5 ways to succeed as a Christian

Two weeks ago I posted about 5 ways to fail as a Christian Leader , it was a slightly sarcastic post that pointed out some things I think a lot of Christian leaders do.  Today I wanted to post about ways anyone as a Christian (leaders are lumped in there too) can succeed in their walk with Christ.

1. Read your Bible
Boom! I thought I'd kick this one off as a really hard challenge. No seriously, it's hard. If you are honest right now, how often do you READ the Bible. Not skim it, not read it with your mind somewhere else. How often do you dig in and lose yourself in the text? My guess is for some of us it happens on occasion and others basically never.

If you are honest you will admit, that you don't read your Bible enough. But the challenge is hidden within it's pages (Joshua 1:8)- That's right I'm going to make you look it up.

2. Pray
Seriously, this stuff isn't rocket science. Prayer is a MUST when it comes to having a relationship with God. A phrase I have begun to use with my students is, are you a friend of God or a stalker? Sounds weird but lets look at the difference. A friend is someone who knows things about someone but also has a relationship and a big portion of having a relationship is communicating. A stalker is someone who follows someone knows lots about them, but doesn't communicate with them. Which one are you. Jesus even shows us how to pray. (Matthew 6:9-13)

3. Memorize Scripture
There is no test, no one is going to force you to recite scripture off the top of your head - unless you are in Bible school or some type of competition. But when talking to people or going through something in our own lives, we may not have the opportunity to whip out a Bible. By having God's words in us, we give ourselves a leg up.

4. Fellowship
Fellowship is a funny word that we throw around in churches and Christian Sub-culture a lot. But what we are really talking about is having friendships/relationships with other Christians and interacting with them. We often have fellowship after church- which for a lot of people means drinking coffee and talking about sports. But I would challenge you, take the time to talk to others about their faith after Church.  Proverbs 27:17  says "As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another" It isn't talking about quick wit here. It is saying that we can sharpen each other in our relationship with Christ.

5. Tithe
This one is the one that always hurts. We like to ignore it in church, but the fact of the matter is it's something we are called to do. God wants some of what He gifts to us back! The amazing thing is that if you do this, He will also bless you. (Malachi 3:10) This doesn't necessarily mean suddenly you will be rolling in your swimming pool full of cash, but you will see a lot of blessings.
Amy and I have seen this in our lives, we can be on and off again with tithing, but every time we go back to tithing God provides something we need. Recently, I was blessed with a change in a local paramedic regulation which allowed me to retain my license without having to spend another $200 to go back to school to redo my test.

 I know people might look at this list and brush it aside because it seems to be redundant with what we always hear. There is nothing new and profound here. But I bet everyone who reads this; and even I as I wrote this; needs to work on at least one or more of these things.

So take up the challenge because our success as a Christian is not to do with being nice people, its everything to do with following and bringing glory to God.

-Kyle

Beatitudes

Whenever I say the word Beatitude, I always always think attitudes.

But what the word really means is a blessing. God gives a blessing to those who people who have certain characteristics or attitudes.

I have been spending time in the Sermon on the Mount lately and have gone over the beatitudes quite a few times. When I was in Bible school it was a requirement to memorise them for one of my classes. I have done so, and been able to repeat them, but have become robotic in doing so. I have forgot what they mean. So I decided to stop and rethink about them.

When I started to go back over them; I saw 8 blessings that God promises; but how many do I possess?

Am I poor in spirit? Am I meek? Would I be considered pure in heart? Am I persecuted because of righteousness?

The troubling thing is for some of these things, if I was being truly honest I would have to say 'no'.

There are a lot of times I am not humble or gentle in spirit. There are times when I put my hunger and thirst for righteousness on the back burner for other things. And I am sad to say, there are many times when I am not pure in heart (traffic on the way to the church can often kill this one).

Have you ever found yourself struggling to find a way to feel blessed by God? Have you ever prayed for God's blessing over yourself or someone else?

I know that I have, and sometimes I forget there is a way to obtain God's favour. I have made it easy to remember for myself. It is just 3 C's

Connect, Confess, Commit

Connect- I just have to get back to God. I need to spend some genuine time with God, no not just quickly throwing up a prayer, or flippantly reading something so I can check it off my task list. I need to separate myself from things and give 100% of what I have to God. It doesn't have to be for long but I have to do it.

Confess- I need to give up the fact that I have not been humble, that I haven't hungered or thirsted for righteousness. I have to admit that I haven't been pure in heart, or instead of being a peacemaker I have been a troublemaker. I know that by leaving it at Christ's feet I can be back to a clean slate and be fresh in his blessings.

Commit- This is when I need to make a conscious effort, to put my life back on the right track. I need to schedule some time to pray, schedule time to read my Bible, schedule some time for learning. Its not easy; but if I don't schedule it; but if I don't do it I will never find the time.

Now before I finish writing today I have to clarify what blessings I am talking about. I am not saying that I think I will get rich quick, or that people are going to start doing nice things for me, or that I will never get sick.

But I/you/we, will be blessed with peace, comfort, joy, happiness, love. We will see the fruits of the spirit come alive in our life. These are blessings to crave and blessings to chase after.

-Kyle

Exercising body and Exercising faith

Working out the soul and working out the body, that's what my new commitments are all about.

This week I saw part of the Ironman Penticton race. If you don't know what an Ironman triathlon is, you basically swim 2.4 miles, then bike for 112 miles followed by a 26.2 run (aka a marathon). It is a serious race only for people who are gluttons for punishment. And I want to do one, I have for a long time, when my wife and I got married I said I want to do one in 5 years. Well, we have been married for 3 now, so I better get a move on.

So this week I made a commitment to start exercising more. So far i'm done 6/7 days for the week and I have worked out for 10 hours. It is very good, and I started looking into swim lessons, since I am pretty capable for the run and bike so far.

This also got me thinking, there is something more important that I need to exercise and that is my faith. So for the fall to start I am going to work on a couple things.

1) My coworker and I are memorizing The Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) It is a big task, but I think I can do it.

2) I am going to work on reading my Bible more regularly and get some new teaching (so far I have read a couple chapters of Matthew and watched some sermons by Andy Stanley and followed along.

These things are going to require a lot of work, but I know both will be worth the little bit of pain I have to endure to train myself!

What are your commitments to training?