My Purpose This Week? And Yours?

My Sunday School literature asked a really deep question as I was reading tonight, “What purpose does God have for you this week in your family, in your job, in your social relationships?” For some reason, this really struck a chord with me. There are so many possible answers. Here are some answers I thought of:

• God wants me to be a good example for my children this week.


• God wants me to love my wife unselfishly this week.


• God wants me to honor Him in the way that I do my job this week.


• God wants me to show Christian love and respect to my co-workers this week.


• God wants me to be a Christian friend this week.


• God wants me to allow a Christian friend to hold me accountable for the way I live my life this week.


• As they have given me permission, God wants me to hold my Christian friends accountable for their lives this week, too.


• God wants me to avoid temptations which draw me away from Him this week.


• God wants me to be a good steward of the financial blessings He has put in my care this week.


• God wants me to live below my means and return a portion of my financial blessings to Him and the Church this week.


• God wants me to give thanks to Him this week.


• God wants me to praise Him this week.


• God wants me to want to have an even closer relationship to Him this week and not just because I want Him to do me a favor.


• God wants me to live my life this week so it is a positive witness to anyone who might be paying attention.


• God wants me to pray that the Holy Spirit would lead me to someone whose heart has been prepared to hear about Jesus this week.


• God wants me to pray that I will be ready and willing to respond when the Holy Spirit prompts me to take action this week.


• God wants me to offer encouragement to someone who needs it this week.


• God wants me to forgive someone who has done me wrong this week.

I would love to hear some of your responses.

How Welcoming Are We Really?

I read a post in The Ugly Evangelical that got me thinking about how well most churches really reach out to the community. Do we really want homeless people to come to our service? Do we really want a mix of races to come together in the same place to worship? What about recovering alcoholics? A prostitute trying to get off the street? Or... do we kind of like it when most everybody in church around us is like us.

Copyright © 2005 by Philip Hartman - All Rights Reserved

Free eBook of Christian Quotations

I am currently giving away a free eBook of Christian quotations with a subscription to my Caleb's Publishing newsletter. Check it out.

Copyright © 2005 by Philip Hartman - All Rights Reserved

Who Moved My Cheese?

Here is one of my favorite quotes ever:

Many read the Bible the way a mouse tries to remove the cheese from a trap without getting caught. - Kierkegaard

To me this quote strikes us at our core beliefs with several penetrating questions:

• Do we really want to know God better?
• Do we really believe that the Bible is God's Word revealed to us?
• Do we accept that God has authority over us?
• If God tells us through the Bible we are wrong, are we willing to do something about it?

God, I pray that You will speak to me through Your Word in the Bible. Convict me where I ignore You. Build up my faith so I want to be closer to You and want to do Your will. Strengthen me as I make tough choices and make the changes You are calling me to make. Amen

Copyright © 2005 by Philip Hartman - All Rights Reserved

Welcome

Welcome to my humble blog. Here I hope to put a few words that will make you think about Christ, grace, faith, prayer, and about your own spiritual journey. Hopefully, we will all grow closer to God as a result.

God if it is Your will, I pray that You will bless me as I share my faith in this blog. Send the Holy Spirit to enable me to serve Your purposes. Use this effort as an opportunity to draw me closer to You. I pray also God for Your blessing on my future readers. Prepare their hearts to respond according to Your plan. Amen

Copyright © 2005 by Philip Hartman - All Rights Reserved