35 Thoughts For You From 2013

I spent the last few hours reading back through the journal/notebook/whatever you want to call it that I have kept in the past year. If you do not often record your thoughts, your day’s events, or what you are learning, I strongly encourage you to do so. It is only by looking at where we once were that we truly see where we are and how far we have come. This is a compilation of the best thoughts, words of advice, etc., from my journal of 2013. I hope they somehow bless you. Enjoy!

1.     For teachers and leaders – a quote from C.S. Lewis’ The Four Loves, “If we are any good, we must always be working towards the moment at which our pupils are fit to become our critics and rivals.”

2.     On friendship – It is unhealthy to merely want friends. You will never find true friends just because you were looking for them. “The very condition of having friends is that we should want something else besides friends.” (The Four Loves) Friendship is birthed from shared vision or experience, not from the desire to have friends alone.

3.     On your friends – Good friends bring out the best, the wisest, or the funniest in you. They make realized the beauty of the person that has always been there. Find friends who bring out the best in you and everyone else.

4.     On stewardship – Why is it that we have become so wise at using our money and resources wisely in order to have as much as possible, yet we often neglect to view the Gospel and our responsibility to it in the same way?

5.     None of us have yet reached our full earthly potential. Ask God to help you get there.

6.     “There is no manner of life in the world more sweet or more delicious than continual conversation with God.” – Brother Lawrence

7.     Sometimes God will break your fingers to get your hands off of what will eventually destroy you. – Ian Simkins

8.     Serve with fear, rejoice with trembling – Psalm 2.

9.     Moral purity CANNOT be the focus of your life or your Christianity. That is NOT the Gospel of Jesus.

10.  Hebrews 6 – A helpful analogy - It is possible to taste the Gospel and then reject it. Like a Netflix free trial: I have tasted the goodness of a free subscription, but they tell me that if I really want it, its going to cost me something. And if I am willing to pay the price, I can enjoy all of the benefits of being a member of the Netflix kingdom. I have to measure it, and decide if its worth the cost. If I decide that it isn’t, it will be hard for me to change my mind. It is nearly impossible for someone to fall in love with something they tasted once and rejected. Once I have tasted a food and found it to be something I did not like, you will have a hard time getting me to try it again. This is how some people can taste the Gospel and reject it.

11.  Psalm 5 – God saves, protects, and guides those who love him.

12.  Allow discipline to make your weaknesses grow into strength.

13.  Exodus 13 – God knows his people and what they can handle and responds accordingly. Sometimes, God is most obviously with us when we most obviously need him.

14.  God is always speaking if we will listen.

15.  Exodus 14 – When we stop questioning God’s authority and being afraid of our circumstances, and instead choose to be still and allow God to fight for us, God will move between the darkness and us, and will display his power on our behalf. He will part seas and demolish the enemy, which is always puny to him, and will deliver his people from the shadows of darkness.

16.  You have been called to store up eternal treasures, start investing in those and stop wasting your time on temporary treasures.

17.  Seek out solitude and silence on a regular basis.

18.  The world is burning and you don’t care. Grab a hose.

19.  Sometimes regress is progress.

20.  God sovereignly brings together people who need each other. Look around: Who do you need and who needs you?

21.  Don’t make God that loser friend you’re embarrassed to talk to when other people are around. Pray often. Do not ever be ashamed to talk to God.

22.  Act on God given inspiration and take a bold leap. And know that if you fail, it was about the journey.

23.  Think outside of your world on a daily basis. Look at, think about, and pray for the big world around you.

24.  On relationships – Grow in the relationships that bring you closer to God. Change the ones that don’t. Give up the ones that stand between you and God.

25.  Be phantasmagoric in a good way. Look it up.

26.  Leaders – protect your flock at all costs. You will give an account.

27.  Love and obey God and he promises he will take care of you.

28.  Remember who God is and what he has done for you. Thank him for specific things daily. Praise him simply for who he is daily.

29.  God is Holy and his love is perfect.

30.  God has been faithful. He has walked with me in my pain, in my struggles, in my joys, in my triumphs, and in my failures. Oh what a great thing Jesus has done that somehow God cares enough about stupid sinful me to walk with me and to love me, teach me, and grow me every step of the way. Thank you God.

31.  God uses difficult people to make you more like Himself.

32.  Crave the presence of the Lord. If you don’t really want him around, he won’t be.

33.  All Christians should be making new Christians. All pastors should be making new pastors. All churches should be making new churches.

34.  God is willing to blow up anything that becomes a wedge between you and him, even if it is a good thing in and of itself.  

35.   It is okay to wrestle honestly with God. But be prepared for a difficult response from God.

Thank God for 2013. Seek him more in 2014. Grace and peace be with you. Love you all!