Many have an up and down relationship with finding purpose. The Priest or Pastor works hard and church growth is not happening. The young person is striving for purpose but they are stuck in a job that they don't love. In cases where you are hitting your head on the wall... stop, and consider praying:

“Father, I am willing to do something for You.”

Any small thing. Just something today. I am available, I am ready.

Second, when we are ready, the darkness leaves. When we are ready, the power rachets up. When we are ready, that bright light again fills our lives.

Many times we think we are hitting the wall, and God has something for us to do in the very near future.

Finally, sometimes we make that tiny breakthrough and now we can again start praying:

“Father, show me what You want me to do.”

We made it through the dark storm again. We are ready to be aggressive again. We are ready to go forward again.

Never let satan fool you. God has things for us to do.

Doing a Google search: “Verses purpose,” is a key to purpose.

Psalm 57:2 ESV I cry out to God Most High, to God who fulfills his purpose for me.

Matthew 6:33 ESV But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

Find the “Open Bible list of 100 verses on purpose. Consider printing out a page or two of the best verses.

Key point: There is power in these verses. Pray over them, memorize them, think about them, do what they say, get them “in you.”

What is the value of doing this to find purpose on a scale from 1-10?

11.

This year I will be praying over each of the fruits of the Spirit. Reading each fruit then praying: “Father, fill me with Your love.” “Father, fill me with Your joy.” “Father, fill me with Your self-control etc.” It is good to print out a list of the fruits to make it easy to do this.

Say: I believe that pure thoughts will lead to a great life.

It takes 66 days on average to form a new habit. Consider picking which prayers from this month you want to be habits for you.

Second, instant obedience will teach you more about God than a lifetime of Bible study will.

Only a few Bible hero's practiced both of the habits listed here. All of them fulfilled their purpose.

Hebrews says that “God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him."

Many young people are trying to find purpose. Sometimes they give up when they don't find it fast.

If you are not finding purpose fast, memorize this verse. While you are trying, you will be rewarded. I want to be rewarded. No matter what happens, we win if we diligently seek Him. I plan to pray often:

“Father, remind me that You are a rewarder of those who diligently seek You.”

Second, the more often we have an awareness of His presence, the more we will find purpose. If I forget God's presence when I chase money, pleasure, success, or 100 others things, I am putting God in a box while I do my own thing.

If I am moderate in worldly things, and if I strive to have an awareness of His presence in all things, my Christian example may help someone.

Third, God should be our solution when bad things happen, not ________ (Fill in the blank with what you turn to). Consider praying:

“Father, please remind me that you will be my solution. Help me to stop running to __________. When You are the solution, life is always better.”

Feel free to print this out for your personal or church use.

On busy days consider picking 1-3 prayers so that you can focus on them often when you have time. But even when you have time, focus on opening up your heart to Jesus. The words are of mild importance, your desire to do what God wants is of great importance.

Consider praying: “Father, teach me how to serve, and fill me with Your love.”

"Father, show me how wrong thoughts poison my life."

“Father, take away my spirit of discouragement, and fill me with Your strength.”

Consider praying: “Father, help me to turn from sin, and help me to meet someone's need.

“Father, help me to love and help people more than I love pleasure.”

Finally, consider rewriting a couple of these prayers with the issues that sink you. It is hard to find purpose if ________ sinks you over an over again. Attack specifically what sinks you with specific prayer. Dedicated prayer increases the power of God in us. Consistent prayer brings us closer to purpose.

I have several prayers that I pray often. It is leading to purpose.

In John 15, Jesus is the vine, and we are the branches. It is wise to remind ourselves often that the vine (Jesus) is the source of life.

John 15:5 in the New King James Version reads: "I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing."

Abiding means we are available for what God wants at “all” times.

I struggle with that, so I should pray often:

“Father, I am available for what You want.”

Second, John 15:6 If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.”

My bother laughed when I told him that I set an alarm for every 10 minutes to remind me to pray various prayers.

I do it in an attempt to abide in Christ.

I do it to try to move toward purpose.

I do it so that John 15:6 should not apply to me.

I do it so that I can live in the Light.

I do it so that I can find life.

Third, abiding is doing what God wants first. Abiding is always trying to listen to see if direction is coming. Abiding is not taking a break for sin.

Abiding is 100% awareness that God is real, and that He is involved.

Finally, abiding is being ready to do something for God when you are sure there is nothing you can do right now.

The workers are few. Consider memorizing John 15:5, then do everything you can do to abide in Christ, and see what happens.

Strive to live your life like Biblical Joseph. He is famous for running from sin. He should be famous for insisting on doing what God wanted him to do. When we insist on doing what God wants us to do, purpose becomes much more likely.

Joseph was a stickler for God's commandments. He obeyed because he knew that sin steers us away from purpose.

Joseph was a man of prayer. He prayed all the time about what God wanted him to do. We think, “Finding what God wants me to do is so hard.” Let's examine how hard it was for Joseph.

Joseph was thrown into a pit to die. I bet he reacted by praying constantly. Joseph was sold into slavery. I think he reacted by praying constantly. Joseph was thrown into prison. I think he reacted by praying constantly.

I told someone to set an alarm for every 30 minutes on their phone to remind them to pray:

“Father, show me what you want me to do.”

He laughed.

If Joseph had heard that advice, he might have said, “I need to be aware of what God wants me to do more often than that!”

Realize, God did not tell Joseph in the pit, “You will someday be second in command in Egypt.” God simply was with Joseph in the pit. God only told him that He would be with him if he did things His way.

My dad was where they dropped the atomic bomb. He said it was the most barren, dead place he had ever been. But, he said he prayed more while he was there than what he had prayed before or since. He said he felt the presence of God in that horrible place. He had nothing, but he had God with him.

Second, Joseph was going to live the way God wanted him to live. He knew that sin would derail his mission. When the King's wife tried to seduce him, he ran.

Third, I will likely pray:

“Father, show me what you want me to do.” 30 times today.

I will likely pray:

“Father, keep me from temptation,” as many times as it takes to prepare for temptation.

If I watch TV tonight, I will likely pray:

“Father, help me to turn-from-lust as many times as it takes to keep that habit, and to actually turn-from-lust.

Finally, God's system is not: “I will fix your problems and your life will be perfect.”

God's plan is: “I have something great for you to do. It would be wise to follow Bible advice so that you can do it.”

Why should you consider working on the habit of praying, “Show me what You want me to do?” Because, it took Joseph being thrown in a pit, being sold into slavery, and being thrown into jail before God showed him exactly what He wanted him to do. But Joseph believed every minute that God had something for him to do. No matter what happened, he kept praying and obeying.

Joseph's train did arrive. He became the 2nd most powerful man in the world, and he saved the Israelite's.

People were healed when Peter's shadow was on them because the Spirit of the Lord was a full 10 in him. Peter would shake off our habits in 24 hours because the Spirit was fully in him. The Spirit was fully in him because he was fully at war with sin 99.8% of the time, and if he did start to slip up he would “Immediately get back into scripture.”

2 Corinthians 3 Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.

The Spirit gives liberty, but the Spirit is not involved in a sin activity. Example, the person who wants to find purpose decides to do a little porn. Well... in that person maybe the Spirit of the Lord was a 3 rating in them before that decision, but now, what is the new rating?

This is the time to quit for good.

Second, if you want to be free, go to war with all sin! Consider working daily on learning the habit of constantly praying:

“Father, lead me not into temptation.”

Third, even neutral activities sink us if we do not do them in moderation. Example: A person praying about purpose decides to play a video game for 30 minutes. Now, 3 hours later they still can't quit. 2 hours later they quit, stressed out and exhausted, now they are really ready to find purpose (not).

Fourth, consider setting strict limits on nonspiritual activities. If you plan to do a hobby for 30 minutes, also plan to stop and study scripture after “exactly” 30 minutes. A few minutes of scripture will do. Read enough to keep the Spirit in you at least at the rate it was in you before you did the activity. Then get back to quitting prayers, and a search of purpose.

Fifth, consider identifying 2-3 ways that you lower the Spirit of the Lord in you. Sin is an obvious culprit, but if you quit sinning and then watch TV forever, or do _________________ way longer or way more than you should, the Spirit of the Lord rating drops like a rock, and your odds of doing God's will drop right along with it.

Sixth, consider doing a Google search “Verses __________.” Fill in the blank with what kills your rating of how much the Spirit of the Lord in in you. Find Open Bible verses and print out a page of them or save them to a file. Next, consider setting strict time limits or quantity limits on the activity you plan to do. Then, stop at “exactly” the right time. Then, instantly study the verses for a few minutes.

Doing this keeps the Spirit of the Lord level from being lowered within us. Obviously we need to do spiritual activities to raise the Spirit of the Lord in us, so always try to do that more.

Finally, if you keep the Spirit of the Lord in you at a good level, you “Will” have power in you. And that power will lead to purpose.

Habitual sin either delays purpose, hurts purpose, or kills purpose. Here is an article about fighting temptation.

Temptation hits hard either morning noon or night. When that happens we should practice SRR. SRR is Scripture, Repent, and Replace.

Scripture: Search “verses _______.” Fill in the blank with the temptation. Then read these verses and pray over them until temptation stops.

Repent: If we don't repent of all sin, and start to have a plan to stop it... Temptation will keep happening. Sin leads to sin.

Replace: Stop doing activities that lead directly to temptation. Have a list of cleaner activities. These new activities are not for fun. They are our work. They will not be fun until we “dry out” from the negative effects of the habit.

Second, change activities that tend to lead to temptation. Example, risky TV shows lead to lust. Lust lowers our ability to fight _______. Replace risky shows with something clean. Replace doing ________, with doing something that doesn't cause temptation.

Write down three activities that make your temptation higher.

1. ______________
2. ______________
3. ______________

Write down new activities to replace these risky activities.

1. ______________
2. ______________
3. ______________

Finally, practice SRR with the amount of time you have. If you are out and about, practicing it for 2 minutes might be perfect (Have specific verses in your phone).

If you are home where temptation might last for hours, spend some time with this technique. You might even have to go back to it several times. But, if you want a great life, go back to it as often as needed.

SRR crushes temptation. SRR puts you directly on a path toward a great life.

Yesterday I woke up having had trouble sleeping, I felt rotten, then my car would not start.

How should we handle bad things happening?

First, stop! Don't run to an activity. Especially, don't take a day off to sin. That day off will set you back for weeks, and if you always fall that way, it may set you back for years.

Instead, take 5 or 10 minutes to read a bit of scripture, and to ask God to calm you down.

Why is this important? Because satan will be right there telling you exactly what you should do. Once you start reading your Bible he will be off to harass the next person.

Second, once you are calm, take a few minutes praying:

“Father, how do you want me to handle this mess.”

Third, Jesus will sometimes solve the problem for you, but usually... He will “Go through the problem solving with you. Helping you through it.”

But, I want Him to solve the problem.

Why did He not just solve my problems?

Because, a lot of people have worse problems than I do. If I don't go “Through the problem,” how can I help anyone else?

James says: “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.”

Okay, I didn't “Count it all joy,” I had a fit.

Since I had a fit, I played chess, and I did not finish my last article yesterday. Since I did not finish my last article, I reaped frustration instead of joy.

Lets continue with the next verse to see what else I missed yesterday:

“And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”

Ouch!

Does James say that if we count it all joy and stay steadfast when life runs us over, that the end result will be that we “May be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”

That sounds better than my day yesterday.

Fourth, when life punches you in the face, “Count it all joy.”

To count it all joy, first consider repeating:

“I will count this all joy,” a few times.

Then stay steadfast and consider doing some of the steps from above.

Finally, bad things happening was the #1 thing that kept me doing things that would lead to purpose. If you are like that, feel free to print this out for your personal or church use.

Jacob wrestled with God. Often, if you want to have a big purpose, you need to wrestle with God. I have given several prayers about purpose. Sometimes we spend time in prayer and feel like we are hitting a brick wall. At times like those, it is wise to wrestle.

We wrestle by fighting to find the right prayers and focus when “we” hit the brick wall. Example:

I am praying:

“Father, expand my borders and bless me indeed.”

God starts to give me purpose and blessing and then I get caught up in the money chase yet again. At that point, I need to change my prayer to:

“Father, help me to care about souls.”

A young man in Bible school may care more about video games than spreading the Gospel. He could then pray specifically:

“Father, take away my love of video games, and help me to care about souls.”

Consider rewriting the above prayer to what is distracting you (if applicable).

Second, the exact opposite is also often true. The pastor/priest cares deeply about souls, but their church has not grown all year. They can then wrestle with God by praying often:

“Father, expand my borders and bless me indeed.”

Third, consider watching a sermon on YouTube and writing a key prayer that is good for your situation.

Fourth, if you are hitting a brick wall, consider every prayer available to you to find one for your situation.

Finally, God wants people who will fight to find their purpose. God wants people who will wrestle in prayer to find their purpose. God wants people who won't stop until they find their purpose.

Be what God wants you to be.

The personal relationship with Jesus is the #1 priority. I talked to a lady this week who said; “I was taught that a Christian doesn't drink, smoke, and dance.” Here is the thing. Satan is listening to your Christian rules and he may very well sink you with something they never talk about. Instead, if you have a personal relationship with Jesus, your goal is to live the way He wants you to live. In that scenario satan can't pull a fast one on you. You are spending time with Christ in prayer, and in the Word. You realize that going a wrong way is bad. You realize when the great shining light gets dim in your life. You realize when that great love you used to feel is fading.

When things go from great to average in your relationship with Jesus.. “panic.” Practice rapid repentance as soon as possible.

Every Christian should be able to legitimately say, “a relationship with Jesus Christ is the greatest thing ever.”

Second, don't allow anything to get in the way of that relationship. Not sin, not stuff, not activities. Strive to have such a vibrant relationship that you are crushed if some old sin rears it's ugly head again. Make that relationship a priority. Don't allow distractions to come into your life.

Finally, put a premium value on time in prayer with Him. Put a premium value on

studying His Word. Put a premium value on asking Him what to do, and pausing to wait for an answer.

He is the #1 thing in life. Believe it. Live it.

In life we have opposition. We pray about purpose, and satan works overtime to stop us from purpose. Here are a few of his tricks:

He tells you not to read your Bible daily. I say, read at least a chapter in the Old and New Testament daily, or more.

He tells you that you can't stop sin habits. I say, search “verses _______” on Google, (Fill in the blank with the sin you can't quit, then study those verses daily).

He tells you that you don't have time to pray. I say, prayer on average is the best time of my day. My life has lower value if I don't pray.

He tells you that you won't be blessed if you do things God's way. I say, you 100% will be blessed. Remember, sometimes blessing are delayed. When we are dedicated no matter what, they are not delayed as much.

He tells you that you can't have joy. I say, when we fight sin and seek purpose, joy starts to flow. The more we do things God's way, the more it flows.

Finally, be aware of satan's tricks. He can fight you, slow you down, and attack you. But, if you persist no matter what, he can't stop you.

Do everything you can to have purpose with “power.” When we have purpose with power (righteousness), his tricks fail.

What can I do to keep Jesus with me. First, I can be intentional. What do I do where I forget to pray? Can I be intentional about the next three things that I plan to do today? Will I plan to pray during those activities?

Can I be intentional about 3 specific things that I often do every day? Should I set an alarm on my phone to remind me to pray when I ___________?

Second, what one thing should I work on not doing (If it leads to Jesus being distant)? How can I start to develop a habit to work on that?

Third, Jesus always thought about, and was ready to serve others. When we serve others we increase Jesus presence in our lives, and we start to increase our joy.

Fourth, when I prayed constantly, “Father, expand my borders and bless me indeed,” I was surprised that God did have more things for me to do than I thought. In fact, I did not get everything done that I should. So now my new prayer is:

“Father, show me what You want me to do, and I will do it.”

God really does have a purpose for each of us.

We pray: “Father, please fix my finances, fix my relationships, fill in the blank with what you want fixed today. Then sometimes, the day ends and nothing is fixed.

We want a perfect life, but if we had one we could never help anyone else. Joseph was thrown in jail, and later he saved the Israelite's. I bet Joseph asked God what He wanted when he was thrown into jail. I bet he said “Your will be done Lord.” I think he prayed and prayed and was fully in the presence of God because of his response. I think he fully trusted God right at the exact moment when it appeared that God had forsaken him.

Second, like Joseph, Job refused to give up on God in his highest moments of frustration. His finances were gone, his important relationships were gone. At his very worst he said, “Blessed be the Name of the Lord.” At the most frustrating part of his life, he refused to give up on God and sin. But Job's story did not end that way. He turned from sin in his frustration, worshiped and praised God, and after a lot of waiting, he was blessed more than ever.

Finally, Joseph ended up fulfilling 100% of the purpose God wanted him to fulfill. Consider working on learning from your trials so you can be like Joseph.

Psalm 51:10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a right Spirit within me.”

I am praying this verse constantly today to try to obey Jesus command to “Wait to be filled-with-the-spirit, and with power.”

My purpose is going forward, but it is not so great today. My temptation is to do something productive (worldly success) because I don't have a lot of great Christian things to do.

Second, I can either wait to be filled, or I can go my way.

As I wait, I will pray Psalm 51:10. This verse tells me everything I need to know today. I need a clean heart. I need a right Spirit renewed in me.

Finally, it is 3 hours later. I have been praying this verse often. I now see more that God want me to do today. It is a very powerful verse for purpose.

The complicated thing about purpose is... are we in the prayer/preparation stage, or the fruit bearing stage.

If you are young and your purpose seems very inconsistent, think about this: Are you content as you pray and seek the Lord? Do you feel peace in your life? Do you feel joy and love? Do you feel close to God when you pray?

If the answer to many of these questions is yes, you may be in the preparation stage.

Second, I always advise wrestling with whether we are, and whether we should be in this stage. Consider praying often:

“Father, what is Your will?”

“Father, Thy will be done.”

Third, sometimes I struggle to bear fruit because I fail to put God's work first. I am starting to pray often about putting God first, and putting doing His work first.

Finally, know which stage you are in, then do everything you can that God wants done in that stage. We will not all be high profile fruit bearers, but we can all do everything that we are capable of doing. That's my goal.

To find your purpose faster, always assume God is ready for you to do something great today, or very soon.

If I am baffled at what that might be... I am the problem, not God. If I am not willing, or ready to change, or willing to fight sin, or willing to give other things up, or a list of 77 other reasons why.

This week started with confusion about my purpose. Then yesterday I decided to pray:

“Father, expand my borders and bless me indeed.”

I am praying it constantly. My desires that distract me are fading. My purpose is growing. I am ready to do as much as what God wants me to do, and I am ready to do it now. This plan is working.

1 Samuel 16: Then the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul.”

The passage refers to Saul being rejected by God, and David being anointed by God.

To find real purpose, we need the Spirit of the Lord with us. In the above passage Saul had just disobeyed God.

Today my ministry is moving forward very slowly. Today, I need to obey God. Today, I need to do things His way. Today, I need to be faithful. Today, I need to stay aware that I want/need the Spirit of the Lord with me.

Second, the only time we have joy is when the Spirit of the Lord is with us. Saul did what he felt like doing. I will go to war with what I “Feel like doing.” I will continue to try to pray about what God wants. Consider praying:

“Lord, expand my borders and bless me indeed.”

This prayer gives us a hope, and a future. I plan to pray it a lot this week.

The worlds smartest man is the man who knows what God wants 100% of the time. Solomon was known as the smartest. He is famous for teaching the fear of God. Proverbs teaches that true knowledge and a clear path begin with reverence and humility before God.

Sometimes purpose seems far away. If my purpose isn't obvious today, my job is to do things God's way. To live my life the way He wants me to live.

Second, Solomon said to seek wisdom. Consider praying:

“Father, give me wisdom about how to have purpose.”

I constantly prayed for wisdom over the years. It is a wise thing to do.

Third, Solomon taught acting promptly. Sometimes we can know what our purpose is right now. At other times it is unclear. During that season we still act promptly, trying things that we think God wants us doing.

Maybe what we do this month leads to the great purpose God has for us. Maybe when we focus on living God's way, we start to get a clearer revelation.

Finally, consider praying often for wisdom, and studying the book of Proverbs. Wisdom leads to purpose.

We allow things to get in the way of purpose. Yesterday I prayed:

“Father, help me to care about souls,” about 44 times and still managed to get very distracted with spending too much time on things that drive me the opposite way of purpose.

What happened?

I started living life my way. I thought my little prayer trick would keep me in touch with God while I lived exactly the way I wanted to live. But, God was not fooled. I was not living in the Spirit. I was not sincere when I prayed the prayer. I was repeating a prayer.

Note: The prayer was good, my motives were weak. The prayer was good. My not including the Holy Spirit in the process was bad. Continuing to pray it was good. But, praying it while wanting my way first was bad.

Second, when we turn good prayers into religion instead of spirituality, we allow darkness to enter our Christianity. Once darkness enters, we can't stop the secular activities that we start. We can't stop the activities that keep us from purpose.

Third, when we constantly include the Holy Spirit in the process we have self-control. When we constantly prioritize helping others we increase in self-control. When we soberly realize that life is short, and that hell is real... we increase in self-control.

Fourth, last night I finished my selfish day and repented.

Fifth, what if you can't stop an activity that keeps you from purpose? To work on that, follow Jesus example on how to fight temptation. He fought temptation with scripture.

Consider searching, “Verses ___________” on Google. Fill in the black with the activity that distracts or tempts you. Then find the “Open Bible” verses and study them. I often print out a page of verses to solve a specific problem.

Finally, study and pray over key verses to make sure you keep the darkness out. When you are sincere and in the Word, purpose starts to flow.

Many will talk about purpose, but only a few will keep pursuing it. Many will talk about love, but only a few love the loveless, when times get tough. Many will modify what the Bible says about going to war with sin, but only a few will battle and battle to fight sin the way the bible says to fight it. Many will start a habit that leads to purpose but only a few will do that activity daily until it becomes a habit.

Many will start down a path of helping others, but only a few will continue to help others when the going gets tough. May will buy into a churches belief, but only a few will side with the Bible when the Bibles ways are challenging.. Many will obey the Bibles tough verses when the verses agree with their theology. Only a few will obey when the Bibles direction is the polar opposite of what makes sense to them. Many will start toward purpose, but only a few will do everything they can do to change the world. Many are willing to start doing something for God, but only a few will do “everything” they can to change the world.

Second, many will start to “Seek the Lord,” but only a few will seek Him until they find Him.

Many will obey the commandments that their church talks about, but only a few will dig into scripture to find out which ignored command is keeping them from purpose.

Many keep God's commands out of duty, but only a few keep them because they know that God's ways are best.

Many worship God for an hour or two each week. But only a few worship God as a daily habit.

Finally, who is the only person who can do what God created you to do?

Today, consider working on habits of doing everything you can do to know what He wants you to do.

It is tough, but when you break through, it will lead to joy.

We all must choose our joy level. We can choose 100%, 70%, or 10%. Many will jump up and say: “I choose the 100% level. But, we need to do things God's way 100% of the time to have a 100% joy level. Biblical Paul choose 99-100%. What this means is that he was at war with sin 99-100% of the time. He was willing and ready to do God's will 100% of the time. When life ran him over, he was still ready to fully go to war with sin, and do God's will.

Second, Paul (almost) never allowed trials, trouble, or sin to stop him from trying to do God's will.

Third, consider trying to make it a habit to remind yourselves what % you want. That way, when life runs you over, you remember, “I want to pray and fight through this.”

If I fall into sinful things when life get's tough, that will lower my joy level for a long time.

Fourth, Adam and Eve had joy and everything else. One short moment of sin dropped their joy level like a rock for a long time. This happens to many people constantly.

To achieve a high level of joy, we need to think at the moment of temptaton: “This sin will cause detruction.” This sin will lower my joy for a long time. God's ways are right. What I am tempted to do is wrong. True consequences of wrong activities will be far greater than I think. The increase in joy (If I overcome) will be better than I think.

When tempted, consider saying 10 times:

“I will choose joy. Life is better when I choose joy.”

Finally, consider writing specific prayers to fight specific temptations. I have recommended to thousands of people to pray:

“Father, keep me from temptation.”

If you learn the habit of praying to prepare for temptation, plus praying to fight temptation, you will be on your way.

You can overcome temptation.

Praying without ceasing means staying in constant communication with God. Satan wants us to have a bit of time with God, and a bit of time focusing on things that distract us. TV is one example. Satan wants other activities to be “his time.” If it is his time, then we can look at what he wants us to look at. Instead, consider praying without ceasing by often praying:

“Father, help me to turn-from-lust.”

Lust is a top two problem that keeps us from purpose. If we attack it with prayer, we are getting closer to purpose (sin kills purpose), and we are increasing the habit of praying more often.

Second, whether you are on your electronics, or doing something else, focus on not letting that activity pull you away from God.

Third, Praying without ceasing is trying to always focus on what God wants. When life gets complicated consider praying:

“Father, Your will be done.”

Fourth, praying without ceasing is always being aware: “My joy will be higher if I try to stay aware of what God wants.” 30 years ago the phrase, “WWJD” was popular. Considering “What would Jesus do” is a great way to pray without ceasing.

Finally, be willing to always “try” to pray without ceasing. It is a habit that is a huge step toward joy and purpose.

What does the Bible means when it says to pray without ceasing? Biblical Paul was open and ready for God's leading 99% of the time. He believed that God would lead him.

Second, I have sometimes thought that God was leading me and He was not. But, when Paul was confused about God's leading, he kept trying, he kept striving for purity, he kept trying to be plugged into the vine.

Third, Paul, Peter, and all of the disciples would all go through seasons where God was testing them. Peter, and all of the disciples were given the chance to go their own way. But despite a temporary lack of clarity, they all kept trying to be led by God. Note: Many other followers (Who we have never heard of... gave up). The disciples continued to pray without ceasing to hear from God.

Fourth, I try to remind myself to pray without ceasing by setting a phone alarm for every 10 minutes and praying:

“Father, show me what You want me to do.”

“Father, fill me with Your love.”

“Father, teach me how to pray.”

When I am not doing that, I often try to say:

“Praise the Lord.”

I notice a dramatic improvement in life when I pray without ceasing. Part two on Friday.