Pursue Excellence
- Thread starter Dusty
- Start date
Continuing with my thought ....
God has set His affection and love on us for all eternity . He wants us to gleefully pursue Him with just the same as a new bride does her husband . The new bride is so in love and enamoured with her husband that all else does not matter.
In the same way need to have the same love and enthusiasm that we first had when we were born again .We need to embrace Jesus , and share intimate moments of deep unity with Him .
The mystery of Christ and the Church is the mystery of God bearing new life though intimate communion with man . You have a husband , Christ becoming one with His Wife in an act of covenant making and we become born again .
The marriage is then consummated and in the act of sowing spiritual seeds within us , new life is born around us .
People will see our passion for God and turn to Him . They hear the word of our testimony and learn how to overcome the enemy . They expeerience the life of God in us being expressed through unconditional love and sacrificicial action , which kindles a flame for God within them .
God has set His affection and love on us for all eternity . He wants us to gleefully pursue Him with just the same as a new bride does her husband . The new bride is so in love and enamoured with her husband that all else does not matter.
In the same way need to have the same love and enthusiasm that we first had when we were born again .We need to embrace Jesus , and share intimate moments of deep unity with Him .
The mystery of Christ and the Church is the mystery of God bearing new life though intimate communion with man . You have a husband , Christ becoming one with His Wife in an act of covenant making and we become born again .
The marriage is then consummated and in the act of sowing spiritual seeds within us , new life is born around us .
People will see our passion for God and turn to Him . They hear the word of our testimony and learn how to overcome the enemy . They expeerience the life of God in us being expressed through unconditional love and sacrificicial action , which kindles a flame for God within them .
So it is so very important that we do not stop with the initial moment of salvation , but that we go on to the exchange of selfless love and service to our Lord , Jesus Christ .We need to give ourselves daily to God for His purspose and plan in our lives
We , the Bride , must bear and nurture that new life into fullness . If we don't nurture it by reading the Holy Bible daily , by singing love songs to the Lover of our souls : if we don'[t pursue Him with all our heart , mind and soul the great harvest of spiritual fruit that God wants to produce with us will never come to life.
There's mutual responsibility involved in our marriage with God just as there is with any marriage.
God bless as we all grow together in the Lord .
We , the Bride , must bear and nurture that new life into fullness . If we don't nurture it by reading the Holy Bible daily , by singing love songs to the Lover of our souls : if we don'[t pursue Him with all our heart , mind and soul the great harvest of spiritual fruit that God wants to produce with us will never come to life.
There's mutual responsibility involved in our marriage with God just as there is with any marriage.
God bless as we all grow together in the Lord .
Just looking at the word " Pursue " which means follow, or not bring up the rear .
Psalm 23:6
6 Surely goodness and love will follow me
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the LORD
forever.
The literal meaning of the Hebrew word translated " follow " in verse 6 means" to pursue " " Not bring up the rear "
Contrary to popular Christian culture , God doesn't pressure us to do or move but instead pursures us with His blessings until we reach our final resting palce with Him in Glory .
We cannot always see goodness and mercy ahead of us , but when we look behind us , we see them . That helps us to look ahead and see more clearly where we glimpse our place at God's side forever .
Psalm 23:6
6 Surely goodness and love will follow me
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the LORD
forever.
The literal meaning of the Hebrew word translated " follow " in verse 6 means" to pursue " " Not bring up the rear "
Contrary to popular Christian culture , God doesn't pressure us to do or move but instead pursures us with His blessings until we reach our final resting palce with Him in Glory .
We cannot always see goodness and mercy ahead of us , but when we look behind us , we see them . That helps us to look ahead and see more clearly where we glimpse our place at God's side forever .
If we are pursuing excellence , shouldn't we be pursing it with purpose?
Exodus 9:16 ....... But I have raised you up ( or have spared you ) for this very purpose, that I might show you my power and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.
This seems like an unlikely verse to tell us we have a purpose.
God had a purpose for raising up Pharoah in the time of Moses . God is God - His ways are not our ways . He wanted to show Pharoah that all the gods that he worshipped were not the True God . Pharoah's heart did soften for a time because he asked Moses to pray for him . But later he forgot that request and hardened his heart .
Every one has a purpose in life. It is finding our God given purpose and fullfilling it .
Jesus came on this earth knowing His purpose - to do the will of His Father and He came to accomplish that purpose .
Luke 19 :10........ For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost."
Just as God raised up Pharoah for that time to show the world who was the ONE TRUE GOD , God will reveal His glory in the good times and the bad . God is in control . We need not question His sovreignity .
God being in control means He is mercyful and in control of your life and mine .
1- Decide what kind of person you want to be .
2- Focus on what you want to give rather than what you want to get .
3-Know that everything we do has eternal significance in all that we do .
Worship the Lord your God and serve Him
Exodus 9:16 ....... But I have raised you up ( or have spared you ) for this very purpose, that I might show you my power and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.
This seems like an unlikely verse to tell us we have a purpose.
God had a purpose for raising up Pharoah in the time of Moses . God is God - His ways are not our ways . He wanted to show Pharoah that all the gods that he worshipped were not the True God . Pharoah's heart did soften for a time because he asked Moses to pray for him . But later he forgot that request and hardened his heart .
Every one has a purpose in life. It is finding our God given purpose and fullfilling it .
Jesus came on this earth knowing His purpose - to do the will of His Father and He came to accomplish that purpose .
Luke 19 :10........ For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost."
Just as God raised up Pharoah for that time to show the world who was the ONE TRUE GOD , God will reveal His glory in the good times and the bad . God is in control . We need not question His sovreignity .
God being in control means He is mercyful and in control of your life and mine .
1- Decide what kind of person you want to be .
2- Focus on what you want to give rather than what you want to get .
3-Know that everything we do has eternal significance in all that we do .
Worship the Lord your God and serve Him
When I think about pursuing excellence I think I Peter 1 is an important text. Peter in fact speaks of moral excellence. The word has the idea of being exemplary in your moral conduct. I drive the point home when I'm teaching this text by saying that it has the idea of being a moral hero. Being excellent means giving are all to truly being lights.
Study Your Bible Online
Study Your Bible Online
I totally agree and emphasised this on another thread of mine on excellence.
GodSpeaks said:
Thanks GodSpeaks ,
What a great reminder . We the people are the church and are we representing Jesus the way He would want us to . If we want people to be attracted to us , we also can't just sit back and think it will happen . It takes honesty , obedience and sincerety and love . The Christian life is an ongoing progression of faith and our love for Jesus to want to be more like Him .
Romans 5:15
But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God's grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many!
Thanks you all for your kind words. I'm looking forward to interacting more on here.
Study Your Bible Online
Study Your Bible Online
And I am looking forward also to reading your studies . God Bless .
In our pursuance of excellence just remember ; God didn't create you and I so we would have something to do .
God created us because He has something to do which you and I have a priviledge of being a part. That's the wonder of being created .
There is a saying that we hear from time to time - God has a wonderful plan for your life . What is true is God does have a wonderful plan and purpose . . Now for you and I , the role may not be that wonderful , but it furthers His wonderful will .
Rather than asking " What is the will of God for my life " We should be asking , How does the role and purpose of my life conform to the general will of God ?
You and I will not find the WILL of God outside the WORD of God .
God created us because He has something to do which you and I have a priviledge of being a part. That's the wonder of being created .
There is a saying that we hear from time to time - God has a wonderful plan for your life . What is true is God does have a wonderful plan and purpose . . Now for you and I , the role may not be that wonderful , but it furthers His wonderful will .
Rather than asking " What is the will of God for my life " We should be asking , How does the role and purpose of my life conform to the general will of God ?
You and I will not find the WILL of God outside the WORD of God .
Right on Dusty!
Just thinking , so if we have a purpose we have to have a plan ... Right?
We are not just simply allowing events of a particlular day to control us . Purpose is about setting a goal and pursuing it with no distractions until it is achieved .
With a purpose , you will not be easily discouraged or thrown off course .
Perhaps the best way to understand purpose is consider your life with an absence of purpose . Think about waking up each day with no plan , no goal , and no idea of where to go or what to do . Sadly some people live this way and don't even realize they are prisoners to whatever happens next . Ironically they often think that they are the ones who are free.
Why do we purpose in our hearts? Maybe it is because most of us know how fickle our minds can me .
Have you ever changed your mind? Probably several times a day . So if we know and understand that our minds can and do work that way our minds are really the way in which to process our thoughts , guard our plans and dreams ..... our purpose. So we need to purpose deeper till it gets into our hearts,.
Proverbs 4:23 says Above all else, guard your heart,
for it is the wellspring of life.
What a powerful truth . When we commit our lives to Christ and live according to His Word , He will help us to understand our reason for being . His perfect plan for you and for me will come ..... like it says .... gushing forth like a wellspring from our hearts and help us live each day with PURPOSE.
We are not just simply allowing events of a particlular day to control us . Purpose is about setting a goal and pursuing it with no distractions until it is achieved .
With a purpose , you will not be easily discouraged or thrown off course .
Perhaps the best way to understand purpose is consider your life with an absence of purpose . Think about waking up each day with no plan , no goal , and no idea of where to go or what to do . Sadly some people live this way and don't even realize they are prisoners to whatever happens next . Ironically they often think that they are the ones who are free.
Why do we purpose in our hearts? Maybe it is because most of us know how fickle our minds can me .
Have you ever changed your mind? Probably several times a day . So if we know and understand that our minds can and do work that way our minds are really the way in which to process our thoughts , guard our plans and dreams ..... our purpose. So we need to purpose deeper till it gets into our hearts,.
Proverbs 4:23 says Above all else, guard your heart,
for it is the wellspring of life.
What a powerful truth . When we commit our lives to Christ and live according to His Word , He will help us to understand our reason for being . His perfect plan for you and for me will come ..... like it says .... gushing forth like a wellspring from our hearts and help us live each day with PURPOSE.