Archive - Bible RSS Feed

The Source of Purpose

September 29, 2009 in Bible with 2 Comments

John 17:4 “Having finished the work you gave me to do, I brought you glory on earth.”

Philippians 3:14 “I keep trying to reach the goal and get the prize for which God called me through Christ to the life above.”

Many people have been taught how to manage life via a “goals and objectives” model, but few have been instructed to give thought to the SOURCE of those objectives. Scripture teaches that purpose precedes planning. So how do we balance the activities of our life with the purpose from God? Which comes first?

Purpose is NOT the adding up of new activities. It is not realized while trying to meet certain goals. An objective is defined as a basic aim that a person takes in order to accomplish a predetermined end. Just as activities without objectives are unfulfilling, so are objectives without purpose. Staying busy racking up successes is not helping you find your purpose. Consider this a warning: Achievement can be stimulating, but it is not fulfilling over the long haul of life.

What is purpose? Purpose is simply what God wants our life to add up to and why.

The only difference for the non-believer is who he is pleasing with his purpose. Purpose is gained by understanding the program and story of God. If you don’t know God, you can’t know how to participate in His purpose for your life. It’s so simple, it’s hard.

Paul (Saul of Tarsus) perfectly illustrates this for us in Acts 9. As he is traveling on the Damascus road he has a supernatural encounter with Jesus. After Jesus gets his attention, Paul asked these two questions: “Who are you Lord?” and “What do you want me to do?” The first question is one of purpose, and the second question is one of objectives and activities.

The key is in knowing God and allowing Him to determine and direct your life. It all starts with knowing Him. How can we find purpose without knowing God? You can’t.

We need to concern ourselves with what God concerns himself with. Then, and only then, will God’s purpose for us be revealed.

How much of your life is directed by eternal focus (sensitive to what God is concerned with), and how much is strictly temporal focus (survival, getting ahead, doing what looks good)?

Fear of Commitment

September 16, 2009 in Bible with 0 Comments

In a previous post I addressed the idea of seizing opportunities, and the two fears that keep us from grasping those opportunities when they come available. The first fear that leads to us missing opportunities is the fear of our own weakness. The second fear is the all too common fear of commitment.

Numbers 13:32 “The land is too large to conquer.”

The Israelites used this as an excuse, because they were afraid of the commitment they would be making. They looked at all that God promised, and wondered how they could ever achieve all of that. The sad truth is that God never intended his promise to be an overnight project. Instead of seizing the opportunity to take the promised land, the Israelites were scared away by the audacity of the task before them. The had their eyes on the destination, but failed to see the value of the journey.

Moses would later address this to the children of the missed opportunity.

Deuteronomy 7:22 “When the Lord your God forces those nations out of the land, he will do it little by little ahead of you. You won’t be able to destroy them all at once; otherwise, the wild animals will grow too many in number.”

I love it. Little by little. What a great promise to me as I sometimes get spooked by what opportunities God might be setting before me. God isn’t asking me to be an overnight success as a father, husband, or servant. He’s asking me to seize the audacious opportunity, and have faith that he will help me little by little. Don’t be scared of the bigness of your own dreams!
Learn to see the value in the journey. After you’ve seized the great destination that this new opportunity presents, it’s time to enjoy the ride. Let God speak to you day by day, little by little. See the journey by spending less time always looking ahead at the difference being made, and spending more time letting God teach us through the journey.

Fear of Our Own Weakness

September 15, 2009 in Bible with 5 Comments

Yesterday I addressed the idea of seizing opportunities that are in front of us, and how we often let two fears keep us from taking hold of those set of circumstances that enable us to do something amazing. The first fear that leads to us missing opportunities is the fear of our own weakness.

Numbers 13:31 “They are stronger than us…”

The spies that were unwilling to enter the land promised to them by father God, were actually right on. Those people living in the new land were indeed stronger than them. We know that in reality, they were bigger, taller, and better equipped to fight a battle. The Israelites were recently released slaves, not a fighting band of warriors. Here’s where they were wrong: Their weakness was NOT their liability. It was their unique advantage!

II Corinthians 12:9 “My grace is enough for you. When you are weak, my power is made perfect in you.”

Our weakness gives God the opportunity to do what he does best. In fact later in Deuteronomy 8:17-18, Moses warns the children of the missed opportunity generation of what can happen when they forget their place in the story.

Deuteronomy 8:17-18 “17 You might say to yourself, “I am rich because of my own power and strength,”18 but remember the Lord your God! It is he who gives you the power to become rich, keeping the agreement he promised to your ancestors, as it is today.”

So what is the correct response when faced with your own overwhelming weakness? Remember that your weakness is your advantage. Begin to see your disqualifications and inadequacies as the gift that God will use to make His story complete. I’ve been working through a book on purpose with some friends of mine, and stumbled upon this quote. It’s taken from a small book that is distrubuted by the CBMC. It perfectly sums up the idea of your weakness not being worthy of being the fear that keeps you from God’s next opportunity, and instead is worthy of being the advantage.

“If, through the living out of your purpose, you sense less dependence on God, you can be confident you are out of the will of God! For though a life of purpose makes you more aware of your gifts and calling, it at the same time highlights your inadequacies and amplifies your great need for God and His grace. The path towards God is dependence; the path away from God is independence.”

Opportunity is Here

September 14, 2009 in Bible with 3 Comments

opportunity |ˌäpərˈt(y)oōnitē|
a set of circumstances that makes it possible to do something

I’ve been reading through the story of Moses and the Israelites over the past few weeks, and while working through Deuteronomy something in Moses’ writing tone has struck me. Deuteronomy seems to be a last will and testament for Moses to the children of Israel, and there is an overriding sense of regret out of Moses. Moses continually laments the missed opportunity of the Israelites to take the promised land 40 years earlier. For those needing to catch up on the story, when the Israelites left Egypt in a blaze of glory; they came to a moment in the wilderness where action was required of them to take the land promised to them. In Numbers 13, you can read the story of the spies returning from investigating this ‘promised land’ and you can read where overwhelmingly they convince the Israelites that they will never be able to take this ‘promised land.’

Numbers 13:31-33

But the men who had gone with him said, “We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are.”32 And those men gave the Israelites a bad report about the land they explored, saying, “The land that we explored is too large to conquer. All the people we saw are very tall.33 We saw the Nephilim people there. (The Anakites come from the Nephilim people.) We felt like grasshoppers, and we looked like grasshoppers to them.”

They totally missed it. This missed opportunity eventually led to them never getting a chance to see what God had for them. In Deuteronomy Moses is speaking to the children of these that missed the opportunity. I believe that there are two big fears that kept the Israelites from the great opportunity that was before them. And coincidentally enough, they are the same two fears that often times keep me from seizing opportunity when it presents itself.

Over the next two posts on www.jonathancliff.com I will be addressing the two fears, and what we can do to step over them into the set of circumstances that makes it possible to do something.

Widen The Circle

July 31, 2009 in Bible, Ministry, Personal with 3 Comments

Disclaimer: All these thoughts originated from my study of Orange. They are specifically taken from the Essence of Family teaching given by Reggie Joiner, and can be found in his book, “Think Orange.” This is a fantastic book, and if you work with churches to reach kids then this should be your Manifesto!

—————-

Five Essential Parenting Skills

5. Widen the Circle

Deuteronomy 6:4 Hear, O Israel.

Let’s back up to Deuteronomy 6:4, for a second. Have you ever noticed this? Moses isn’t talking to just one family. He’s talking to an entire nation of people. He’s talking to families! This is where the Children’s Pastor in me gets real excited. It is clear in Moses’ language that he is challenging the entire nation with these principles.

Over time your little cute 3 year old will begin to listen to you less and less. After only a few more years, that same child will begin to listen to others and give them more respect than they will their own parents. It’s only natural. While we want to continue to speak into our kid’s lives, we also need to prepare them to hear from others that support what we believe.

I’m constantly shocked at the amount of parents that come to me with teenage children and tell me how they struggle with them constantly to live Godly lives, then I find out that those same parents have done NOTHING to ensure that their teenagers have Godly influences in their lives. What can you do? Take in a Christ following college student to live in your home, make them attend youth services (of their choice if needed), introduce them to your spiritual mentors and encourage them to talk to people besides you about the things that puzzle them.

Parents need to become intentional about finding spiritual leaders and mentors for their kids. We need to be intentional about finding the right spiritual influences for our children, where they are hearing what their parents tell them, but in a different way and from a different voice.

I choose to Widen the Circle and make sure my kids have additional influences to guide them.

Page 5 of 9« First...«3 456 7 »...Last »