A Spring Checklist

If you'll permit just one more quick deviation from our Completely Loved study, I want to share something I read this morning that was TREMENDOUSLY encouraging as well as VERY convicting to me.

I'm completely smitten with Spring right now and reveling in the joy of being outside a little more and digging in the dirt. For those of you who know me: please quit laughing. Get up off the floor and rejoice that, yes indeed, God has changed your old friend THAT much. I am loving working in the flower beds and smelling Spring - yes, even as I add manure to the soil. GRIN And have I got the sore muscles to validate my efforts! Hear me groan every time I move? Oh well, serves me right for not keeping these old muscles toned. One more lesson learned.

As I watch the changes Spring is bringing to nature, it makes me want to grow too. It makes me want to blossom and bloom spiritually. It makes me want to climb to new heights with God. For me to do that, I must keep my roots warm in the nourishing soil of simply loving Jesus, praising God, reading and studying the Word, and walking in step with the Spirit.

I was reading a couple of devotionals about Spring in Jack Hayford's beautiful book, Moments with Majesty, this morning and he shared the following Spring Checklist.

Checkpoint # 1: Relationships

• Is all clutter of doubt, condemnation, or guilt between Jesus and myself cleared out? Is there a regular flow of one-to-one relationship with Him in prayer, communion, praise, and worship?
• Am I giving adequate attention to all family relationships? Am I faithfully giving myself to each member of the family? Allowing special time to be with each? Am I forgiving of their shortcomings - and seeking their forgiveness for mine?
• Concerning those with whom I work or study: Am I sensitive as an available channel for ministry? What fresh flow of God's love might be released through me? Am I free of all resentment . . . . lovelessness?

Checkpoint # 2: Maturity

• Am I gaining new points of balance in my understanding? Am I giving God's Spirit opportunity to enlarge my awareness and perspective?
• How do I score in God's mind when it comes to such seemingly diverse principles as "Spirit-filled prayer life" and "fidelity with God's tithe"?
• Where have I been in my private reading and study of God's eternal Word? What points of truth have been opened or deepened in my mind?

Checkpoint # 3: My Church Family

• Am I "in touch" with those things the Holy Spirit is saying to my congregation? Am I hearing Him? Responding? Am I simply a part of the crowd, or am I a contributing part of the family?
• What headway am I making in my growth as an intercessor? Am I growing in prayer for our nation and its leaders? Am I aware of the movement of God's Spirit in different "hot spots" around the world?
• When have I last sought a new acquaintance at more than a surface level of involvement? Am I stagnating with a closing circle of fellowship, or open to and cultivating an expanding circle?

I hope you can find some time to take these questions before the Lord and talk with Him about them. Only He knows where He wants to spark a fresh Spring growth in your life. Only He knows where you need to "let the fresh breath of His life blow out the accumulated dust of neglect." I pray that He will bless your conversation as you talk with Him about these questions. He certainly did mine!