Everyone has the potential to become great in life

I have come to believe that many churches are preparing people for the ministry but not for living the lives that God has planned for them to live. How do I know that? I have done it too.

God has placed the potential for greatness in each one of us. There is something in us that we can become great at. Something that no one else can do as well as we can. Something that will take us to a place of fulfillment and influence and eventual success in the kingdom of God.

If our church becomes full of spiritual giants, but their lives in other areas are falling apart have we succeeded?

We become great at teaching the Bible, but we don’t have the time to practice what we preach.
We invest so much in the kingdom in the spiritual areas that we lose our physical health and have to live on miracles of healing. (Epaphroditas)
We desire for spiritual things thinking this alone will solve all our problems.

God created us spirit, soul and body and maybe he wants us growing, succeeding and becoming leaders in all three areas?

Some of us will never be a leader in the church. (5 fold ministry) But we can all be leader in life.

Balanced growth is needed

Mt 22:36-40

36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’

38 This is the first and greatest commandment.

39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’

40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

If this was all we knew of the bible would it be enough to fulfill the will of God?

Balance is not 50% doubt and 50% faith or having to choose between being spiritual or natural.

It is also not reducing the worth and necessity of spiritual things. It’s not one or the other, but how are we being led.

The fact is we all know more than we are doing, right?

The goal of balance is to bring the spiritual principles that we are learning into the practical areas of our life.

When something is brought from one realm to another, it must be converted.

In computing there is this problem that when people create certain software it is often in another code, or format or type. To make things more useable often we must convert things into a format that is more compatable.

He same is true with money. You cannot spend Czech Crowns in America. We use dollars. You must convert them first.

Think about it, we were converted too. We were dead to spiritual things and through Jesus we were made alive. Changed from old to new, etc..
When we try to use something from one realm that was not created to operate in another it often will not function.
Before Christ came we did not have the ability to receive spiritually we received everything through the five senses. The problem was we were trying to make these things that we were receiving spiritual and mental. These led to ridiculous conclusions about the world around us and about God. Many today still do.

God is… a goose bump, a happy feeling, theologically understandable, or I will not believe till I can see God!
Becoming Christ like has to translate into actions in the soul and body realm. I.e. love not in word alone…

Great in Spirit, Soul and Body

Great in Spirit

Ministry, prayer, student of the word, etc…we have had the most teaching in this area so I will not take a lot of time to share about it.

True balance in the other areas (soul, body) will only come with a great spiritual awakening. What do I mean? Well we must learn to be led by our spirits instead of our senses alone.

Great in Soul (often when talking about mental health people are referring to the soul.) We have all met people that have developed these areas far beyond what Christians have. People that have Christian qualities without a relationship with God.

Mind: are we growing here just spiritually? Your mind should be learning about the other areas too.

The bible say to ask for wisdom, not knowledge. Knowledge comes through study (get knowledge), wisdom (the proper use of knowledge comes from God.

Will: training the will; how? By doing things that are difficult, boring, etc..

God intended us to strengthen our wills through obedience not repentance. Patience not renewed spiritual activity and constant change.

Emotions: first of all this area is greatly affected by the first two. What I think on and what I choose will affect my emotions. Secondly our emotions can be trained. Thirdly emotions are not evil, or unimportant they come from God. We were never meant to be led by our feelings, but neither should we discount their importance in our lives.

Great in Body I am not talking about beauty.

Health: will your purpose outlive your body?

Strength: Not body building (though if this is your goal) * Spiritual power - Healing yes, health and fitness no.

Fathers, Mothers, workers,