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This Week's Broadcasts
Taking an honest inventory of our lives can be a frightening - but helpful - experience. If you are willing to take this step on a regular basis, you will learn that honesty really is the best policy.
Business owners take regular inventory of their stock. These inventories can be a useful business planning tool. They can reveal growth or decline in business productivity and possible obstacles to growth. They can assist business owners in making changes for a better future. Taking a regular inventory of our life can be productive, as well. It can help us answer questions about the directions our life is moving. Are we growing or declining in character development? Are we moving toward our life goals, or are there hindering obstacles? Are we growing in our relationship with God? What changes do we need to make to move ahead more effectively?
Let's take a good look at the way we're living and reorder our lives under God (Lamentations 3:40 MSG). I encourage you to take inventory of your life. Consider your relationships with God, your family, your church and your friends. Be honest. Ask God to help you see things as they really are and to face any inappropriate behavior without making excuses for yourself. God loves you and He wants to help you eliminate those things in your life that may be hurting you - and others. But before He can help you, you must face up to the fact that these problems exist. Remember, Jesus is with you. He will not disappoint you in your time of personal searching.
Ask yourself some hard questions like these:
Prayerfully add some of your own questions. Write down your answers. Resist the natural tendency to make excuses or avoid some problem area. Be completely honest with yourself and with God. Remember, He knows your every thought - there's no way to hide anything from Him. The good part about that is ... He loves you anyway!
O LORD, you have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar (Psalm 139:1-2 NIV). You can trust Jesus to forgive your failures and give you the strength to get your life back on track. The changes might be small or large. The important thing is to always be moving in the right direction - toward God and His plan for your life.
Another important area to audit is your relationship with your family. Make your own list of questions. You might want to use some like these:
As you consider these questions and others, ask God to help you see clearly. The Bible tells us that He knows our undertakings and thoughts even before we act or think - so be honest with Him about what you see and feel. Always remember that He loves you no matter what. He wants to help you in your family relationships ... and in every area of your life. Ask Jesus to forgive you for past failures and to help you make right choices. Focus on Him. He will forgive you, He will guide you, and He will enable you to become the person He has called you to be.
The steps of the godly are directed by the LORD. He delights in every detail of their lives. Though they stumble, they will not fall, for the LORD holds them by the hand (Psalm 37:23-24 NLT).
Another important area of your life to inventory is your relationship with your friends. Make your own list of questions - you might want to use some like these:
Be honest with yourself and with God. He knows more about you than you know about yourself, so it's useless to try to hide anything from Him. Ask Him to help you evaluate this area of your life honestly and to accept responsibility for any problems you discover. God loves you and wants only the best for you. He has a good plan for your life, but you can block that plan by making poor choices. I encourage you to choose today to do things God's way. He loves you and He will guide you and help you through every step of your journey.
Trust God from the bottom of your heart; don't try to figure out everything on your own. Listen for God's voice in everything you do, everywhere you go; he's the one who will keep you on track (Proverbs 3:5-6 MSG).
One area of your life to audit involves your choices in the workplace. Sometimes we tend to live by a different set of standards in our career or business. But God wants us to be guided by His principles in every area of our lives. You will want to make your own list of questions that relate to your circumstances, but here are some to consider:
All a man's ways seem innocent to him, but motives are weighed by the LORD. Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and your plans will succeed Proverbs 16:2-3 NIV).  Teaching in this article is derived from Stepping into Freedom: A Christ-Centered Twelve-Step Program. This group offers help for anyone struggling with a life-controlling problem like drug addiction, alcoholism, sexual addiction, gambling or workaholism. I can help anyone confidently master the problems faced in daily living. Learn more.
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