How to Increase Your Reach

God has placed in your heart and mine a desire to reach out beyond ourselves. The problem is often that we don’t know how to begin to pull that off. Many times we have tried this or that “Program” in an attempt to touch those around us. I’m not talking about outreach necessarily, but connecting in all of our relationships.

Here are some thoughts I’ve been pondering lately about how to grow in relationships in general:

Be Consistent

Any relationship we commit to ongoing will be blessed. I’ve seen this time and again. One of my goals is to have ten lifelong friends. I’ve managed come close to that as I’ve dug up friends that go way, way back to elementary school, as well as friends who go back to my teen years and of course into my twenties. Any friendship you hang in there with and water will grow in time.

With outreach, some approaches are more effective than others, but in the end, anything you stay with will eventually bear fruit.

Be Consumed

Get lit! Only God can ignite a person. The good news is that God is in the igniting business. Ask him to light yours – and soon at that. If you really want to speed things up, begin to light the fuses of those around you. As he flows through you to others he will ignite you in a deeper way. Lay hands on others and pray a prayer of release. “I bless you with the power to reach beyond your natural introversion. I bless you to begin to go and care for the Poor. I bless you to reach the Lost. Go in the power of the Spirit and change the world in Jesus’ name.”

Be Focused On Your Strength

I spoke to a well-intentioned leader this week that said something I too would have said a few years ago. His line was, “You know I’m naturally strong in this area because that’s just the way I’m wired, but I know I need to work on this other area because I need to be a balanced person.”

In biblical doctrine yes, we need to be balanced, but in our gifting, we need to be strong in our natural strengths and not worry about the areas where we are weak.

I asked him where he got the idea that we need to be balanced people. Like a lot of us he just thought that balance seemed like it made sense. He didn’t get that idea from the Scriptures.

Paul uses the Body metaphor to point out that we ought to live out our strengths. An eye doesn’t worry about not being an ear. An eye is excited about being an eye and doesn’t exert any effort into trying to be a blended eye-ear. Be strong in your eye-ness!

You are filled with the Spirit! You have a natural desire to change the world. Let’s change the world as we are strong in our strengths today!