The foundations of Christ/making a plan of action
Greetings in the name of Jesus:
One of the problems that I have seen inside our churches over the last generation or so has been the lack of giving a direct plan of action to those who are seeking spiritual growth. We seem to have no problem in talking in generalities around subjects like love, mercy, forgiveness, and any other subject that relates to our spiritual transformation. What we do need however is some kind of helpful guidelines in the development of spiritual habits.
I want to begin by trying to help you to develop a daily schedule of personal growth that can be taught and demonstrated to others. Because I am dealing with men at this stage of church development I will be referring to these in order to help men, but these same principles also work with all ages and groups of people.
DEVELOPING A DAILY SCHEDULE is the first step in this list. It needs to include some of the following things. PRAYER is probably the most important. It needs to be at least 15 minutes in length each day. I find my prayer life early in the mornings even before I rise from bed. It is a good habit to pray as soon as you start your day in the morning by making that early appointment with God. OPEN UP YOUR LIFE TO HEAR GOD speak to you about your day. God speaks to us in so many different ways that we miss during our day until we take the time to wait, watch, and listen to his voice within our heart. The next step in this daily process is to make contact with someone either by phone or by a short meeting just for fellowship. This is particularly important for men to consider because of the need for men to open up to others. This also gives not only men, but anyone doing this an opportunity to develop a form of accountability with another Christian friend which can work as a means of keeping our life in balance. This accountability is important not only to us but for the person we meet with in that we are developing a sense of trust in sharing those difficult things in our life that we might normally face alone.
The development of PERSONAL HABITS that follow God's patterns for our life is important in two different ways; first of all four men do not follow what is said to them, but they will follow an example of one they see. Secondly men tend to need a hands on experience with contact with someone else to see what it means to be a man of God. Men need to feel it is real. This is not true for everyone, some can see the benefit of change in their lives without having to get their hands dirty in experiencing it. At this point; and again I am talking about men's ministry within the church, which is our starting point. When beginning with men's ministry within the church three points need to be covered in the start. Becoming a man that other men don't want to follow is not easy. First we need to become a man of integrity. Second we need to become a man of intimacy, which means we need to be able to let people inside of our inner circle; inside of that protective bubble we have created for ourselves so as to not be hurt. Third we need to become a man of identity. When someone thinks of us are we associated with the Christian life and being a follower of Christ?
Not only as men, but as Christians everywhere within the church it is time for us to break out of our shell. There are many different ways to do that, and many times we need to pick others who are like-minded in the needs of the church and then fill that gap. Your personal plan of action differ somewhat from what I've written here and yet the concept of what I am telling you is steady and sure. May you richly bless God through your life in him.
THE UNWORTHY SERVANT
One of the problems that I have seen inside our churches over the last generation or so has been the lack of giving a direct plan of action to those who are seeking spiritual growth. We seem to have no problem in talking in generalities around subjects like love, mercy, forgiveness, and any other subject that relates to our spiritual transformation. What we do need however is some kind of helpful guidelines in the development of spiritual habits.
I want to begin by trying to help you to develop a daily schedule of personal growth that can be taught and demonstrated to others. Because I am dealing with men at this stage of church development I will be referring to these in order to help men, but these same principles also work with all ages and groups of people.
DEVELOPING A DAILY SCHEDULE is the first step in this list. It needs to include some of the following things. PRAYER is probably the most important. It needs to be at least 15 minutes in length each day. I find my prayer life early in the mornings even before I rise from bed. It is a good habit to pray as soon as you start your day in the morning by making that early appointment with God. OPEN UP YOUR LIFE TO HEAR GOD speak to you about your day. God speaks to us in so many different ways that we miss during our day until we take the time to wait, watch, and listen to his voice within our heart. The next step in this daily process is to make contact with someone either by phone or by a short meeting just for fellowship. This is particularly important for men to consider because of the need for men to open up to others. This also gives not only men, but anyone doing this an opportunity to develop a form of accountability with another Christian friend which can work as a means of keeping our life in balance. This accountability is important not only to us but for the person we meet with in that we are developing a sense of trust in sharing those difficult things in our life that we might normally face alone.
The development of PERSONAL HABITS that follow God's patterns for our life is important in two different ways; first of all four men do not follow what is said to them, but they will follow an example of one they see. Secondly men tend to need a hands on experience with contact with someone else to see what it means to be a man of God. Men need to feel it is real. This is not true for everyone, some can see the benefit of change in their lives without having to get their hands dirty in experiencing it. At this point; and again I am talking about men's ministry within the church, which is our starting point. When beginning with men's ministry within the church three points need to be covered in the start. Becoming a man that other men don't want to follow is not easy. First we need to become a man of integrity. Second we need to become a man of intimacy, which means we need to be able to let people inside of our inner circle; inside of that protective bubble we have created for ourselves so as to not be hurt. Third we need to become a man of identity. When someone thinks of us are we associated with the Christian life and being a follower of Christ?
Not only as men, but as Christians everywhere within the church it is time for us to break out of our shell. There are many different ways to do that, and many times we need to pick others who are like-minded in the needs of the church and then fill that gap. Your personal plan of action differ somewhat from what I've written here and yet the concept of what I am telling you is steady and sure. May you richly bless God through your life in him.
THE UNWORTHY SERVANT
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