How Intentional Are You?

How Intentional Are You?

by Janis Cox

An advantage of being a snowbird is to meet other Christians in the United States (and not just online). A few weeks ago I attended the American Christian Writers Conference in Phoenix. How did I do that? Well – God led me to a Facebook friend who invited me to the conference. Wasn’t that wonderful?

One of the speakers talked about intentionality. She urged us to focus on time. She gave us 7 reasons we procrastinate. Joan C. Webb spoke about partnering with God in excellence.

Her take-away:

People, organizations, circumstances and actions do not have the
ability to be constantly flawless here on earth.

Only God is perfect. – Joan Webb (tweetable)

Joan urged us to find where God wants us to focus our time. There are only so many hours in one day.

Do you know what is taking up your time? (tweetable)

We did a quick survey by jotting down the times of the day and filling in the activities that have to be done. Then we added up the hours used and subtracted from 24. Those are the discretionary hours we have in our day. And surprise – we have some!

Instead of complaining how busy we are, let’s get a grip on time. Let’s use it to our advantage.

As always – put God first. When we give Him the first fruits He will bless us immensely.

Then be intentional about the rest of the day. Decide where our best two hours are and do what is most important in those hours.

As I have worked on this theory and asked God for help, I see that I do put some things off. Why? – Laziness, fear, unwillingness to try harder to learn, and distractions.

So here is my plan:

Set a goal. Pray about it. Then set about being
intentional to work on it.  (tweetable)

And a caveat:

Be ready to change if prompted by the Holy Spirit. I don’t want to be so task-oriented that I overlook what God is doing. (tweetable)

Prayer:

Lord, we thank You for time. We ask You to help us use it well, for Your glory. Show us how to use this time You’ve given us – wisely. In Jesus’ Name. AMEN.

Related articles

• Is the Channel Open? (underthecoverofprayer.wordpress.com)
• What Day is it? (familyandfaithmatters.wordpress.com)
• Do You Study the Word or Obey it? (underthecoverofprayer.wordpress.com)

Also published on Medium.