Living Your Life On Purpose - 6/16/97

Dear Friends,

It was good to hear from some of you this last to the response of the thought of the week.

I hope things are going well for each one of you and that this has been a great summer thus far.

My thought is again from some of Tim Elmore's stuff that I have been going through and next week I have some things that won't be from him. I hope you have found it to be helpful and challenging to you.

Thought: How to live your life on purpose (the mission Driven Lifestyle...when the going is Rough)

I shared some of these thoughts with our Graduates at church one Sunday.

"This is the true joy in life: the being used for a purpose recognized by ourselves as a mighty one; the being a force of nature instead of a feverish, selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy.

I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work the more I live. I rejoice in life for its own sake. Life is no brief candle to me. It is a sort of splendid torch which I have got hold of for a moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before passing it on to future generations"
..................George Bernard Shaw

Read Philippians 1:12-18

"Now I want you to know brothers, that what has happen to me has really served to advance the gospel. (at then at the end of verse 18 - And because of this I rejoice) Paul wrote these words while sitting in a Roman prison, awaiting trial.

Wow! Most of us live our lives, reacting to the overwhelming needs that are thrown at us from day to day. The children, the deadlines at work, the needs of the people, finical demands, and daily "grind" all prevent us from "living life on purpose."

Tim Elmore says, " Often our problem is not the need for more Bible reading or more of the Holy Spirit. It is, in fact, our need to start living a "mission-driven life."

PAUL'S SECRET: A MISSION DRIVEN LIFE.....

"We will either surrender to the circumstances around us, or we will surrender to a cause (a mission) that's so great, the circumstances won't matter."

How do you respond to your prisons?

1. We can Curse them:

• (attitude) life is not fair
• shift the blame
• Resentment and bitterness - we don't deserve this "prison."

2. We can Nurse them

• This response is depression and self-preoccupation, wallowing in a pool of self-pity.

3. We can Review them:

• You go over and over that bad day - wishing we could relive the moment.

(In each of these three we are renderd useless to God)

or

4. We can Reverse them:

• Comes when we decide to cross a line - to be consumed with a mission.

Paul's, obstacles became opportunities! His problem became a possibility! His stumbling block became a stepping stone! His prison became a pulpit.

The gospel isn't Jesus Christ helping you through the bad times! God is saying, I will use the bad times to accelerate you and His Kingdom.

Paul says, " Now, I want you to know brothers, that what has happen to me has really served to advance the gospel."

How do you handle the day today needs that are thrown at you?

• Do you Curse, Nurse, and Review?
• Do you take that moment, the bad thing and reverse it?
• Do you let God take the bad times and let Him accelerate you and His Kingdom?

God is Good All The Time!
"He Must become greater, I must become Less"
John 3:30
Brad

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Last Updated:  08/12/99 01:21 PM About this page contact: Mark Brumels