We need to raise our standards! This is a thought that I have been wrestling with for the past couple of weeks and I am not so sure that we can raise what we don’t have.  I think that somewhere along the path of living life that a lot of us have forgotten about, thrown out or just left somewhere on the side of the road – our standards.  Standards that were passed on to us half-hearted by our parents are standards that will not even exists in our children’s lives.  Now I am not talking about rules and regulations that are set up by man to make him feel better about himself.  I am talking about living life by a better plan and for a higher purpose than just checking off another day.

Take a moment to think about your life! Are you where you want to be?  Are you where God created and gifted you to be?  Are you doing what you enjoy and the things that bring fulfillment to your spirit?  Are you doing the things that God created and gifted you to do?  Now whichever way you answer these questions – now answer this one:  Is there any room for improvement? Can you do it better?  How can you raise your standards so that God gets more glory and you get more blessing?

Answer this question with whatever change is needed in you life and daily living and you will be amazed at the difference that it will make almost immediately! Start working to raise your standards at home, work and everywhere that life may take you.  Remember:  God has given you this life as a gift and what you do with this life is your gift back to Him.  Give Him your very best!  G3!  (GIVE GOD GLORY!)

Ministers have a lot of different jobs. One of the jobs that we have as ministers is to teach, motivate and encourage faithfulness.  I have noticed that it is getting harder and harder to help people get their lives to a place of consistent and growing faithfulness.  We talk a good game, but we usually come up way short of where we need to be.

I have discovered that everybody is faithful to something.  The challenge for the minister is to help people to be faithful to the right something or a better way of putting it would be:  To help people be faithful to the right someone!

Faithfulness does not just happen! Faithfulness takes work – hard work!  Each of us should take some time to think about the faithfulness that Jesus has expressed to us.  Think about the fact that Jesus gave His life so that we might have life!  Does He deserve our faithfulness?  Could we grow in our faithfulness to and for Him?  You bet we could and you know that we should!  Let His faithfulness to you motivate you to be faithful to Him!

As children most of us learned a simple and powerful little song – Jesus Loves Me! It says:  “Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so!”  Little ones to Him belong, we are weak, but He is strong!”  “Yes – Jesus loves me!”  “Yes – Jesus loves me!”  “Yes – Jesus loves me, for the Bible tells me so!”

Jesus does love you and me and because of this amazing love – He deserves our faithfulness! Remember:  Faithfulness does not just happen!  It is going to take hard work on your part, but if you will give yourself to that work and purpose, it will make more of a difference than you could ever dream or realize!  What can you do right now in this moment that will help you to be more faithful to Jesus?  Now – Do it!

I am pretty active with the use of Twitter, Facebook and mjharvell.com. There are a lot of people that are critical of the internet and there are a lot of things about the internet that can be dangerous, but there are also a lot of things that can be good!

Let’s start with Twitter! Twitter allows the people that use it to share a message about what they are up to or thinking in 140 characters or less.  You get to select who you will follow and anyone that wants to – can make the choice to follow you.  I am following a lot of different ministers, some church members and a handful of professional people.  And I am being followed by a small assortment of different people.  I can use my phone to get a quick glance at what is going on in people’s days or I can use my computer to catch up on what everyone is up to.   Many times it will give me a thought that opens up all kinds of doors for the Holy Spirit to speak and minister into my life.  The other neat thing about Twitter is that if you don’t have the internet on your phone you can have updates sent from the people that you are interested in sent via text messaging!  Everything is out in the open for everyone to see, so this is a pretty safe way of sharing who you are and what you are up to.

Let’s Look At Facebook! My Twitter updates my Facebook and is also posted on my blog page!  Facebook allows you to connect with family and friends and have an ongoing and without end conversation.  Once you start Facebook you begin to find and be found by friends and once you are accepted or accept a person as a friend, you can see their post about what they are up to and they can see your post about what you are up to.  I have found it to be very useful for facilitating conversations and for sharing information about life and needs that we might have that we would like for others to lift up in prayer!

My blog page – mjharvell.com is a place for me to expound on some of the things that God is teaching me. I try to write articles that will encourage and motivate people to live as Christ Followers!  I have people that follow me on Twitter, are my friend on Facebook and take the time to read my blog from all around the world.  It is amazing how all of these gifts allow us to remove time and space and have almost immediate contact and connection.

People can and will use these things for evil, but you and I can make the choice to use these things for good! I encourage you to check out Twitter, Facebook and Mjharvell.com – and figure out how God can use them to bless you and allow you to use them to bless others!