Your Spare Time Thoughts

Philippians 4:8 "Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, let your mind dwell on these things" (NASB)

Friendships. Life. Love. Patience. This is a short list of the gifts God has given us through Jesus. Within each of these four categories is a sense of meaning and purpose for our lives as we journey through life together with our peers and colleagues.

The passage of scripture that came to mind today was Philippians 4:8. When you are in fellowship within the body of Christ Proverbs 27:17 often comes into play:

Iron sharpens iron, So one man sharpens another. (NASB)

Within true fellowship you will be corrected with love if you stray from the truth found in Jesus. Where I wanted to take you today was to your "spare time" thoughts. I wondered if you would take time to be honest with yourself and the Lord in how you are doing in your thoughts? Also if you are feeding patterns that lead down the road to sin. This is part of why God gives us fellowship --- we need encouragement, a place to belong and to be vulnerable to one another. Our bodies are God's temples. There comes a time when the Lord challenges us to go deeper in our faith through a renewed mind.

I want to leave you with four steps in helping you grow and nurture your relationship with the Lord and the family of God:

1 - Have an active prayer life. Regardless if you are in the valley or on the mountain top the Lord desires a relationship with us. It doesn't matter the season of life you may be passing through. Bringing someone to the Lord in prayer is the outlet when we can do nothing to resolve a situation we know one of our peers are struggling with.

2 - Have an accountability partner. Genuinely ask the Lord for someone who you may be brutally honest with. This is to prevent you from stumbling. I am very thankful for the inner circle of people who know me, who I may be honest with and who will still have a relationship with me when they know my life is a work in progress.

3 - Be part of the body of Christ. Loneliness leads to isolation and separation. God designed us for community involvement. There comes a place where you will not continue to grow as a Christian if you are not connected within the body of Christ. Even where there has been tremendous hurt there are still caring and nurturing members of church families who will stay with you and help you heal.

4 - Commit to reading the Bible. Allow the Holy Spirit of God to speak directly into your life during a regular time of reading the Bible. With this age of media there are many Bible reading guides and devotionals available to help you in your day to day working out of what it means to be a follower and a friend of Jesus.

Let's pray:

Lord help me to apply this to my life. And Lord when I am weak I pray for help to look to you for strength, courage and hope. Thank you for the cross Jesus and the gift of my salvation. Amen

Have a blessed weekend.