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This blog entry is all about my core values and priorities that the Lord has been impressing upon my heart. These are the priorities that govern my time schedule and tasks. These are what I use to help me choose between good and best. For those of you that know me, these are the things that I want to be remembered by to the praise of the Lord's marvelous grace!

Karrie Smyth - Core Values
I am the Vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, He will bear much fruit; apart from Me you can do nothing. John 15:5

Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit, says the LORD Almighty. Zechariah 4:6
Therefore, by the power of His Spirit in me:

1. Above all, I will seek intimate fellowship with the Lord.
But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well. (Matthew 6:33)
If my people, who are called by My Name, will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. (2 Chronicles 7:14)
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. (Mark 12:30)
2. I will live a life of worship and therefore a life of joy.
“If He never did any more for me than save my soul, it would be worth praising Him forever!”
I beseech you therefore, brethren, in light of God’s great mercies, that you present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service [spiritual act of worship]. (Romans 12:1 KJV [NIV])
Jesus declared… “Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and His worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.” (John 4:23-24)
Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! (Philippians 4:4)
Light is sown for the [uncompromisingly] righteous and strewn along their pathway, and joy for the upright in heart [the irrepressible joy which comes from consciousness of His favor and protection]. (Psalm 97:11 AMP)
Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. (James 1:2-3)

3. Because I know the Master, I will have integrity with my time, talents and treasure.
The man who had received the five talents brought the other five. “Master,” he said, “you entrusted me with five talents. See, I have gained five more.” His master replied, “Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!” (Matthew 25:20-21)
Look carefully then how you walk! Live purposefully and worthily and accurately, not as the unwise and witless, but as wise [sensible, intelligent people] making the very most of the time [buying up each opportunity], because the days are evil. (Ephesians 5:15-16)
So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. Do not cause anyone to stumble, whether Jews, Greeks or the church of God. (1 Corinthians 10:31-32)

Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. (Matthew 6:19-21)

4. I will bring honor to my husband as I serve him.
The heart of her husband trusts in her confidently and relies on and believes in her securely, so that he has no lack of [honest] gain or need of [dishonest] spoil… Her husband is known in the [city’s] gates, when he sits among the elders of the land. (Proverbs 31:11, 23 AMP)
[You who are] household servants, be submissive to your masters with all [proper] respect… in like manner, you married women, be submissive to your own husbands [subordinate yourselves as being secondary to and dependent on them, and adapt yourselves to them], so that even if any do not obey the Word [of God], they may be won over not by discussion but by the [godly] lives of their wives. (1 Peter 2:18a, 3:1 AMP)

5. I will bring blessing to my children as I train them.
This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live. (Deuteronomy 30:19)
Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you lie down and when you get up. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates, so that your days and the days of your children may be many in the land that the LORD swore to give your forefathers… (Deuteronomy 11:18-21)
Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it. (Proverbs 22:6)

6. I will honor God with my body.
Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore, honor God with your body. (1 Corinthians 6:19-20)
But [like a boxer] I buffet my body…discipline it…and subdue it, for fear that after proclaiming to others the Gospel and things pertaining to it, I myself should become unfit [not stand the test, be unapproved and rejected as a counterfeit]. (1 Corinthians 9:27 AMP)

7. I will love others as Christ commands.
A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another. (John 13:34-35)
Eagerly pursue and seek to acquire this love [make it your aim, your great quest]; and earnestly desire and cultivate the spiritual endowments (gifts)…since you are so eager and ambitious to possess spiritual endowments and manifestations of the [Holy] Spirit, [concentrate on] striving to excel and to abound [in them] in ways that will build up the church. (1 Corinthians 14:1a, 12 AMP)
And let us consider how we may spur one another on towards love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together as some are in the habit of doing but let us encourage one another – and all the more as you see the Day approaching. (Hebrews 10:24-25)

8. I will be a seeker of the lost, a teacher of disciples and an equipper of leaders.
[Strive to] save others, snatching [them] out of [the] fire; on others take pity [but] with fear, loathing even the garment spotted by the flesh and polluted by their sensuality. (Jude :23)
But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect. (1 Peter 3:15)
Go then and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything that I have commanded you… (Matthew 28:19, 20a)
Remember your leaders, who spoke the Word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith. (Hebrews 13:7)
I encourage you to sit quietly before the Lord and work out values based on His Word for your life. It has been one of the most life-changing exercises that I have ever done. My values are bigger than what is taking place in my life at any one moment and have been only minimally revised in the years since I wrote them. Many years ago, I wrote a personal mission statement but I struggled greatly to know how to live it out. If these are my values, they are going to place requirements on my time. If these are my values, they lead to specific goals and extend to the day to day details of my task list. The Lord gave me an amazing friend who specializes in teaching women how to determine and live out lives of purpose. If you would like more information on how to do this, leave me a message and a way to reach you and I will get you further information.
Now, by the grace of God, may I "finish the work so that my eager willingness to do it will be matched by my completion of it according to my means." (see 2 Corinthians 8:11)