Sold out. January, 2015.

Sold out. January, 2015.

New Year’s resolutions seem like a good idea, but by February 6th they have often found their way to the side of the road, where we occasionally catch sight of them in our rearview mirrors. That said, I often think about spiritual formation—specifically, how I come to be the woman God envisions when he sees me as the ‘apple of his eye’1. One thing I know—God is not interested in mediocrity, so I must not be okay with it either.

Here’s my starting point, my basis of belief—my default mode:

God created me, God loves me, God’s heart is good ~

God has a plan for my life, and it is a b o l d adventure ~

I want to ‘be all about it’ ~ fully engaged, living

in the extreme, sold out.

As I have been reading, studying and praying about how to tell someone else how to get to God’s sweet spot for him, here’s what I came up with:

Believing these things . . . God created, loves, has a plan, etc.

1. I know that God wants all of me, he is not interested in sloppy seconds; he wants a sold-out follower. God is calling me to surrender myself to him. God is calling you to surrender as well—this I know. [Starting with an acknowledgment of Jesus Christ as my Savior--the pathway to life with God, a relationship with him while I live, and Heaven when I die]

2. Lately, a word that keeps coming to me is consecrate. To be honest, the first time it came to me in prayer, I wasn’t entirely sure what it meant – it means to ‘declare or set apart as sacred’, to ‘dedicate myself to living an uncontaminated life’. First is surrender, but then is consecration … letting go of whatever entangles, entraps, or deters me in my relationship with God. To be sure, it is a process.

3. God wants his children to soar … to live victorious, not defeated lives. What would enable you to realize the victorious in your life?

Let me help you get to an answer:

~What are your greatest dreams?

~What are your biggest fears?

~What do you want God to do for you?

--heal your marriage?

--heal your broken heart?

--heal your body?

--help you breakthrough financially?

--make you emotionally healthy?

--bring your loved ones to know him?

--rescue your teen-aged or adult children?

Last year I devoured The Circle Maker2, an inspiring book about the power of our prayers, based on a Jewish legend, in which an old man literally, physically circled himself in believing prayer. I have been reminded about the miraculous power of a single prayer, and the power of that prayer to change the course of history.

In my prayer journal for more than a year now, I have drawn circles around my most heartfelt desires. And I tell you truly, I have seen great movement and answers to those circled prayers. And so as I write my prayers to God, day after day, I continue to ‘circle’ my requests of him, knowing that God honors the persistent pray-er.

4.Ask God . . . entrust these matters of your heart and life to him.

5.Listen. Our prayers are not one-sided conversations. Is God telling you or leading you in some way in your life?

6.Obey. ‘Praying hard starts with listening to the still, small voice of the Holy Spirit. And if you are faithful in the small things and obey those little promptings, then God can use you to do big things.’3 Obedience is key to breakthrough living for the follower of Jesus—yes, you can quote me on that. I adhere to what the old Scottish preacher, George MacDonald said, ‘all of life’s truth could be discovered as part of an extremely simple, two-step process: realizing who God is, then obeying him.’4

7. Praise God. God is near when we are praising him.

8. Thank God. To praise God and to thank God is to be obedient to his word, as both are commanded of the Christian.

9. Serve somewhere, someone in such a way that the love of God is spread.

These are not meant to comprise a great ‘to do’ list you or I must work at daily, but rather they are my reflections about straining toward the life God means for us to realize. It happens when we are sold out.

Christine

PastorWoman.com

1 apple of his eye – Psalm 17.8; Zechariah 2.8; 2 The Circle Maker, Mark Batterson, Zondervan.

3 ibid.; 4 Knowing the Heart of God, George MacDonald, Bethany House.