Today’s Bible verse can be very motivating if we follow a few simple reminders. In fact, God wants us to be motivated to accomplish great things. What’s more, He provides the motivation for us. We Don’t Have To Engineer Our Own Motivation! Go back and re-read today’s Bible verse. Now, let’s look at some reminders to staying motivated.
- Determine what God wants you to accomplish. I call this a list of goals. Each year, usually the week between Christmas and New Years’, I sit down for an extended period of time to create my yearly goal list. I have several types of goals listed out (personal, spiritual, relational, occupational, and recreational). Ultimately, I use the goals to become more of the person God wants me to be. You can read more about my goals and how I develop them by looking through my other blog topics.
- Live Your Life. This is so important; too many times in life we try to live someone else’s life and not our own. God created you to be you! Learn who YOU are and embrace that. Then, be the best YOU you can be. When YOU do that you begin to “live freely.” When we try to be someone we are not we become trapped and we are led by our selfish desires. God creates each of us to be different and unique; therefore, it’s in our BEST interest to fully become who God created us to be – live freely.
- Become Spirit-Led and not Selfish Led. This is about growing up in our character. Have you ever watched a child; I mean really watched them for any length of time? Children can be very selfish; you hear a lot of the “I want ______” and “That’s not fair” statements. Childhood is the time for children to learn to go from serving themselves to serving others. There’s a big problem when adults still haven’t learned this life principle. Think about an adult you know who is extremely selfish – got it? Now think about this; when you see that selfishness play out do you want to be around that person? Of course not; that attitude is childish in an adult. As you go about your day start thinking about your behavior with this question; “Is this action life-giving to me or to others”? The Spirit of God will lead us into activities that will be Life Giving to others while our immature spirit will lead us into activities that our life-giving to us (and actually life-sapping of others).
Talk It Out
- Take some time this week and think about some of your long-term goals and short-term goals. Come up with at least 5 for each; then pray about them to see if God is “In Your Goals”.
- Write down your strengths and weakness in life. Talk to your friends about your strengths and weakness to see if they would agree. Ask them to be honest with you so you can really start to see who God created you to be.
- Do some self-evaluation in your life; where do you tend to be selfish instead of Spirit led? Start giving your selfish areas over to God and confess them to Him. Ask Him to start working on your selfish spots. It will hurt but you will be better for it.
