John Braland
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Rise Up

11/22/2015

1 Comment

 
I believe that a church will never grow beyond the spiritual capacity of its leadership. This is why leaders must passionately pursue their relationship with Jesus Christ. This must be done with attention and authenticity. The best way to take a spiritual snapshot of your life is to ask yourself several introspective questions. When leaders examine their spiritual lives it ensures authenticity and positions them to pursue passionate spirituality
Are you passionately following Christ right now?
Do you expect God to work in your life and circumstances?
Do you know God’s will for your life? Are you following it?
Do you practice the spiritual disciplines because you want to, not because you feel obligated to? (Praying, reading your bible, participating in a small group, attending church).
Are you sharing your faith on a regular basis?
Are you open to the Holy Spirit’s leading?
Have you dealt with sin?

After answering these questions, rank your spiritual life on a scale of 1 to 10. Where are you? I wish I could say that my life has been a 10 for the past 20 years, but the truth is I ride the scale up and down as life happens. My guess is that you do to. I have a second question for you: Where do you want to be a six months from now? A year from now? And my final question is: What are you going to do in order to get there? The most significant characteristic of a godly leader is a godly life.

I reflected on these questions ranking myself. It became clear that I needed to make some changes because where I am now is not where I want to be a year from now. Lately I have felt discouraged. I have been working more and seeing fewer results. Our church finances have been depleted to the point that significant changes are looming. Every night this weighs on me to the point that it hurts. We have had challenges with our technology, challenges with communication, and challenges as a community. And our family has also had challenges from medical issues to finances to keeping everything rolling. All of these pressures and problems have taken a toll on my spiritual, physical, and emotional health. Something needs to change. Maybe you have similar feelings.

I want to encourage you to do what you need to do so you can fall in love with Jesus again. If you need a break from leading or serving right now in order to find your passion again, please do. Sometimes the best thing you can do is take time off to recharge yourself and your relationship with God.

In my experience, passionate spirituality comes when I experience the transforming presence and power of the Spirit. If I can see the Spirit at work in my life and ministry, I get excited about God. And things are beginning to change. Once again I have started to feel the presence of God and flourish while serving others.

One thing that I did was to sign a covenant with God. It reminds me that God is my first love and first priority.

​Will you join me in making a commitment to God to passionately pursue Him? If so, read the attachment, print it, sign it, and put it someplace where you will see it. 
commitment_for_passionate_spirituality.pdf
File Size: 264 kb
File Type: pdf
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1 Comment
Linda Haggerty
11/26/2015 04:59:29 pm

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