Brian Morris' Blog

I have set ambitious goals for this year. Goals I hope to accomplish. Goal that I think will help me. Most of you have already read about my PROJECT: BOOKSHINDIG, where I plan on reading a book a month with people also reading the same book.

Well, another goal that I have set for me, myself, and I is to read God's word everyday this year. By the end of the year I hope to read the entire New Testament and already have found a reading plan to do just that. I am doing this because this is something that I have always struggled with and it is something that I am hoping will allow me to rediscover God in a whole new way.

Also, throughout this year I will be posting things that I learn. Things you may have already discovered and hopefully some things that you have never thought about.

So far, I am only about a week into this and I can already feel God moving in my life and He has revealed some exciting things with me.

As many of you know and are probably thinking, YES, I did go to PASSION 2010 and probably think that I am going to share things I learned from there but, I have just began to sort through everything that was just thrown at me during that conference… so it may be a while before I begin sharing anything from PASSION.

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The world around us is always telling us to "slow down and relax" or to "slow down and smell the roses" and to "take time to just enjoy what you have accomplished". Society has taught us to not be too ambitious and to not "overload our plates". And I believed this for a long time. But what God has began to show me is that this is the opposite type of attitude that we need to have with life.
In Proverbs it says:

"32For the waywardness of the simple will kill them,
and the complacency of fools will destroy them;
33but whoever listens to me will live in safety
and be at ease, without fear of harm."
-Proverbs 1:32-33 (TNIV)

We have all heard that God has a plan for our lives. That EACH of us was chosen for a purpose. Well, here God tells us something extraordinary! He tells us that by being content and just sitting idly will destroy us! God is calling us to do GREAT things. God doesn't want us to be content with all the things in the world. He wants EACH of us to CHANGE THE WORLD. He doesn't just want us, though. He wants our BEST! Just meandering through life, dodging all things difficult, is NOT pleasing to God.

God doesn't want good things to happen through us! He wants GREAT things to happen through us!

And this really woke me up! Being a disciple of God is hard work and He tells us that! He shows us that following Him is a lifelong, day-in and day-out commitment. He tells us all of this in just verse 32! THEN comes, in my opinion the most profound thing of all of this - verse 33. In verse 32 God is saying "Yeah, its going to be hard. Yeah, I am asking a lot of you." THEN in verse 33 He tells us "BUT, BUT, if you listen to my plan for your life, I, GOD, will protect you! " How encouraging!

God has equipped us for this plan He has for our life; He has designed each of us with certain interests and desires, and he knows that HIS PLAN for our lives will lead us to the greatest satisfaction! This is something I have been struggling with for a LONG time! Why don't I just do what I want and IGNORE God. I want to be happy. But in reality, HIS PLAN is what will lead to the greatest joy.

Even though this seems so simple, it can be so easy to forget.

LORD, today I just want to surrender my life to You.
I want to give all of my energy to Your plan for my life.
I wait eagerly to discover all that You have planned for me.
Thank You for showing me that this life is not about what I want
but that I was created by You and for You!
I pray that I never forget that!
I pray that my life can be used for GREAT THINGS,
and not just good things!
Amen.