Greetings, my friend,

Welcome to The Arsenal, your bi-monthly resource for training and equipping you to live a set-apart lifestyle.

⚔️ Today’s Training: Your End Goal

As you read this particular article while checking your inbox today, I don’t want it to be just another edition of an email newsletter you’re subscribed to: I want this article to be a checkpoint of sorts for you as you strive to be molded into Yeshua’s image more and more each day.

And to do that, I want you to ask yourself an honest question:

Do you know what you’re doing?

That might sound like an obvious question: Chances are, if you’re reading this, you have goals for yourself: To learn new things, to make real changes in your habits, to grow closer to God, and to grow and mature into someone who acts like our Messiah daily; Just to name a few likely examples. And if so, congratulations: you’re already a step ahead than most other people around you.

But think deeper about this question: Do you fully understand what you’re doing with your life and the goals you’ve set for yourself? Why is it that you strive to build a stronger, healthier body in the gym? Why is it that you want to quit giving into lustful thoughts and watching sexually-charged content? Why do you want to start your own business and become as successful as you can?

Why should you even care what the motive is? Those are all great things!

I’ll tell you why. Because Messiah didn’t die for you and call you by your name to waste your potential and the talents He’s given you on personal, prideful motives.

Sometimes we do have good intentions: You want to be the best we can be for your family, friends, and communities, both physically and emotionally; You want to avoid exposing ourselves to perverted content online so you can have healthy mindsets; And perhaps you’d like to start your own business one day because it could be a wonderful opportunity to provide for your family and achieve lifelong goals and dreams you’ve had. And all of these mindsets are fantastic.

But if we profess to have a faith in the God of the Bible who reached out His hand to us and can save us from ourselves, the very least we can do with the lives He’s so graciously given us is put Him first and glorify and obey Him first and foremost through every little thing we do, especially with your personal development goals!

📖 A word from the Word

Ultimately, as these Scriptures imply, we should start viewing our lives as a sacrifice we bring before The Father! We ought to filter our goals and our life’s agenda through the lens of offering it to Him so He can be glorified through our lives! Because the Scriptures also tell us:

Approaching your life in this manner not only brings the God you claim to believe in the glory He deserves, but it’s also a big-time pride killer. And when you quit living for yourself and your own image, you begin to see life and many activities you take part in a lot differently.

Let’s take working out as a practical example. Before my workouts, many times I have to check my motives and ask myself: “Why am I here? Is it to build the type of physique I want for my own self-image? Or am I going to remind myself that this body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, and I’m here to honor Yah with my body and make it the best it can be? (1 Corinthians 6:19-20)

Here's another example: If you're an entrepreneur starting your own business in a field you know will be pretty profitable, what's the incentive for making all that money? So you can focus on enjoying the pleasures of this world and living out your materialistic dreams? As it turns out, that's all fleeting, bro (1 John 2:15-17). Don't waste your valuable time left here pursuing them! Perhaps a more godly use of some of that extra income, aside from providing for your household, would be giving it to help the orphan, the widow, and the poor (James 1:27, 1 John 3:17)! Or at the very least, being willing to give back to our communities or specific people in them that have poured into us in their time of need.

As believers in the Most High, we must stop wasting our time feeding into such selfish, unfruitful mindsets that corrupt our motives and our sense of purpose! Be on guard, because the enemy lays this trap frequently to ensnare even the most dedicated to their faith and their goals.

💪 Your Action Steps: Living with Heavenly Intent

1. If you haven't already, think about your life at this present moment, and intentionally choose to make changes to how you live. Do whatever it takes to purge any harmful habits that may be holding you back, and replace them with things that will develop you as a person you and especially The Father can be proud of.

2. Assess your progress with your goals and the motives behind them. What's truly driving you to get out of bed each morning and do impactful things? Is it some worldly, egotistical motive? Or is it to honor Yahweh with it and bring Him glory before yourself and others?

3. Ask for forgiveness and repent if your motives are skewed. Pray that pride and/or the desires of the flesh wouldn't control your life any longer, and that The Father would teach you what it truly means to live a life where every aspect is devoted to burning for Him, and Him alone.

Until we meet again,

Shalom in Yeshua the Messiah.