OUR LIFE IS A VERB, WE TRY OUR BEST, WE DON’T ALWAYS DO OUR BEST!
1 Peter 1:13-16 MSG
[13-16] So roll up your sleeves, put your mind in gear, be totally ready to receive the gift that’s coming when Jesus arrives. Don’t lazily slip back into those old grooves of evil, doing just what you feel like doing. You didn’t know any better then; you do now. As obedient children, let yourselves be pulled into a way of life shaped by God’s life, a life energetic and blazing with holiness. God said, “I am holy; you be holy.”
Joy is always in process, it’s under construction. It is in a constant approach, alive and well in the doing of what we were fashioned to do and enjoying it.
The easiest way to dissect success is through gratitude. Giving thanks for what we do have, or what is working. Appreciating the simple things we sometimes take for granted. If we give thanks for these things, that gratitude reciprocates, creating more to be thankful for.
Don’t deny your failures, but look at them constructively as a means to reveal what you are good at, what you can get better at.
DON’T CHOOSE ANYTHING THAT WILL JEOPARDIZE YOUR SOUL. DON’T SPEND ANYTIME WITH ANYTHING OR ANYONE THAT ANTAGONIZES YOUR CHARACTER. DON’T DRINK THE COOL AID! IT TASTES SWEET BUT YOU WILL GET CAVITIES LATER.
Our lives are not popularity contests. Be brave, take the hill. But first answer the question: “WHATS IS MY HILL?”
Defining ourselves by who WE ARE NOT is the first step to really knowing WHO WE ARE.
You know that group of friends that are kind of shady, who don’t bring out the best in you? Who gossip too much or really aren’t there for you in a pinch? Or the alcohol that you always have regrets from the day after? Or that computer screen or TV that keeps giving us an excuse not to get out of the house and engage with the world and get some real human interaction. Or how about that food that we keep going to that tastes so good going down but makes us feel terrible the next week and lethargic and we keep putting on weight.
Well those people, those places, those things; stop giving them your time. Just don’t go there, put them Down! When you do this, you inadvertently find yourself spending more time with people and places that are healthy for you. Then you’ll start finding your true joy. Why? Because you just eliminated the who’s, the where’s, the places that are keeping you from finding your identity.
KNOWING WHO WE ARE IS HARD! SO GIVE YOURSELF A BREAK AND ELIMINATE WHO YOU ARE NOT.
Make voluntary obligations with yourself, with God, with your consciousness. I’m talking about the ”YOU AGAINST YOU” obligations. We have two wolves in us. A productive one and a destructive one. Stop feeding the destructive one!
We do our best when our destinations are beyond our measurements! Because then we must live by faith and that calls for us to include God and His Word in our life to do what we never thought we could do.
EPHESIANS 6:13-18 MSG
[13] Be prepared. You’re up against far more than you can handle on your own. Take all the help you can get, every weapon God has issued, so that when it’s all over but the shouting you’ll still be on your feet. [14] Truth, righteousness, [15] peace, [16] faith, [17] and salvation are more than words. Learn how to apply them. You’ll need them throughout your life. God’s Word is an indispensable weapon. [18] In the same way, prayer is essential in this ongoing warfare. Pray hard and long. Pray for your brothers and sisters. Keep your eyes open. Keep each other’s spirits up so that no one falls behind or drops out.
Keep your eyes on the prize!
The life to come!
From an Unworthy servant,
Chris Chloupek
Lead Evangelist