Live on Purpose!

January 31, 2023January 31, 2023Leave a comment

Hello and welcome to Positive Life Principles. I hope you find encouragement in this place. I’ve asked my friend Candace Gray to be our guest blogger for the month of January. Her insight and inspiration are sure to strengthen your heart. Find out more about Candace at the end of this post.

– For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works,

which God prepared in advance for us to do. Ephesians 2:10

Are you clear on your purpose? There have been many seasons when I struggled to clearly understand mine. I thought defining your purpose was a one-and-done event and once you defined it, you never needed to question it again. I expected to fulfill my purpose in a predictable, logical sequence of events. When that didn’t happen, I felt confused, frustrated and stuck.

It’s been said that defining your purpose is a matter of answering the question: why do I exist? But that’s a weighty question for a finite human being. The truth is that God does not reveal the entirety of His plans & purposes for us at any one point in time. God is multilayered and complex, and He design us that way as well. To narrow purpose to our own understanding based on one point in time can be way too limiting. Instead, the best way to understand purpose is in seasons. I now have a simplified definition of purpose: it’s how do I make life better for others. While there are common threads throughout my life, my expressions of purpose have looked very different in various seasons and situations.

You may be in a season where you work full-time on a lofty cause; or you may be dreaming about something you would like to do. You may even be in a vocation that doesn’t seem meaningful or you may be in a season as a full-time parent or caregiver. As long as you are serving others by applying your God-given, mix of gifts, skills and experiences to a situation, you are living purposefully and bringing glory to God. As you simplify the concept of purpose you will be able to see the wide variety of ways God shows Himself to others through you.

Live on purpose daily, but don’t overcomplicate the matter. God has created you to do good works and He will continue to reveal the next chapter to you. Identify how you can make a difference in the season you are in and leave the rest to God.

Questions for Reflection

In what ways have you struggled to define your purpose?
What simple ways do you make life better for others?

Creating a Prayer Strategy

January 16, 2023January 16, 2023Leave a comment

Welcome to Positive Life Principles with Karol Ladd. I’m so glad you have joined me here for a healthy dose of encouragement and wisdom. During the month of January, I’ve asked my friend Candace Gray to be my guest blogger and share her insights on starting the new year in a positive and productive way. Enjoy and be strengthened!

– Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.

Matthew 7:7

Do you have a strategic approach to your prayers? Being strategic is about being consistent and intentional. Making progress on meaningful goals can be a fight, so you need a battle strategy for the year. Here are some things to consider: how & when will you pray? What and who will you pray for? What are your go-to Scriptures that encourage you and remind you of truth? Who are the people who will encourage you, pray with you and challenge you? Finally, does your prayer strategy include bold requests?

There are many benefits and specific promises tied to prayer. James 5:16 tells us that the prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. Here are some suggestions for being strategic in prayer:

Ask, Seek, Knock continuously. Matthew 7:7-10. This passage is an encouragement to be persistent and consistent in prayer and you will be rewarded with a response. “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. (7:7)” Furthermore, the passage explains the heart of God and His willingness to respond to His children. “Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for fish, will give Him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask Him. (7:9-10)”

Be bold. In Matthew 14:29, Peter asked Jesus to allow him to walk on water. Jesus’s response to him was, “Come.” He allowed Peter to walk on water just because Peter was bold enough to ask. Not one to waste an opportunity, Jesus used the experience to show His power and increase Peter’s faith.

Ask with confidence. 1 John 5:14-15 says, “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of Him.” Don’t over-analyze your prayers and hold back in what you ask of God. If you pray for something that is not in alignment with God’s will, know that He is good and He will sort it out. He does not punish you for asking. Instead, He teaches you so that you grow in understanding His will. Therefore, present the desires of your heart to God and let Him guide you in His will. If I pray for something that’s not good for me and is not born out of the right motives, God, in His kindness, will help me to come to that realization. In His mercy, He will not give me something that He knows will be harmful to me.

In the spirit of confidence in God and pursuing a focused, purposeful and bold new year, pray and seek:

God’s vision for you for this year;
Ability to do more than you think is possible this year;
Wisdom, creativity and practical ideas for accomplishing your goals this year.

About Candace: Candace Gray is a seasoned leader with a track record of living a life of purpose and helping others to do the same. She is a Senior Director for Buckner Children and Family Services and a longtime member of Concord Church in Dallas.

If you’d like to follow her full 21-day devotional series, go to www.candacegray.com

Photo by Diana Simumpande on Unsplash

Look Up!

January 9, 2023Leave a comment

Look up into the sky and count the stars if you can.

Genesis 15:5

Guest Blogger Candace Gray

Do you ever feel weighed down by the daily grind of life? Have you suffered some disappointment in the last year that caused you to lose hope? Perhaps you’re in a long season of waiting and not seeing any change. Going through a hard season can make you lose vision and shrink your view of what’s possible. As you start this year, stir up your hope by remembering there are tremendous possibilities with God.

Abraham found himself in a discouraging place. He wanted much more than what he saw in his life at the time. He wanted a child and he had none; he wanted a home and he’d been uprooted from his home and told to go to an unknown place. Furthermore, God had promised to bless him with not just one child, but with numerous descendants and God had promised not just a home but a nation that would have its own land. Yet there was a big gap between what Abraham was experiencing and what God had promised. So, God told Abraham to “look up at the stars and count them if you can.” It was an encouragement to look beyond what he could see around him and understand that God has as many ways as there are stars to fulfill His promises. The same is true for you and me. Looking up represents seeing the vast power of God and His ability to bring about amazing things in your life. As you approach the new year, fix your gaze on Him. He is I AM (Exodus 3:14), meaning He is able to do more than you can ask or imagine.

Don’t stop believing in God’s good plans for you. Life is better when you focus on the wide sky of possibilities rather than the narrow view created by your disappointments. When you play small, there is no energy, no vision and no confidence to make bold moves. When you think and look toward the sky, there are infinite possibilities and a great and powerful God working for your good. Even through adversity and delays, He’s growing you and preparing you to be blessed and to be a blessing. Turn your gaze from your disappointments to the sky and remember I AM.

Questions for Reflection:

What disappointments did you encounter last year? Did they cause you to lose hope?
Where is your focus now – on you and your circumstances or on God?

My guest blogger this month is Candace Gray. She is a seasoned leader with a track record of living a life of purpose and helping others to do the same. Candace is a Senior Director for Buckner Children and Family Services and a longtime member of Concord Church in Dallas.

If you’d like to follow her full 21-day devotional series, go to www.candacegray.com

Photo by Klemen Vrankar on Unsplash

Close Beside Us

March 1, 2022Leave a comment

Even when I walk through the darkest valley,
I will not be afraid,
For you are close beside me.
Psalm 23:4

You are not alone. Your Shepherd is close beside you. He protects and comforts you in the midst of your darkest valleys. Do not be afraid for you do not walk your path by yourself. It is a great comfort to know that when we face the scariest times in our lives, He is there with us. The Bible doesn’t say that we will never walk through dark times, but it does reassure us that we won’t walk through them alone.

What great assurance we have in knowing that the Lord our God will not leave us. Do not fear about things that may happen or the possibility of valleys in your life. The “what ifs” need not linger as long as we remember that our good Shepherd will protect and comfort us in the midst. Let us walk in confidence and not fear for the road ahead.

He is our Great Reward

February 5, 2022Leave a comment

Do not be afraid…. I am your shield, your very great reward. Genesis 15:1

God is both a shield and a very great reward. Notice that He did not say He would give Abram a very great reward, rather He is the great reward. The people of God have the most wonderful blessing, the great reward of the God of all creation participating in their lives.

What more could we want? What greater reward could there be than experiencing a love relationship with the Lord God who is the creator of the Heavens and the Earth? We are rich indeed when we recognize that we have received the greatest reward in all eternity. The Lord God is our reward! His Spirit dwells with us. He is our shield. We do not need to be afraid for He is all we need.

Father, thank you for your presence in our lives.

In You we have the greatest reward man can ever receive –

Your gentle and loving Spirit within us.

Let us find joy and peace as followers of Christ, knowing that He is our great reward. In Him we experience gracious love, true forgiveness and eternal life. Oh what a great reward we have in Jesus!