Last week I wrote a blog titled: Yesterday, today, and tomorrow…learning to create an intentional life.  I promised you this week we would tackle the things that keep us from creating an intentional life.

Here are a few of the things I think we should talk about:

• Letting go of the past
• Forgiveness
• Identity- low self-concept (The ideas that I am not good enough)
• Busyness (The illusion that we are accomplishing something)
• Lack of goal setting & direction
• Fear of failure & rejection
• Intimate relationship with the God and others

In the book, “Intentional Living: Choosing a Life That Matters” John Maxwell writes:

“If I wanted to make a difference… Wishing for things to change wouldn’t make them change. Hoping for improvements wouldn’t bring them. Dreaming wouldn’t provide all the answers I needed. Vision wouldn’t be enough to bring transformation to me or others. Only by managing my thinking and shifting my thoughts from desire to deeds would I be able to bring about positive change. I needed to go from wanting to doing.”

We find the truth of intentional living in God’s word.

What area of your life do you need to take action on to create an intentional life?

Below are 25 of my favorite scriptures for intentional living.

Be encouraged today!

Letting Go of The Past:

Isaiah 43:18-19 ESV

“Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.

Philippians 3:12-14 ESV

Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Forgiveness:

Mark 11:25 ESV

And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.”

Ephesians 4:32 ESV

Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

Matthew 6:15 ESV

But if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

Low Self-Concept/Identity:

Genesis 1:27

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

Jeremiah 29:11

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.

Jeremiah 1:5

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”

2 Corinthians 5:17

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

Busyness:

Ephesians 5:15-17 ESV

Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore, do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.

Matthew 6:33 ESV

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

1 Corinthians 10:31 ESV

So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

Lack of Goal Setting:

Proverbs 21:5  ESV

The plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance, but everyone who is hasty comes only to poverty.

Philippians 3:13-14 ESV

Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

2 Chronicles 15:7 ESV

But you, take courage! Do not let your hands be weak, for your work shall be rewarded.”

Habakkuk 2:2-3 ESV

And the Lord answered me: “Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so he may run who reads it. For still the vision awaits its appointed time; it hastens to the end—it will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay.

Fear of Failure & Rejection:

1 Chronicles 22:13 NIV

Follow God’s commands and He will give you success; do not be afraid.

2 Chronicles 20:20 NIV

Have faith in God and he will bring you success.

Proverbs 2:6-8 NIV

He plans success for the decent and honorable; he guards the course and protects the way of his faithful ones.

2 Chronicles 26:5 NIV

He sought the Lord, and God gave him success.

Deuteronomy 20:3-5 NIV

Do not be afraid, for God goes with you to give you victory.

Intimate Relationship w/God & Others

Revelation 3:20 ESV

Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.

John 3:16-17 NIV

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷ For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

John 15:13 NIV

Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.

Hebrews 10:24-25 NIV

And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, ²⁵ not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.