More of What Matters

Repentance

Seeking repentance is an ongoing part of the Christian walk. The bible explains that our unforgiveness and unrepentant state, prevents our prayers from being heard. Jesus calls for repentance as an essential response to the coming of God's kingdom — not just sorrow for sin, but a radical reorientation of life. Seeking forgiveness and repenting from that sin by changing our mind on how we thought about something is a posture of understanding how wretched we really are and seeing that need for an ongoing repentant change of heart and change of mind. To change your mind about what you did is true repentance. We can seek forgiveness. We can apologize for hurting one another. We live in such a fast paced world. We were never created to take on the amount of information we have running through our hearts and minds on a minute by minute basis. All of that information creates additional chaos.

Sharing Your Story

Our stories are the training ground God uses for His glory. He uses what broke us to birth empathy in us Your story is so meaningful because it comes through places you though you wouldn't ever recover from. Romans 8:28 calls for in all things God works for the good of those who love Him. We don't go through these trials just to move on. We go through them to move others. The devil would love nothing more than our pain to make us bitter, but God wants to use our stories to make us better equipped. When you share your story, you will go back and look at the moment that broke you. You will see how it redirected your prayers, refined your standards and revived your dependency on God alone. This is the moment when we share our stories and our heartbreak becomes holy ground. Any pain in our story, isn't the end of our story. Its the activation of it.

Sacrificial Generosity

This is an area of discipleship I believe we are called and commanded to do. Its the one area that God says, test me in this. Let me show you that when you fully trust me, I am worthy of your trust. Not in a do this and God does that. Its a posture. Its a position of surrender before the Lord to seek Him and what He desires you to do, not because of what I am saying, but ask Him Lord is this an area I need to trust you with? Show me what you want me to know. Show me what you want me to see and do in response to this. This may or may not be an overnight discovery for you. But its still something to consider, discover and seek God over what, when and how He wants to live out more and more sacrificial lives for His glory.

Digital Rest

This rest is necessary. We have so many habits and addictions waiting to devour us and we need to have rest physically and digitally from what can potentially overtake us. There are even so many opportunities for us to sin with the access that we have digitally. Opportunity to covet. Opportunity to lust. Opportunity to put trust in man or self. Opportunity to fear. Opportunity to feel insecure. The list is long and its never what it was meant to be. What did God intend this life to be about? Its always been about HIm. The glorification of our savior. To know HIM. To love HIM. To serve HIM. To point other people to him. We need clarity and sobriety of our minds to do all these things well and what gives us clarity is to have more space for that clearer mind to happen. chrome://external-file/7%20Rhythms%20of%20a%20Disciple.pdf.pdf [chrome://external-file/7%20Rhythms%20of%20a%20Disciple.pdf.pdf]

Conversations With God

If you want your words to carry power, you have to stop speaking like a beggar and start praying like a BELIEVER.I think so often, we talk TO God and not WITH God. So often we forget that its a two way relationship. A two way conversation and that just as much as God desires to hear from us, He also desires that we hear from Him. 1. Stop praying uncertain prayers about things God has already promised like healing, provision, and peace. Know His will and declare it. 1 John 5:14 says "this is the confidence we have in approaching God; that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. 2.We don't need to pray "God be with me.." You don't need to ask God to be with you, He promised He already is. Instead thank him for his present and walk in it. Hebrews 13:5 says I will never leave you or forsake you. Declare God is with you now and always. I walk with His presence, not apart from it.