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30 Biblical Life Principles That Help You Start Over

I’m as perplexed as any of you about what happens next. We started the World Race in 2005, and now we can’t get on planes. So what does it look like now? Our economy is flatlining – how do you raise money when people are losing their jobs? It’s disorienting. And I’m not alone. Everything is chan…
By Seth Barnes
By Seth Barnes

I’m as perplexed as any of you about what happens next. We started the World Race in 2005, and now we can’t get on planes. So what does it look like now? Our economy is flatlining – how do you raise money when people are losing their jobs? It’s disorienting.

And I’m not alone. Everything is changing, so we’re all going to have re-invent our lives now. Where do we start?

I personally look to the Bible for direction. And whenever my life is changing, I listen to what God is saying. Often as he speaks through the Bible.

The following biblical principles have served me well. I list a biblical reference for the first 14 – I’ll leave the rest for you to look up. So many. Which are your favorites?

  1. Show up with a “yes” in your spirit Jer. 29:13

  2. Make promises and deliver on them 1 Cor. 4:2

  3. Commit & be reliable Matt. 5:37
  4. Work hard/press in Col 3:23

  5. Pursue, go deep Matt. 19

  6. Always curious (learn to ask beautiful Qs) Ex. 3:3

  7. Iterate (fail forward, OODA loop process) Matt. 10

  8. Truth is discoverable (beginning of wisdom) Prov 9:10

  9. God made you a creator – innovate! Gen. 1:27

  10. You’re the average of your 5 closest friends Prov. 13:20

  11. Simplicity 1 Tim. 6:6-7

  12. Meet in community regularly Heb. 10:24-25

  13. Be the church (unity & empowerment) Acts 2

  14. Build God’s Kingdom (Matt. 13 and more here)
  15. Be safe/be dangerous

  16. Seek flow state

  17. Go with the goers

  18. Abundance mentality

  19. Positivity

  20. Responsibility (never a victim)

  21. Grace response

  22. Stewardship

  23. Partnership

  24. Honor investors (begin w/ parents)

  25. Study Scripture

  26. Listening prayer/Lordship

  27. Journal

  28. Debrief

  29. Seek mentorship

  30. This is yours to add. What principle got left off this list? Why would you add it? How will you apply it?

Comments (12)

  • Thanks dear daddy it’s really blessed me and I am much inspired by this article. May God bless you and your family and missions work.

  • That’s a good one on a couple of levels. It’s true not just for our relationship with God, but for our relationships with others too. Like right now, I’ll be there are a lot of people who are very tired of the others they are sharing a house with.

  • Seth, I just want to say how much I appreciate that you are a discipler and kingdom-builder not only as a career or even a lifestyle choice but as a foundational part of who you are… it’s part of your true self’s expression, I think, and God’s self-expression through you. I learn so much from your journeying, shared freely with us. Thank you for super practical life principles, too, not only spiritual theories. Like today’s. I started to ask you for a reference for one of these, because it would be good for me to integrate that and I wanted a foundation… and instead I asked God to show me whether the principle is in fact supported in scripture and in the lives of the men and women whose walking in the Spirit I admire both there and in more current times… and so God not only gave me something good through you, but also through that personal interaction opportunity. Thank you, you are so often inviting us to things like this and facilitating these things. I think many leaders actually hide what it is that makes them thrive, but you give away everything the Lord has given you, to benefit more people from his gifts you yourself tested and found life-enhancing. I respect and appreciate this about you, and it’s something I also am stepping in to more fully live. Maybe that’s why that trait is what I would add for point 30. A lifestyle of generosity, backed up in Jesus and so many others whose life was listening-heartedness, availability to the Lord and an orientation of seeing clearly and giving what was fitting and good to the situation or person before them. I want to be a channel for this, move with the Spirit like Jesus did. Thank you for propagating this possibility for so many with your teaching on listening prayer, and for your modeling this in the world and sharing its great fruit… like today.

  • Love the verse you started with…that’s where i need to start each day.
    I would add to “keep your eyes on the Prize (Seek Him first)” and “walk humbly with your Lord.” Thanks for these.

  • ZM – thanks. I love hearing about how God is moving in you in new ways! And I agree about this notion of generosity and availability. It’s a gift that the Lord has given me. People just take a long time and years and years of iterative learning to make the changes that God has for them.

    And it’s generative. Every day, I’m borrowing from that book of blessings that you gave me – borrowing the words and sentiments that I may not have, but others need.

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Seth Barnes

I'm motivated to join God in his global reclamation project. He's on the move, setting his sons and daughters free from their places of captivity. And he's partnering with those of us who have been freed to go and free others.



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