Day 9

What makes God smile?

Notes:

The smile of God is the goal of your life .. What makes God smile?

When we love him supremely ... A relationship .. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind .....the first and greatest commandment

Trust him completely ... Having faith he knows what is best for your life .. Trusting is an act of worship

Obey him wholeheartedly ... Understanding can wait, but obedience can't ... Partial obedience I'd disobedience... It proves you really love him

Praise and thank him ... We give God enjoyment when our own hearts are filled with joy

Use our abilities .. He enjoys watching us use them .. He enjoys us enjoying his creation .. Even watching when we are asleep

God looks at the attitude of your heart ... Should be how much pleasure is God getting out of my life?

Notes:

I can understand much of this being a parent ... You delight watching them, seeing them trust you, helping them achieve, being thanked ... I also know how much it hurts when children are ungrateful, don't trust and don't use their abilities

Day 8

Planned for God's pleasure

Notes:

Bringing enjoyment to God, living for his pleasure, is the first purpose of our lives

God gave us the ability to enjoy pleasure .. We are made in his image!

God has emotions 

Bringing pleasure to God is worship .. A universal urge to connect with God and God seeks worshipers

Worship is a lifestyle .. Offerings to God in spirit and truth are acts of worship

Worship is not for our benefit .. It is about bringing glory and pleasure to our creator

Isaiah 9 God complains bout half hearted and hypocritical worship .. He wants passion and commitment

Worship is your life .. Every activity can be transformed into worship .. Martin Luther "even a dairy maid can milk cows to the glory of God"

Work becomes worship when you dedicate it to God

Thoughts

Can I drive to work as worship?

What tasks can become worship? All? Not always easy!

Day 7

The reason for everything

Notes:

The ultimate goal of the universe is to show God's glory ... The essence of his nature .... The weight of his importance ... The radiance of his splendour ... The demonstration of his power ... The atmosphere of his presence ... The expression of his goodness

Everything created by God reflects his glory in some way

God's glory is his nature ... We can't add to it but we can .... Recognise, honour, declare, praise, reflect and live for his glory

All sin is failing to give glory to God .. Loving anything more than God

Jesus honoured God by fulfilling his purpose .. When anything in creation fulfills it's purpose, it brings glory to God ... How?

Worship .. Motivated by love .. A lifestyle of enjoying God, loving him and giving ourselves to be used for his purposes ... Everything then an act of worship

Love other believers ... Love as God loves

Becoming like Christ .. Grow in spiritual maturity

Serving others with our gifts

Tell others about him

Thoughts

Where do you start?

I need to look for and recognise God's glory!

I need to consider what gifts I have to share

Day 6

Life is a temporary assignment

Notes:

To make best use of life ...remember ...

* Compared to eternity, life is extremely brief

* earth is only a temporary residence ... So don't get attached to it

Real believers realise there is far more to life than this few years on earth

Your identity is in eternity and your homeland is heaven

... Don't endure your ego at the expense of your soul

You will never be completely satisfied on earth as you were made for something more

For God the greatest heroes of faith did not achieve prosperity, success and power in this life, but those who served faithfullyIt takes faith to live on earth as a foreigner .. At death you go home, not leave home!

2Cor 4:18 so we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

Thoughts:

Makes current concerns for the future seem irrelevant

Puts life in perspective

Day 5

Seeing life from God's view

Notes: 

The way you see your life shapes your life ... Your perspective influences how you invest your time, money, talents and relationships

Do not conform yourselves to the standards of this world ... Complete change of your mind

Life is a test ... Trials, temptations, refining, testing .. Character developed and revealed .. God watches responses to people, problems, success, conflict, illness, disappointment ... Major challenges, delayed promises, impossible problems, unanswered prayers, undeserved criticism and senseless tragedies 

God tests faith through problems, hope by possessions and love through people 

... Nothing is insignificant .. Deepen character, demonstrate love and depend on God

Not tested beyond power to remain firm

Life is a trust

Our time on Earth, our energy, intelligence, opportunities, relationships and resources are gifts from God .. Everything is a trust placed in our hands

3 rewards ... Affirmation (well done), promotion and celebration

Money is a test and a trust .. Relationship between how I use money and my spiritual life

Thoughts

Not sure about God constantly testing me, but do accept he provides the grace to endure problems and trials ... Money is a huge test .... God wants total counter culture response from us here!

Am I making the most of the gifts God has given me? Can you ever? Can see why some were drawn to monastic living as they try to step out of worldly values and influences.

Day 4

Made to last forever

Notes:

God has planted eternity in the human heart ... God wired our brains with the desire to live forever

CS Lewis ... 2 kinds of people... Those that say "thy will be done" and those to whom God says " all right, have it your own way"

Start living in the light of eternity ... The closer you live to God, the smaller everything else appears. ... Your values and priorities change

The capacity of our brains can't handle the wonder and greatness of heaven

CS Lewis at end of Chronicles of Narnia ... " their life in this world ... Had only been the cover and the title page ... Now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story ... In which every chapter is better than the one before"

Thoughts:

Well that puts it in perspective! Need to think about these truths when I get bogged down in the cares and worries of the present.

Day 3

What drives your life?

Notes:

Drive ... Guide, control, direct ..... Everyone influenced by something ... Hundreds of circumstances, values and emotions... 5 common ones:

Guilt .. Regrets, shame .. Past controls future .. We are products of our past, not prisoners 

Resentment and anger... Clam up or blow up .. Need to practice forgiveness

Fear ... Afraid to venture out, play it safe, miss opportunities .. A self imposed prison

Materialism...self worth and net worth are not the same thing

Need for approval .. Expectations of spouses, parents, children .. Key to failure is to try and please everyone

Benefits of purpose driven life:

Gives meaning

Simplifies your life ... If you can't get it all done you are doing more than God intended

Focuses your life .. Effort and energy on what is important

Motivates your life .. Purpose produces passion

Knowing purpose prepares you for eternity .. Don't focus on earthly legacy 

The big questions .......

What did you do with my Son Jesus Christ?

What did you do with what I gave you?

Thoughts:

My life is one rush, juggling demands of work and family with little time to contemplate and being too tired to think at the day's end. There is very little time for anything else in my life, but where do you go from here? Can I step out of this ... Is that realistic? I keep thinking life will get a bit easier, but then another truck (challenge, problem, issue, crisis, etc) comes around the corner!

Day 2

Notes
You are not an accident I am your creator. You were in my care before you were born Isaiah 44:2a.
God made you for a reason,meh has decided when you would be born and how long you would live, where you would be born, designed with God's purpose in mind
God made us to express his love, God is love

Thoughts
I'm not sure about all this ..... I think God gave us free will to choose to follow him ... Not sure I believe in destiny, that God mapped out my life before I was born and I am not sure the bible is saying this either. God can use us if we surrender our lives to him and he will shape our lives, even making good from our mistakes and failings.
We live in a broken world and God helps us and guides us, but pre destiny is hard for me to accept. If you accept this then deformed children, those born on the street in poor countries, those murdered by extremists, we're all plans and God knew about them before you were born?

Day 1

It all starts with God

Notes:

We begin at the wrong starting point when we look for purpose in life .....

We ask self centred questions ... What do I want to be? Goals, ambitions, dreams, etc

You must begin with God .... In God is our origin, identity, meaning, purpose, significance and destiny

We were made for God and life is about letting God use us for his purposes ... You can reach all your personal goals and be a success by the world's standards, but still miss God's purpose ..... Self sacrifice is the way to finding your true self.

God is the starting point and source of your life, it is in God's word, not world's wisdom.

Thoughts:

How very different are God's standards and measures than the world's. Jesus talked about first will be last and God's ways seeming foolish to those using human thoughts and standards.

Jesus talked of sacrifice, serving others, issues with wealth and always came back to the truth will set you free. Our world vision of freedom .... Speech, choice, movement ... Completely different to what Jesus is talking about ... Almost a complete reversal of human logic ... But maybe that is the point?

Start of Lent

I'm going to try and follow Rick Warren's book, "The purpose driven life" as part of my Lent reflections and treat it as a 40 day study. Missed the first day of Lent as an entry due to long work day, including 450 miles of driving, but hoping to get back on course. 40 days keeps coming up as significant with various people in the Old and New Testaments, so let me see if this can be a life changing experience?