Live Intentionally

Live Intentionally

      What does it mean to live intentionally? It means living purposely to be like Christ. It means living life with a passion to live for Jesus and not for the world. The world is temporary and Jesus is eternal, Earthly things don't matter as much as spiritual living. Live life with a purpose to glorify God with your actions and love. This doesn't mean we can't make mistakes and we have to be perfect. If God wanted us to never make a mistake then we would have an instruction manual on how to live. Although the bible is like a guide on how to live like Christ did. The bible is also filled with the mistakes of everyone, the doubts, and the struggles but besides all that it's full of redemption, grace, salvation, resurrection, new birth, and much more. 

        Living intentionally doesn't mean you have to have a purpose for everything and make everything perfect. It's the mindset that counts, it's what you're giving to God each day. It's what you ask God to release from you so you can glorify Him. Christianity is about Sacrifice but good sacrifice. You sacrifice the Earthy things to gain so much greater things, including Heaven. What if we think that we don't have a purpose or that we live just to get through the day barely? You have to push those lies away, you have a purpose, God put you on this Earth for a reason. 

           We need to live with a passion for living for Christ. It goes back to dying to yourself and dying to worldly things. Living life stuck in the gap of wanting Jesus but wanting other things more than Him. Like for example this week I've watched way too much Netflix when that time could have been used to seek what God has to say.  In tough times it can be super hard to get out of wanting Netflix more than wanting to read the bible. When we chose God over temptation it's so much more fulfilling. Each time you get lost in something worldly and come back to Jesus its like restoration of our souls. If it is so much more fulfilling why don't we chose it more often? I think it's hard to talk to God when the world is in a Pandemic. It's hard to know that a God that is almighty and powerful isn't stopping it from happening. This isn't the case but it's what we feel in the hard times. God isn't allowing it to purposely cause us distress, he's using it to test our faith in Him. If God never put you through trials you wouldn't see miracles, and how powerful He can use an evil situation for good. 

          I can think of sometimes when I wasn't living like Christ would. Like somedays I just don't feel like helping anyone with anything. Somedays the nerve pain hits and I want to do absolutely nothing. Sometimes emotions block me wanting to spend time with God. I think everyone has had those moments. We can be on fire for Him one minute and the next, feel empty, and needing refilling. We have all hit the moment of just feeling empty and depleted like we have nothing left to do anything. I think those are the most important times to press into God. When depression hits hard, when anxiety is sky high, when emotional/Physical pain hurts too much, and when the weight of the world feels heavy, those are the times when we need God the most.
       You can still live for Jesus and feel weary, tired, stressed, pained, and more. God will still love you and use you for his glory. We can have so much pain and trauma, we can let it kill us inside or we can tell about how much Jesus was in your life through it all. You can talk about how God still believed you could overcome when you had given up. God was the reason you got up and kept trying. He's the reason that you can tell your story, don't hide your story because it gives others the light of Christ to share their similarities. Living a hard life still gives you the ability to live with intention of Glorifying God, because He brought you through it.
         Living with intention frees you from being bonded to worldly temptation. Living intentionally means you have a purpose behind the life you live. You want God to be in your life. Just remember living like Christ would want us to doesn't mean we will do and say everything perfectly. It means we understand that with taking on Christ as our savior we get grace, mercy, salvation, love, hardship, and more. It means that we accept God's unconditional love for us, we also learn to spread his love to ourselves and others. We use the bible to guide our stepping stones to Heaven. We don't live for the Earth we live for Heaven. When we live intentionally it doesn't mean we try to earn our way to Heaven with righteous deeds. It means that we shape our identity in Christ, and become a reborn version of ourselves.
      Keep pressing into God and ask Him how you can live more like Him. Ask Him what areas in your life you struggle with and are stubborn about changing yourself. Reach out to God even when you don't want to, It's healing and God loves hearing his children. Ask God to reveal what He sees you as, when you know how much God loves it, it can change your perspective on living life. Open your heart, close your eyes, take away the distractions, and come to Him. Live for Him, not the world. He has far better plans for your life.