What are you known for?

We had our 4th area-wide multi-church gathering for Pastors and their staffs last week in order to get to know one another better. We took time to eat together, to worship, pray and be inspired by one of the Pastors who gave a devotional. I was asked to lead the Prayer segment, I love to pray and lead out in prayer, I have learned much over the years reading about prayer and learning from others as I have listened to their prayers. A couple days after the event many of our staff complimented me on what a great time the prayer time was, and then someone said, "if Pastor Kevin is known for anything it's prayer."

Don't get me wrong, that is a wonderful thing to be known for, but I'd love to be remembered for more than that however. I hope people remember me for being a lover of God, truthful, relational, grace filled, a great teacher of the Word, a producing reproducer, a great husband, Dad and brother etc. What about you? If someone was going to sum you up in a singular statement what would they say? I believe the older we get the more focused we become and what people say about us is a by-product of how we spend our time, resources and invest all that we have and are.

The summer should be less hurried for most of us and so I encourage you to either answer the question yourself or even ask others around you what they would say about you. If you don't hear what you hope to than make whatever course corrections you need to be in order to become what you want.

Want to Keep Your Relationship with God fresh?

I am one of the fortunate ones, I am so glad that my relationship with God has been amazingly fresh and alive since 1976 when it started. I know this is NOT true for most followers of God, and unfortunately far too many followers fall away because no one showed them how. Our human relationships need nurturing and intentionality in order be alive, and so it is with our relationship with God.

If this helps here are some things I practice to keep my relationship with God alive.

1. Shake things up. By that I mean don't always read the same version of the Bible, I schedule reading plans that are not the same, eg. character of the Bible study, word study, Book study,or I read and meditate on a verse a day etc.

2. Remember who you are and whose you are! Every once in awhile it's so good to do an inventory of your Identity in Christ.

3. Consistently have times of remembering all that God has done for you. Keep a separate journal just for this, and when you are feeling distant from God or your faith is faltering this will be a great tool to use to look back and remember how God has showed His Faithfulness to you.

4. Listen to a lot of praise/worship music. Change the words and make them personal. For instance "we exalt you, we exalt you" to "I exalt you, I exalt you..."

5. Write God love letters, and let Him write you love letters. Now the first one makes sense and is pretty easy to do. The second one is a little more difficult. When I do this, I really take time to listen, be still and quiet. Then I grab a pen and paper and from God's perspective, I write down what I think He would be saying to me right at that moment. It's hardly ever condemnation, especially in light of Romans 8:1, but it's almost always very tender and grace filled. Sometimes He will communicate an area or weakness to pay attention to but mostly it's just tender.

6. A Daily Gratitude List - I bought a book years ago called "10,000 Things to Thank God For". It has served me well to remind me of all the reasons I can thank Him. Create your own, seriously, we have so much to be grateful for.

Well this is a start but I hope it helps keep your relationship with God alive and fresh. You and I must be strategic and intentional in all of our human relationships or they become predictable and stale, the same is true with God.