February 03, 2008
Making Life Work! --Issue #003
February 2, 2008
Successful Christian Living brings you monthly information, advice and resources for living a Christ-centered life in every area.
If you like this e-zine, please feel free to pass it on.
If a friend did forward this to you and if you like what you read, please subscribe by visiting the main web site.
In this issue...
1) Why my Christian life needs to work
2) Being "On-Purpose"
3) Two New Things
A Quick Focus
No matter how your day has gone so far, no matter how hectic it is, no matter your state of mind right now - Christ is with you.I invite you to close your eyes for just a few seconds. During that time just allow yourself to know that He is present with you. Let yourself know that He loves you, is there with you because He wants to be, and that He has a plan for not only this day but all your days.
If you find something in the way then clear it up with Him right now. If that leaves no time to read the rest of this then don't read it. Your relationship with Christ is THE most important thing in your life.
When you feel at peace - not that everything in your life is perfect - just that you know He is with you, then I invite you now to the rest of the ezine.
Why my Christian life needs to work
What is the point of making my Christian life work? The key word to consider in this question is “Christian” and the root of that word is “Christ.” My Christian life is totally about my love relationship with Him. It is about loving God with all that I am and having that show in every area of my life. Then out of that I join Him in loving others as He does.We get our own lives in order and functioning well so that we can have a life that becomes about Him and join Him in HIS plan for ALL our Christian lives. The more I "make my life work" the more I am freed up to look outside myself to others.
In the past few months, readers from Australia, Brazil, Canada, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Japan, Madagascar, Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Seychelles, Singapore, Switzerland, United Kingdom and the United States all have come to the make-my-christian-life-work site. I have been amazed at this. Around the globe we are seeking to find balance in our lives with Christ, to find ourselves and our purpose and to learn to live in an intimate love relationship with our Lord.
As those of us around the world go deeper with Christ we will also desire to go deeper together.
We have the opportunity to connect, support, encourage, teach, pray and live Christ together in a way that was never possible before. Because of the World Wide Web, there is a unity available for believers in every nation that was not possible even ten years ago.
Where we used to feel only connected to other believers in our own area, there is now a greater feeling of being united to the Kingdom of God across the world. With the web at our fingertips, we can reach out across the globe and see what Christ is doing in all our lives and to further His kingdom - and then we can join Him.
This is an amazing time in which we live. If we were to grab hold of the truth that the body of Christ is not just local but global, then we can be intentional about getting our lives in order to join Christ as He build His kingdom.
How we work with Him toward that end will be different for all of us but what if we all prayed this month for vision of the worldwide kingdom and for the eyes of our hearts to be expanded to see it and become an essential part of moving it forward?
We make our Christian lives work in order to reach out in love to help others do the same.
Being "On-Purpose"
You can also live "on purpose" - meaning to live out your purpose in life.
You can live His purpose - meaning your life is really about Him.
Okay, so that presumes a few things: you are dedicated to finding your specific purpose in life, you are going to live that purpose with intention and passion and you are going to do this because you love your Father and want to be about His business.
It also means that there is a reason that you are here. It is bigger than what you do and where you live, your social status and possessions. It encompasses who you are, how you're wired and the passions, skills and talents you are given.
You are part of God's design and plan. You are called, chosen, holy and beloved - adopted into the Lord's household and given an integral part of His loving plan.
You are part of the eternal, loving family of God - a huge purpose for which you should find your purpose and then live it on purpose.
Two New Things
-- A book called, Make My Christian Life Balance, is almost completed. It will be for sale on the web site later in the month of February. If you would like a free copy and be willing to give some feedback then click here and let me know.
-- In the months to come I will be adding areas on the web site for each visitor to write about what Christ is doing in their life, how they are growing and walking in Him and what He is doing in the body of Christ where they live. We will be able to "see" what is happening in the lives of Christians across the globe - our brothers and sisters! Watch for this - coming soon.
Last Thought
For this reason, I bow my knees before the Father,from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name,that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man; so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fulness of God.Now to Him who is able to do exceeding abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen. Eph 3:14-21