The pastor was talking about physical things in his life, but my mind instantly gravitates more toward the activities of my life.  What will I do today that has kingdom value?  What will I do today that adds to the over all value of God’s kingdom?  What about you?

How will you spend today and what activities will add to God’s kingdom?  What is just ONE thing you could do today that would have kingdom value?  How about one thing you could do in the next hour that has kingdom value?  Or what is the action you could take the moment you finish reading this post that has kingdom value?

Part of me wants to reflexively protest, “but I have all kinds of other things I need to get done.”  Then a little voice sounds off in my head and I hear the scriptures saying, “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all of these things will be added unto you.” Matthew 6:33

I thought about closing this post by urging you to examine each action you take today through the lens of “Does this action have kingdom value?”  That’s not a bad idea, but probably limitedly effective.  Most of us would start out with good intentions, but quickly fail to check our actions as we got into familiar routines.  That’s just human nature.

So, I would encourage you instead to plan some kingdom value into your day.  Don’t be passive and just evaluate what you are doing already.  Make a point and have a plan of sowing some kingdom seeds.  I don’t know if you have a to-do list, but if you do, write on it at least one thing you will do today that has kingdom value.  While you are at it, look at what’s already on your list and remove at least one thing that doesn’t have kingdom value.

What do I mean by “kingdom value”?  Activities that make God’s desire for life a greater reality right now.  For example, from God’s word we know that God desires us to have joy.  What can you do today to sow joy?  God desires his believers to have unity.  Can you heal a connection that is broken or build a healthy one?  God desires us to follow.  Will you take a step today that is led by his direction?  God desires us to love one another the way he has loved us.  What can you do to forgive someone or love them unconditionally.

These are just a few kingdom values.  Can you think of others and what will you plan to do today to make those values a reality?  Blessing to you as you seek first the kingdom.

You could be a physically fitter you who saved money for 40 days. Last year I wanted to work on what I call body holiness and simplicity.  I realized that I hadn’t been the best steward of my health.  So, I gave up using my car except for when I had to transport other people.  I road my bicycle to work.  On rainy days I road the bus.  The lessons I learned were many.  To read about them click here. That could be you.

You could be sleeping better at night, better able to focus, and growing in your love of prayer and God. A couple of years ago, I adopted praying for one hour a day.  During that 40 days God brought great peace into my life.  You can read about my experience by clicking here. That could be you.

You could be a more grateful person with stronger relationships. That is what others experienced when they took on writing forty “love notes” for forty days. That could be you.

You could trim excess and clutter from your life. That is what happened to me when several years ago I decided to attack clutter and excess in my life by getting rid of forty bags of stuff in forty days.  I set aside forty grocery sacks and then filled one every day and gave it or threw it away.  I cleaned every closet and drawer in my home and office, my car and my garage.  It changed my relationship to material objects and deepened my gratitude. That could be you.

So how could this or even something better be you?

Look closely and you will notice a couple of changes to The Practical Disciple homepage.  Over in the right columns you will see a countdown until Lent. At the time I am writing this there are just 27 days until Lent.  You will also notice at the top of the home page there is now a “Lent” selection that leads you to a Lent page.  Currently, I am making available 7 handouts on the Lent page to help people like you have an amazing discipleship experience during Lent.  More will come over the next 27 days.  Pick one before Lent which begins Ash Wednesday, February 27th, and you are on you way to becoming a better disciple.  You will be on your way to being a better you for God.

I am posting access to these handouts NOW for two reasons…

First, I am encouraging people to prayerfully consider taking on a spiritual discipline during Lent.  Without a doubt my greatest discipleship strides have occurred during Lent every year for the past 5 years.  Mainly because I am extremely intentional about what I do and spend days ahead of time prayerfully discerning a discipline that will transform me as a disciple.  I guess that has rubbed off on my kids.  One of them, my daughter, last week announced at our dinner table, “I know what I am going to do for Lent this year.  I am going to raise money to buy a cow from Heifer Project.”  For those of you not familiar with Heifer Project , it is a christian ministry that provides needy people with live stock to increase their standard of living.  She is off and running toward that cow.  In fact, she is pursuing businesses to place out collection cans for her.  I am extremely proud of her.  She is a sophomore in high school and came up with this completely on her own.  Lent is not only going to make  a difference in her life, but the life of a family deeply in need.  That could be you.

Second, I want these free resources available for Pastors who would like them as handouts for their own congregations. Pastor’s please feel free to reproduce the handouts on The Practical Disciple for your own church members.  It can really make a difference.  If you are not a pastor and would like to see these handouts made available in your church, then copy and paste the following link into an email and send it to your pastor:  http://thepracticaldisciple.com/page_id126

If you have questions or Lenten discipline suggestions that I can share before the season begins please comment or email me.  Blessings from The Practical Disciple.

“In the day of prosperity be happy, but in the day of adversity consider–God has made the one as well as the other.” (Ecclessiates 7:14)

Does adversity stress you out?   Anger, disappointment, fear and stress are common responses to adversity.  I wonder if my own feelings would change if I truly took to heart the words of the Psalmist.

I know from scripture that God blesses people through some of the most horrible events.  My mind goes to Joseph whose brothers hated him and sold him into slavery. Eventually prison would lead him to the palace where he would later be a blessing to many people including his family.  I think of Paul whose imprisonment brought him into a position to share the Gospel with higher and higher levels of political authority. Ultimately, Paul’s imprisonment was instrumental in the proliferation of the Gospel.  And let us not forget the cross.  Christ’s crucifixion was no doubt the darkest moment in history and yet the means of redemption of humanity. What man intends for evil God can and does use for good.  As Paul wrote to the Romans, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:22)

Consider the source of you suffering. I think it is important to note that part of why Paul could be content in all things was that he realized his suffering was directly a part of the gospel being advanced.  Self-inflicted adversity is a different matter.  For example, getting fired for a failure to consistently show up at work on time is a very different than being fired for holding your moral ground when asked to do something unethical.  Take some time and analyze your adversity.  Is adversity in your life a consequence of your poor choices or is it a circumstance beyond your control.  If it is the first, then repent and change your choices.  If it is the later, then trust in God and move forward.

May God’s peace prevail in all of your circumstance.

Our youth have been prayer journaling for a week now using a method that I outlined in the Prayer Journaling Orientation video posted a week ago.  Last Sunday we discussed their experiences.  In today’s brief video I share 5 common difficulties they encountered and 3 “triggers” for being consistent.  They have had some really awesome God-incidence stories happen because of their prayer journaling.  I can’t wait to see what a couple more weeks of journaling is going to yield.  You can expect more video posts on the lessons they learn.

On another note…Today’s video has a cleaner , crisper audio signal with more volume range over prior videos.  Unfortunately, in my efforts to improve audio I ran into a technical difficulty resulting in audio coming through only the left channel.  My apologies to any of my readers who happen to be listening via headphones.  I know it’s annoying. I hope to resolve this issue prior to the next video.

Lastly, some of my email subscribers had issues with the last video not coming through with the post.  That is probably a hosting issue, but for your convenience, you will find a link below going directly to the post.  Enough about this stuff. You are here to learn about discipleship.  Go enjoy the video.

Click here if the video did not appear in your subscription

• Matthew 6:5-8
• Psalm 100
• Philippians 4:8-9
• Matthew 6:25-26
• Luke 17:12-19
• Luke 1:46-55
• Philippians 4:4-7
• Mark 14:32-42
• Psalm 46:1-5,10-11
• Luke 11:9-13
• Psalm 34:1-8
• Luke 18:10-14
• Jonah 2:1-10
• Genesis 28:11-19

Also, I mentioned in the video noting the subject of the passage you are journaling on, but I really didn’t say much more than that about “subject”.  Once I am done with a journal entry, I note at the top of the page, the main idea or topic of a passage.  For example, my first entry said at the top of the page along side the date and text, “Gratitude in Adversity.”  Being able to thumb through my journal and skim topics is sometimes really helpful.

Blessings from The Practical Disciple