Be Intentional For Christ!

Definition of ‘Intentional’ – Being deliberate; doing something on purpose; a voluntary action done deliberately; determination to act a certain way.

Have you ever done something intentionally?

      Have you ‘intentionally’ followed directions even though it appeared you were lost?

      Have you ‘intentionally’ followed the bosses direction even though you could not see the outcome?

      Have you ‘intentionally’ taught your children how to act – yet not knowing if they would really act the way you have shown them?

As you can tell from these questions; we make ‘intentional’ decisions every day and follow them through even though we don’t know the outcome. That is because we were born to live on purpose – intentionally -  in this world through the Power of Christ! That is why it is so important to understand what we believe and why we must believe it and live it out!

Living intentionally in the Power of Christ is a place of freedom, purpose and peace! God designed our plan so that we would have those things - but we MUST choose to live intentionally to get them!

Joyce Meyer has a quote that I love …”You can’t walk in love for free…it costs something.”

Philippians 3:10-14

I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead. 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. 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, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

It costs us this life to live free and live intentionally. However, the love of Christ is worth the life! Paul explains in this verse that coming to 'know' Christ makes us intentional! He goes on to explain that it is a work in progress and plays out over time and ends when we are called home to be with Christ. We should NEVER give up on our Faith in Christ! Paul tells us to press on toward the goal to win the prize! LIVE intentionally in this life for JESUS! 

There is no way to show we really believe in Christ BUT by being intentional in our faith. That is how we really begin to see God at work in our lives. We see Him authenticating what the Bible says in our daily life!  He uses that intentionality in our lives to show others the way to Him!

Pressing into Christ leads us to levels that are not understood by mankind. It is a GOD THING! When our intention is to follow through and desire to live more like Him every day – to KNOW HIM and His great POWER – our decision is ALWAYS rewarded in Christ!

True believing is not an act of understanding Christ only – but a work of the whole heart in giving that act of understanding away to others! This brings much glory to the Lord because He is the one that is doing the work- through us and around us! We have no idea how He is using us and our lives for Him – when we are living out life intentionally!

Here is a formula for this!

Faith + Believing = Intentionality

This formula can be illustrated by thinking about a plant in the ground that is thriving, growing and producing. The life of a Christian that is active in Faith is the same way!

The roots are VERY deep below the ground…this is a picture of our Faith! The Bible says we are rooted in Christ! Colossians 2:7 rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.

Believing is the plant itself that is grown from the roots! We are ALIVE in Christ when we take our faith and give it ACTION! The Bible says we are ALIVE!  Romans 6:11 In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.

Being ‘Intentional’ is the flower and the fruit! The Bible says The ONLY way we will bear fruit is to be in Him – GROWING! We will be known by our fruit! John 15:5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. John 15:8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

We must be determined to live out our purpose before God! We have to have a sense of ‘intentionality’ in our lives where God is concerned. If we don’t - we spend our time instead just being one of many, many people in churches across the world that never move or do for God.

We should WANT to be found in Him!

This week begin discovering how to be ‘intentional’ in your walk with Christ! Be decisive about who He called you to be!

Ask Jesus to help you be more intentional in your walk with Him. He WILL DO JUST THAT!

Next week we will study the avenues God gives us to live out that intentionality!

The Power of the One and Only…

The Power of the ‘One and Only’ is the power that we need to live this life here on earth! Everything else will fail us in one way or another.

©    personal power will fail you

©    friend’s power will fail you

©    corporate power will fail you

God gives us His GREAT gift in that when we get saved – we have the POWER to change our lives through Jesus Christ. We cannot do it on our own. That is why Jesus is called the ‘ONE AND ONLY’ – there is no other. There is no other way!

How do we get this Power and what do we do with it?

John 1:12 says “Yet to all who received him, to those who believe in His name, He gave the right to become children of God.”

There is a formula here for the person that accepts Christ as Savior.

Receive + Believe = Become…

So many people in this life stop at ‘Receive’ and never get to the ‘believe and become’. They do not invest in Jesus and let Him do work in their lives.

Christians fall into three categories in this life:

©    Those that never experience belief. They ‘receive’ Christ but never do anything with it in this life. They often question everything about the Lord and never walk in the fullness of His love because they don’t move forward in their relationship with Jesus. They come to church on Sunday morning and feel as though they are walking with Jesus. They ask questions like – ‘why do we need to come to church more than one time’ or ‘why do you have to hear from Jesus’ – ‘why can’t I just live my life’. They say things like – ‘I don’t have to go to church to hear from God’ or ‘God doesn’t work in my life’. ….These folks never experience the rest of the formula for a relationship with Jesus.

©    Those that receive Jesus and believe Him but never put it into practice. They say things like – ‘I believe Him but I am not going to step out in faith’ that is for other people… or ‘I believe God in my life – but the preacher is the one that should be visiting other folks’. Their walk with Jesus becomes stationary over time because they are not actively pursuing Jesus on a daily basis. They eventually lose their closeness because there is no activity in Jesus.

©    Those that Receive Jesus and Believe Jesus and Become Jesus. These are people that these other two groups call on when things go bad in their lives. These are the people that believe Christ and have a personal relationship with Him on a daily basis. These folks run after Jesus and never want to do anything else and their lives reflect it. These folks BELIEVE that Jesus is the One and Only and invest their lives in that.

This is why John, who writes this book of the Bible, calls Jesus the ‘One and Only’. He has such a personal, beautiful walk with Jesus that he can think of Jesus and KNOW He really is the One and Only! He personally understands the formula. He received Jesus, He believed Jesus and he wanted to become more like Jesus.

Where are we in these categories? The beautiful thing is that when we receive Jesus – we receive His GRACE and the GRACE is the key that unlocks the door to the POWER that we need to live a life in Him.

John 1:16 says “From the fullness of His grace we have all received one blessing after another.”

God does not hold back anything from any one that is saved. We hold ourselves back from receiving and living in the Power of God. We settle in this life and live in sin and wonder why God doesn’t come to us.

God, on the other hand, says ‘I am right here’ waiting for you to turn from your sin and live out a life full of promise with me leading! You have to make one step right after another and believe God all the way.

In this verse – we see in the original Greek that ‘from the fullness of His grace’ means that we receive ‘GRACE UPON GRACE’ when we get saved.

God gives us the keys to make this life work! What this means is that we receive the ‘BLESSING OF CHRIST added to Grace and the blessings are layered upon the person that keeps their eyes on Jesus and moves toward Him.

Grace means unmerited favor of God upon us. Jesus died on the Cross to give us that and he arose from the grave in the Power of God and reigns in Heaven today to make intercession for us to the Father. Because Jesus never ends our grace never ends. That is a free gift to us upon Salvation!

John goes on to say that the believer that is using the formula of ‘Receive + Believe = Become will RECEIVE the ‘GRACE UPON GRACE’…never ending…as we become closer and closer to Jesus.

What is Grace Upon Grace in the believer’s life?

©    Blessings of this life. The Christian that believes God and is active in Him receives the blessing of God upon their life and walks under the umbrella of His love. This is not a monetary blessing but rather a blessing of the heart that helps us see that All things work together for good to those who love God. To those who are called according to His purpose. (Romans 8:28)

©    Pardon for sin. The Christian that believes God and asks forgiveness for sin. The Holy Spirit is alive and active in this person and there is conviction when there is sin present. All we have to do is ask God to forgive and He is faithful and just to forgive us of our sin. (1 John 1:9)

©    Protection from the Evil one. Those who are walking close to God have an armor that protects in ALL situations. When we put on the whole armor of God we are protected against the fiery darts of the Evil one. (Ephesians 6:11)

©    Sanctification – a building up of our faith. We are happy to die to sin and LIVE in Christ. It becomes our life work. We won’t give in and we won’t give up! We desire God more than we desire sin! (1 Thessalonians 5:23)

©    Peace while living in this world. With a close walk with Jesus there is peace that passes all understanding. Living in that knowledge makes you be able to cuddle up with Jesus and sleep anywhere and walk through the storms of this life with confidence that God is who He says He is and will do what He says He will do. (Philippians 4:7)

©    The Promise of Heaven. The believer that is united with Christ and walking out their life as a living testimony to Him; the one who ‘receives, believes and becomes – will enter the gates of Heaven when we close our eyes on this earth. That is the ultimate promise of this life to the believer. We WILL fellowship for eternity with the One and Only. (John 6:40)

Who does this ‘GRACE UPON GRACE’ come to?

The weary, the addicted, the broken hearted, the lost; those that need mercy and forgiveness; those seeking healing.

God will come to us where we are in life with His love, mercy and GRACE.

The question we are faced with is – are we willing to not only receive Him but to believe Him and not only believe Him are we willing to become what He says we can become?

To live in the Power of the One and Only…