Text: Philippians 4:11- 13
Leave your comfort zone to be blessed!
“Stepping out of your comfort zone” means doing things that you don’t feel comfortable with. That means getting outside of your comfort levels.
I encourage you to push yourself in unfamiliar places, to do things that you wouldn’t normally do. Many people don’t want to learn and better themselves, choosing to stay the way they are.
Comfort zones will hinder our spiritual growth! The thing about comfort zones is they are confining. If there is any area in our lives where comfort zones can really have a negative effect on us, it is in our spiritual growth. This is where others cannot see. Our spiritual lives do affect others as much as our physical lives and our outward relationships. The truth is, our spiritual lives affect everything.
It calls us to be lazy, stubborn and always critical of others who want to do better.
We think no one is affected by our spiritual life or lack of spirituality because it is all an invisible process taking place deep inside our souls.
Comfort zones affect our spirituality more than anything else because our spirituality is the foundation of who we are, how we deal with people, how we deal with the world, and how we deal with ourselves.
Comfort zones can get in the way of our spiritual growth because deep within ourselves, we have created a comfy little place in our mind where we do not need to face the facts of who we are. True spiritual practices will make you confront comfort zones. You must confront these places and make choices about who you want to be.
Let’s look at the Word of God for clarification. Romans 12: 1-2.
These two verses perfectly sum up the spiritual path. Willingly submitting ourselves to God as a sacrifice. In the Old Testament, sacrifice was presented so that it could die. God says He wants a living sacrifice, so how can we die and live at the same time? We can do this by the conscious, moment-by-moment of dying to self.
We are our biggest enemy standing between us and true spirituality. The first step to dying to self is to get tuned into the Holy Spirit. How do we do that? We already know the answer to this: personal quiet time, which is the only path to spirituality.
Even this for many people requires a conscious effort to get outside the comfort zone. The comfort zone of extra sleep can be a comfort zone that will hinder our spirituality. The best time of day for personal quiet time is early morning for most people. The time of day is not as important as being alone. It is very important that you have a time of day in which you can be alone for a good chunk of time. If that is morning great. If it’s another time, great.
Another comfort zone that people struggle with in order to make this personal quiet time happen is to sit alone with themselves. With today’s technology, most people simply do not do this anymore.
Our generation doesn’t do it, and the young generation definitely doesn’t do it. Because this is a strange practice for our society today, it will take some real effort to carve out this quiet time and actually sit with yourself. You may feel uncomfortable. Of all of the comfort zones you must leave, this is the most important one.
Another comfort zone, selfishness, is comfortable because when we put ourselves last, we feel defenseless. Our survival instinct tells us to put ourselves first. Even in silly things that have nothing to do with survival, our very lowest self says, “Me first! Me first!”
We must make a very conscious effort to not put ourselves first if we hope to leave our comfort zones and become more spiritual. We humans are very quick to defend ourselves.
If you want to kill selfishness, refuse to defend yourself for a week, no matter what the issue. When you feel the inclination to defend yourself verbally against something, just be quiet.
Turning the other cheek is a scriptural principal that is all but nonexistent in most of our lives. 1 Peter 2:19-20 addresses this.
Our human way of thinking says that everyone needs to know we are right. Our choice was right. Our action was right. When you refuse to yourself, you will begin to leave the comfort zone of defensiveness.
Note: I am not suggesting you do not defend yourself physically if you are in an unsafe situation. I am only speaking of day to day common occurrences.
Conclusion:
Why do we cuddle up in our comfort zones in the first place? To feel safe. So, it makes perfect sense that the idea of coming out of the comfort zone feels scary. For many people, it is so scary that they never accomplish it. If you want to become a spiritual Christian, leaving the comfort zone is very important.
God told Abraham to get out of his country and leave his family. It was no small matter.
Why did God want Abraham to do this? We find the answer in Genesis 12: 2-3.
2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: 3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.
There were spiritual and practical things that God wanted to accomplish in Abraham’s life that could not be accomplished while he was inside his comfort zone. God could not have multiplied Abraham the way He wanted. God had some big plans for Abraham.
We have to leave our comfort zone, so God can bless us. God has big plans for us! Amen!!
WHOSOEVER WILL WORSHIP MINISTRIES
www.wwwmjesus.net
Assistant: Pastor Wesley Fulton
429 Bayou Rd, La Marque, Tx.77568
Need prayer Ch. Ph: 409/933-9878
