The Purpose Driven Life, Psalm 138:8

"Turkish Delight"
1 Corinthians 10:13a

Well, I'm about 10 days behind in reading TPDL...which was perfect, because on Saturday, I had just read day 26: "Growing Through Temptation".

I really liked what Pastor Ian had said on Sunday, but there's another side that he didn't really mention, which is how to use your temptations to grow closer to God and become more like Christ.

For example, "the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control." (Galatians 5:21-22). But the way we become more loving is by learning to love people that we don't already love; the way we become more joyful is during times of sorrow; the way we become more patient is by learning to wait when we are impatient.

If it was easy, we wouldn't need to grow. If we were perfect, we would already react in a Christ-like manner to trials and troubles. So, "consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything." (James 1:2-4)

Every temptation is an opportunity to do good. So remember, don't just resist your temptations: grow through them!

"Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him." (James 1:12)

Always remember that even though we screw up and fail, God never does. He is always faithful, and will never give up on you. So don't be discouraged if you fall.

God bless,
- Jonathan

Well, I don't profess to know everything (or much), but this is what I got from this passage:
Fear and love cannot coexist because perfect love creates trust and security. So since you know that God loves you completely, you can know that you can trust in God, and so you shouldn't have fear.

Matthew 6:25-34 says that if we seek God's Kingdom first, then God will provide for us. So if we seek to do His Will in everything, then we don't need to be consumed with all the little things in life. God has a plan for you, and knows what He's doing. We just need to have enough faith to trust Him, and keep our eyes and ears and hearts open.

God bless in your search,
- Jonathan

What Drives Your Life? (Day 3)
I'm so glad I'm reading this book at this point in my life...the first time I read chapter 3 (a few months back) I identified with a totally different driving force than I do today. Although I am generally optimistic about my future, I find that I’ve been cultivating a fear of the unknown ranging from ‘normal’ things (like fearing that I might not get into grad school or enter a profession I love) to the ‘plain weird’ (wondering how long I have left on earth and even worse, fearing how am I going to depart once my time is up!) I'm sure I'm not the first or last to wonder of such things but in allowing these things to breed fear, my focus is no longer on God and His will for my life but rather on me and my lack of total control over my life (Rick refers to it as being in self-imposed prison, keeping one from becoming what God intends for you to be, 29). He also refers to 1 John 4:18
“There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.”
This is where I would really appreciate some input – what does this scripture mean and how can I apply it in my situation?

This post has been edited by kaistar on Nov 5 2005, 03:39 AM

Heres a good question for everyone. What are we doing with what God has given us. In reading the purpose Driven Life that is a question that has challenged me. What am I as a believer in Jesus doing with what i have been supplied with by God. Now this question does not just pertain to money as you may be thinking. This question has to do with the very life that God has given me. What am I doing with the life that God has given me. You see, sometimes personally I find that I get so busy doing stuff that I forget about the reason that am here on earth. I have been given a great commision by Christ to spread the Gospel message. That alone is my purpose in everything that I do, to spread the love of God should be my focus. Heres my challenge. To start focusing on God in everything daily. To weed out the things in your life that are unnecessary and replace them with Godly things. To bring new purpose and focus to your life and help in furthering the kingdom of God, and to bring the joy of the Lord to all those around you.

Blessings

Dan B

God has a purpose for me... One thing that i struggle with most being a Chrstian is finding purpose in my life. I think that we all ask that question about ourselves. Why has God in his infinate knowlege bothered with me? Why did He bother creating me? What is my purpose?
Now we all know that as humans we are created in the image of God and that he knows the number of hairs on our heads and what not. But putting our faith in that and truly trusting that God has a plan for our lives can be easier said than done. Reading Day two today I just read the same thing that i hear all the time. God created you , He has a plan for you; however, there was one thing that really stuck out in what was written:

"...there is a God who made you for a reason, and your life has profound
meaning! We discover that meaning and purpose ONLY when we make God
the reference point of our lives." (Warren 25)

It is not until One makes God the focus of their life that meaning will be discovered. Now this may sound very obvious but how many of us actually have a God centered reference point to everything in our lives. It was mentioned during the Crew on Tuesday that we should be in constant communion with God in EVERYTHING. My challenge is this. That we examine our lives and examine our hearts and in everything we do we ask ourselves, Is God at the center of this? What is my purpose for doing what I do, and i think that if we put God at the center of it all that we will find meaning and purpose and find Joy in that.

Blessings

Dan B

Hey guys and gals,

If you haven't read "The Purpose Driven Life" by Rick Warren (or if you have already read it, but want to read it again), there are a couple of us reading through it now, and it would be fun to just share what God has shown us as we go through it.

If you don't own the book, but are interested in checking it out, you can find the first 7 chapters online here.

There are also devotionals, a monthly newsletter, end-of-chapter questions and discussions, etc.

I think this could be a great way to get to know each other and grow closer to God, so I encourage you all to join in!

- Jonathan