Gospel Ambition Retreat

 

Step 1:

Watch 3½ minutes of this video on Gospel Ambition (Timestamp: 48:10-51:40).

Step 2:

Answer these three questions for yourself:

  1. What do you believe God’s intention is for you to spread (advance, further, extend) the Gospel of Christ through your way of living? 

  2. What does ambition mean to you?

    • The Oxford dictionary offers this definition: “a strong desire to do or to achieve something, typically requiring determination and hard work.”

  3. What do you think God desires for you to achieve through your life for the sake of His Gospel?

 

Step 3:

Make time for these five considerations:

  1. Get away to a place where you can be alone with God.

    • We can’t offer you a predetermined number of hours or days this quest will require from you. You need to be with God long enough to clear your head of your thoughts and then hear from Him clearly and distinctly.

      • Maybe for you this means arranging with your spouse to get five hours one evening away from the kids and the house. For someone else, it might look like scheduling a night in a cabin at a retreat center or camp.

      • Bring a Bible and your A(D) Journal. Do your best to stay off of your phone.

  2. Consider Ephesians 5:13-16 (NIV):

    1. …everything exposed by the light becomes visible—and everything that is illuminated becomes a light. This is why it is said: “Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you. Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.”

  3. Ask God to give you a “Gospel Ambition.”

    • Open yourself to His direction. Start with: “Say anything, Lord! Give me an ambition for the next 10 years.” What you get might sound like this: “I’m going to be the most faithful mom I can be.” Or: “I’m going to turn my neighborhood upside down for Jesus.”

  4. When you see it, BUY IT! Take hold of it:

    • “Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me” (Philippians 3:12 NIV).

  5. Write down what God gives you.

    • Keep a copy in your wallet or purse. Look at it whenever you begin to drift. Allow the clarity God gives—however fuzzy or clear—to change the way you live, and move, and have your being (Paraphrase of Acts 17:28). As you are faithful to walk in this, God will give more clarity. Not before.

Remember to focus on what is clear over what is big!