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Thursday, July 10, 2008

I Mean Something To God

I'm not here as an accident or a random occurrence. I'm here because God wanted me here. He made me just the way I am for a purpose.

3 "Family of Jacob, listen to me!
All you people from Israel who are still alive, listen!
I have carried you since you were born;
I have taken care of you from your birth.
4 Even when you are old, I will be the same.
Even when your hair has turned gray, I will take care of you.
I made you and will take care of you.
I will carry you and save you. [Isa. 46:3-4 (Ncv)

God made me for a reason and I can discover this when I make God the reference point of my life.

Point to Ponder: I'm not an accident. God uniquely created me and I need to accept who I am and not struggle over appearance or status.

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

What Am I Here For?

A life devoted to things is a dead life, a stump; a God-shaped life is a flourishing tree. [Proverbs 11:28 (Msg)]

“But blessed are those who trust in the Lord and have made the Lord their hope and confidence. They are like trees planted along a riverbank, with roots that reach deep into the water. Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought. Their leaves stay green, and they never stop producing fruit." [Jer. 17:7-8 (NLT)]

The first sentence in Rick Warren's book, "The Purpose Drive Life", says a lot.... "It's not about you."

What I'm realizing is that my purpose in life is much larger than my own personal fulfillment, family, or career. I was put here by "His" purpose and by "His" will. The only way for me to discover what His purpose is for me, is to consult his written manual, The Bible.

In essence, life is really about letting God use me for his purpose, this is quite a contrast to what the world teaches us. I find myself trying to fit God into my desires or purposes.

The point for me to ponder today is "It's not about me!." So I need to remind myself that life is really about living for God, not me.

Purpose Driven Life

I've been thinking a lot about my purpose in life.

Recently my church went though a series on "The Road to Financial Freedom." Included in this was an opportunity to attend a one day seminar from Crown Financial Ministries. The whole series and the seminar provided a lot of detail on God's perspective toward money and possessions and really got me thinking about my walk with Christ.

The Key Points Were:

. "God is in Control." He owns and is involved in every thing.
. We are only stewards of his resources.
. With debt we become a slave to the lender.
. We are to enjoy (be content) with what he have given us.
. We are to give back, and those God will provide for others and allow us to be part of it.

From this series our church launched summer small groups for managing finances God's way. I was happy to volunteer to lead one of these small groups. As we began the study, the introduction was from Rick Warren and in it Rick pointed out that were five purposes for our lives. We are called to:

. Worship God
. Have Fellowship With God and Other
. Grow like Christ
. To Serve Others
. Be on-mission for God in the World

I decided to go back through Rick Warren's book "The Purpose Driven Life." What will follow in the next few weeks will be my observations and thoughts as I review this and as I go through with my group the materials on Managing our Finances God's Way.

I'm not sure if anyone will ever read my posts, however, I pray that God will use the insights, concepts and perspective's I write about to make a difference in the life of someone else.

Changes for this Site

I've been extremely busy the last several months (work, school, ministry, family..)

When I first created this blog, I intended to use it as a place to record what I'm studying or other interesting tidbits of valuable information I came across (mainly about Computers, Technology, and Security/Protection.

I've decided to switch things up a bit...

A while back I created another blog named "techideout.com." I've decided that I'll use the newer site to continue posting about technology there and use this site as a personal blog and to record my walk with Christ..

I'd still love to here your comments on the items I post so feel free to comment or email me directly at mark@gresak.com.