I can be an example of what I think Christ wants me to be.
Do you agree that Christ wants us to have balance in our lives, including our physical life?
How do you keep balance in your life?
The Lord is sovereign He can do
Anything He wants to do
Sound the thunder,
Calm the storm,
And restore
The peace of the breeze
The Lord is sovereign He can do
Anything He wants to do
But He gave me a choice
To choose His way
If I choose He promised to stay.
The Lord is sovereign He can do
Anything He wants to do
I put my trust in Him,
He canceled all my sin
I now have strength to live
O Christ for You I live
Lord fill my life with Your Spirit
Your love Your peace
And leave no room for other things
Fill my life fill my heart
With your Spirit Lord
Fill me up and make me totally Yours
Even though I know this sovereign Lord
Things are not always clear
Still daily tasks and demands of time
Compete for complete control
But I realize there needs to be
Only for whom I live
Christ Jesus the sovereign Lord
To Him first place I give
I live my life as a vessel to be filled with Your love
I live my life as a vessel O Lord yes to serve
Take my life, take my time,
My talents and my deeds,
Fill me up and make me totally Yours.
_____________________
written by Michael H Smith 1987
Just recently my friend and co-worker Connie Hartzell led our staff through a look at Genesis 24, specifically looking at the meaning of success.
No matter what your business, success must be defined.
As a Christ follower, and no matter the business, the concepts in Genesis 24 can help us define success and give us a sequence of actions steps.
1. Leader communicates the challenge and the tasks (Genesis 24:4)
2. Follower
a. asks questions to clarify the task and the expectation (Genesis 24:5)
b. Follower accepts the task (Genesis 24:9)
c. Expects success
3. The tools for success are gathered and prepared (Genesis 24:10-11)
4. Prayed and asked God for guidance (Genesis 24:12-14)
5. Seized the opportunity to carry out the task (Genesis 24:12)
6. Carried out the plan as much as humanly possible, (Genesis 24:14) then
7. Waited for God to show the final steps (Genesis 24:15-21)
8. Arrival of success was clear because of expectations and preparation (Genesis 24:22-25, 45)
9. Once the task was accomplished time was given for offering thanks to God. (Genesis 24:26)
10. Returned to the leader with testimony of success (Genesis 24:62)
11. Celebration of success as the events were re-told. (Genesis 24:65-67)
How do you know your actions or strategy has been a success?
Does your action plan for success match up with God’s?
