75 Things I’ve Learned About God and Life

Today is my birthday. And on my birthday, I wanted to share 75 things that I’ve learned about living a godly lifestyle–a life that shows trust in God, even while navigating the difficult course that is life on this earth. These are mentoring tips if you’ll take them to heart–tips that can help you walk in victory, even though in this world we will have tribulations.

Without any further ado, here are 75 completely random things I’ve learned so far in life–75 things I believe we all have to learn in order to live holy lives for God:

1. The Word of God is always true, and its true-ness doesn’t depend on my feelings. It doesn’t matter how I feel on any given day; God’s Word is still true, and God can still be depended upon.
2. You have to CHOOSE to walk in faith. Faith is not a feeling, and it certainly doesn’t always line up with appearances. If you’re going to live a godly, victorious life, you have to look your circumstances right in the eye and say, “Let God be true, and every man a liar.”
3. God will always provide your needs. Sometimes He does it with surprise provision; sometimes He does it by eliminating the need; sometimes He does it by moving the deadline; and sometimes He does it by giving you a strategy to carry out to go out and get or receive the provision you asked Him for. All of those methods still count as God’s provision.
4. All the enemy has are smoke and mirrors. GOD is the truth, and Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Only Jesus is actually true, and His Word always applies, despite the enemy’s smoke and mirrors.
5. A need does not equal a problem. We are all the neediest creatures in the universe; without Jesus we can do nothing. “Needy” is the constant state in which all of us live, because of our total dependence on Jesus. But if we will acknowledge our total dependence on Jesus, a lot can happen, and quickly.
6. Church is not meant to be a place where people sit and watch the people on the stage do their thing. The Church is the Body of Christ, and every person’s gifts are needed.
7. Leaders are servants. If God has entrusted you with a lot of leadership, you’d better make yourself the lowest of the low and serve your heart out for others. Pour yourself out daily, like Jesus did. Then spend time every night and early morning restoring in His presence.
8. Boundaries are essential.
9. You don’t make friends with demons. If someone is in serious bondage or demonized, you can pray for them and love them, but they aren’t good friend material. They are GREAT witnessing opportunities, and even good discipleship opportunities. But don’t mistake them as being part of your inner circle of friends. How can two walk together unless they be agreed? Never agree with demons.
10. Feelings and even choices follow words. You have to speak God’s Word out of your mouth over your life if you want to walk in any kind of victory at all.
11. If you have 2-3 close friends who are trustworthy and share the same godly spirit as you do, you are truly rich.
12. Your emotional stability has to be dependent solely upon God, not upon people in any way. Jesus didn’t trust Himself to man because He knew what was in man. People are fickle, and even the ones that you think are your forever friends will sometimes forsake you or stab you in the back. Forgive them if they do, but tie your emotions only to Jesus. That’s the only way to survive.
13. It takes God 20 years to train a prophet.
14. Character is more important than gifting or anointing.
15. It takes time to get promoted.
16. Time is your friend, not your enemy. A lot can change in one day, three days, a week, a month–and the waiting is a good thing. Waiting makes you strong.
17. Your destiny in God is worth pursuing.
18. Vitamins help. A lot.
19. Church work is not the same as spending time with God or seeking Him.
20. Every Christian’s first priority should be one-on-one time alone with God, FIRST every morning, in prayer and the Word.
21. Your second priorities should be your marriage and your health.
22. Your children must come after your marriage. Your children want to see a good, strong marriage.
23. Your job, church work, volunteerism, hobbies, and friends must come after your 1×1 time with God, your marriage, your health, and your children.
24. Going debt-free is the way to go. Don’t try to keep up with the Joneses. The Joneses are broke, and are crying into their pillows every night.
25. You are most like God when you give.
26. Never waste work. Repurpose it as often as you can.
27. If you want to be wealthy, start your own business.
28. The best way to start your own business is to find a way to get paid to do what you’re called to do.
29. When you do what you’re called to do for a living, it really doesn’t feel like work, even when you work long and difficult hours.
30. Laughing heals your soul. You need to have good, godly fun and laughter in order to recharge and refresh your soul.
31. Don’t be too stuck-up to have fun. Play the game, laugh with your friends, go on the amusement park ride.
32. Seeing new parts of the world (especially in nature) changes the way you think. Travel causes people to say “yes” to big ideas. It totally transforms your mindset.
33. There’s something special about mountains, because mountains are where God dwells. He’s everywhere at once, but I have never found a Scripture to say that the beach is His special dwelling place. But I’ve found plenty of Scriptures that say that He dwells in mountains. You can feel His closeness and holiness in mountains. I highly recommend visiting the mountains, vacationing in the mountains, resting in the mountains, and playing in the mountains. Mountains are holy, and the encounter you will have with God there will change you.
34. Take a personal retreat at every turn of life’s seasons.
35. Write down all the ideas, thoughts, or words that God gives you, even if He speaks at an inconvenient time. Especially if He speaks at an inconvenient time.
36. Develop a realistic mindset about time and space.
37. Invest in yourself, and in your own spiritual growth. You will grow in proportion to how much and how you invest in your own success, growth, learning, and victory.
38. You’re going to have to work hard to achieve what you want in life. And you’re going to have to work really hard to fulfill your God-given calling in life. The work is worth it, as long as you never sacrifice 1×1 time with God, never sacrifice your marriage, and never sacrifice your children/parenting your children/quality time with your children in order to do this work.
39. When God created you, He called you. His call is not a suggestion or a possibility; it’s a command.
40. People who are saved need to be discipled and equipped; or “taught.” People who are lost need to hear the preaching of the Gospel. Both are good, but stop preaching at people who already love God, but are desperate to be taught. Good conference preaching is fun, but people need more than an emotional high in order to sustain godly living.
41. You can’t wait for someone to lay hands on you in a prayer line. Sometimes you have to lay hands on your own head and bless yourself, pray for yourself, and scrape yourself up off the floor by reminding yourself that God’s grace is sufficient for you, and His strength is made perfect in weakness.
42. Practice everything good. Practice makes perfect.
43. Praying for your enemies is one of the biggest keys to spiritual growth and character development that there is.
44. The Word of God is alive and powerful and sharper than a two-edged sword. It will cut you, and you should want it to. Submit yourself to the knife of God’s Word, as wielded by God’s Holy Spirit, every day.
45. If you want to know God for real, you should spend at least one hour every morning in prayer and Bible study. Two to three hours is even better. Fifteen minutes is the absolute minimum, but you won’t build deep relationship very fast if you only see anyone for 15 minutes a day, God included.
46. People will spend their time on what matters to them. We all have the same amount of time.
47. In life, you often have to sacrifice certain things in order to pursue things that are more important. If you like to stay up late watching TV, but you also want to spend an hour with God in the mornings, you may need to lay your TV habit on the altar so you can go to bed earlier and get up earlier.
48. Fourth watch prayer (from 3-6 AM) is one of the most powerful times of day that you can possibly seek God. Of course, we should pray constantly and seek God all day. But there’s something going on in the spiritual atmosphere during 4th watch that is life-changing when you’re up seeking God at that hour.
49. Lunch is anointed by God. Have lunch with as many people as you can, to encourage them, disciple them, pour into them, or simply be their friend. There’s something about breaking bread together that is absolutely life-changing.
50. Know who you are, and know what you’re about.
51. Live your life with narrow focus. You can’t do everything, but you can do some things; and the things you choose to invest your time in, for better or for worse, will determine the outcome of your life.
52. You do have to pursue your destiny and calling in God. The pursuit is what builds your spiritual, emotional, physical, and professional muscles to be big enough to be able to sustain what God has for you to do. If you don’t pursue what God has called you to do, you will never walk in it.
53. You have to give people space to fail if they want to fail. Of course, we prefer that no one ever fail; but sometimes people have to hit rock bottom before they will listen to God, or even to God’s wisdom through people. You are not their Savior or Deliverer. Only God is, so sometimes you have to leave them in His hands and step away.
54. Marriage is worth all the effort it takes to make it work.
55. People are worth investing in. But, you have to see them as God sees them in order to have the will to persevere in discipling them.
56. You have to pursue God. No one else will do it for you. Being spoon-fed is for toddlers. We all have to grow up, and life gets better when we do.
57. It’s better to be trustworthy (deserving of trust) than it is to be trusted (to actually have people trust you). Whether someone likes you or not, or trusts you or not, is up to them–and often depends on their own foibles, and their own unhealed hurts and wounds. But whether or not you have trustworthy character (regardless of what other people think of you) is between you and God. It’s always best to have godly character, no matter how other people see you.
58. There’s enough pie (opportunity, blessing, reward, anointing, etc.) for everybody in the Kingdom. You don’t have to hoard the pie in order to have opportunity for yourself. The more you share the pie, the more you will be blessed and your influence will grow.
59. If people wanted to call you, they would. Don’t expect otherwise.
60. You have to stand up to abuse, confront it, and call it what it is.
61. People will be in your life for a reason, a season, or a lifetime. Sometimes when you think it’s one, it’ll be the other. Trust God anyway.
62. God is worthy to be praised, even when we don’t feel like it. His worthiness is not dependent on our mood, or on our willingness to praise Him.
63. The only way to make disciples is to share your life; to get life-on-life with real people, walking with them (and letting them walk with you) through the ups and downs of everyday life. That’s what Jesus did, and it’s what we must do if we want to be like Him.
64. Be kinder. We can all always come up higher in this area.
65. Pray every day to walk worthy of the divine call by which you have been called.
66. Beg God daily to keep you from sinning against Him.
67. Let Holy Spirit convict you in every moment. Pray that He will keep you on a short leash, convicting you immediately and bringing you to repentance if you sin. I pray this all the time for myself. I don’t want to sin ever; but if I mess up and I do sin, I definitely don’t want to continue even a moment with sin that I have not confessed to God and been forgiven for.
68. Financial stewardship is not about spending money; it’s about spending money on the right thing, in the right way, at the right time.
69. Being generous is incredibly fulfilling. It truly is more blessed to give than to receive.
70. Persistence pays off.
71. Give to others. Remember the poor–and “the poor” is anyone who has a need in that moment.
72. If you’re going to pray, be prepared for God to use you to be the answer to your own prayers. If you’re interceding for others, you’d better expect to step up and help do the thing for them that they need.
73. You can get a lot more done in one day, one week, one month, one year than you ever thought possible, if only you will eliminate distractions.
74. God is waiting for you to dream big. He only does wondrous things, so He needs us to step up and believe Him to operate at His level.
75. It’s worth it to be one of the foolish things that confound the wise, as long as you’re being faithful to God in it.

And finally, one more:

Whatever you have done to the least of these, you have done it unto Jesus.

Beloved, as you walk throughout life, there is nothing that God can’t solve.

If you’re worried or stressed, there’s also nothing that can’t be cured by long times of prayer, casting your burdens on the Lord, and obedience to whatever He tells you to do. Jesus is LIFE, and He died to give you abundant life. You can trust Him today.

I hope these 75 mentoring tips (plus one bonus tip) that I’ve learned over the course of my life so far will confirm something to you, encourage you, help you, challenge you, inspire you, or bring you to consider some new idea and how it applies to your own life in some way today.

Love and blessings in Jesus,

Jamie Rohrbaugh

Founder and CEO, From His Presence