Didn’t plan on making a part two… but after a night of sleeping on some of the meat of the retreat I felt compelled to share some of the thoughts that struck me and some things that have been stirring in my heart.
The word intentional has been one that a good friend of mine has been saying a lot, in fact it was her chosen word of the year. The word has been rolling around in my heart and mind since January and during retreat the speaker spoke of the word and then shared from a passage in the Bible and my heart became very burdened.
Sunday the Bible text was 2 Timothy chapter 1. The concept that was being shared was “one family can change the world”. The text is talking about a mother and grandmother that had “sincere faith” and they shared it with their son/grandson Timothy. According o the 1828 Webster’s Dictionary the word sincere means : pure, a honey that has no wax, being in reality what is assumes to be. The words sincere and radical have the same meanings. The grandmother Lois and mother Eunice lived lives of transformation and transparency that left a lasting example for Timothy.
My heart was burdened and I started thinking about my life… Am I leaving foot prints for my children that lead them daily to the cross? Is my life a living example of what it means to burn for the Lord? When people look at me do the see a warrior that is rightly representing the gospel of Christ?
In the same text it talks about the fact that I have all the needed “equipment” to live… power, love, self control, and discipline… and of all of those God did not give me a spirit of fear. If I allow myself to feel fear than I am not tapped into the source of my life. Granted I might not walk around saying that I am fearful, however when I acknowledge discouragement I have simply dressed up fear by using another word. That hit me hard… I don’t say that I am fearful but I know that often I say and feel discouraged. The word discouraged means without courage, which is the opposite of faith. How can I call myself a child of God when I choose the characteristic of being without courage when God is the source for all.
God has deposited into my life account everything that I need the very moment that he died and rose from the dead. My life account can never be over drawn, but I can at times forget to withdraw. What makes me less than willing to with draw from His power? Is it fear? If it is than I am not being intentional in my walk and therefore that means that my foot prints are leading astray.
Lord give me a home with Christ at the core. Lord give me a life with Christ at the core.Lord help me to be intentional in my drive!
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