“And we know that God causes everything to work together for the GOOD of those who love God and are called according to His purpose.”        -Romans 8:28

Steps

Get in a Good Church – Once you’ve made the God decision, you need to get in a good church that actually teaches the Bible. Unfortunately, it’s because of the teaching of a lot of churches that we even have to make the God decision. You must know that God is good, He loves you, and He has a great plan for your life.

Surround Yourself with People that Will Give You the Truth -As I said yesterday, getting around friends and family is great, but it’s not enough. As far as surrounding yourself with people – you need to get around people who will speak the Word of God into your life, encourage you, push you through, and enable you to see that there really is a bright future ahead of you.

Take Your time Grieving, But Then Move On – it is perfectly ok to grieve and let your emotions go for a period of time. The problem is people who let it go on for years and years and never move on. In II Sam. 12:15-23 it talks about David grieving over His son while he was ill, but once his son passed away, he went back to normal life,there was nothing more he could do. I’m not saying you forget about the person or won’t miss them, I’m simply saying that you don’t let the emotions take control of you any longer than necessary.  Have people help you through this process…

Be Thankful for the Time You Did Have with Them - So many times we focus on all the things we won’t get to do with that person. “They won’t be at my wedding, see my kids, etc.” while this is true, we never focus on the time we did have with them, most likely because we took it for granted. When you become thankful for all the good times you had with them and all the time you got to spend with them, it really helps you though the process.

Tomorrow I want to talk about the impact the loss of a loved one should have on you….

Thoughts?

Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. ~Matthew 6:33

I’m a firm believer that spiritual maturity is when you realize that everything you need in life, God has already provided, and you’re able to live your life making an impact on other people. Life no longer is about you – but about changing the world for the Kingdom of God.

I believe the first step to becoming Kingdom minded is to daily renew our minds to what God’s Word says about our call to change the world.

Here are some principles that I am always going over and reminding myself of. These need to be embedded in our hearts if we’re going to do what God called us to do:

We’re Called to the World, Not the Church - Mark 16:15,16 and Matthew 28:16-20 we’re COMMANDED to go out and change THE WORLD (Not the church). The church should be a place where we get equipped and matured to go out and change the world. If we’re not changing our communities, cities, counties, states, and nations…we’re off.

We’ll Never Change the World for God if we Don’t Die to Ourselves – Jesus said in Mark 10:39 and several other places that we have to lose our lives FOR HIS SAKE in order to find it. I truly believe that…so many people are looking for purpose in life. They’ll never find it aside from God. We have to be willing to let go of our dreams, our desires, our passions and exchange them for His. Paul understood this when he said in Gal. 2:20 that it’s no longer I that lives, but Christ that lives in me.

We Need to See People the Way God Sees Them: Romans 3:23 says we’ve all fallen short of the glory of God. I think as Christians it’s easy to forget that the only difference between me and someone in the world is God. Without the grace of God I too would be lost… it’s so easy to forget where we were before we met God isn’t it? Aren’t you glad He loved you where you were at? We need to do the same for people…

We Need to Love People - In John 13:35, Jesus said that people will know your His disciples if you love one another. I think one reason the world has such a bad view of God and Christians is because we’re not loving one another. The best definition I’ve heard of love is: Love always does what is most beneficial for the other person. If a stranger met you on the street – would they see love? Would they see Jesus?

That’s enough for now… Thoughts?