Growing Closer to God

First off, Happy New Year Everybody! It's 2017! Can you all believe it?! I know we all have our own testimonies for 2016, but I want to encourage us all to only look back into 2016 to see where God has brought and delivered us from and not relive the past. I asked God about what He wanted me to write and inspire His people about this year before the year officially started and He put it on my heart to write about Growing Closer to Him. I believe this is a great topic for me to write about because I've had experience and still am experiencing growth and trials in this department. So as I was studying for this post, I asked Him, "God, what does it take to live for you, what does it take for us to live for Jesus?" And The Holy Spirit led my mind to the words dedication (which brings discipline), perseverance, and faithfulness/faith. I am not saying these are the only things one needs to live for God, but they are a start. So, here it is. Three things that one must have and/or be in order to live for Jesus (in no particular order):

1). Dedication (which calls for discipline)

2). Perseverance and

3). Faithfulness/Faith

Let's start with dedication by looking at its definition and why it exactly calls for discipline:

(Def.) Dedication: The state of being dedicated and which being dedicated means to be wholly committed to something.

Let's Apply It!

Growing closer to God and living for Him means to simply be wholly and fully committed to Him. This calls for discipline because in order to be dedicated to something or someone you have to be disciplined. You have to be disciplined in spending time with Him, in asking for His permission to do things, in truly living for Him, etc. Discipline is simply doing what you said or what you have to do when you don't feel like doing it. Will you still spend time with God even when you've had a long day and you're dead tired? Are you willing to wake up earlier in order to spend time with Him because you just can't find the time to later in the day?

Let's look at what the bible has to say about discipline. In 1 Corinthians 9:27 Paul is speaking and he says, "Instead, I discipline my body and bring it under strict control, so that after preaching to others, I myself will not be disqualified."

Paul understands and realizes that he is a leader in Christ and as a leader, he must "live out" what he preaches. He understands that he has to discipline his body in order to not sacrifice being qualified. It's his responsibility to not be a hypocrite, to not preach and lead others to do one thing and then turn around and do the opposite when he's not around others. What does it mean to "discipline your body" to you? I believe it means that we have to become disciplined in practicing what we preach. Sounds simple enough, right? The truth is it sounds more simple than actually doing it is. You must discipline your body to live for Jesus. 1 Peter 4:3 says: For there has already been enough time spent doing the will of the pagans; carrying on unrestrained behavior, evil desire, drunkenness, orgies, carousing, and lawless idolatry. In other words, this scripture is saying that you've spent too much time and suffered in the flesh for too long. When will you live for God's will and not for human desires? When will enough be enough and you decide to become disciplined in the same things you suffered in the flesh for? We have to get intentional about living for God and take up our cross. We have to walk this walk with Him and decide (because God gives us a choice) to discipline our bodies and get serious about living for Him. The truth is Jesus is going to come back for us, the question is: will you be ready for His return?

The next characteristic that one must have in order to live for Jesus is Perseverance:

(Def.) Perseverance: Steady persistence in a purpose in spite of difficulties, obstacles, or discouragement.

We have to be purpose oriented. God gave each of us a purpose to fulfill in our life here on earth and it is our job to seek it and be persistent in seeking it. When I think of perseverance, I think of pushing through. When we have the dedication and you're intentional about living for God, we are able to persevere or "push" through these things. We have to give this walk with God our very all. Just as we pursue relationships here on earth, we are to pursue our relationship with Jesus even more. He's the only one who can keep us centered. Persevering through our relationship with Him is worth it. We live in a world where everybody wants to be somebody else's "Ride or Die." What?! What happened to us being God's Ride or Die?! Why are we so "down" for people who have the ability to hurt us whenever they want to (including our friends, I'm not just talking about relationships with our spouses), but then think twice about going on this ride called life with God? It's time to get serious about this walk with God; so serious that we're pushing through it no matter if what's in front of us is easy or hard to deal with. What's on the other side of this is so much better than what we can see.

Ephesians 6:18 says, "With every prayer and request, pray at all times in the Spirit, and stay alert in this, with all perseverance with intercession for all the saints." I want to highlight where Paul says, "stay alert in this, with all perseverance." The word alert means to be fully aware and attentive. We have to be fully aware and attentive in our walk with God because being alert also means being intentional and purposeful. It's important to stay alerted in our walk with God because being alert births perseverance.

The next characteristic that we need to live for God is Faith/Faithfulness:

(Def.) Faith: The confidence or trust in a person or thing; having full assurance of.

We as believers, have to trust God and believe in Him because of faith. I can guarantee you that without faith, you are limited. You limit what God can do in your life. You set him up to and give him standards that are limited to this world and He's so much bigger than this world. When you lack faith, you live this world worrying. Worrying about things that if you'd have faith in God and give your burden to Him, you wouldn't have to worry about. You don't worry because you realize that our God is much BIGGER than what we go through. He can do the unthinkable -- we literally can not think about all that He is able to do -- and so you soon start to realize that you'll be better off having faith in what He can do rather than be worrying about what will happen, or what you THINK is impossible for Him to do. You can't handle it by yourself. This world is brutal and we need God to help bring us through it. We must have faith in Him. It's Him who can bring us through our trials. It's Him who can bring us to our destiny. He takes our burdens. Being in school, I hear so many people complaining and struggling with not knowing what to do with their careers or life. Do you know that if you had a relationship with God when you ask Him, He'll lead you to your purpose? When you seek out your purpose on this earth, God will guide you. When we are not living for God, we are not in alignment with Him and in order to be in alignment with the Father, we must, WE MUST, trust the process and have faith in what He's doing in our lives. 2 Timothy 2:12-13 says, "if we endure, we will also reign with Him; if we deny Him, He will also deny us; if we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself."

Let's take a look at what the bible has to say about faith. First, let's look at the book of Hebrews. Hebrews 10:22 says, "let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed in pure water."

2 Timothy 1:12 says, "and that is why I suffer these things. But I am not ashamed, because I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to guard what has been entrusted to me until that day."

Ephesians 6:16 reads, " In every situation take the shield of faith, and with it you will be able to extinguish the flaming arrows of the evil one."

God stays true to His promises; whatever He promised over our lives shall come to pass! He's so worth being trusted in, you guys! He's worth every last bit of the faith you have. I wrote about a time when I had to trust in God: I will link it here. I believe that God is looking to bless those who are willing to have a relationship with Him, have faith in Him, and walk with Him until the wheels literally fall off. We have to put ALL of our faith into Him, not half of it. The Bible says, " Now if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives to all generously and without criticizing, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith doubting. For the doubter is like the surging sea, driven and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. An indecisive man is unstable in all his ways (James 1:5-8). Are you indecisive in your walk with God? Do you believe in Him one day and not the next? As I mentioned earlier, God stays true to His word and we can not doubt God; there are consequences for doubting Him. Doubting Him and lack of faith blocks what God can do in your life. If we limit Him to this world, we sacrifice Him not fully being able to "work" in our lives.

Let's decide to have a dedication for God and remain disciplined in our walk with Him. When we push or persevere through this walk with Him, we open up our lives to receive the very blessing that God has had for us ever since we were born. However, we must remember to not be doubled minded in all our ways and trust in Him. Our faith MUST be indestructible.

God has an everlasting love for His children and He loves you like nooo other!

XOXO, Gerri D.