Happy New Year! It's good to be back.
Changing just one thing seems like it won't make that much of a difference. It's tempting to want to work on this, and that, and, oh yeah, that thing too. But if we really commit to spending a whole year focused on the ONE thing that God lays on our hearts, it will change who we are. And if we do that every year for an entire decade, we're likely to look like a completely different person.
As I spent some time reflecting on the ONE thing that I felt like God would want me to focus on, I felt led to focus more on prayer. You see, I really enjoy reading my Bible. It's tangible. There's a starting and stopping point. I can "check it off" my reading plan as I read each chapter.
But prayer... prayer just feels so open-ended. It can leave me feeling overwhelmed and guilty, like I could never pray enough.
I enjoy praying with other people. I enjoy writing prayers in my prayer journal. I'm even doing much better at remembering to pray small prayers throughout the day. But I don't really enjoy [just begin honest here] sitting down by myself to pray for an extended period of time.
I want to want to pray. You know what I mean? I think I'll pray for that.
So, here is my ONE THING that I'm committing to focus on in 2012:
I will pray find one 15 minute time block per day to focus on nothing but prayer.
It's not a huge commitment, but it's a good starting point. I think most days I'll do it right after I put Sammy down for his nap. We'll see.
But here's what I know...I am in desperate need of God's hand on my life, on our family, and on this church. When God's Spirit is poured out, it is an unstoppable force. But when it's not, everything we do is just man-made efforts. And I don't want to live my whole life duct taping toothpicks together and calling it a work of God. I want more of HIM in 2012.
So I'm going to get over my "I get bored when I pray" and "My mind wanders" excuses. I'm going to get desperate for God to move in and through my life this year.
I would love for you to leave a comment to let me know what your ONE THING is for 2012.
Yesterday at South Bay, we showed a message by Pastor Craig Groeschel entitled "The One Thing". Click here to listen to it. He challenged us to try to focus in on ONE thing that we feel God prompting us to do differently this year.
- ONE thing to strengthen our relationship with Him...
- ONE thing we need to let go of in order to move forward...
- ONE of God's promises we need to cling to.
Changing just one thing seems like it won't make that much of a difference. It's tempting to want to work on this, and that, and, oh yeah, that thing too. But if we really commit to spending a whole year focused on the ONE thing that God lays on our hearts, it will change who we are. And if we do that every year for an entire decade, we're likely to look like a completely different person.
As I spent some time reflecting on the ONE thing that I felt like God would want me to focus on, I felt led to focus more on prayer. You see, I really enjoy reading my Bible. It's tangible. There's a starting and stopping point. I can "check it off" my reading plan as I read each chapter.
But prayer... prayer just feels so open-ended. It can leave me feeling overwhelmed and guilty, like I could never pray enough.
I enjoy praying with other people. I enjoy writing prayers in my prayer journal. I'm even doing much better at remembering to pray small prayers throughout the day. But I don't really enjoy [just begin honest here] sitting down by myself to pray for an extended period of time.
I want to want to pray. You know what I mean? I think I'll pray for that.
So, here is my ONE THING that I'm committing to focus on in 2012:
I will pray find one 15 minute time block per day to focus on nothing but prayer.
It's not a huge commitment, but it's a good starting point. I think most days I'll do it right after I put Sammy down for his nap. We'll see.
But here's what I know...I am in desperate need of God's hand on my life, on our family, and on this church. When God's Spirit is poured out, it is an unstoppable force. But when it's not, everything we do is just man-made efforts. And I don't want to live my whole life duct taping toothpicks together and calling it a work of God. I want more of HIM in 2012.
So I'm going to get over my "I get bored when I pray" and "My mind wanders" excuses. I'm going to get desperate for God to move in and through my life this year.
I would love for you to leave a comment to let me know what your ONE THING is for 2012.
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