Daily Bread for Resetting the Mind / Is The Lord YOUR Shepherd?

What Does Your Walk With Christ Cost You? 

Get Serious about this faith walk 

Verse: Luke 9:23-Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. 

I remember about a year ago I was talking with Pastor Robert and he said something about being a follower of Christ. He essentially said “It’s gonna cost you something.” 

I heard this before but for some reason it hit different that day.  

Ain’t this so true though? 

Time:

Money:

What About That Thing You Promised You’d Stop Doing?

How Do You Prioritize God In Your Life? 

We have to prioritize our fellowship with God.  

Do you have a prioritization list? If so, what do you have on it? (e.g., God, wife, kids, extended family, church family, work) 

I’ve never seen anyone put watching TV or streaming videos on their prioritization list, yet we spend a lot of time doing it. 

Hopefully you know that these days they create video content in a manner that will never completely fulfill you, so that you keep coming back for more. This is where deathscrolling comes from. Is deathscrolling on your prioritization list? 

Urban dictionary defines Deathscrolling as the habit of getting stuck scrolling through an endless social media feed and no longer have the willpower to stop consuming content until you are exhausted. Similar to being in a death spiral.  Symptoms include irritability, absent mindedness, selective hearing, tunnel vision, and a mind that has given up or given in to temptation.  Is often caused by a desire to escape, or a desire for quick and easy pleasure.  Often results in guilt, regret, and time purely wasted. 

Show of hands, how many can relate to being caught in a death scroll? 

Its a brain hack that activates a Dopamine rush until you reach exhaustion. 

Dopamine is a neurotransmitter in the brain. It plays a role in various functions, including: 

Reward center 

Memory 

Movement 

Motivation 

Mood 

Attention 

Pleasure and satisfaction 

Mood regulation 

Experience of pleasure and pain 

Often when we make a prioritization list, its in  a format of a checklist. Item 1, Item 2, Item 3. 

Then we check things off the list as we complete them. What's wrong with that mindset is you can’t check God off a list and resolve that you’re done with God for the rest of the day. 

He should be the center of all that we do. When we place him in the right place, He will give us discernment to decide what to do, and he will give us the strength to complete all that we do.  

Verse: I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. 

“If my fellowship with God is strong, I can trust Him to guide me in what should be my priority on any given day or segment of the day.” -Gary Chapman book Now You’re Speaking My Language 

Timeline Exercise: 

Verse: Psalm 139 whole verse....Search me, God, and know my heart;      test me and know my anxious thoughts.  24 See if there is any offensive way in me,      and lead me in the way everlasting 

How’s Your Growth? 

Growth is not Salvation. Salvation doesn’t require growth. It just requires you to receive. Growth is all about fruit, works, output. What are you allowing God to use you for in His kingdom? How are you using your unique gifts he blessed you with at birth to sew back into the body of Christ and accomplish His will on earth?