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WEEK 30 – GETTING SUPER INTENTIONAL
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WEEK 30 – GETTING SUPER INTENTIONAL
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WEEK 30 – GETTING SUPER INTENTIONAL
What Does INTENTIONALITY Really Look Like?
Alright so we talk about intentionality ALL THE TIME around here in LCA.
It’s the lifeblood of our whole mission if you think about it.
That Jesus is super duper INTENTIONAL with us, so He deserves AND WANTS for us to get super duper INTENTIONAL with Him in return…
For us to MEET HIM & reciprocate His level of INTENTIONALITY with Him.
We can’t just sit on the couch of life.
If you want something to grow, you have to get out there and plant it.
If you want to EAT! You have to go hunt or plant something and DO THE WORK THAT IT TAKES to get there, to get where you’re wanting to go.
God knows this. He created it this way. He wrote it into the very fiber and fabric of the universe & life itself.
Even bigger than that, it’s God’s very nature!
But what does INTENTIONALITY really look like when you boil it down, ya know?
I think that’s a really great & necessary question to know how to answer at the drop of a hat!
WHAT. DOES. INTENTIONALITY. REALLY. LOOK. LIKE… ?????
One of my favorite ways to describe it is with our 5 senses.
Nothing gets more personal & where the rubber meets the road, than our very own sight, smell, hearing, touch, and taste.
And when it comes to God, we talk about these senses all the time, don’t we?
“Taste & see that the Lord is good.” (PSALM 34:8)
We sing, “Open the eyes of my heart” which is taken from EPHESIANS 1:18
“I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people…”
We talk ALL THE TIME about wanting to hear God’s voice, see His glory, even that we want our worship to be a fragrant offering.
So let’s take hearing for example.
There is a BIG difference between HEARING GOD, and LISTENING FOR HIM.
#BOOOOOOM
We’re starting in on it!
Hearing the voice of God just means that you hear Him.
He could have been whispering, he could have been speaking, he could have been shouting clear to the moon to get your attention… we don’t have a clue!
But somehow, some way, God finally got your attention, and you heard Him.
But I’m sorry, that’s just not good enough for me. I want to be LISTENING for Him.
I want to taking HEARING & marry it with some INTENTIONALITY & DESIRE on my part, and shove it wholeheartedly into LISTENING for God’s voice.
I want to take SEEING & give it a violent shove into WATCHING for God to move.
WATCHING, being out on the lookout for Him.
Seeking, searching, pursuing, digging, diving, scrounging, overturning rocks.
I mean, I want to be the guy in Proverbs 2 that’s searching for HIDDEN TREASURE!
PROVERBS 2:3-5
“…if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God.”
I want to be the guy in Jeremiah 29 that God is talking to.
JEREMIAH 29:13
“You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”
I want to be the guy in Proverbs 3, with ALL MY HEART & IN ALL MY WAYS:
PROVERBS 3:5-6
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.”
I WANT TO BE LIKE PAUL in PHILIPPIANS 3:7-14 where he said:
PHILIPPIANS 3:7-14
“But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8 What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowingChrist Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in[a] Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. 10 I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead. 12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”
We have got to get super intentional about PURSUING JESUS
About pursuing our callings.
About becoming leaders & world changers:
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- in our FAMILIES
- in our BUSINESSES
- in our MINISTRIES
- in our CITIES & COUNTRIES
- in POLITICS
- in THE STREETS
- in OUR HOMES
- in OUR REAL LIVE RELATIONSHIPS
We’ve got to PURSUE growth & transformation here you guys.
Not just hearing God’s voice, but LISTENING FOR IT!
Not just seeing God, but WATCHING for Him, ON THE LOOK OUT, EYES PEELED, SEEKING HIM WITH ALL OF OUR HEARTS!
THAT’s how we’re going to hear His voice. THAT’S how we’re gonna see His face.
THAT’S how we’re going to know Him intimately & make a difference in our generation.
We’ve got to get SUPER INTENTIONAL about having a POSTURE OF PURSUIT!!!!
There is a HUGE difference between being willing to do what God asks you to do, and actually WATCHING & LISTENING for His orders & direction.
Don’t make Him chase you down. Don’t make Him shout at you because you’re so distracted by other things.
Turn it all off, quiet the rest down, get in the Word & out into nature, I mean on a regular basis… like do it every day man! Go out & PRAY! Talk with him! Listen & dialogue together.
Ask, seek, knock… THAT’S when the door will be opened to you!
MATTHEW 7:7-8
““ASK and it will be given to you; SEEK and you will find; KNOCK and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who ASKS receives; the one who SEEKS finds; and to the one who KNOCKS, the door will be opened.”
Don’t stop asking!
Don’t stop seeking!
Don’t stop knocking!
God WILL open the door for you!
He WILL make Himself known to you.
HE’S just got to be the one you’re really looking for.
HE’S got to be the one you’re really longing for.
HE’S got to be the one you’re really out here searching for.
He knows. You know what I mean… He knows.
He feels it. He sees your heart.
If you’re more all about something else, anything else… don’t you think he feels that?
If you can feel it when someone isn’t that into you, you better believe that God can feel it, and He can actually see into your heart.
And that’s not condemnation, that’s conviction.
That’s not to kick you while you’re down, that’s Jesus over there in the corner waving his arms saying don’t forget me, come back!
Come back to your first love! (like in Revelation 2, or like the prodigal son).
God is the Father longing for us to come close & stay close.
That’s why Jesus told that story in the first place.
He SO DESPERATELY wants us to know that THIS IS WHAT THE FATHER IS LIKE!
He told that story about our Father God!
He wants us to know, deep down in our hearts & souls that He SO DESPERATELY LOVES US, and wants you close, EVERY DAY!
….. phew…. Lord help us today…
But it’s not even just enough for that to be the message.
Because we have this great moment with Jesus & then we’re back to it again going off on our own way. Haha, God is so patient with us.
But I don’t want that for you.
I want to give you some legs to walk on, some steps you can take to actually change your life so that you can make sure to STAY with Jesus, to KEEP Him as your #1 pursuit!
It’s all about what we talk about all the time… it’s all about LIFESTYLE & these CORE Values & CORE DISCIPLINES.
It’s all about what we fill our thoughts & days & lives with.
Fill your days with these pursuing God things, and you’ll find Him & stay close with Him, just like a marriage.
IN A MARRIAGE, if you fill your time with dates & loving on each other, you’re going to be super close & connected & it’s going to be amazing.
But fill it with business & friends, & running around, and watching the TV & never prioritizing each other, and somebodies going to get hurt, and it’s not going to be pretty.
You’re going to feel neglected & your connection is going to suffer immensely because of it.
It’s the same way with God.
It’s all about PRIORITIES. It’s all about PURSUIT. It’s all about keeping HIM the thing in your heart that you LONG FOR & PURSUE all the days of your life.
THAT’S how you keep the connection alive… you fill you days with dates with God!
So here we are at the altar.
Here we are with tears streaming down our faces, hearts pounding, and broken before the Lord.
SO thankful for His love. SO thankful for His grace & His mercy & His love that just keeps drawing us back to intimacy with Him.
But this time, let’s pray… LORD, help me actually make some changes to my life & LIFESTYLE, so that I start to follow this structure & discipline.
Because I actually want to.
Because it’s actually freedom to me now.
Because I understand now that to truly love something or someone, you actually have to rearrange yourself around them.
I actually have to melt apart & wrap my whole being & schedule & life & LIFESTYLE around you if I really love you. The proof is in my pursuit. The proof is in my lifestyle.
But my heart really does want you close, so help me walk it out Lord.
The outcome of whether I keep in step with you and stay with you all the days of my life, it’s determined by me actually changing my LIFESTYLE TODAY & letting you DEEP into my heart, DEEP into my life, DEEP into my calendar & my real life pursuits!
If pursuing you doesn’t actually show up in my days from here on out then I haven’t changed a thing.
Here’s the one liner that will help you remember this:
IF I WANT TO STAY CLOSE TO GOD, I’VE GOT TO PURSUE HIM EVERY DAY!
Say that to yourself out loud with me 3 times.
-
IF I WANT TO STAY CLOSE TO GOD, I’VE GOT TO PURSUE HIM EVERY DAY!
-
IF I WANT TO STAY CLOSE TO GOD, I’VE GOT TO PURSUE HIM EVERY DAY!
-
IF I WANT TO STAY CLOSE TO GOD, I’VE GOT TO PURSUE HIM EVERY DAY!
Lord, help me change what my days look like. What my calendar looks like. I want my days to be full of pursuing you, because I want them to be full of intimacy with you.
And I’ve got to rearrange my life around YOU if you’re really what I want!
Lord help me do THAT, in Jesus’ name!
QUESTIONS TO ASK YOURSELF
- What are some of the things in your calendar that just really need to drop out of it?
- What are some times in your day that just really need to become you and God time?
- Where are some places that already come to mind that you really want to go to with God? Places you can go to on a regular basis. (a hike, a prayer room, your favorite window, your Church, just in the Word anywhere, nature, etc.)
- How are you going to LOOK FOR, WATCH FOR, & LISTEN FOR Jesus from here on out? (time in the Word, time in prayer, time asking Him real questions, getting a mentor/accountability partner, etc.)
- What needs to stop & what needs to start in your calendar in order for you to rearrange your life around what matters most to you? (could be simple things, could be big things, just what are you hearing from God that is necessary to align with getting good quality intimate time with Him?)
SCRIPTURE
PHILIPPIANS 3:7-14 / PSALM 34:8 / EPHESIANS 1:18 / PROVERBS 2:3-5 / JEREMIAH 29:13 / PROVERBS 3:5-6 / MATTHEW 7:7-8
WEEKLY FOCUS
This week, read through these Scriptures each morning. Think about this idea of INTENTIONALITY, PURSUIT, & MAKING PRACTICAL DAILY SCHEDULE CHANGES.
Ask God if there are any areas in your life that you need to surrender or change in order to ALIGN YOUR LIFE & LIFESTYLE WITH PURSUING HIM.
Let this theme guide your God time all week, and even your thoughts and conversation with Him through out your days, all week long.
Let Him speak to you about this idea of GETTING INTENTIONAL, and see what He says.
We’d love to hear your feedback, so hop into the devos conversation thread in SLACK & we’re excited to see what the Lord speaks to you this week.
BLESSINGS!
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