His Purpose, Our Goal

Hey everyone God is good and His mercy endures forever! Amen! This year I am excited for what the Lord has in store for those who are doing the will of the Father. His love is so wonderful and I personally have set some true goals for this year. I will post those at the end of the blog, but what it really boils down to is doing what God wants us to do.

If you look in Philippians 2:1-5 we see a good example of the type of attitudes we as Christians are to maintain, and that is the same attitude Christ has. You may think that this is impossible but I would argue that it's not. Vs. 1, "Is there any encouragement from belonging to Christ? Any comfort from his love? Any fellowship together in the Spirit? Are your hearts tender and compassionate?" Each one of us need to take time out and search our hearts for the answer to these questions. If you aren't sure about any of these questions, then maybe you haven't wholeheartedly given your heart to the Lord. He goes on to say,"2 Then make me truly happy by agreeing wholeheartedly with each other, loving one another, and working together with one mind and purpose. 3 Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. 4 Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too." We all know that this is the true way we should be, but how many are really willing to humble themselves and actually place other's needs above our own interests? If we take this attitude in life then I am willing to say that you will be satisfied with your answers to the questions in verse 1. This is the attitude that Jesus Christ has for us and in verse 5 He says, "You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had." You see doing these things that were mentioned in verse 2-4 are not optional. He says you must have the same attitude!

To be honest with you I need a lot of sharpening up on my attitude. So with this being said, my church has handed out a piece of paper that we can keep in our Bibles to read every day and it says, "Top 10 goals for the Kingdom" and here are mine:

#1 Spend more time in the presence of God in prayer.
#2 Continue to nourish my soul by reading God's word daily.
#3 Nourish my spirit regularly by doing the will of God (acts of love).
#4 Pay off debt. so I can help fund the kingdom.
#5 Seek, find, and knock on more doors so the Lord may open them.
#6 Witness to as many people the Lord calls me to.
#7 Physically, emotionally, and spiritually prepare the Lord's temple.
#8 Forgive those who trespass against me.
#9 Bless those who curse me.
#10 Simply be a doer of the word of God.

All in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, Amen!

I challenge everyone to set some time out and pray about what you need to sharpen up on. Then make them your goals for 2010. Write them down on a piece of paper and slip them into your Bible, or post them on the refrigerator. Then focus on obtaining those goals this year. I am excited to see the Lord work in my life and you can be too! What do you say?

In Christ,

Eric R. Cox