This tool gives you a systematic way to internalize the word of God and apply it to your life. If you commit to using the sharpener on a regular basis, you will develop the habit of supercharging your personal goals, weekly objectives, daily to-do list, and every important decision with the power illustrated in this verse: “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart”. In other words, you will be applying the greatest source of truth, wisdom, and inspiration available to mankind to your most important priorities while setting your GPS on spending eternity in heaven.
What are Eternal Challenges?
Eternal challenges are simply the collection of a few verses that give us a clear picture of God’s truth relating to an important area of life. We call these verses “Eternal tools”. Spending time memorizing, internalizing, and applying the truth in each tool helps us to sharpen our ability to progress more effectively toward the eternal mission and goals.
What is the Eternal mission and goals?
The eternal mission was clearly defined when Jesus was asked to define the most important commandments. He said, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. Love God above all else. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ From those words, we can develop a solid mission statement that goes like this “I will learn and work hard to apply and share God’s word to ensure that I spend eternity in heaven while surrounded by others who I influenced in a way that helped them get there. These people may have sought my advice in their time of need or been affected by my intentional planning to effectively lead them to the good news, using my gifts, talents or continually expanding skill set.” Based on that mission, we can develop our goals to help us move in that direction…and our motivation will be extreme because the eternal destination of our family, friends, and others we have yet to meet hangs in the balance.
What are sharpening options?
After memorizing and internalizing the truth in each challenge, mission, or goal, we should use the eternal vision exercise, which leads to sharpening options. This eternal vision exercise starts with the most important fundamental of this system, which helps us to remember why it’s so urgent to prioritize our eternal mission and goals. This fundamental is called “Our commitment to ACT NOW” and it goes like this “My days on earth are numbered to sacrifice my own desires and take action for others, which Christ demonstrated as the way, through his life and death on the cross. I am committed to ACT NOW in order to help others avoid eternal darkness and experience the amazing joy in heaven. I feel this overwhelming sense of joy every time I think about taking even the smallest action to progress toward the eternal mission” Now that you have a reminder of eternal consequences that hang in the balance and the great joy that is possible, it’s time to get clear on the mission and who is leading the way for you, which are steps 2 and 3 of the eternal vision exercise. Step 4 helps you focus on taking even the simplest of actions and Step 5 leads to the sharpening options where you focus on expanding your skills.
Pro Tip- Pray the ACT prayer:
ADORE God for being the king of kings and providing such powerful words and clear directions to eternal life. CONFESS that you could be doing more for other people to get closer to heaven, and acknowledge that others could suffer eternally if you don’t take better more effective action. THANK God for forgiveness through the powerful act of dying on the cross and making it so clear for others to easily see the path to eternal life, once they hear the good news.