Finding your purpose in life is one of the greatest things you will ever experience. In LifePlan, it’s one of the highlights for every attendee; that and putting together what is most likely their first vision for their life.
But there’s a major key to discover the purpose that God has for you and that is…God. Yep, it’s a crazy thing, but the big guy upstairs has known what He’s wanted for you for a really long time.
In the last episode of The Chris LoCurto Show – “Seeking God First”, we talked about our team devotional where we discussed Matthew 6:33: “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”
That’s when I shared how important it is to seek God, and I asked how many of you were “All in”, and a ton of you responded! So I thought I would take this opportunity to challenge you by giving you some practical steps to seeking God.
I don’t know if you’ve ever realized this, but every week you have 168 hours to use. If you work 40 hours a week, and spent 68 hours sleeping and eating, that would give you a total of 60 hours left to live the rest of your life.
Studies show that the average person spends 34 hours watching TV. If you add any family time and personal activity in there, how much does that leave for God?
Considering He’s your Father, and He loves you and knows you better than anyone, AND He actually has a plan and a future for you that’s better than anything you have on the table, don’t you think you should be spending more time with Him?
Start your morning off strong – As best as I can tell, Jesus spent every morning talking with God before He did anything else. If that was best for Him, shouldn’t it be for us? Every morning Jesus received blessing, and guidance, and love, and self-worth from God. Make sure you are as well!
Become a student – Every person needs a mentor or two. What greater area of your life to give focus to? Find someone who has a great relationship with God and ask for them to teach you how to do the same. Notice that I didn’t say find someone who attends church a lot, or does a lot of religious stuff, or talks Christianese well. Doing “church” or “religion” doesn’t mean you have a great relationship with your Father in Heaven. Believe me, I see a ton of people who are confused with that concept. Your relationship with God directly is paramount! Now, with that said, understand that I absolutely believe you should not forsake the gathering of the saints. Just don’t turn the gathering into a false belief of daily relations with God.
Set healthy boundaries – In 7 Signs You Self-Sabotage I shared that when you don’t have healthy boundaries, you allow people to manipulate you, take advantage of you, and abuse you. The very lack of healthy boundaries also keeps you from an intimate relationship with God. How? It’s actually quite simple – people without boundaries aren’t getting their strength, self-esteem, self-worth, confidence, etc. from God. Start by reading the book Boundaries! This is a great first step in taking care of YOU.
Worship Him like never before– I shared that the Jewish people believe, as well as I, that worshiping God is what you do during the week with his Children through your mode of work. In other words, if I do a great job during the week taking care of my clients and my followers, then I’m worshiping God. That in itself should absolutely change the way you look at your work. Focus everyday on what you can do to take care of God’s children, and I truly believe He will delight in it.
Keep the relationship open – Prayer is not something you just do in the morning, or when you eat, it should be continuous. As 1 Thes 5:17 says, “Pray without ceasing”. Saying Amen doesn’t mean that your communication with God is now done until the next meal. You grow your relationships with people by open communication, you should focus that even more when growing your relationship with God. Talk to him in all things.
If you will put these few things in place regularly in your life, I promise you will notice a phenomenal difference with your life!
Reading in Exodus this morning, it said that Moses “Talked to God like he was talking to a friend.” WOW! That type of intimacy, that type of relationship is something I long for. He must infuse every part of our life and being.
One practice is love is taking my thoughts captive. This is something Paul teaches us “Take every thought captive and make it obedient to Christ.” This type of constant intentionality really helps me.
Amen brother! I strive for that intimacy.
In church yesterday we were reminded that the curtain blocking the entrance into the Holy of Holies was torn in two with the work of the Cross. We have access to the throne of God and even more, Jesus is at God’s right hand interceding for us. If we even grasped an iota of the power in that truth it would change our lives. Thanks for another great post Mr. Locurto and this excellent comment Mr. Ham.
This country was built on Christian values! To bad that it doesn’t follow them as much these days. I strongly agree with all of the five points.
Thank you for reminding us Chris.
Thanks Dima! If you ever get the chance to read Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller, it has a good perspective on why that it.
Thanks Chris. I will check that book out.
I’ve been working on being more aware of His presence throughout the day and asking for opportunities to be open to Him and ask him to guide the way I communicate with others. I have prayed for guidance on business decisions, work events, family decisions just for a few minutes before talking to coworkers, friends and family. I have been blown away at the results. My goal is to keep working toward surrender. It has been extremely difficult knowing now how much I struggle with giving control to others, even if that other is my Loving Father. As I heard Kay Arthur explain, I had a religion, not a relationship. There is a world of difference.
That is exactly what I’m trying to get people to see. Thanks for the great input Lil!
Anytime! 🙂
Chris – Thank you for the great words of encouragement today. I’ve been struggling with this for a while, and your words of encouragement are helpful.
My pleasure Rick!
I couldn’t agree more. I recently took a couple Sundays off church to reflect on my own releationship with God because I felt a lot of rules and dogma coming from others; I think church is important but He guides me in a deeper way than any person ever can. Thank you Chris.
Absolutely Jamie! I’m so proud of you!!
Connecting with God in the morning every day might be the ultimate example of “Begin with the end in mind.” Thanks for another great post Pastor Chris – mk
Read his word. Study his word. Become familiar with his word.
I don’t think anyone can grow close to someone unless they make a heartfelt effort to understand and listen to them. Especially when talking about our Lord..