For more days than I would like last year my confession went something like this. “Lord forgive me for not accomplishing your plans for me yesterday.” It seemed as if no matter how hard I tried, there was an amazing amount of things that didn’t get accomplished, and should have been
My day usually begins with an early morning dog walk around the block. In those quiet moments I like to thank God for the blessings of the day before, confess how I had failed Him, and look forward to the new day.
That prayer led to some examination and I realized much of my life was “random.” By that I mean there wasn’t exactly a plan on how to accomplish the list of tasks God had given, so they were easily pushed out by the “tyranny of the urgent.”
So by the end of the day I was exhausted by all the things I had been doing…but few of them actually fit with God’s purposes. In other words Satan had succeeded in (once again) distracting me from God’s work
These days and early morning confession reminded me all the task lists in the world are useless without a purpose
For 2019 the Lord has led me to embrace the word “reaching” as my purpose or “mission.” In practice this would mean:
- Going to people instead of expecting them to come to me
- Developing deeper relationships with those in Barrouallie, which can open the door for evangelism and discipleship
- Investing myself in Church-based programs that bring people into services
- And emphasizing one on one Bible studies
The beauty of having a purpose is in the busyness of a day I can stop and ask “am I reaching people?”
That simple question helps me refocus my energies.
Like many of you I used the word “busy” to explain success in the past.
This isn’t a bad thing because God definitely wants us to be involved in His work, however when being busy is the target you can easily be spread too thin. Also experience teaches us its better to do a few things well than ten things very quickly.
A purpose that comes from God allows me to make being “effective” my goal
which is a much better target
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