Doing Life With God Pt. 2

Heavenly Father, thank you for the opportunity to share my perspective with those who are diligently seeking you. Thank you for your word, which serves as a lamp to our feet. Please allow me to decrease and for you to increase throughout this post. I would like for the people to hear Jesus through my written expression. Speak through me and my experiences, father. Help me to help someone else who is battling with consistency, spiritual discipline, and operating within the will of God when the going gets tough. Use me lord. Let your will be done. In Jesus Name I Pray, Amen.

In 2007, Kanye West released ‘Can’t Tell Me Nothing’. In this song Kanye raps “to whom much is given, much is tested, get arrested guess until he get the message”. Although this is a secular approach to learning from experience, Ye is spot on with the word of God (Luke 12:44). I do not know about you all, but I do not want to be arrested before I am able to receive a message that God is sending me.

Therefore, I want to make it clear that we need to call on the holy spirit to lead, guide, and direct us on the daily. In order to avoid situations that present a risk of operating outside of the will of God, one of my favorite quotes as a coach could not be more relevant, we as believers must “DO YOUR [our] WORK EARLY”! What does doing your work early look like from a spiritual perspective? I am glad you asked. So in order to proactively avoid situations where my integrity, poise, and faith as a believer can be threatened, it is imperative that I am intentional in building my relationship with Christ on the daily.

How do I intentionally build my relationship with Christ? Before I explain – I will be the first to tell you, I got issues. Yes, issue(s) with an ‘S’. However, I intentionally seek God through the following ways in an effort to grow as a believer, avoid falling into the temptation of those issues, and embrace who I am through Christ Jesus (A KING).

So doing my work early AKA a proactive approach to operating in the will of God looks like this for me:

Spending at least 30 minutes with God daily. Building my relationship with him through prayer and meditation on his word (Matthew 6:33).
Specifically praying that the holy spirit lead, guide, and direct my movements throughout the day (Order My Steps).
Bringing “light” to the darkness in my life, and asking my accountability partners to pray for me/hold me accountable in those areas. We consistently check-in and pray for each other (Proverbs 27:17)
Attending a men’s ministry weekly that allows me to connect with brothers who are suffering from the same struggle of submitting our will and walking with Christ (1 Corinthians 10:13).

At this season of my life, I have been entrusted with major responsibility across the board. As a husband, I have responsibility to keep my wife safe, secure, and smiling. As a son, I have the responsibility of honoring my mother(s) and father(s). In my profession, I have the responsibility of being a leader, and maintaining my professionalism as I work with parents, staff, and students (and this generation, lord have mercy!). As an uncle, big cousin, coach, mentor, etc. I am entrusted with the responsibility of serving as a positive role model. None of that would be possible without fully submitting to the will of God. In the instances where I miss the mark and fall short – I acknowledge and accept responsibility for the choices I make to operate outside of his will, I repent, and ask God to forgive me.

I want to encourage you all to consider being intentional in incorporating some of those approaches into your life if you have not already. It will help you to stay covered when faced with the enemies attempts to use our vices to tempt or attack us in any manner. As I mentioned in my last post, he is coming after us, because he knows our worth (1 Peter 5:8).

Each day will continue to be a flesh vs. faith fist fight. Some days you will knock the enemy down. Some days you will get knocked down. But brothers and sisters I want encourage you to call on the holy spirit to step in during your toughest situations. We serve a God that is faithful! He is greater than all of our deepest worries or cares. Continue or start to diligently seek him and you will notice your life completely changing. I am a living witness!

Keep in mind, he will never put more on you than you can bear. So stand strong in the name of the lord, and prepare to claim victory in the name of Jesus.