new Christian 247 purpose

I’m a New Christian! Now what?

I recall being a new Christian. It was exciting, awkward, intimidating, uncertain, and thrilling all at the same time. Unfortunately, my development as a newly baptized Christian delayed for many years because of a gap in answering the question, “now what?” Even though I attended church from my earliest years of childhood, my defining moment of becoming a new Christian was at age sixteen when I chose to be water baptized and made God a priority in my life. I never felt such peace and confidence knowing that I was on the right track. However, those emotions quickly faded into what seemed like a first-time visitor driving through New York City without a road... read more

I dont have enough time for god - 247 purpose

How to Overcome “I don’t have enough time for God!”

It’s so simple to overcome the top two reasons holding back our ultimate life, and it’s hard to comprehend how I could have allowed myself to live in mystery for so long. But, I’m not alone. Today, when I ask, “what is holding you back from living the life that God intended? You know, the one that you can’t possibly dream up because it’s far better than we can imagine.” The reasons that I hear every single time are, “I don’t have enough time for God!” and “If I had the time, I wouldn’t know where to start!” Bingo! Those were my main excuses for a good portion of my life. During my earliest... read more

Spiritual Growth is a Marathon

10 Essentials for Spiritual Growth

Spiritual growth is very similar to successfully running a marathon race, allow me to explain… Many years ago, I trained to run the Disney full marathon race. It was a spontaneous decision with no prior experience unless you count my half-hearted attempt at high-school track and field. I knew that I would never train for a 26.2-mile run without a lofty goal and to run through Cinderella’s castle to cross the finish line seemed down-right cool. To complete the race, I had to gain some knowledge about running that type of distance and every essential component required to achieve the goal. I found a “marathon for beginners” running plan, and after several weeks of... read more

Word of the Week: PEACE

The Word for the week comes to us by none other, the Father above.  True peace can be achieved through the love of Christ that removes fear and anxiety from our lives. Through God, we can live upon His strength vs. our own and He will carry our burdens. How do we do live in His strength? PRACTICE living a life of daily prayer. Don’t know what to pray?  Pray the Lords prayer – it is super powerful. Matthew 9:9-13 ENERGIZE your desire to learn who God is and commit to daily reading of the Word. Even if it’s 5 min. take time to read about who He is to gain the knowledge – this... read more

The Pathway to Inner Peace

I hear people often say “I need to find inner peace”. The truth that I hear in that statement is that they are really searching for an external “answer” that will tell us how to acquire inner peace but it isn’t something that we acquire or strive for because that would imply that the gift is not already there. Inner peace is what we release within us through faith. When we put undeniable faith in Lord Jesus and not in anything else we gain inner peace because He rescues us from ourselves – the worldly self. The worldly self is selfish and self-centered and will not recognize inner peace until we die to self-focused ways. Until we surrender and allow... read more

“Starting Over” by Andy Stanley

Recently, I stumbled upon a series by Pastor Andy Stanley that was so remarkable, I had to share it here.  This is a teaching that every adult human being should see, in my humble opinion. All of us have seasons in life that involve starting over in some capacity. This unique series speaks to the life trials and the lessons that we sometimes identify but don’t necessarily apply that will create lasting change to avoid repeat experiences. One of the most profound revelations that I gained from this 4 part series dealt with how we leverage our experiences, or not.  I learned that just because we have a life experience doesn’t automatically mean that we apply the lessons... read more

My field…

My field…where I’m called to serve, is below my feet and I walk in His Grace serving this little space answering His call hour by hour, person by person, task by task in Divine service.  Tomorrow might bring a new calling but tomorrow may never come so I prepare thoughtfully for tomorrow while fulfilling each opportunity of the day to bring Him glory.

God First – Life Fully Integrated

Twenty years ago I received a profound message from a wise, elderly German woman who was gifted in Spiritual mentoring.  Like so many, I was searching for my purpose in life.  Being in a state of ignorance, I was primarily focused on an unintentional self-centered approach towards life.  When I asked her, “what is my purpose?” she looked at me thoughtfully and said, “Dear child, it’s to serve and love God – it’s the same for everyone.”  I thought, “Huh? That’s it. That’s too simple.” But actually it was too vague for me to comprehend the grandeur and practical meaning of what she intended to reveal without an understanding of my immature faith and... read more

Know Him. Love Him. Serve Him

The Word, the source of Truth delivers a message revealing the purpose of why we are here and what we must do…simply to know, love and serve God.  It’s so simple in it’s purity that the human brain cannot comprehend it without the knowledge of God’s Holy Word.  Before having the knowledge of the Word, if we search for our purpose we try to analyze the when, where, what and how eventually destroying the beauty of our simple purpose based on human intellect.  God sees this doorway.  But in frustration, we give up searching for it because without the knowledge we are not fully connected and we cannot see God’s direction eventually spinning aimlessly into defeat.  We... read more

He Knows My Name…

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnmnEc6gF3E]