Purpose Driven Life - Planned for God's Pleasure

Quotes I liked:

"God did not need to create you, but he chose to create you for his own enjoyment. You exist for his benefit, his glory, his purpose, and his delight."

"Bringing enjoyment to God, living for his pleasure, is the first purpose of your life. When you fully understand this truth, you will never agin have a problem with feeling insignificant."

"...worship is a universal urge...an inbuilt need to connect with God...If we fail to worship God, we always find a substitute...The reason God made us with this desire is that he desires worshipers!"

"Worship is a lifestyle."

"If you have ever said, 'I didn't get anything out of worship today,' you worshiped for the wrong reason. Worship isn't for you. It's for God."

"Every activity can be transformed into an act of worship when you do it for the praise, glory, and pleasure of God."

"This is the secret to a lifestyle of worship--doing everything as if you were doing it for Jesus."

Today's Point to Ponder is "I was planned for God's pleasure."

Today's Verse to Remember is "The LORD takes pleasure in his people." Psalm 149:4a (TEV)

Today's Question to Consider is "What common task could I start doing as if I were doing it directly for Jesus?"

What about keeping my house clean. Doing the dishes before they pile up, taking the garbage out, not leaving a mess, etc... Not having a clean house prohibits a person from having people over which in turn can be a hindrance to true fellowship. When normal every day tasks are done as if doing it for the Lord then God is freed up to use seemingly ordinary parts of life to accomplish extraordinary things.

Purpose Driven Life - The Reason for Everything

The title of today's chapter is "The Reason for Everything."

This is a great chapter. Why creation? It glorifies God!

Quotes I liked:

"It's all for him."

"The ultimate goal of the universe is to show the glory of God."

"What is the glory of God?...God's glory is the expression of his goodness and all his other intrinsic, eternal qualities."

"Where is the glory of God?...Everything created by God reflects his glory in some way."

"God's glory is best seen in Jesus Christ...God's inherent glory is what he posses because he is God. It is his nature."

"We are commanded to recognize his glory, honor his glory, declare his glory, praise his glory, reflect hist glory, and live his glory."

"Jesus told the Father, "I brought glory to you here on earth by doing everything you told me to do." Jesus honored God by fulfilling his purpose on earth. We honor God the same way."

"There are many ways to bring glory to God, but they can be summarized in God's five purposes for your life...here is an overview:

We bring God glory by worshiping him...Worship is a lifestyle of enjoying God, loving him, and giving ourselves to be used for his purposes. When you use your life for God's glory, everything you do can become an act of worship...

We bring God glory by loving other believers...Following Christ is not just a matter of believing; it also includes belonging and learning to love the family of God...Paul said, 'Accept each other just as Christ has accepted you; then God will be glorified.'...

We bring God glory by becoming like Christ...Spiritual maturity is becoming like Jesus in the way we think, feel, and act. The more you develop Christlike character, the more you will bring glory to God. The Bible says, 'As the Spirit of the Lord works within us, we become more and more like him and reflect his glory even more.'...

We bring God glory by serving others with our gifts...God didn't give you your abilities for selfish purposes. They were given to benefit others, just as others were given abilities for your benefits...

We bring God glory by telling others about him...This is a great privilege--introducing others to Jesus, helping them discover their purpose, and preparing them for their eternal destiny. The Bible says, 'As God's grace brings more and more people to Christ,...God will receive more and more glory.'"

"Living the rest of your life for the glory of God will require a change in your priorities, your schedule, your relationships, and everything else."


Today's Point to Ponder is "It's all for him."

Today's Verse to Remember is "For everything comes from God alone. Everything lives by his power, and everything is for his glory." Romans 11:36 (LB)

Today's Question to Consider is "Where in my daily routine can I become more aware of God's glory?"

In a sense today's chapter goes right along with my SOAP study because what it all comes down to is glorifying God. Every time we glorify God we make him look good to the rest of the world. The question is "Where in my daily routine can I become more aware of God's glory?," but I have to ask "Does every part of my daily routine reflect God's glory?" I see the value of trying to narrow it down so here is my answer. I need to make sure I am reflecting more of God's glory to my family.

I've said it before, but when it comes to family they seem to be the ones to get all the leftovers. I need to be more aware of giving them the choice cuts. When God is reflected to my family, we in turn can reflect/glorify God as a family unit.

Father, please help me to do a better job of glorifying you to my family and through my family.

Purpose Driven Life - Life is a Temporary Assignment

The title of today's chapter is "Life is a Temporary Assignment"

This was a great reminder that all the material stuff here on earth isn't what really matters.

Quotes I liked:

"Life on earth is a temporary assignment."

"To make the best use of your life, you must never forget two truths: First, compared with eternity, life is extremely brief. Second, earth is only a temporary residence."

"Repeatedly the Bible compares life on earth to temporarily living in a foreign land."

"God says his children are to think differently about life from the way unbelievers do."

"Your identity is in eternity, and your homeland is in heaven."

"When we flirt with temptations of this world, God calls it spiritual adultery."

"God warns us to net get too attached to what's around us because it is temporary."

"Only as we remember that life is a test, a trust, and a temporary assignment will the appeal of [worldly things] loser their grip on our lives. We are preparing for something even better."

"The fact that earth is not our ultimate home explains why, as followers of Jesus, we experience difficulty, sorrow and rejection in this world."

"In order to keep us from becoming too attached to earth, God allows us to feel a significant amount of discontent and dissatisfaction in life--longings that will never be fulfilled on this side of eternity."

"Realizing that life on earth is just a temporary assignment should radically alter your values. Eternal values, not temporal ones, should become the deciding factors for your decisions."

"The abundant life has nothing to do with material abundance, and faithfulness to God does not guarantee success in a career or even ministry. Never focus on temporary crowns."

"Your time on earth is not the complete story of your life. You must wait until heaven for the rest of the chapters. It takes faith to life on earth as a foreigner."

"At death you won't leave home--you'll go home."


Today's Point to Ponder is "The world is not my home."

Today's Verse to Remember is "So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." 2 Corinthians 4:18 (NIV).

Today's Question to Consider is "How should the fact that life on earth is just a temporary assignment change the way I am living right now?"

It is way to easy to allow what this life has to offer to be the only thing that fills my view. Yes, even as a pastor it is easy to get caught up in this world, sometimes without even knowing it. I admit, there are a lot of fun things this world offers. Money for instance. Money is fun. Spending money is more fun. There is no doubt about it. Once you have it it can become very addicting. There other things as well.

So it is hard to keep one's mind on eternal things. I've tried to get this same concept across by using an illustration. Your life is a large red dot. Eternity is a large red line that has no ending. If I place that red dot right in front of me it is going to be huge. The closer I am to it the more it fills my view, but as I slowly back away from it and I begin to take notice of the line of eternity, the further I get from the dot the smaller and smaller it becomes until finally it has disappeared and only the line remains. This is our life. It is insignificant compared to eternity.

So how do I allow this view to affect my life right now? This is the view that I am supposed to have as a pastor, but unfortunately I don't always have it. I can't tell you how many times I have had teens come into our youth group and I have let them go without personally talking to them about Christ. Why? Because there were other "more important" things to do!! I lost sight of the life. I thought that what I was doing at the moment was the most important thing instead of realizing that sharing the Gospel with these teens (and hopefully introducing them to Christ).

I have a number of teens right now who don't know God personally. Just the other day I took the time to talk to one of them. I need to take the time and talk to all of them. What's the most important thing? Seeing them go to heaven.

As a pastor I sometimes place my work before my family. A couple of times Tami has commented about how I have taken a SOAP study or one of these chapters from the Purpose Driven Life and only applied it to "the teens." (As you can see, I did it again). She has reminded me that I have a couple of teens and younger children as well. If I can't help my own children get to eternity then I probably won't be that effective in helping others get to heaven either.

So this eternal view really begins in the home and extends outward. I need to see the "big picture" with my kids. Many times I only see the here and now. The chore that wasn't done. The word or deed that was said or done in a disrespectful manner. The attitude. I look at all of these things in the here and now instead of viewing them against eternity. Some of the things I get upset are just not that important in the long run. Other things I get upset for need to be gotten upset for, but I get upset for the wrong reasons.

If I approach life as a humanist (man being the center) then I am a humanist and I will teach my children to be humanists, but if I approach life as a Christian (God being in the center) then I will teach my children to be Christians. I think that is what it really comes down to and what Rick is talking about. Francis Shaeffer pretty much says the same thing in his book The Christian Manifesto. These are really the only two worldviews that exists. Either God is in the center of our lives and we have this eternal view or we are in the center of our lives and we have a temporal view. I want to maintain the eternal view. God needs to be the center.

Purpose Driven Life - Seeing Life from God's View

Today's chapter is titled "Seeing Life from God's View"

Quotes that stuck out are:

"The way you see your life shapes your life."

"How you define life determines your destiny. Your perspective will influence how you invest your time, spend your money, use your talents, and value your relationships."

"If I asked how you pictured life, what would come to your mind? That image is your life metaphor."

"The Bible offers...metaphors...Life is a test, life is a trust..."

"Life on earth is a Test...God continually tests people's character, faith, obedience, love, integrity, and loyalty...Character is both developed and revealed by tests, and all of life is a test. You are always being tested...You will be tested by major changes, delayed promises, impossible problems, unanswered prayers, undeserved criticism, and even senseless tragedies...God tests my faith through problems, tests my hope by how I handle possessions, and tests my love through people...When you understand that life is a test, you realize that nothing is insignificant in your life...Every day is an important day, and every second is a growth opportunity to deepen your character, to demonstrate love, or to depend on God...The good news is that God wants you to pass the tests of life, so he never allows the tests you face to be greater than the grace he gives you to handle them."

"Life on earth is a Trust...Our time on earth and our energy, intelligence, opportunities, relationships, and resources are all gifts from God that he has entrusted to our care and management...We never really own anything during our brief stay on earth. God just loans the earth to us while we're here...The first job God gave humans was to manage and take care of God's "stuff" on earth...Everything we enjoy is to be treated as a trust that God has placed in our hands...Our culture says, "If you don't own it, you won't take care of it." But Christians live by a higher standard: "Because God owns it, I must take the best care of it that I can"...At the end of your life on earth you will be evaluated and rewarded according to how well you handled what God entrusted to you."

"Most people fail to realize that money is both a test and a trust from God...God says there is a direct relationship between how I use my money and the quality of my spiritual life. How I mange my money ("worldly wealth") determines how much God can trust me with spiritual blessings ("true riches").

Today's Point to Ponder is "Life is a test and a trust."

Today's Verse to Remember is "Unless you are faithful in small matters, you won't be faithful in large ones." Luke 16:10a (NLT)

Today's Question to Consider is "What has happened to me recently that I now realize was a test from God? What are the greatest matters God has entrusted to me?"

I have a hard time believing that everything is a test from God but I do believe that God can use all situations to test us! If that makes sense. Every situation that I come up against is just another opportunity for God to allow my faith to be tested. Can I really pinpoint something that happened recently? That is a hard one.

Every Wednesday night is a test of faith for me. I am combating culture and sometimes I don't think I am being very effective. That is when I have to remember that there is nothing I can do to change a person's spiritual condition. I can't go up to a teen and change him or her. It is impossible. The changing really is the Holy Spirit's job. Yes, I am very privileged to be used by the Holy Spirit. What I have to be sure about is that I am living the way God wants me to live. The Holy Spirit can use my actions and words to speak to others. I have to constantly be asking myself "Am I truly reflecting Christ to those around me."

I am tested everyday. My prayer is that I pass the test, but the truth is I am not going to pass every test and that's okay. Don't get me wrong. I shouldn't purposely fail the test, but if I could pass every test that comes along I wouldn't be in need of Jesus. Yes, God doesn't let me endure anything that I can't handle, but I can only handle it when I place my trust in Christ.

So the greatest matter God has entrusted to me is how I live out my relationship with Him. I want to be an instrument used by God to help people see Jesus, introduce them to him, and help them grow in their relationship with him. I do this by making sure God is my continued focus, my very life. I shape myself according to what the Bible says and the example Jesus set. God has called me to work with the teens and I want to be a shape they can emulate. Paul said in one of his letters that those he wrote to should imitate him as he imitates the Lord. I would like to be able to say that to the teens. "Do what I do as I do what Jesus does."

Father, I want to pass the tests of life. I know that the only way I can do this is by your power. Help me to be like Jesus. You have entrusted me with this purpose and in turn you have entrusted me with being an example to teenagers. Help me to be the teacher you would have me to be. I do this for your glory. Amen.

Purpose Driven Life - Made to Last Forever

Quotes that stuck out are:

"You have an inborn instinct that longs for immortality. This is because God designed you, in his image, to live for eternity."

"The Bible calls your earthly body a 'tent,' but refers to your future body as a 'house.'" (2 Cor. 5:1)

"When you fully comprehend that there is more to life than just here and now, and you realize that life is just preparation for eternity, you will begin to live differently. you will start living in light of eternity, and that will color how you handle every relationship, task, and circumstance. Suddenly many activities, goals, and even problems that seemed so important will appear trivial, petty, and unworthy of your attention. The closer you life to God, the smaller everything else appears."

"To make the most of your life, you must keep the vision of eternity continually in your mind and the value of it in your heart."

Today's Point to Ponder is "There is more to life than just her and now."

Today's Verse to Remember is "This world is fading away, along with everything it craves. But if you do the will of God, you will live forever." 1 John 2:17 (NLT)

Today's Question to Consider is "Since I was made to last forever, what is the one thing I should stop doing and the one thing I should start doing today?"

How about quit focusing on myself, my desires...what gratifies me, and focus on God, his desires and what gratifies him. For instance. I could make sure that my work is done, and done to the best of my ability, before I watch a TV show.

Father, I am a very selfish person seeking my own pleasure before anything else. Please help me to change my focus and seek to please you before anything else.

Purpose Driven Life - What Drives Your Life?

Today's chapter is titled "What Drives Your Life?"

A few (or a lot) of quotes that stuck out are:

"Everyone's life is driven by something."

"There are hundreds of circumstances, values, and emotions that can drive your life. Here are fieve of the most common ones...

Many people are driven by guilt...Guilt-driven people are manipulated by memories. They allow their past to control their future...We are products of our past, but we don't have to be prisoners of it. God's purpose is not limited by your past.

Many people are driven by resentment and anger...Instead of releasing their pain through forgiveness, they rehearse it over and over in their minds...Resentment always hurts you more than it does the person you resent...Those who have hurt you in the past cannot continue to hurt you now unless you hold on to the pain through resentment...For your own sake, learn from it, and then let it go.

Many people are driven by fear...Fear is a self-imposed prison that will keep you from becoming what God intends for you to be.

Many people are driven by materialism. Their desire to acquire becomes the whole goal of their lives...Possessions only provide temporary happiness...Self-worth and net worth are not the same. Your value is not determined by your valuables, and God says the most valuable things in life are not things!...Real security can only be found in that which can never be taken from you--your relationship with God.

Many people are driven by the need for approval. They allow the expectations of parents or spouses or children or teachers or friends to control their lives...Others are driven by peer pressure, always worried by what others might think. Unfortunately, those who follow the crowd usually get lost in it. I don't know all the keys to success, but one key to failure is to try to please everyone."

"There are other forces that can drive your life but all lead to the same dead end: unused potential, unnecessary stress, and an unfulfilled life."

Without a purpose, life is motion without meaning, activity without direction, and events without reason. Without a purpose, life is trivial, petty and pointless."

"There are five great benefits of living a purpose-driven life:

Knowing your purpose gives meaning to your life...Without God, life has no purpose, and without purpose, life has not meaning. Without meaning, life has no significance or hope.

Knowing your purpose simplifies your life. It defines what you do and what you don't do...Without clear purpose you have no foundation on which you base decisions, allocate your time, and use your resources...People who don't know their purpose try to do too much--and that causes stress, fatigue, and conflict...If you can't get it all done, it means you're trying to do more than God intended for you to do (or, possibly, that you're watching too much television).

Knowing your purpose focuses your life. It concentrates your effort and energy on what's important. You become effective by being selective...Without a clear purpose, you will keep changing directions, jobs, relationships, churches, or other externals--hoping each change will settle the confusion or fill the emptiness in your heart...Never confuse activity with productivity.

Knowing your purpose motivates your life. Purpose always produces passion. Nothing energizes like a clear purpose.

Knowing your purpose prepares you for eternity...What people fail to realize is that all achievements are eventually surpassed, records are broken, reputations fade, and tributes are forgotten...You weren't put on earth to be remembered. You were put here to prepare for eternity."

"One day you will stand before God...From the Bible we can surmise that God will ask us two crucial questions..."What did you do with my Son, Jesus Christ?"..."What did you do with what I gave you?"

Today's Point to Ponder is "Living on purpose is the path to peace."

Today's Verse to Remember is "You, Lord, give perfect peace to those who keep their purpose firm and put their trust in you." Isaiah 26:3 (TEV)

Today's Question to Consider is "What would my family and friends say is the driving force of my life? What do I want it to be?"

I think this is a great question. Unfortunately for me whether I am or not most people see God as a driving force in my life. I mean come one, I'm a pastor!!! The whole reason why anyone goes into the ministry is because of God, right?!

My family on the other hand might say something a little different. They see me at my best...when I'm tired, grouchy, wanting to be left alone. I do try to let God drive, but honestly, I fight between two driving forces. On the one hand I want God to be my driving force and on the other hand I often let my selfish nature do the driving.

I can see how purpose drives a life. It is a whole lot easier to get up in the morning when there is something to motivate me. That something is a purpose. I really enjoy blogging. I am motivated to spend time with God through it. It takes different things for different people.

As far as life goes. I want to be that person that can't wait to get up in the morning because today is another day to share Christ with the world. I'm not completely there yet, but I hope to one day be close.

Purpose Driven Life - You Are Not An Accident

Today's chapter is titled "You Are Not An Accident."

A few quotes that stuck out are:

"You are alive because God wanted to create you!"

"God prescribed every single detail of your body. He deliberately chose your race, the color of your skin, you hair, and every other feature. He custom-made your body just the way he wanted it. He also determined the natural talents you would possess and the uniqueness of your personality. The Bible says, 'You know me inside and out, you know every bone in my body; You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit, how I was sculpted from nothing into something.'"

"While there are illegitimate parents, there are no illegitimate children. Many children are unplanned by their parents, but they are not unplanned by God. God's purpose took into account human error, and even sin."

"God's motive for creating you was his love. The Bible says, 'Long before he laid down earth's foundations, he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love.'"

"You were created as a special object of God's love! God made you so he could love you. This is a truth to build your life on."

"Love is the essence of God's character. There is perfect love in the fellowship of the Trinity, so God didn't need to create you. He wasn't lonely! But he wanted to make you in order to express his love."

Today's Point to Ponder is "I am not an accident."

Today's Verse to Remember is Isaiah 44:2

Today's Question to Consider is "I know that God uniquely created me. What areas of my personality, background, and physical appearance am I struggling to accept?"

I have to say. This is sort of a hard chapter for me. I spend a great deal of time stressing our free will and have not thought a whole lot about how much of a role God has played in making me. It is comforting to know that God is in control, but I could see someone looking at this saying "If God is in control then why was a born into such a crappy life?" The person who is abused and neglected by their parents may not take much comfort in this knowledge.

I was born into an abusive situation. My father was an alcoholic and didn't clean up until I was around 8 years old. Before he married my adopted mom I was the object of his wrath. All the stress that built up inside of him was released on me. Honestly, I don't remember being abused. I think my mind has shoved it all out. I remember bits and pieces of being punished. Maybe it was unusually harsh. I don't know, I have nothing to compare it with.

I spent some time in foster homes and even lived with my grandmother for awhile. Do I hate my father? On the contrary. I deeply love him. Even though he abused me I see a tremendous amount of love on his part that has been expressed in many different ways. Do regret being abused? I've got to believe that it has helped shape me and make me the person I am today. Yes it was unfortunate, but God can use anything including "human error, even sin."

There are definitely things about me that I am not happy with, but they all pretty much stem from my sinful nature. I could say I am unhappy with my weight. I could console myself and say "God created me this way though," but I don't think that is telling the truth. Yes God created me and if I were perfect I would not be overweight. I am sure there is an idea in God's mind of what a perfect me would look like. I'm just messing that up.

Isn't that what Rick is saying though. I know it could be easy to take this chapter and say "Look, God made me the way I am. Why should I change?", but I know that isn't Rick's intention. God created us and has the ideal "us" in mind. It is our selfish nature that has marred God's perfect idea of us. There is nothing we can do to become that perfect person. Only God can do it. This is why it is so important for us to realize that God had a hand in creating us and has created us with purpose. We need God to help us become what He has created us to be and to fulfill the purpose He has created us for.

So what do I struggle with personally? I struggle with my weight. I struggle with my selfish nature. I struggle with being skeptical to the point of pessimistic. I struggle with not being disciplined. I struggle with not allowing God to help me take care of all these things.

God, please help me to commit my life into your hands and allow You to shape and mold me into the perfect "me" you have in mind.

The Purpose Driven Life - It All Starts with God

I have had mixed emotions about Rick Warren's book "The Purpose Driven Life." It is kind of shallow. It leaves you feeling just as good as when you watch a sermon from Joel Osteen. It doesn't say a whole lot about Jesus. It just feeds the selfish nature. Blah, blah, blah. I used to say all of that until I actually sat down and started reading it. I just want to apologize to anybody I might have said those things to.

Rick Warren wrote this book with only intention of it being useful to those in his church during the spiritual campaign the 40 Days of Purpose. He never imagined it would become a best seller. He didn't write it for the non-Christian who knows little about God or Jesus. He wrote it for the Christian.

I have decided that as I go through this book in preparation for the 40 Days of Purpose that I would respond to the question at the end of each chapter, and maybe give a little summary of the chapter itself.

Today's chapter is entitled "It All Starts with God." It begins this way, "It's not about you" and continues "The purpose of your life is far greater than your own personal fulfillment, your peace of mind, or even your own happiness."

So much for being shallow and feel good right.

A couple of other quotes that stuck out are:

"It is only in God that we discover our origin, our identity, our meaning, our purpose, our significance, and our destiny. Every other path leads to a dead end."

"This is not a self-help book. It is not about finding the right career, achieving your dreams, or planning your life. It is not about how to cram more activities into an overloaded schedule...It is about becoming what God created you to be."

"God has not left us in the dark to wonder and guess. He has clearly revealed his...purposes for our lives through the Bible."

"God is not just the starting point of your life; he is the source of it."

Today's Point to Ponder is "It's not about me."

Today's Verse to Remember is Colossians 1:16b

Today's Question to Consider is "In spite of all the advertising around me, how can I remind myself that life is really about living for God, not myself?"

This is a great question. The only reason advertising works is because it targest the very basic nature of man. It targets his selfishness and it feeds it. How can I continually remind myself that life is about living for me but God?

The classic answers at this point are spend time with God, read the Bible and pray. Let's get serious though. I'm not saying these aren't the correct answers, but they are just answers that all who call themselves Christians know. Just because we know them doesn't mean we do them. It has actually taken blogging for me to finally come to a point where I am developing the habits of spending time with God, reading His Word and talking to Him. It didn't just take the answer itself, it took a plan.

I'm only spending personal time with Him (officially) four times a week, Monday through Thursday. There are some things I have been seeing in myself since I started blogging my SOAP studies. I feel closer to God. My attitude is changing. My understanding of His Word is changing.

I'm going to open up a little bit here (and go out on a limb). I was on Myspace today checking out some of the teens pages and stuff. I will admit, there are times that some inappropriate stuff has come up on myspace. (Myspace has a pretty good policy about nudity and pornography. For the most part that stuff doesn't get in). I have felt and subcummed to the temptation to view things I shouldn't in the past. I admit it. I am a sinner. Today was different though. It was cool. I was viewing the teens' pages and the temptation arose to look around where I shouldn't. I said no and decided to do my devotion time with God. Why did I say no? I have been spending time with God and my heart is slowly being shaped and molded to look like His. I have a life time to go, but it had been molded just enough for me to resist and do what was more important.

I have come up with a plan of action that has been helping me spend personal time with God. Why? Because you are holding me accountable. I have to say this though. At first I kept doing it because I had posted on my blog that I was going to do it. Now I am doing it because I want to spend time with God and I enjoy spending time with God. Right now I am doing just four days of personal time wtih God. It will grow to seven.

So what am I saying in all of this. Yes, spending time with God is the answer, but a plan of action needs to be put in place. Not only does a plan of action need to be put in place but someone needs to hold you accountable. I didn't recieve emails yesterday wondering where my SOAP study was. I hope that never happens again. If I don't think people are reading this then it will become easy to sluff. I don't want to sluff. So please keep me accountable.

Some other ideas about trying to get myself to constantly remember that it is about God instead of me are: Do things for others without seeking recognition, and these things can be very simple small things. Constantly be looking for some way to share Christ with others, and this means understanding that sharing doesn't just happen through words but through actions as well. Developing a prayer list of people and actually pray for their needs which include not only physical needs but spiritual needs as well. We all need to take our focus off of ourselves and put it on others.