I Choose to Be Uncomfortable.

You're tuned into Made for Mondays with Justin Lester. Justin Lester is an average guy who refuses to let Mondays control him. Justin is a husband, dad, pastor, student, and Jesus follower. He's done a lot, he's learned a lot, and he wants to see you at your best. Let's win Mondays. Hey, Justin. What's up today?

Hey, everyone. Welcome to Made for Mondays. I hope that these are useful to you to encourage you to live into the best things that God has for you. As you journey into your weekend, venture into the places that God is calling you to venture into. So today, let's continue our journey together as we just live together and learn together. I want to talk about for a second just what it means to make the choice to be uncomfortable. And hear me out as I say this. My grandmother, she's gone on to be with the Lord, but was a powerful, powerful woman. And I. I remember one time I was hanging out at her house. She lived in Memphis, Tennessee. And my grandmother said something to me, so powerful, all these folk were talking about it at the time. You know, I have potential. When I was, you know, in high school, everybody got potential. I had potential and potential. Potential. My grandmother said something I'll never forget. She said, potential means you haven't done anything yet. Potential means you haven't done anything yet. Potential is nothing until it's tested. Potential is nothing until it's tested. And what happens is that when potential is tested, if we're not strong in a gifting that we have, if we're not strong in the person we are, our potential gets tested and we fail. And my grandmother was challenging me. She said, justin, you need to take some chances. You need to live life and test your potential to see actually where you're good. And so I want to challenge you today as you go into this week. This week has the potential to be great, but I want you to make the decision, make the choice this week to be intentionally uncomfortable, to test your own potential. I want you to test your potential this week. I want you to test how great you are. I want you to test how far you can go. Because whenever we get too comfortable in some spaces, comfort simply means that we've overstayed our welcome, that we are getting comfortable in spaces, that sometimes we don't need to be comfortable in any relationship or job, you get comfortable and don't want to keep moving because anything that's not growing is dying. Means we've overstayed our welcome. And I don't care how pretty or how wonderful or beautiful, comfort we call it comfort means that you become bored and comfort leads to boredom and boredom leads to sin. And I don't want you to get too comfortable in spaces that are not conducive to the person you are. Because if you are not desiring to grow in your job, to grow in your relationship, you've gotten comfortable to be mediocre. And God did not call you to be mediocre. God called you to master the very things he called you to master. So we can master what it means to share the kingdom of God in this world. So God doesn't want us to get unnecessarily comfortable in spaces where God doesn't want us to be. And so the reason then we don't see certain things happening in our lives is because we overstayed our welcome and are not warring for the places we know we can go. So you get comfortable in your marriage and don't war for intentional intimacy. We get comfortable in one level and don't war for the next. We get comfortable in opportunities and don't war for the next. We get comfortable friends and families and not warm for it. I want to challenge you anywhere in your life this week where you feel you're at one level and you are not comfortable, you need to leave that level. And this week I want you to be uncomfortable. I want you to challenge your potential. How do we do that? How do you challenge your potential? Number one? First practical point I'll give you today, I want to challenge you this week. Number one, be open to correction. Be open to being corrected this week. Because anybody who doesn't wish to be corrected is someone who doesn't wish to grow. Now be wary of who you are allowing to correct you. Everybody does not have the authority to correct you. So here it is. Do not take constructive criticism from somebody who's never constructed anything. And don't take constructive criticism from people that you know are destructive. What made prophets great throughout Scripture is that they were open to correction. And even the kings at times were open to correction. And here's kingdom correction. Because if you're correcting not by your preferences but by God's best, it'll actually lead to something that based upon what they've learned and based upon what I've learned, this will accelerate the kingdom of God. But if your corrective measure is nothing but like clothing and brands and how someone did something, that's not correction, that's preference. But if correction is going to lead to deeper worship, better discipleship, driven work, that's correction. And I'll even give you Scripture on this. Hebrews 12 says, whom the Lord loves, who he corrects. And Job 5:17 says, Happy is the man who God reproves. Do not despise the discipline of the Almighty, because here's the principle. Correction is what gives counsel for the next level. Correction is what gives counsel for the next level. The second thing I'll give you for this week is number two. Since God can break any wall, let God be the one who constructs the walls in your life. Since God is able to break anything like I want you to hear this. Let God be the one then who gives the strength to the walls that he builds. And we see this power in Psalm 35 and Psalm 91 and Psalm 38, where God challenges us with these gods of the walls of peace that God knows what to te to you. Therefore, God knows what to build to keep you safe. And I'd rather be in an environment, in the space where I'm safe with the divine, that I'm selfish with myself, that I don't want moral issues and weaknesses in my past to find places to get beyond the walls that I'm building when I can live into the walls that God is building. And too often I think we spend too much time building our own wall instead of letting God build it. So where are the areas in your life where God can build protection for you this week as you go into your Mondays? What are the opportunities in your life that God can build protection this week into your Mondays? And sometimes the best thing to do is to pause your pace and let God build so you're protected while you're running instead of being unprotected while you're running into spaces. Because the good news is, if God builds the walls right, you're fortified. So you don't ever have to worry about the battles that go on around you. Because God is the one who built everything in front of you so you can be what God's called you to be. So that's the boundaries that God gives us. And that's where boundary lines and having walls built are important. Like what gives rivers power are boundaries, are the walls on the rivers. That's what keeps them focused, what makes tennis powerful, the boundary lines, football, the boundary lines. Anything without a boundary line is something that's wild, but you need boundaries. Let God build the walls in your life to protect you. Thirdly, and finally, I'll give you this. Work to keep the power behind your name. Work to keep the power behind your name. They're the people behind that God is calling you to be the people that God is calling around. You are going to learn who you are because of how intentional you are to master and hold your reputation. And the challenge I give you, if you're going to keep the power behind your name, that means we're lifting the name of Jesus. So my challenge to you this week, don't let God's name in your life become sarcastic. Think about it, the times where they oh Jesus, oh I wish God would do this. I think God did this. The ways we met God and Jesus become a joke, become sarcastic. My challenge to you, y', all is to open your heart so much to God that you keep power behind your name because you're giving emphasis to Jesus. Name worship is your posture, your heart's posture back unto God. How is your heart reflecting the power, the love, the mercy and the kindness of the Lord Jesus as you go into your work week, don't allow Jesus to be a joke. Keep the power behind your name by keeping to lift the name of Jesus and God will keep you protected as you go into your week. So I pray this helps you this week to go into this week balanced, intentional, consistent, purposeful. Because Mondays are not made to own you. You're made to own your Mondays. Now go conquer the day in the name of Jesus. Let me pray for you. Father, we're grateful today for another chance to know you, to engage with you God. And as we go into this Monday, this week, we master it and we will not let Monday master us. So lead us and guide us that we might be the people you called us to be, God we own today because you own us and you're leading us. God, we honor you today and we love you. It's in Jesus name we pray. Am hey man, go master your Monday. Monday doesn't own you. You own your Monday. I love you.

This has been made for Mondays with Justin Lester. Be sure to follow Justin online at MrJlester and online at www.jlester.com. see you next week. Go win. You were made for this.