Heppner Motivation

Veteran. Christian. Motivation.

[chrisheppner-blog]

Stress, fear, anxiety?

John 13:7 states, “Jesus replied, ‘You don’t understand now what I am doing, but someday you will.’”

How hard is it to let go of control?  Geez.  For me, VERY hard.  I so badly want to take control of my life, my day, and my freedom.  Whether it’s financially, emotionally, or with my time, I want control.  However, every time I read this verse it reminds me that God has such a bigger plan for my life.

Some of us may have a hard time believing God is at work in our lives when we don’t see immediate changes or miraculous results.  Who hasn’t felt like this?  Like, “God, I’ve been doing what you want me to do, how come I’m not seeing the results?”  Sometimes I think He probably laughs and is like, “Son/daughter, it’s been 1 week.  Calm down.”  But seriously, God doesn’t work off our time.  And often times, He IS working on our behalf, we just don’t know it yet.  That’s why John 13:7 resonates so well with me because I’m such a control freak that I want results now, but knowing that God is at work helps me to calm down.

Have any of you ever been patient for something you truly wanted, prayed, or hoped for and because of your patience, you actually got it?  How exhilarating did that feel?  When we persevere in faith, we will experience the peace that comes from trusting God with our present problems and our unknown future.

Trust God.  Because He knows what He’s doing.

[chrisheppner-blog]

…First get rid of the log from your own eye; then perhaps you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend’s eye.

Matthew 7:5

Reflecting on yesterday’s sermon…The main thing that stuck out to me was the fact to aim higher.  To illustrate, think of a high jumper trying to get over a bar. Depending on your relationship with Him, you can raise the bar on your own and settle for more, or you remove it completely because you don’t believe there is a bar.  No matter how you look at it, the only way to get over the bar is through Jesus.

PK said, “Jesus in His grace lifts us over the bar.”  What does this mean exactly?  It means that through Jesus’s sacrifice on the cross and our belief in Him, He will lift us over the bar for a life that’s filled with so much joy we can’t even fathom.  For some of us, this is difficult to understand because we’ve never fully given ourselves away to Christ.  However, no matter what, each and every one of us can be redeemed through Christ Jesus.

There’s one catch though.  In order to get over the bar and eventually help others how to get over the bar, we have to make sure that all of our own issues are addressed.  For me, my main issue is my anger.  I often times lash out in anger or lose my temper when I know I’m so much better than that.  And let me clear the air now, I never physically hurt anyone.  It’s all through my words, and that’s just as painful to the ones I love.  So, my #aimhighergoal is to calm myself and reset anytime I feel anger coming.  One trick that I’ve heard from #MelRobbins is to use the #5secondrule.  This basically states to count to 5 anytime I feel my issue coming along.  It obviously goes much deeper than that but at least you get the point.

So, to wrap things up.  Strive to aim higher.  Where in your life can you aim higher?  Read more books?  Study more?  Spend more quality time with your family?  Calm yourself when you’re feeling angry?  Whatever it is, #aimhigher.  

Join me in this adventure of aiming higher and let me know what you plan to work on.  As always, I’d love to connect and learn more about you.

[chrisheppner-blog]

Open your eyes to greatness

John 9

You know the feeling.  You wake up to a beautiful sunrise and you just think to yourself, “Wow.  I serve an incredible God.”  For me, this is a very real reality.  For others though, not so much, unfortunately.

Take the Pharisees for instance.  Jesus healed a man who’d been blind since birth by rubbing mud on his eyes so he could see.  Let me repeat that again...HE RUBBED MUD ON HIS EYES SO HE COULD SEE.  And people still didn’t believe that He was the Messiah.  I know...silly.

To get back to the story, Jesus healed the blind man and the blind man told the Pharisees what happened.  After a long deliberation, the Pharisees still didn’t believe him and threw the man out of the synagogue.  And even when Jesus approached them and told them the same thing, the Pharisees still refused to believe Him.  How unbelievably ignorant did they have to be?

Obviously many of us, myself included, go through life being ignorant of the fact of God’s amazing love for us.  Just recently, I’ve been rediscovering God’s incredible blessings on my life, but why only recently?  I’m not really sure.  Maybe because I let life get in the way or I lose focus on what really matters?  I really don’t know.  However, I do know that it’s important to come back to God so He can remind me of my true blessings.  Making a lot of money, buying nice things, whatever...all that crap will fade away.  But God’s love...that’s forever.

Thanks again for reading my post and if you found some value in it, share it with others so they can hopefully find value as well.  Check me out on LinkedIn and let’s connect!

[chrisheppner-blog]

Remove the judgment.

John 8

Judgment occurs in many formats, methods, mediums, etc.  But why?  Why do we judge one another?  Lack of understanding?  Personal opinion on the world?  What is it?

I know for me it’s generally due to my lack of understanding others.  I constantly judge others and I can’t stand it.  I have no reason to judge because it’s simply not my job to do that.  It never was, it never is, and it never will be.  #ThankGod.

A fantastic story that came up during my #quiettime today was the story of a woman caught in adultery.  She was brought to Jesus to be judged and stoned for her sin, but the accusers were only trying to trick Jesus into doing something they knew would get him killed.  How dumb do they think Jesus is?

So, Jesus agreed that she be stoned.  However, the first stone can only be thrown by someone that hasn’t sinned.  And of course, none of them could throw the stone, except one person.  Jesus.  Instead of ignoring or condemning the woman of her sin, Jesus instead forgave her.  He does the exact same thing for us when we turn to him.

Later in this story, Jesus talks about living in the light and avoiding the darkness.  To live in the light is to be honest and vulnerable with others and in fellowship with God.  When Jesus told the people, “I am the light of the world.  If you follow me, you won’t be stumbling through the darkness, because you will have the life that leads to life.”

In this same way that I’m struggling with life circumstances, I’m effectively stumbling because I’m not using the light.  If I would choose to include God more in my life, I wouldn’t stumble.  It’s easier said than done, but it’s so important to realize God is our light, and without Him we will ALWAYS stumble through life.

As always, if you found this helpful, insightful, or anything please let me know.  I’d love to connect and learn more about you and how God is moving in your life.

[living-fitness]

[chrisheppner-blog]

The Living Water

John 7

Jesus is the living water that satisfies our thirst.  But what exactly does this mean?

It means that through faith in Him, we can have a faith that is so filled with joy, peace, and comfort, that we’re overflowing with the living water.  It means that when we’re filled with the living water, we can resist temptation and honor Him.

But say may say, “I do have faith in Jesus, and I’m still not feeling at peace with things.  I’m so anxious about the next step.”  Whenever this happens, you have to remember that we’re human.  We’re going to doubt, make mistakes, and feel anxious.  Trust me...I know.

During my current season of life, I am feeling an overwhelming amount of anxiety for what God wants from me next.  is it to stay at my current job?  Find a new one?  Build up my own business to where it sustains me?  Trade penny stocks?  Build up my Shopify businesses?  There are so many things running through my head and it scares the sh*t out of me.

But, anytime I’m feeling this way, God has a way of calming me down and reminding me of how incredibly powerful He truly is.  Through His scripture, God constantly brings me back down to earth and illustrates His love for me.

Have you been feeling anxious lately?  If so, let’s connect so we can help each other.

[chrisheppner-blog]

I’m human.

John 6

How often do we find ourselves questioning, doubting, and simply frustrated?  Geez, I know I do.  Especially lately.  In today’s #quiettime, I’m focusing on John 6 and rediscovering what it means to trust in God explicitly.  Although I will falter, the main point is to never give up.

In the beginning of this chapter, it begins with Jesus feeding 5,000 men (not even including the women & children, which probably doubles this amount).  But the story I want to focus on in this situation is when Jesus tests Philip.  Read carefully what I mean in verse 6 after Jesus already asked Philip how to feed these people, “He was testing Philip, for He already knew what he was going to do.”  Jesus ALREADY knew what Philip was going to do, but He challenged him anyway.

Do you feel like that?  Like God is testing us for something?  I know for me He’s testing me in my faith at this current moment in time.  It’s certainly not easy, but it’s necessary.  So...what will my response be?

Later in this story, the disciples were crossing the lake to find Jesus, however, a storm began and created massive waves.  This is obviously a very scary situation and potential disaster was bound to happen.  But in verse 20, Jesus reassures His disciples that He is there and to not be afraid.  This verse speaks volumes because no matter what happens in my life, or where I feel like I’m headed, God is always right beside me.  So why do I still feel anxious, worried, scared?  Well...I’m human.  I’m going to stumble, fall, screw up.  That’s just how it is.  But with God’s help and everlasting life with Him, I don’t need to stress about those poor decisions.  Rather, learn from them, and try to be a better person each day.

In verse 27, Jesus again reassures the people he’s teaching.  “But you shouldn’t be so concerned about perishable things like food.  Spend your energy seeking the eternal life that I, the Son of Man, can give you.  For God, the Father has sent me for that very purpose.”  Wow.  What else needs to be said about this?  If God is telling me not to worry...why do I continue to do so?  And again the answer is...I’m human.  Each step of my growth begins as I respond to God’s love for me.

So to wrap things up, this chapter teaches me to trust in Him.  To trust in His plan for my life, to trust that He knows what He’s doing, and to trust that I don’t need to worry.  Everything will be just fine.

[chrisheppner-blog]

Welcome.

Welcome to my blog, and thanks for checking me out.  This blog is set up for, honestly, me.  I want to use a platform where I can share my stories, frustrations, motivation, thoughts, or really whatever I’m thinking about.  However, through this blog, I hope to possibly inspire someone else to ask questions, push themselves, or even connect with me.

Life is so unique, precious, and wonderful and I’m hoping to tap into more of it.  If you enjoy my blogs, please consider following me.  But I only want you to unless you find actual value in what I’m saying.

So, enjoy!