In you, then through you.

Recently I was challenged by this thought from Rick Warren, "Everything God does through us flows out of what he does in us." Wow, everything God is doing in my life is flowing out of my relationship with Him. I had another mentor who said, "The greatest gift you can give the world is your intimacy with God." That means that God is going to great things in me before he does great things through me. So, this leads me to the thought that God really used to smack me upside the head... :-) I felt a very clear prompting from God's Spirit with this thought, "what if you spent as much time thinking about the growth of your character as you think about the growth of the church?" That kind of hurts doesn't it. I think God used this to renew my hunger to continue to pursue the growth of my character and private life with God. My pursuit of God and the health of my personal life is never a waste of time and energy. If I am connecting with God and growing in faithfulness to Christ my outer life is going to be an expression of that inward transformation. As I allow Jesus to change my heart, my character, my thinking, I will be more fit to be used by Him to do great things in His kingdom!