Notes:
If we look back 2016, have it been a better year than before in terms of personal life improvements?
Did your plans/goals/resolution for 2016 that you made at the beginning of 2016 all fulfilled?
Every year God has amazing plans for us.
In Jeremiah 29:11 God said that His plan is always to prosper us and not to harm us.
Prosperity in here includes all aspects: spiritual, emotional and physical
But you should know that the principals is the spiritual always rule over the physical. Not vice versa.
Thats why God always first care about our relationship with Him above all else and we should too.
If you want to be more productive, more fruitful, more successful, more patient, more loving, more everything except the fat. And less stressful, less weight, less worry, less lazy, etc
The key is the relationship with God.
When we focus on this one thing every morning, your life will be different. And it will be almost effortless because God’s power will work in & through you.
This is exactly what David did throughout his life. If there is one thing about him that we ought to learn is this: he was a man after God’s own heart. And in Psalm 1 is his life principle, his main activity everyday
Lets learn what David wrote here and I pray that all of us here made this the priority for 2017.
And we’ll also pray for more specific directions.
Go through Psalm 1.
V3 is the vision. Verse 1 & 2 are the steps.
If you follow the process of verse 1 & 2, at the end of 2017 this is exactly what you're gonna be like.
So simple. Its not 100 things to do. Not even 10. God's way is actually so simple.
Just by following these simple steps and you’ll get to the point where you will be prosperous in all you do.
David went from a shepherd boy to became one of the greatest king in history and even Jesus was born in his line of descendant.
So now you can be sure that it does not matter where you start from, if you just follow these steps, you’ll arrive at the highest point of your life.
You’ll be able to make the best of 2017 and it will be the best year so far.
Why? Because Words of God is powerful. If you truly follow these steps, you’ll be transformed.
Amen?
Here are the steps
v1
Identify & Filter negative sources out of your life:
- Wicked => someone who walking away from God.
Example: someone said don't be too serious become christian, you will become poor. Even though this advice was given with good intentions but don't listen. Maybe that person thought he was giving a good advice for you. Because we love him, we show appreciation for his good intentions. But don’t let that advice take root in your heart.
"Never anyone walk outside of God plans and find a better way or more suitable than God's plans”
Someone told me: yeah following God is good but its hard, its not fun, etc
“God’s will is always Good, Pleasing & Perfect” Romans 12:2
Identify these negative thoughts, probably these are the very things that has been a hindrance to our growth.
“You can’t do it”, “You’ll fail”, “What if you fail”, etc
- Sinners => everyone are or were sinners but this means the patterns that produces sin “Do not stand on their path”. We should not imitate their ways, don’t even get involved in their “circle”
- mockers => despising instructions, mock leaders, tend to look down at others. Gossiping others. Don’t waste time spending time with them.
There’s a saying, "if you want to know what a person’s future like, you can see from his friends”
If you spend time with people overtime you will be influenced with them. Their thoughts became your thoughts, their values became your values. So change any negative community to godly community.
Brothers and sisters, I’m not teaching you to leave this world and go live in the mountains where there is no one there. God teaches us to love sinners but hate sin. We must make friends with people to be able to influence them with God’s love. But we also need to minimize the negative influences from the world and surround our lives with people that has positive influence to us.
What if these people are our own relative or family members?
Ask for God’s wisdom. Keep good relationships and appreciate their good intentions and show them love, but make decision in your heart that you will not be influenced. God will definitely help you.
<Example
V2 Prioritize to experience Christ daily.
Delight => The Relationship. The affection, the WHY
Meditate day and night => The ritual/activities, the WHAT
The WHY is always above the WHAT.
The WHY have both rational or irrational. Actually, the irrational will play much more important role than the rational in terms of to keep you going. Illustration: Piano player. => Both the end result & the love for playing piano, but mostly because of the love for piano.
For most people when you are given a set of rules and regulation, you’re either just okay with it or dislike it.
But almost no one will delight like David, celebrate it. This is irrational. How come? Because he found the WHY.
He found God’s heart of WHY God gave the law. He was known to be a man after God’s heart. He was known to be the man who dwells in God’s presence day by day.
There he found God’s very heart. The feeling and power inside God’s presence is something beyond words can explain.
And being / dwelling in God’s presence my brothers and sisters, is the most important for us. Its our true habitat as God’s children.
Its not something like bursts. But it should be like a process that takes us deeper and deeper rooted in God.
You may study bible and becomes very knowledgable but if you don’t have relationship with God in your heart, you’ll be just like another Pharisee.
So the WHY, the Delight, the Relationship is very important and it has to be the first aim everyday.
The WHAT / the Activity: Meditating day and night
The first thing is Daily Devotion. We have thought the WINNS system to you before so please look over them again
Meditating day and night is talking about consistency. Its talking about activities based on Words of God.
Its talking about small steps that we must take daily. Know when to work and Know when to rest
But now I want to tell you a story to illustrate this truth: The 20 Mile March. Amundsen & Scott
Sometimes there are bursts in life. Like catching up for the exam or there is a big project or overtime work. But it should be only 10-20% of the time, not all the time. Such as once a week.
Otherwise that means lack of resource management.
The rest of the time should be well planned and in consistent progression.
Remember: More work does not always mean more results.
Work with accuracy/effective and rest in a balanced way, will produce a much greater results.
Example: Commit how many hours a week for this or that. Make the schedule and count the hours.
Then test the schedule, evaluate, and revise until you find the best fit.
Do not commit to too many things. Focus on the most essential things in life.
How do we decide?
- According to Word of God and according God’s vision & gifts in your life. You don’t have to be able to do everything. Do the best on your part & trust God for the rest.
- Counsel from trusted mature godly people who knows your life (you must be open about your life)
By Zenko
