Are You Losing Sight of Your Why? Do This.
Drenda Keesee • May 29, 2020
I used to waste a lot of time trying to change people instead of holding out the life-giving Word of God and letting people choose change for themselves.
How you invest your time really does matter, and what you choose does make a difference.
Here are some tips that the Holy Spirit gave me that have helped me be more effective for God’s Kingdom:
1. BE BIGGER THAN TIME STEALERS!
3. BE BIGGER THAN DECEIVERS!
5. BE BIGGER THAN COMPROMISE AND SIN!
You don’t want to play with anything that even resembles a stumbling block. (Yes, this even includes missing church and not reading and
studying the Word.) You are empowered to live a life that has no hint of sin! You are to have freedom from sin and live as an example!
I thought I could change people and keep them from making bad decisions. I would give everything I had—pouring out all of my energy and time to help someone—and when they chose to not follow God, I would face overwhelming discouragement.
I felt so ineffective as a believer and as a minister.
Have you ever felt ineffective?
That’s exactly what the enemy wants. He wants to distract you, deceive you, disillusion you, and derail your faith.
He wants to make you ineffective.
We all have been given only so much time. At the end of my life, I want to know that what I lived for—how I invested my time and effort—really mattered, that it made a difference, built a legacy, and left the world a better place.
The enemy will try to pull you off what matters and get you to invest in the wrong things, the wrong people, and the wrong choices and decisions to shipwreck your faith and your life.
Gary and I made plenty of mistakes while learning how to operate in God’s Kingdom in the early days of our ministry, (I'm so glad God is bigger than our mistakes.) but one big way the enemy was able to distract us was by getting us to take false responsibility for people and their choices.
Because of that, we were always dealing with dysfunction and problems instead of doing more of what really mattered. In fact, we almost quit the ministry over some of them!
More than 20 years ago, for example, there was a lady who would come to the altar for prayer on a weekly basis. I prayed for her every
week for freedom from evil, but she would come back week after week and month after month for the same prayer.
We tried to help her. We even gave her a part-time job at the church to help support her. We tried everything we could to help her family. It was discouraging and exhausting because things never got any better, and I couldn’t understand why.
Eventually, we discovered that she was intentionally deceiving us and living a very different life than she had portrayed to us. I have since learned that a person can never be free unless they
decide they want change in their life.
There were others, too. We had people who would come and disrupt worship services and try to draw attention to themselves. We once had a man come to a youth event at our home and start running all over our yard during worship time. And our cat chased him as he ran! When he came up our hill, he fell backwards and started rolling. No, I’m not kidding.
He rolled 40 feet and, when he stopped, our cat pounced on his chest and started pawing and purring. Needless to say, the youth were no longer worshiping God.
Each time these kind of things happened with people, I would ask God, “Why did you send us these people? What do we do with them? How could you put us through this week after week?”
God simply answered and said, WHO SAID I SENT THEM?
The enemy had been eating our lunch, and all along we thought it was God who was doing it.
In our lack of understanding, we were allowing people
to take the focus off of God’s Word and worship. Meanwhile, we were only becoming more and more discouraged thinking that God was not doing what He promised.
We must become wise to the enemy’s schemes to steal, kill, and destroy.
The devil will never give up his efforts to steal your time and distract you from what really matters.
When we neglect where we should invest our time and finances, and something goes wrong, God is usually blamed. This is a tactic of the enemy.
God is wise with His investments. You and I need to be too!
Shortly after these events, the Holy Spirit took me to an example in the ministry of Jesus where a rich young ruler proclaimed he had followed all of God’s commandments since childhood. Jesus then tested the heart of the rich young ruler before he was willing to take him on as a disciple. He told him, “Go, sell your possessions and give them to the poor, and come follow me.”
Jesus put a requirement on him that would hold him accountable and would show his heart and motive. Up to that point I had never really thought about how Jesus tested the hearts of men to reveal their real intentions and motives. We know now that if the ruler had followed Jesus, the reward would have been greater than anything it would have cost him.
But when his heart was tested, he was all about himself.
Jesus wisely saw this. Jesus didn’t invest His time in the wrong places!
The Bible tells us to “redeem the time for the days are evil.”
So how can you navigate through this time with wisdom and discernment so that you are investing where God would have you?
1. BE BIGGER THAN TIME STEALERS!
- Invest your time wisely.
- Become established in your faith.
We've all made mistakes, but at some point we must grow up! We can’t always just hear the Word of God; we must come to understand the Word. We understand by DOING IT, even when it’s not easy. - Avoid compromise.
There are no shortcuts to true success without living the principles of God’s Word.
2. BE BIGGER THAN THE WORLD’S DECEIT!
The Bible tells us that the natural man (or carnal man) doesn’t receive the things of God.
Colossians 2:6-10 says,
As you therefore have received Christ Jesus our Lord, so we walk in Him rooted, and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving. Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit (vain deception), according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and NOT according to Christ. For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.
I have seen Hell prevail in people’s lives when Jesus is no longer Lord over their lives.
People betrayed Jesus, and people will also betray YOU.
People aren’t always faithful, but GOD IS ALWAYS FAITHFUL!
The disciples hung out with Judas every day in the ministry. Jesus knew Judas was cheating, stealing, and would betray Him, but the
other disciples had to decide whether they would follow Judas or Jesus.
other disciples had to decide whether they would follow Judas or Jesus.
You have to decide, too!
We all have to decide who to listen to and who to follow.
- Stay the course! Persevere with the Word!
What did God say? Do it! Stay with it!
- Keep sowing and growing.
Everything you do IS important and is, literally, sowing your future harvest.
Every action has a response of reaping, so make sure you sow good things out of a good heart. Live your life with purpose and make a decision to do it God’s way.
4. BE BIGGER THAN PROBLEMS THAT DISCOURAGE YOU!
Grow in grace. Grace is God’s ability and empowerment; it is not mercy.
You grow in grace by recognizing His power over your own rights. We are dead to ourselves, so we don’t use grace as a means to argue
our rights to live marginal lives, or play with sin.
our rights to live marginal lives, or play with sin.
Live in a God-empowered state where you don’t even want to have a hint of anything sinful in your life!
First John 5:17-18 says,
We know that whoever is born of God does not continue in sin, but he who has been born of God KEEPS HIMSELF, an the WICKED ONE DOES NOT TOUCH HIM.
We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one. And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, that we may KNOW HIM who is TRUE; and we are IN HIM who is true, Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life! Keep yourselves from idols, dear children.
Some believers look at grace like teenagers look at turning 18.
Many teens think that turning 18 means that they come out from under their parents’ authority and are free to do what they want.
Instead of showing that they are adult-like and can honor their parents as a young adult, they are actually proving how immature they
really are. That’s the way a lot of Christians look at grace; but grace is not freedom to sin; it is freedom from sin.
really are. That’s the way a lot of Christians look at grace; but grace is not freedom to sin; it is freedom from sin.
studying the Word.) You are empowered to live a life that has no hint of sin! You are to have freedom from sin and live as an example!
When people start to justify playing around with sin, they get snared. Just admit it, quit it, and forget it!
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Learn more about how to overcome all that the enemy tries to throw at you in every
area of life in Gary and Drenda's Faith Over Fear Package.
In Shark Proof, Drenda combines her wit, humor, and life experience from 23 years in ministry to create a captivating book on overcoming one of the greatest problems we face: dealing with difficult people.
And, in Gary's Faith Over Fear 6-part series, you'll learn how to handle EVERY fear, so fear doesn't handle you.
And, in Gary's Faith Over Fear 6-part series, you'll learn how to handle EVERY fear, so fear doesn't handle you.
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