As I set out for my walk early one morning, this verse kept reverberating in my mind. I queued up my iPhone to one of my favorite Bible teachers. I hadn’t listened to him for awhile, but today this recording was also on my mind. And in the first 5 minutes …
Continue reading “Take every thought captive”3 Reasons You Are Here
Life can be confusing. Things don’t always turn out like we expected. Problems defy solving. We drift from one thing to another. Looking for meaning. So why are you here? As I see it, the answers are simple. All you need is to realize three reasons you are here. On this earth. At this time in history. Although I believe the reasons are the same for all of us, how we play them out is a matter of our individual stories.
1. You are here to love.
God is love. You are created in His image. That means loving is the most natural thing we do. Because it’s who we are. 1 John 4:8, Genesis 1:26-27
2. You are here to be loved.
Love is an exchange. Not an obligatory form of reciprocity. But something that happens naturally. Because you are lovable. It’s how you are created. Genesis 2:18-25, John 13:34-35, Romans 12:10
3. You are here to take dominion over something.
Life isn’t just one big love fest. But love is the at the core of everything else. Including the particular way you are created to make this world a better place. And, yes, that’s natural, too. To take back what was stolen. To restore. To renew. To rejoice. Genesis 1:28, Ephesians 2:10
Natural? Yes, you are created for these reasons.
Your desire to love, to be loved, and to make a difference is in your DNA. That means it’s “natural” for you.
You also have an adversary. Every hero does.
He’s there to mess things up. To drag your thinking sideways. He tweaks things to make you think …
- You have to be strategic (manipulative) with your love.
- That you are unlovable. Or that love is owed to you.
- And he often convinces you that taking dominion comes first. But it doesn’t. It rises naturally from loving and being loved.
QUESTION: If you were to make a list of reasons you are here, what would be at the top of your list?
3 Steps to More Effective Prayer
What conversations are you having with The Lord? If you slow down and listen to yourself, you might find that you’re falling into a familiar pattern. I know from experience how easily our prayers can become a totally unproductive, one-way “conversation” with Jesus.
For a more effective prayer life,
do these three things:
- Listen
“Very truly I tell you Pharisees, anyone who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber. The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice.” John 10:1-5 - Trust
Trust in the Lord with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways submit to him,
and he will make your paths straight. Proverbs 3:5-6
And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. Hebrews 11:6 - Do
Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do. James 1:22-25