Do you want to make an impact for Christ? For your life to make an impact? These are the questions I often ask at speaking events and gatherings. If you’re like most in the audience, you’re saying “yes” and raising your hand too. I can say that with confidence because hardwired within each of us is a desire to make our life count. We want our life to matter. We want to make a positive impact and a world of difference with the days we are given on earth.
As Christians, we especially want our lives to matter. With our life and love focused on the One who forever changed and impacted us, we want to make a difference for Christ and His Kingdom. Equally, we want the spotlight pointing in the right direction for whatever impact our lives bring. Like John the Baptist, we want to point to Jesus and say in one form or another, “This isn’t about me, this is about Him! Whatever impact my life has had, I want it to point to Jesus!”
How to Get Started and Impact the World for Christ
So, how do we make an extraordinary impact for Christ in and through our lives? Here are seven great ways to get started and stay strong in impacting the world for Christ and His Kingdom:
1. Love… God
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” – Matthew 22:37
Make God your everything. Give Him full reign of your thoughts, motives, desires, hands, feet, voice, plans, wallet, relationships, recreation, conversations, work days, and schedules. By keeping God at the center of your love and daily life, you’ll keep “The Main Thing, the main thing.” With God as the source of all you say, think, and do—the world around you (and far beyond) will be impacted for God’s Kingdom.
Discover more, read Forge by Fire and Is God Waiting for a Date with You? by Dwight Robertson
2. Love… Others
“And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.” – Matthew 22:29
Those who genuinely love God are compelled to genuinely love others. God’s love fills us to overflowing in a way that we see people as God sees them and love people as God loves them. A life of Kingdom impact calls us to see, stop, and spend time with people as the Holy Spirit leads us. This means seeing, stopping, and spending time with people you don’t know, people who may not look like you, act like you, believe or value what you do. While loving others in such a way might seem a bit scary or intimidating, it need not be. Stay up-close to God and ask Him to show you the next move. Love will show you what to do.
Discover more, read You Are God’s Plan A by Dwight Robertson
3. Shine
“In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” – Matthew 5:16
Live a radiant life! “Letting your light shine” comes from having a light to shine! The light, love, and life within you can only come from one place—your up-close, intimate, and ongoing relationship with God. As you abide in Jesus, and He abides in you (John 15:5), you will impact lives (or “bear much fruit” as John, the writer, says). So, let your intimacy with God be your greatest gift to the world, and “shine like the stars!” The warmth and light that radiates from your life will put God on display and draw others to Him.
Discover more, read It’s My Turn by Forge Speakers & Staff and Mudrunner by Charlie Marq
4. Pray
“Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.” – James 5:16
Want to change the world? Pray. Those who have been used by God in the most impactful ways throughout history have been people of ongoing, fervent prayer. They never saw prayer as part of the work, something to be added in or tagged on. No, those who have been used by God in mighty ways would surely attest that “Prayer is the work!” They knew they were not strong enough, smart enough, or capable enough to accomplish or overcome what they faced. They knew God was enough, however, and both enjoyed and relied on His presence and direction through prayer. Your prayers don’t need to be elaborate, only sincere. Fill your days with ongoing conversation with God, and watch what happens as God leads, empowers, encourages, delights, grows, inspires, and employs you!
Discover more, read Ten-Finger Prayers by Agnes Robertson. Do more, get The Forge App.
5. Labor
“Do everything in love.” – I Corinthians 16:14
Kingdom laborers get things done! Kingdom impact requires a willing heart, and also, some moving feet. Acts 10:38 tells us that Jesus “went around doing good and healing…” (emphasis added on doing). The words we will long to hear that day when we see Jesus face to face are not “well contemplated” or “well understood” or “well intended,” but “well done!” Getting things done is the goal. How you get things done is up to you and Jesus! Be assured, Jesus is an equal opportunity employer, and He will use all the ways He’s uniquely made and gifted you for His Kingdom’s sake. Not sure where to begin? Roll up your sleeves as an everyday, everywhere worker/laborer that Jesus prays for in Matthew 9:37. Pay attention to the people and situations around you, then ask Jesus, “What does it look like to love here?” Then do it! Laborers leave a trail of footprints and handprints where they have advanced God’s Kingdom and made life better for others. Love does. Start doing!
Discover more, read You Are God’s Plan A by Dwight Robertson and subscribe to the Fuel for the Harvest podcast.
6. Multiply
“Therefore, go make disciples…” – Matthew 28:19
Want your life to impact others for God’s Kingdom in a significant way? Live a life of Kingdom multiplication. What would it look like if you equipped others who then began equipping others? The Apostle Paul instructs us in 2 Timothy 2:1 to “… entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others.” Baton-pass everything you can, all the “spiritual wealth” you’ve received. Ask Jesus to point you to someone you can encourage, pray for, spur on, and train-up as a multiplying Kingdom laborer. Imagine what kind of impact you’ll have as one disciple becomes two, two become four, four become eight, and the number of multiplying disciples just keeps on doubling. Your impact will not only add to God’s Kingdom, it will multiply it!
Discover more, read Multiplying Movements by Forge and Baton-Passing Relationships by Dwight Robertson. Do more, download The Forge App.
7. Encourage
“Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.”
– I Thessalonians 5:11
High-impact people give high-impact encouragement. Consider where you are in your own spiritual journey. There’s a good chance you’ve made it as far as you have because someone saw what God was up to in your life and encouraged and believed in you. They knew how love is spelled, T-I-M-E, and loved you by cheering you on, praying with and for you, letting you know what God sees in you, and high-fiving you every step of the way as you mature as a Kingdom laborer. So, express encouragement and high belief in others, and watch them, and God’s Kingdom, grow!
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How many people in this world (who are far from God) need to know they are more loved by God than they are guilty?! How many need God’s radiant light to find their way in this darkened world? How many need to “taste test” God’s grace-dripping love from us as God’s people? As you continue to engage these seven practices and rhythms that Jesus both taught and lived, you’ll be an answer to Jesus’ prayer for a world of people ready for spiritual harvest, and your life will take on extraordinary, “well-done” Kingdom impact.