Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Making all my intentions known

I have decided to be more INTENTIONAL in 2013.  Just the decision alone is a move in the right direction, and it feels so great to cross something off my to-do list.  Sometimes, I'll even write tasks on my list that I've already done, just so I have something to cross off.  Who's successful in life?  This girl.

But the day-to-day completion of tasks and duties pales in comparison to the acknowledgement of how they bring us to the ends.  My job.  My love life.  My social scene.  Keeping an eternity focus should drive my decisions for daily life.  In grad school research, I learned that this is called my conceptual framework.  Through that framework, the reader sees how and why the author concludes x, y, and z.  For how much school debt I accrued to learn about conceptual frameworks, I INTEND to pedal that term into as many conversations as I can.

How well will I perform my job today?  I can do what is asked of me.  Assess my patients.  Chart on the computer just how normal/abnormal they are.  Give them some pills.  Fluff their pillow.  It's not against any law.  I won't get in trouble.  I won't lose my job.  My patients [probably] won't die.  (That last statement is affirming that I understand my limitations in providing care and cannot pretend to be God).  Common denominator being all the negatives in this conceptual framework.  Who actually wants to live by the principle of avoidance?  If we are to name this demon in our lives, we might call it fear.  I refuse to see my daily life through lenses of fear.  And more often than not, this comes about when we fail to be intentional.  Don't fail any longer.

If God is putting one of His children into my care, I want to discern that this bestowal is from God and move in a way pleasing to Him.  In the same way, I want to find myself honoring Him in all areas of my life through intentionality.  I INTEND to build strong friendships with other believers and also meet a godly man to serve alongside, if God wills it.  By glorifying God through fellowship in the body, these ends may be accomplished.

Very few characters in the Bible use vague language about what they hope maybe they can do for God.  Most often, you will see men and women of God proclaiming what they are already doing or will do.  The Holy Spirit teaches us what to say.  Saying it to God helps us seal it in our own minds.  CS Lewis said, "I don't pray to change God.  I pray to God because it changes me."  Because of what Christ did on the cross, we are called to pray with certainty that what the Spirit leads us to say, God will bring about.  The words of our Spirit-led prayers transform US.  The authors write with assurance that God is the Finisher of our faith. 

Look at King David.  "Bless the Lord, O my soul."  If you like grammar as much as I do, you will note that David is using a direct address.  If you don't like grammar, here's what that means (but really, how do people not like grammar): 

He is INTENTIONALLY telling his own soul to bless the Lord! 

That fearfully and wonderfully made (Ps 139) body and soul is commanded by David to bless God.  Make my prayer to be no different than David's.


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