Epic Fail.

I have not posted in almost a month. I. AM. SO. SORRY. :'(

ANYWAY... At youth group tonight, our pastor taught on 7 tips on living and praying like Jesus. All these instructions come from Jesus's prayer for himself at the Last Supper, found in John 17:1-5.

1. Lift your eyes to Him.

• Jesus looks up to Heaven when praying, much like we do - we close our eyes and focus on Heaven. I believe this helps us become closer to God and Jesus and have a stronger "connection" (for lack of a better word) to him.

2. Call out to God by name - Father

• Jesus calls God Father, as he often does, and so should we! I mean, he really IS our Father - we were all born again in and unto him!! So really, we should have such a close relationship with him that we can call on him and say "hey dad, thanks for ___. It was perfect, of course...." and so on.

3. Align yourself to God's timetable

• Jesus says that "the time has come." He knew that God's plan for his crucifixion included a specific time. This is important because it applies to all of us - we so often think something should happen when WE want it to, but God's timing is so much more accurate and always ends up better.

4. Go after God's glory

• When we accomplish something we're proud of, for example, dropping time at a swim meet, we are supposed to give GOD the glory for our success. Because really, OUR success isn't even our own - it's GOD'S, because he GAVE us the ability and strength to do whatever  we did. Simple put: give God the glory in all you do so that he will glorify you in Heaven.

5. Embrace eternal life

• We all know (hopefully anyway) that God promises us eternal life for following Jesus's example. So, obviously, to embrace eternal life, we must embrace Jesus and all his love.

6. Rest in His finished work

• Though many look anxiously to the future, with apprehensive thoughts like "what am I going to do?" or "I don't know where I'm going in life," we are all told - by Jesus - to rest because we are a completed work. God created us perfectly, and we are complete in him. So, we are told to find rest and peace in that.

7. Look forward to the glory to come

• Be EXCITED for Heaven!!! It seems many people are scared or nervous or even weirded out by the thought of Heaven. But it's not going to be weird or scary at all!! It's going to be PARADISE, people!! Imagine: We'll get to walk around with all our Christian friends, and even better, we get to hang out with Jesus himself!! LET'S GET EXCITED!!! :D

So... yeah. I hope these simple notes are encouraging / helpful / useful to you in some way :) Have a great rest of the week!! :)

♥kelli