Relationship Topic - The Five Pursuits of a Young Man or Woman
What to focus on...
*Excerpt from Relationship Topic - Before You Date My Daughter If you are a young man, or a young woman there are five pursuits that should be the focus of your life right now: Five things that you should be pursuing every day with diligence - to prepare you for adulthood, for marriage, for job, career and family, in fact to prepare you for success in life.
#1 PURSUE GOD. This starts with receiving God's gift of salvation through Jesus Christ: the first step of His plan for you. Next being filled with the Holy Spirit who will lead you into all truth, and lead you daily in the path God has for you. But then, Pursuing God means an active obedience relationship, where he directs and you follow. There are three daily decisions that determine who you are. 1) Time decisions, 2) Thought decisions and 3) Money decisions. These decisions define your life. And whoever makes these decisions - is the LORD of your Life. PiVAT will help you pursue God in time decisions. PRISM will help you pursue God in thought decisions, and 4C's will help you pursue God in money decisions. Give these daily life decisions to God - it's how he will lead you in the wonderful plans he has for your life. When He is LORD - He makes these decisions, not you. It's what disciples of Jesus do - live like Jesus did. PiVAT, PRISM and 4C's will help you surrender to his plan, not yours - and walk in the blessing he has waiting for you if you will just humbly and simply obey - and trust him to lead you. He will. He's about to take you on the ride of your life!
#2 PURSUE EDUCATION. If you are still in school, either high school or college, Education is your job. It's your #2 priority in life. If you don’t take this responsibility seriously in this season of your life (and do it to the best of your ability) neither will you take seriously your responsibility in your job, your career and providing for a family. Luke 16:10 - You must first be faithful with little. Some of you should be valedictorian. If that's you, do it. Some of you need to get A's and B's. Do it. IQ or the School you go to, are not as important, as discipline, diligence, and working as unto the LORD. Your performance in school is important. Not all classes will be easy, not all will seem relevant, but God has put this before you to teach you how to operate in His excellence. PiVAT is important. To succeed in school you need to obey with time decisions. Frontload! - that means do your work assignments early, at least 1-2 days before they are due, so you are available for God to use you to help others, rather than scrambling at the last minute to complete assignments - or turning in work that is less than your best.
#3 PURSUE A SKILL. You should be developing world class skill at something. This does not include video games. The Word of God says, “Show me a man skilled at his labor, he will stand before kings, he will not stand before obscure men.” A man’s skill opens doors for him. The skill itself is not as important as the fire, the commitment and the perseverance required to develop it. Whether guitar, drums, football, baseball, computers, 4H – your life should have an extra-curricular pursuit that demonstrates commitment and excellence at a high level.
#4 PURSUE WORK. This goes beyond just the experience of earning a paycheck. This pertains to working with all your might at the job before you. Not only working hard when you are told, completely and with excellence, working for the LORD, not for men. But it also means attentiveness – seeing a need and working hard to meet it. When there is work to be done, are you the first in line to help? Are you the one who stays until the job is complete no matter how long it takes? Or are you the one who becomes scarce (nowhere to be found) when there is work to be done. Do you stack chairs at church? Do you help clean up after meals, or events? Do you look for opportunities to help neighbors or people in need? Are you willing to sweat, to get your hands dirty, to sacrifice your comfort for the benefit of others – as the Holy Spirit directs you? Do you serve? Do you find out what others need, and demonstrate the love of Jesus by serving them. God says, the precious possession of a man is diligence. [see PRISM Topic – Diligent] Don't work for money - work for the LORD, and He will make sure you have the money you need, and enough to share with others.
#5 PURSUE LOVING PEOPLE. This means treating people like Jesus loves them. Is your conversation kind, caring? [see PRISM Topic – Kindness] Does every word you say build up others? Do you refuse to slander? Meaning: Do you refuse to say anything (either true or untrue) that would lessen someone’s reputation in the eyes of others? Do you actively ask the Holy Spirit to lead you into conversations and opportunities to point people to the truth, love, and hope of Jesus Christ? This is a Great Commission mentality - something required to be a fruitful believer in Christ. It is one of the qualifications to be able to be the spiritual leader of your family.
These Five Pursuits of a young man or young woman are Mission-Critical to your success. Ask God to give you his vision in each one of them. You should be pursuing them every day. All Five.
Ask yourself, "How Am I doing in my Top Five Pursuits? Rank yourself in each on a 1-10 high scale.
Ask God to help you be diligent every day, and pray about walking daily with someone equally committed to fully obeying God's plan for their life. Take the 3-Day-Challenge!
May God bless you as you pursue Him and His wonderful plans for your life! He has only good for you! You will see!
Young Man of God, Young Woman of God - God already has someone in mind - that he has created you to complete. He wants to prepare you now, so you will be ready then. Ask God to help you become what He wants you to be and who He wants you to be - for your spouse. Start today!
[See the Relationship Topic- Eleven Things You Need In A Wife, and Relationship Topic – Eleven Things You Need In A Husband] Is this you?
A PRISM Topic: is God’s Word on a single subject. A Relationship Topic is a perspective from God's Word on relationships. A PRISM Topic Packet is a grouping of PRISM or Relationship Topics of similar subjects... part of the M: Meditate on theWord of PRISM – (5 Things You Can Do Daily in God’s Word) to transform the way you think. Ask God what PRISM Topic or Relationship Topic He wants you to meditate on today.Take your PRISM Topic, Relationship Topic or Packet with you! Come back to them multiple times a day! “It is to be with him, and he is to meditate on it day and night, so that he may learn to fear the LORD…” - Deuteronomy 17:19 PRISM Topics - RELATIONSHIP Topics - PRISM Topic Packets