A couple of years ago, God began to give me a vision for a ministry that would allow the church to reach out of its comfort zone and share love in a real and powerful way by sharing God’s gift of grace.

I did not have any idea at the time about all that God was up to.  I just had what I thought was a simple vision that I knew I could not accomplish on my own.  I shared the idea with a handful of people who I was on spiritual journey with at our church.  Most all of them encouraged me to go forward and many of them offered their help.

We started to take steps to turn the dream into reality and in a short couple of weeks, We began to see what God had shown me in my head and heart start to happen in real life.  I don’t really know why God brought me to the place or showed me the vision for this ministry, although I am learning something new everyday.

I am more than unworthy to be entrusted with such an amazing responsibility.  I have messed up much more than I have succeeded at, but I am learning that God gives not because we deserve, but because He loves, forgives and restores!  (It has more to do with Him than it does me!)

God continues to give vision and what began as a simple ministry of outreach has and is growing into a spiritual community that almost everyday experiences the supernatural.  At Grace Place, people ask us all the time:  “Why do you do this?”  There are probably a lot of different answers to that question, the most common of which is simply this:  “God’s grace has and is changing and growing our lives and we want to share it with others because we believe that it can change and grow other people’s lives as well.”

It all begins and ends with God and this is why I have to keep reminding myself:  “This is not about me, this is about God and His glory!”  Thank You God for the promise you made in 2 Corinthians 12:9  “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”  Please help me to live in the power and grace of Your Word!

We often need a reason to do or be something.  Almost everyday, we are looking for something or someone to give us purpose for our existence.  If we can find a reason that is compelling enough, then it will move us into action.

This is not necessarily a bad thing in and of itself, but it becomes a bad thing when it causes us to focus on the wrong thing.  I was thinking this past week about all of the things that I allow to take my focus off of what and who it should be on.  I was thinking about how we all get caught up in this game of trying to create purpose for ourselves.  We will take, grab and latch onto it anywhere and in anyway that we can.

We don’t need to create a reason.  We don’t need anyone to give us a reason.  The fact is:  We already have a reason for living.  There is a reason and purpose for our existence, but we miss it because of our need to create something for ourselves.

Romans 8:1 says:  “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”

Our reason, our purpose is found in one place:  Jesus!  This past week the Spirit kept this one question rattling around my head:  “WHAT ABOUT JESUS?”  This question once asked causes us to shift our focus off of self and onto Jesus – which gives us real and meaningful reason/purpose.  You see, this life we are living is not about us, it’s about Jesus!

To shift your focus start to speak and believe this phrase:  “This is not about me, this is about God!”

I sometimes get to thinking about how easily distracted I am and then before I can figure out what that means, I get distracted.  So much of the stuff that I spend energy on is wasted, because it is often stuff that really does not matter in the “grand scheme of things!”

Let’s face it – compared to eternity – life is very short.  We are all going to spend eternity somewhere.  Hopefully it is with our Creator in a place that He has created especially for us.  I want to live my life more intentionally.  A big mistake I have made in the first half of my life is trading too much of it for temporary things.

Someone asked the question:  What will it matter a year from now?  Good question, and if it does not matter a year from now, then is it really worthy of our valuable time.  If it does matter a year from now, then it deserves our best attention.

The Scripture in 2 Corinthians 4:18 give us some good advice:  “While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.” 

It is a battle to focus on what really matters, and this is a battle worth fighting.  The battle is learning to look past our natural vision, so that we can see life with our supernatural vision.  When you see and believe the supernatural things of God, it has the ability to change everything by helping you to not waste, but get the most out of life here and now by overcoming the distractions.