Creation is one of the most instrumental steps of a journey. You are probably realizing that there is a lot of stuff I am not saying about my personal journey closer to Christ. I wish I could tell you everything that I encountered in my journey but that would defeat the point of a personal journey. Creation comes into play here.
You have to create your own journey. I struggled with things like porn and impure thoughts. Some people struggle with drunkenness, I do not. Some people struggle with insecurity, I am not one of those. You are hopefully starting to understand why creation is such a big deal. My journey cannot be taken by you. Yours cannot be taken by me. I hope this is starting to make sense.
The first part of the creation process is simply to identify your road blocks. My road block is quite obvious; yours may not be. My road block was the temptation of porn and impure thoughts. It literally dictated my world. I was in a position where I would make decisions that I knew to be wrong decisions because I had this idea in my head with things that were not pure. My road block, in a nutshell, was the temptation of what was stated above. To stifle this temptation, I did something drastic. I wrote a vow to my future wife. I wrote a simple vow that I will not put on my blog, but it basically was me expressing that all of that world was for her and I was going to renew my mind so that I could make sure that was truth. I signed it on May 29, 2009. I hope this is sounding familiar. I will admit, there are highs and lows as far as temptations. Even now, some days I just sit in my bed and do not move so that the temptation goes away. Other days the temptation cannot touch me. But the point is I created my journey. If there was one thing in my life that was keeping me from a personal relationship with Christ, it was my road block. I identified it and I started to fight against it.
The second part of the creation process is to determine the destination. No one wakes up in the morning and decides to become a crack-addict. No one woke up in the morning woke up and said something like “I think I will be someone who sleeps with everyone I come into contact with, married or not.” NO ONE does that, but people still are doing these things are they not? People are still addicted, and yes, people are still sleeping with those they should not be. We still have premarital sex rates climbing in this world. Not cool. So the question is this, where do you want to be? Destinations matter. How do you know where you are, if you do not even know where you are going. I encourage this bar to be set high.
The third, and probably most interactive part of the creation process is to start making bold decisions and choices. A bold decision lets the temptation die within them and embraces a Friday night alone in their room. A bold decision decides for the future, not for the current. A bold decision looks at this idea of a list that is representing their wife, and refuses to do anything but wait till marriage. I will tell you honestly, I have had many chances to give my virginity away, but I am proud to say that I have held on to it for my wife. When I got rid of the temptations of porn, my life became way easier to control, and hormones could not budge me.
You are hopefully getting my hint here. YOU HAVE TO CREATE YOUR OWN JOURNEY. It is simple, commit to the journey, create one that is right for you, and then go for it. There is a lot more I could say about this, but this has to be personal. You cannot have my journey, and I cannot have yours. If Jesus is your focus, and your goal, and being closer to him is the destination you desire, suck it up and make some tough decisions. Some of you need to get out of that relationship. Others need to stop going out with those friends. There are some people reading this that need to drastically change their social circles in general. You see where I am coming from? John Elderedge says this, “he is no fool who gives what he cannot keep, to gain what he cannot lose.” Believe that.
I’m not saying I have arrived, nor am I saying that I have it all together. I am simply saying that I have done this in my life and have seen dramatically positive results. God has become my central focus, and every time the hurdles come up and road blocks come up, I am prepared for them.
Atum victoria curam : victory loves preparation.
You want victory? It is time to prepare now.
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Be honest with yourself, no one needs to know. I encourage you to take yourself to the corners of your mind and really investigate what changes need to be made. When you get there, I dare you to move towards making those changes. I dare you to move.
leadershape 