Author: Melissa Bauman

Words cannot fully express what this place means to me, and as I sit and reminisce about all that God has done, I am filled with a tremendous gratitude. When I followed my calling into full-time ministry at Life.Church 3 1/2 years ago, and I never imagined that I would get to be a part of something so HUGE that God is doing at this campus and to see first hand the life-changing impact in this community.

I have had the honor to meet amazing people, to see so many lives changed by Jesus Christ; to serve alongside some of the most phenomenal people who I’ve ever met, and been so blessed to have been poured into sacrificially by some of the best leaders. My life has changed drastically during these past few years and God has revealed Himself to me like never before. My team became my friends and most importantly, my family. When I joined the Moore team to serve this community and impact the Kingdom, I had no idea how much the staff and volunteers that I served with, would impact my entire life.

God is so good and I‘m trusting Him as we walk in His will with obedience and expectation of what He has for our lives in this next season. My daughter’s life is different, my life is different, my leadership is better and my faith is stronger because of my time here at Life.Church. I know God will continue to grow and stretch me, and guide me according to His plan. LOVE God, LOVE people – no matter where I am, the mission hasn’t changed.

So, do you ever wonder why you are here? Why God placed you on this earth? What is His plan? My calling…what are we here to REALLY do? What is my purpose, my Chazown? Ok, what is a Chazown? It is the Hebrew word for Dream or Vision. (Chazown, written by Craig Groeschel, Life.Church, chazown.com)

So this past week, God has been showing  me that my calling is quite simple, it’s really simple for everyone. Too, it isn’t just for people in ministry, but for all people. This simple calling was showing up in everything that I was doing…in the sermon series at Life.Church, “Love like Jesus” (watch online at Life.Church, amazing message!), in my LifeGroup study, in a blog I read, then, in the bible plan that I was doing on the YouVersion Bible app, Love Does, by Bob Goff. Everywhere…

It’s simple…Jesus tells us in His word and called us to:

• Love God.
  • Jesus said in Matthew 22:38 that this is the greatest commandment.
  • “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.” Matthew 22:37 NLT
• Love Other People.
  • This is the hardest thing to do, because we really love ourselves…alot.
  • “Love your neighbor as you love yourself.” Matthew 22:39 NLT
• Make Disciples.
  • Tell the world, everyone that you come in contact with, everyday.
  • ” Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”  Matthew 28: 19-20 NLT

Luke writes it and adds loving God with all of your strength. “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind. And love your neighbor as yourself. ” Luke 10:27 NLT. With every possible part of our being…

Now, it’s time for us to take a step of faith, discover and use the gifts that God has given us. Did you know that you’ve been put on this planet, in this time for this amazing purpose? And God has given you everything you need to start living it!

Love God, love other people, and make disciples. Simple. Live a life worthy of the calling that we have received from God, Ephesians 4:1. Now, let’s go do it, go be the light of Jesus, shining into the world. Love like Jesus. That is our calling.

From the YouVersion.com Bible plan, The Maxwell Leadership Reading Plan
Psalm 119

The longest psalm in the Bible is a song about the priority of the Word of God. For 176 verses, Psalm 119 holds high the words and wisdom of God and convinces us to treasure it more than anything else in life.

Why is this challenge so crucial for us? Leaders in our world face two realities:

1. Change happens faster than ever, so leaders must remain adaptable.
2. We need timeless values more than ever, so leaders must remain principle-driven.

Psalm 119 provides a roadmap for getting the wisdom, values, and principles we need to lead effectively. Consider what Psalm 119 teaches about adopting God’s Word as our source for leadership principles. Our leadership will…

• be blessed (vv. 1, 2)
• remain pure and ethical (vv. 9–11)
• be strengthened and revitalized (vv. 28, 149, 154–159)
• insightfully answer criticism (v. 42)
• enjoy liberty (v. 45)
• gain wise counsel when needed (v. 66)
• remain steady even when afflicted (vv. 67–72, 92)
• display more insight than our teachers (vv. 99, 100)
• be enlightened and intuitive (vv. 105, 130)
• have a reliable guide even for new issues (vv. 129, 160)
• enjoy inward peace and poise (v. 165)
• get divine help (vv. 173–175)

At the beginning of each year, I am challenged to pick a work and verse for that year. A word that I can focus on and study about through out the entire year. It’s a chance to see how God works in me and through me.

This year, my word is FAITH.

FAITH
Sees the Invisible.
Believes the Incredible.
Receives the Impossible.

First, I have Faith in God, my father and Jesus Christ. Even though I can’t see Him, I know that He is there. I have seen His handiwork and I have seen God’s miracles.

“Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see.” Hebrews 11:1 NLT

With Faith, I have no fear of the unknown.
“This is my command—be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the lord your God is with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:9 NLT

We are made right by our faith.
“We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are.” Romans 3:22 NLT

Faith brings joy.

On December 31, my mentor asked me to join her in choosing a word to live out in 2013, all year long.

Let me ask you:

What one word will you focus on for your life this year?

My word:

I think the Joyce Meyer Bible study on youversion.com sums this up and I want to pass this along.

Galatians 6:10 NLT
Therefore, whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone-especially to those in the family of faith.

Living a Life of Blessing
Joyce Meyer

I believe that one of the greatest opportunities we have as Christians is to make a profound difference in the lives of others. Throughout my life of ministry, God has given me the opportunity to help many people who need guidance.

But I don’t believe this is a special opportunity that God made just for me. Everyone, you included, has the ability to influence someone. When you take the time to reach out to others and invest in someone’s life, you are impacting the world…yours and theirs.

Galatians 6:10 tells us to “be mindful to be a blessing” to everyone God brings across our path. We are called to be a blessing and build up others in their faith, to not be afraid to reach out and to speak the truth in love.

I don’t believe God wants us to be mere spectators in life. He wants us to be people who really love others and care enough to be willing to pour into their lives. We need to build up others in Jesus’ name so they can grow and reach even more people.

Whether you know it or not, someone’s watching and looking up to you. People are influenced by the way you live and they need to see God’s love in your everyday actions.

At times we’ll make mistakes, and when we do we can thank God for His forgiveness, but we also have to realize that many times we may be the only evidence of God some people see.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

God wants me to be intentional and be the evidence of His love…I will obey my God and live an INTENTIONAL life

God never made a person that he didn’t love. He made you; he loves you; and God doesn’t make junk! He loves you unconditionally. He loves you very, very much.

Do you know the secret to self-esteem? If you want confidence, then understand how much you matter to God and if God loves you, who cares what anyone else thinks? Because God loves you, there’s no need to prove yourself worth. We don’t have to wear certain kinds of clothes to make us feel like we’re okay, or drive a certain kind of car to prop up our faltering egos. We don’t need status symbols anymore.

Isn’t it good news to know that God never gives up on you? No matter what you do, his love never gives up. It’s wide enough to include everybody and it’s long enough to last forever. Accept his love and worship him, knowing that his love is long enough to last for all time!

Ephesians 3: 18-19
18 And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is.
19 May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.

Psalm 89:2 Your unfailing love will last forever. Your faithfulness is as enduring as the heavens.

Source: Rick Warren Youversion.com reading plan

Ephesians 4:24 NLT
Put on your new nature, created to be like God – truly righteous and holy.

God uses his Word, people, and circumstances to mold us. All three are indispensable for character development. God’s Word provides the truth we need to grow, God’s people provide the support we need to grow, and circumstances provide the environment to practice Christ-likeness.

If you study and apply God’s Word, connect regularly with other believers, and learn to trust God in difficult circumstances, I guarantee you will become more like Jesus.

Many people assume all that is needed for spiritual growth is Bible study and prayer. But some issues in life will never be changed by Bible study or prayer alone. God uses people. He usually prefers to work through people rather than perform miracles, so that we will depend on each other for fellowship. He wants us to grow together.

In many religions, the people considered to be the most spiritually mature and holy are those who isolate themselves from others in mountaintop monasteries, uninfected by contact with other people.

You cannot grow to Christ-likeness in isolation. You must be around other people and interact with them. You need to be a part of a church and community.

Why? Because true spiritual maturity is all about learning to love like Jesus, and you can’t practice being like Jesus without being in relationship with other people, I encourage you to do just that!!

Source: Rick Warren’s Youversion.com Bible Reading plan

From Youversion.com ~ Rick Warren Reading plan…just too good.

No matter what the pollsters, pundits, and prognosticators claim, no one can accurately predict all that is going to happen in the next year, let alone the next few days or weeks. Our best forecasts are just educated guesses.

Change is not only increasing in speed and intensity, but also in unpredictability. How can anyone succeed when the future is so uncertain?

The Bible suggests three timeless principles for facing an uncertain future:

Set goals according to God’s direction. The Bible says, “We may make our plans, but God has the last word.” (Proverbs 16:1 GNT) In other words, planning without praying is presumption. Start by praying, “God, what do you want me to do?”

Live one day at a time. Decide to make the most of each moment of your life to accomplish God’s will in your life. Jesus said, “Don’t be anxious about tomorrow. God will take care of your tomorrow too. Live one day at a time.” (Matthew 6:34 LB)

Don’t procrastinate. Do it now! “Don’t boast about what you’re going to do tomorrow, for you don’t know what a day may bring forth.” (Proverbs 27:1) Procrastinating is a subtle trap. It wastes today by postponing things until tomorrow.

What did you plan to get done last year that you didn’t do? When do you intend to start working on it?

A friend posted this on Facebook this morning and I wanted to share it.

“Imagine there is a bank account that credits your account each morning with $86,400.
It carries over no balance from day to day.
Every evening the bank deletes whatever part of the balance you failed to use during the day. What would you do? Draw out every cent, of course?
Each of us has such a bank. It’s name is TIME.
Every morning, it credits you with 86,400 seconds.
Every night it writes off as lost, whatever of this you have failed to invest to a good purpose.

It carries over no balance. It allows no over draft.
Each day it opens a new account for you.
Each night it burns the remains of the day.
If you fail to use the day’s deposits, the loss is yours.
There is no drawing against “tomorrow.”
You must live in the present on today’s deposits.
Invest it so as to get from it the utmost in health, happiness and success!
The clock is running!! Make the most of today.

Treasure every moment that you have!
And treasure it more because you shared it with someone special,
special enough to spend your time with.”

So we have 86,400 seconds EVERY DAY, then the moment is gone.

I honestly lose track of time each day and don’t remember that we really don’t know how much time we have left on this earth. So make the most of every second. Love God, Love people. He loves you and wants to spend eternity with you.

If you don’t know Jesus, or have a personal relationship with Him, I’d love to share my story with you. Remember, Jesus loves you. Go out there and make the most of this day!