Intentional Living
The most important areas of our lives are:
-relationship with Him
-purpose
-marriage
-children
-emotional, mental & physical health
-friendships
-finances/resources
Steps to develop an Intentional Growth Plan:
1. Pause [Psalm 46:10]
2. Reflect [Psalm 139:23-24]
3. Write [Habakkuk 2:2-4]
4. Move Forward [James 2:14-18]
5. Repeat the Process
”I simply want to be fruitful in the areas that matter the most.”
“Effectiveness (fruitfulness) requires intentionality.”
Intentional Living requires us to embrace an attitude that is purposeful, engaged, calculated, and committed to deliberate action.
John 15:1-8 [NIV], “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. 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. 6 If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.”
John 15:13-16 [NIV], Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command. 15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last…
2 Peter 1:5-9 [ESV], For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, 6 and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, 7 and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. 8 For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins.
Q—What is the main barrier or obstacle that is keeping you from living an intentional life?
Dallas Willard has been famously quoted as saying, “Hurry is the great enemy of spiritual life in our day,” and then he urged Christians to “ruthlessly eliminate hurry from their lives.”
Q—What are some signs we’re suffering from busyness?
Move from one checkout line to the next
When at a stoplight pull into the line with the least amount of cars in it
Multitask to the point to where we forget one of the task
Irritable
Hypersensitivity
Restlessness
Workaholic
Emotional Numb
Escapism
Disconnected and lose sight of our calling
More reactive than proactive
Lack sleep
Slip in our spiritual practices/disciplines
Distracted and living in a state of indecisiveness.
View people and their needs as an interruption/inconvenience
Can’t remember the last time you did nothing but sat in silence
Can’t remember the last time you spent uninterrupted time with Jesus on a regular basis
Find yourself regularly skipping church because you need to “rest”
“If the devil can’t make you sin, he’ll make you busy.” —Corrie ten Boom
Both sin and busyness cut off our intimate connection to God, to other people, and they both cause damage to our spiritual, mental, and emotional health.
“We end up in not a theological, but functional atheism.” —John Mark Comer
Q—Could it be possible that busyness is the #1 thing that’s keeping you from living an intentional life?