Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Spiritual Champion

Starting this past Sunday, our Pastor started a series entitled "Becoming a Spiritual Champion 4-week challenge." Sounds pretty intense but let me assure it does not require running any physical marathon hurdles or Michael Phelps-type speed to achieve this goal. What is does take is dedication and commitment to be in the Word and in prayer each and every day. Pastor continues to outline exactly how to do so without much planning on an individual's part. So, if you are interested, here are the rules -- they are simple and completely doable. From August 17 through September 13 I will do the following:

  • Read and study my Bible daily, one chapter a day from the Gospel of Matthew (I'm a little behind in this posting so we should be on Chapter 4 today -- you can still get caught up)
  • Pray 3 times a day for at least 10 minutes each time
  • I will invite someone to church and/or share my faith weekly
  • I will honor God by being a good steward of my time, talents, and finances

Sounds easy enough, huh? I have been pretty good about the reading, after all, I find it very interesting and really enjoy the gospels. I gain insight from each passage I read.

I am struggling with the prayer part. I pray throughout the day but with little man running around I typically don't even have 10 minutes to myself. The mornings are a little easier. The nights are hit or miss since I am usually so tired that my mind drifts or worse I fall to sleep. So, I have made a minor adjustment to my prayer-plan. I will continue to pray throughout the day but will be more aware of times that I could be offering petitions or thanksgiving. IE: When I am loading/unloading laundry, spending time in the powder room, or those times I find time to be on computer -- put that aside and focus on prayer.

I haven't exactly shared my faith verbally this week but I have been wearing my Women of Faith shirts that have cool verses and sayings on them. I have received several comments this week from women who say they like my shirt. On one occasion in the past, one of my shirts opened the door for a conversation with my new hairdresser. I am still looking for opportunities to verbally share but I am also more aware of my actions as well.

Stewardship -- hummm. Well, hubby and I just bought a new TV yesterday - not so sure that is good stewardship when there are other things we could have used our money for. My time is pretty well booked but I can always make better use of it -- working on that. As for my talents, I don't really have any to speak of. I do like to write and I have been writing about the Lord and all that He has done for a while now. I will be more cognizant about sharing more.

How about you? Do you want to take the challenge with my church family and me? It's not too hard but oh so rewarding. I feel better each day that I spend time in the Word. I (and my hubby) can see a change in my attitude and outlook.

Click here for an online devotional on the book of Matthew (courtesy of FFC)

Blessings,

Paula

1 comment:

Sharon said...

WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU DON'T HAVE ANY TALENTS! You are a very talented person. Everything you do you do well because you put your heart in it and your heart is very big! Don't ever write that again or I will woop up on you.