Have you thanked Him?
Have you praised Him?
Have you made it your priority to agree and cooperate with Him today?
Have you taken that deep breath and listened for what He has for you today?
1 Timothy 2:1 (The Message)
1-3The first thing I want you to do is pray. Pray every way you know how, for everyone you know.
Suffering from a little “short” insomnia last night landed me on TBN and Joyce Meyer. She was talking about the IMPORTANCE of PROGRESS!
It was the “I’m not where I want to be but thank GOD I am not where I was” sort of message.
In recovery meetings we often cover this topic stressing PROGRESS not PERFECTION.
But let’s be honest. Progress is tough.
Sometimes our circumstances hinder it.
Sometimes our “inner challenges” hinder it. Even our “supportive environments” can cause a stumble or a setback from time to time.
But Joyce got me to thinking.
And that is why I thought I would focus us on 3 things to “improve” our “progress” today
FAITH
HOPE
LOVE.
Faith, Hope and love
Is more than enough when times get tough
Faith, hope and love
Will tunnel through what's in front of you
If you just trust in faith, hope and love – Point of Grace
Paul emphasized that these elements in our lives were critical and eternal!
...Three things will last forever--faith, hope, and love--and the greatest of these is love. 1 Corinthians 13:13
He is right!
If we can simply focus on the virtues of faith, hope, and love, we’ll progress both in recovery and in becoming MORE like CHRIST, which is the true GOAL at the end of the day!
For God has designed these three virtues to motivate us – and when we are energized by the right motivations, we automatically progress in the right direction; looking more like Jesus today than yesterday!
.
Therefore, let's start today by INTENTIONALLY listening to the Holy Spirit’s guidance.
The key to making any kind of spiritual progress is developing a habit of hearing and responding to the Holy Spirit. When we don’t stay in touch with the Spirit, our lives tend by default to move in a selfish direction and away from God.
Yet when we regularly connect with the Holy Spirit through prayer, the Spirit empowers us to grow closer to God, increasing faith, hope, and love in our lives.
James 4:8 (ESV)
Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.
So:
Draw near in FAITH trusting GOD for the PURPOSE for today!
Exercise a HOPEFUL attitude to inspire motivation for SERVICE over SELF!
Channel GOD’S love to provide the compassion needed to motivate action whenever called upon to do so.
For:
FAITH improves our inner spiritual connection by engendering trust in GOD’S goodness and helping us overcome fear.
GOD’S hope improves perspective.
Focusing on LOVE advances relationships and opens doors to bless and in turn be blessed!
…bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing. (1 Peter 3:9 ESV)
Are you getting the gist?
When we let the HOLY SPIRIT speak, when we allow faith, hope, and love to have priority, when we give them reign in our lives, they ALIGN us with the SPIRIT of CHRIST and we WILL without a doubt make PROGRESS!
So today:
Love enough to move you to be useful and helpful to others.
(Have) Faith enough to make real the things of God.
Hope enough to remove all anxious fears concerning the future.” ― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
I’m anxious to see tomorrow how far you came today!
I love you ALL!
No comments:
Post a Comment