Saturday, August 18, 2012

The Power of a Focused Life

The Power of a Focused Life is not about being determined, or driving. In fact, its kind of the opposite. It's about living life on purpose instead of just letting life "happen" to you. One thing I learned early on in my life was that if I didn't schedule my time, someone else would.

This week I had the privilege of speaking to our interns at Convergence House of Prayer on the topic of the Power of a Focused Life. [Mike Bickle has some great teaching on it here.]

Here are a few of my favorite quotes from various leaders, and myself, on the topic:

"Money is Power, but Time, is Life." - John Maxwell

"If time is eternal equity, where are you investing it?"

"To squander time, is to squander destiny." - Mike Bickle

"What would you die for? Then why don't you live for it?"  Francis Anfuso

Remember the parable of the talents? This parable is a great picture of a squandered life. In fact, Proverbs 29:18 says: "Where there is no vision, the people perish", or are "unrestrained". Casting off restraint, is like a ship floating around in the ocean, with no direction, no anchor, and no map! In other words, lack of vision, or focus, equals a squandered destiny.

I used to think that when I received a dream from the Lord or a prophetic word than, "so let it be written, so let it be done." In other words, there was nothing left to do on my part. If God had a specific plan for my life, than it would just unfold before my eyes and bam! There I would be. It didn't quite work out like that for me, and then a few years ago I had to pull out my 15 years worth of journals and dig to find what promises God really had spoke to me. I began to lay out all the promises, dreams, and prophetic words I felt were really and truly from God, and pray into them.

This meant I had to take much time, process, pray, write, and evaluate my life. Were there things I was spending my time on that didn't "feed" my destiny? What things that are in my heart were really put there by God?

Personally, about every three months, I look at my schedule, evaluate how I am spending my time, and shift things that are not working for me. Perhaps I will specifically address that in another post, but for now I will leave you with those thoughts.

I am attaching a document I gave to our interns to help you take a look at where your time goes, what your life vision is, and how to make your weekly schedule "feed" your bigger picture life vision and goals.

I hope these tools are helpful to you!
Blessings!
- Gina


The Power of A Focused Life Processing Sheet

Bible Study Planning Worksheet

Weekly Schedule Worksheet