Creating Man: Gifts for the Adventurous Sample

Structure First

I love the scripture of Genesis 2:7, "The Lord formed man from the dust of the ground." You can imagine, almost like a movie scene, where the dust starts swirling around and this magnificent masculine male form is created. This is Step One of God creating Adam, and after God created Adam's body, He "breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living being."

As a Psychologist, I feel blessed to have worked with thousands of men and women over the several decades of my career. I often use Genesis 2:7 to illustrate how God creates in our lives today.

I want to highlight that so many people want to immediately see a change in their lives without fully embracing a discipline that can bring about the change they desire. For instance, a person who wants wealth in the future embraces the discipline of tithing, saving, and investing regularly. I have seen God supernaturally breathe on a discipline, and in turn, people obtain wealth. I have seen this in health and marriages as well. If a person embraces better eating habits and exercise, then he or she will become healthy over time. I've seen thousands of couples embrace sharing their feelings, praising each other and praying together, and thus reunite broken marriages.

Embracing self-discipline is a significant part of us growing in Christ. We can embrace a discipline or structure, like praying and reading the word of God daily, and over time we grow spiritually. We can practice patience, kindness, or any fruit of the spirit daily and find we have more of that fruit daily.

I want you to take a moment and ask yourself: "What are my structures?"

Are they spiritual? Or physical? Are they more intertwined with secular media and relationships OR are you consuming the word of God and investing in Godly relationships? Rarely do we, as western Christians, stop for even ten minutes and evaluate what we are creating in our life and future.

The secret is how you spend your time other than work and sleep. What you're doing with your time are your structures or disciplines that can bring blessings or challenges into your life. Today take a few minutes to answer this question of what you are creating and breathing your energy into. If you need to make changes, the Holy Spirit can help you move toward disciplines that pertain to your destiny.