Tag Archives: religion

Ravi Zacharias

Ravi Zacharias Ministry – To Squint at Light

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A Christian believer in the fourth century by the name of Gregory of Nazianzen observed that it is difficult to conceive of God, but that to define God in words is an impossibility. Gregory was not implying that the impossibility of the task means that we should not try. Rather, his words intended to be a reminder that the subject of theology is, in fact, a Subject. That is to say, theology is the precarious act of peering into the light and glory of a Person. The great councils that gathered in antiquity, the pilgrims of faith listed in the book of Hebrews, the men and women in history who have dared to do the work of theology—each of them, each of us who dare try, are squinting at the mystery of light.

But we do so because the light first shined in the darkness and gave us eyes to see. Who is God? What are God’s attributes? Is Jesus equal to God or subordinate? How do we put into words the logistics of the Trinity? These are questions at very the foundation of theology and the heart of revelation. God has made claims regarding who God is, and because of this, theology is looking at what we are to do with it. In this sense, theology is one of the most practical disciplines that exist. Peering into the light, squinting toward the Person of God, coming to know the one who wants to be known, we ourselves are changed, reoriented by the one we encounter.

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Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – The Log in My Eye

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You hypocrite, first get the beam of timber out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the tiny particle out of your brother’s eye. —Matthew 7:5

Loving people unconditionally is the greatest gift we can give them (and ourselves). I have learned that one of the secrets to my own personal peace is to let people be who God made them to be, rather than try to make people be who I would like them to be. I do my best to enjoy their strengths and be merciful toward their weaknesses because I have plenty of my own. I don’t need to try to take the speck out of someone else’s eye while I have a telephone pole in my own.

Make a decision not to look at—or for—flaws. We all have them! But you don’t have to focus on them.

Power Thought: God is merciful to me with my weaknesses, and I am merciful toward the weaknesses of others.

From the book the book Power Thoughts Devotional by Joyce Meyer.

 

http://www.joycemeyer.org

Campus Crusade for Christ

Campus Crusade for Christ; Bill Bright – How to Stay Pure

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“How can a young man stay pure? By reading Your Word and following its rules” (Psalm 119:9).

I can live a pure life if I follow God’s Word. That seems to be the clear import of the psalmist’s message in this verse. And if that is true – and I have no doubt it is – then certain things surely should follow.

I will begin today by determining to know His Word and to obey it. Simple logic would dictate that I cannot and will not obey His Word if I am not familiar with it.

In a day when immorality is rampant and divorce is becoming commonplace even among Christians, how important it is that I seek to keep my life pure. Surely I cannot expect to be used of God in a supernatural way to help fulfill the Great Commission unless I am pure. And there seems to be no better way to accomplish that desired end than by reading, studying – even memorizing – His Word, and then, through the enabling of the Holy Spirit, by claiming God’s promises and obeying His commandments.

Earlier (Day 18) we mentioned the importance of hiding God’s Word in our hearts, that we might not sin against Him (Psalm 119:11). Again I would emphasize the value of committing to memory many verses – and even chapters – from the Word of God. In that way, we will have them stored in our minds so that God can bring them to our minds in time of special need and can use them to enable us to live supernaturally.

Basic to living the supernatural life is this matter of spending time in God’s Word, which is quick and powerful.

Bible Reading: Psalm 119:10-16

TODAY’S ACTION POINT: Today I will spend quality time in the Word of God and begin to memorize favorite passages, especially Psalm 119.

 

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Max Lucado

Max Lucado – The Power to Change Someone’s Life

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You have the power to change someone’s life simply by the words that you speak. Proverbs says, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue” (Proverbs 18:21 NKJV). That’s why Paul urges you and me to be careful. “When you talk, do not say harmful things, but say what people need—words that will help others become stronger” (Ephesians 4:29).

Your words are to their soul what a vitamin is to their body. If you had food and saw someone starving, would you not share it? If you had water and saw someone dying of thirst, would you not give it? Of course you would. Then won’t you do the same for their hearts? Your words are food and water. Do not withhold encouragement from the discouraged. Speak words that make people stronger. Believe in them as God has believed in you.

From A Love Worth Giving

For more inspirational messages please visit Max Lucado.

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Denison Forum

Denison Forum – US destroys mock North Korean missile

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The Pentagon has announced that an American rocket shot down a mock warhead over the Pacific yesterday. It was the first such test to target an intercontinental missile like North Korea is developing. The test came the same day North Korea claimed that it had successfully launched a precision-guided ballistic missile. Analysts believe the missile is being prepared to attack American aircraft carriers.

Meanwhile, the Federal Aviation Administration is alleging that United Airlines operated a plane that was “not in airworthy condition” during twenty-three international and domestic flights. It proposes a $435,000 civil penalty against the airline.

You likely won’t die from a North Korean missile or an unsafe airplane today. But tomorrow is promised to no one.

A truck bombing near the Afghan presidential palace killed at least eighty people this morning. A young woman who survived last year’s Orlando nightclub massacre died in a highway car crash last Sunday. A four-year-old girl fell into a Utah river on Memorial Day and drowned. Her mother and a bystander who jumped into the river to save the girl also drowned.

We are all one day closer to eternity than ever before. That’s why “now is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2).
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Charles Stanley

Charles Stanley –How to Love Others

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Matthew 22:35-40

Jesus told His disciples, “In everything … treat people the same way you want them to treat you” (Matt. 7:12). Most of us refer to this code of conduct as the Golden Rule.

In theory, we’d probably agree that this is a good foundation for a healthy relationship. Yet it’s tough to live up to such a standard. If we made a list of the ways we hope to be treated and compared it with our own behavior, we’d likely fall short.

And of course, it’s easy to love when others treat us well. But how do we respond when their behavior is hurtful or unpleasant? The truth is, Jesus meant for us to love others all the time, not just when they’re lovable. Regardless of their attitude toward us, we are to think about the relationship qualities we value—like loyalty, trust, encouragement, forgiveness, acceptance, and protection—and let these flow from us in the other person’s direction.

Unfortunately, our society breeds selfishness, greed, and pride, which are enemies of the love Jesus commanded. But when we care for others in the way the Lord prescribes, relationships can thrive and deepen.

Treating others with this kind of love isn’t natural or easy, especially when people are unkind. In fact, loving as Jesus commanded is impossible on our own. But when we trust Christ as Savior, the Holy Spirit empowers us and lives His life through us.

Take time to list the ways you hope others will treat you. Then ask, Is that how I treat people? Pray for God to reveal one area where He will help you apply the Golden Rule.

Bible in One Year: Esther 1-5

 

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Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread — Expect and Extend Mercy

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Read: Luke 18:9–14

Bible in a Year: 2 Chronicles 10–12; John 11:30–57

God, have mercy on me, a sinner.—Luke 18:13

When I complained that a friend’s choices were leading her deeper into sin and how her actions affected me, the woman I prayed with weekly placed her hand over mine. “Let’s pray for all of us.”

I frowned. “All of us?”

“Yes,” she said. “Aren’t you the one who always says Jesus sets our standard of holiness, so we shouldn’t compare our sins to the sins of others?”

“That truth hurts a little,” I said, “but you’re right. My judgmental attitude and spiritual pride are no better or worse than her sins.”

“And by talking about your friend, we’re gossiping. So—”

“We’re sinning.” I lowered my head. “Please, pray for us.”

In Luke 18, Jesus shared a parable about two men approaching the temple to pray in very different ways (vv. 9-14). Like the Pharisee, we can become trapped in a circle of comparing ourselves to other people. We can boast about ourselves (vv. 11-12) and live as though we have the right to judge and the responsibility or the power to change others.

But when we look to Jesus as our example of holy living and encounter His goodness firsthand, like the tax collector, our desperate need for God’s grace is magnified (v. 13). As we experience the Lord’s loving compassion and forgiveness personally, we’ll be forever changed and empowered to expect and extend mercy, not condemnation, to others. —Xochitl Dixon

Lord, please keep us from falling into the trap of comparing ourselves to others. Mold us and make us more like You.

When we realize the depth of our need for mercy, we can more readily offer mercy to others.

INSIGHT: The two characters in today’s parable have similarities and differences. The obvious similarity is that both the Pharisee and the tax collector went up to the temple to pray. They both had an idea of presenting themselves to God, of communicating and communing with Him. Each of their self-perceptions was influenced by their occupation or position in society. The Pharisees were meticulous rule-keepers, and by the law the Pharisee was likely righteous. Tax collectors were notorious for exploiting the populace and taking more than was rightly due.The difference between them is that the Pharisee viewed himself in comparison to the tax collector, but the tax collector viewed himself in comparison to God. While the Pharisee thanked God that he was not like the tax collector and judged his standing by comparison, the tax collector did not ask to be made more like the Pharisee. He could only look down and ask for mercy. J.R. Hudberg

 

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Ravi Zacharias

Ravi Zacharias Ministry – Past, Present, Future

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It is not very difficult for me to spend significant amounts of time dwelling on the past. Sometimes it is a rehearsal of prior conversations replaying in my mind; what should have been said and what could have been said. Or I ruminate on past regrets of what might have been had I chosen another path, or taken a different turn in the road of my life. Often I sift through memories of individuals who are long gone—either through death or some other forced absence from my life—wishing for more time with them or another opportunity to commune together. Regrets, nostalgic remembering, and wearying analytical thoughts collude to keep me bound in a place to which I can never return in real-time.

Dwelling in the past, as if one could take up residence there permanently, is a strategy I often employ when I find the present or the future daunting. Rather than face what it is I need to face, I retreat into my past searching for comfort or numbness. Part of the reason I do this lies in the simple fact that to move forward is to leave behind that which has become dear—whether that is a cherished memory or a cherished grudge. More important, however, to leave something of our past behind is to actually let go of part of our identity. It is the call into the wild and into becoming something—and someone—currently unknown to us. For most, it is a call too frightening and too challenging to heed. For some, however, it is a call that woos us to consider what more we are capable of doing and who we are capable of being, both now in the present and as we journey into an unknown future.

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Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – True Strength

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Sing to God, sing praises to His name, cast up a highway for Him Who rides through the deserts—His name is the Lord—be in high spirits and glory before Him! A father of the fatherless and a judge and protector of the widows is God in His holy habitation. God places the solitary in families and gives the desolate a home in which to dwell… —Psalm 68:4-6

The world is filled with single mothers whose husbands walked out on them and refuse to support their children financially. Men who merely walk away need to remember that strength does not walk away, but it works through situations and takes responsibility.

More than ten million single mothers today are raising children under the age of eighteen. That number is up drastically from the three million reported in 1970, and it’s estimated that 34 percent of families headed by single mothers fall under the poverty line. Their biggest concerns are much more basic than many two-parent homes—they worry about quality child care for their children, keeping a car running, and living in a safe house or apartment, all within a restricted budget. They work hard and try to be both mom and dad to their children. They sacrifice time, personal pleasures, and everything else imaginable because they love their children fiercely. They are certainly not weak.

These moms are giants in my eyes.

Lord, I pray for the single moms whom I know. Give them the strength and protection and fullness of Your blessings. Champion their cause and provide for them in abundance. Amen.

From the book The Confident Woman Devotional: 365 Daily Devotions by Joyce Meyer.

 

http://www.joycemeyer.org

Campus Crusade for Christ

Campus Crusade for Christ; Bill Bright – Walk in the Light

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“Later, in one of His talks, Jesus said to the people, ‘I am the Light of the world. So if you follow me, you won’t be stumbling through the darkness, for living light will flood your path” (John 8:12).

The living room of our home was dark when I quietly slipped a key into the lock and opened the door one night, walking slowly and softly so as not to awaken Vonette and our sons who were very young. Though they had been trained to put away their toys, somehow in the rush to get ready for bed that night they had left cars and a train and other favorite play things scattered throughout the living room.

You guessed it! I stepped on one with wheels that almost threw me to the floor before I could regain my balance. Many a person has broken a leg or an arm under similar circumstances, and some have even fallen and hit their heads on sharp objects, resulting in a fatal accident.

So it is in the spiritual realm. If we insist on walking in the darkness, we will inevitably stumble and take risks that can greatly jeopardize our spiritual health and, in some cases, lead to our spiritual death by cutting ourselves off from God.

Jesus said, “I am the light of the world. He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness.” In the first epistle of John we are told, “God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not tell the truth. If we walk in the light, as God is in the light, we have fellowship one with another and the blood of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, cleanses [and keeps on cleansing] us from all sin.”

There is only one person who qualifies to be the light of the world. That is Jesus. So how do we follow Him? What does it mean to walk in the light? Basically, it means that there is no unconfessed sin. It means that we are filled with the Holy Spirit, that we are feasting upon the Word of God and obeying His commands which include sharing our love for Christ with others.

Bible Reading: I Thessalonians 4:5-8

TODAY’S ACTION POINT: Through the enabling of the Holy Spirit, I shall walk in the light with Christ who is the light of the world, and reflect His light in such an attractive way that those who walk in darkness will be drawn to the light as moths are drawn to a burning candle.

 

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Max Lucado

Max Lucado – Show Up

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God believes in you! And I wonder if you could take some of the belief he has in you and share it with someone else?  Could you believe in someone?  One German poet said, “Treat a man as he appears to be, and you make him worse. But treat a man as if he were what he potentially could be, and you make him what he should be.”

How do we show people that we believe in them? Show up! Nothing takes the place of your presence. Do you believe in your kids? Then show up…at their games…and at their plays. It may not be possible to make each one, but it’s worth the effort. Do you believe in your friends? Show up at their graduations and weddings. Spend time with them. You want to bring out the best in someone? Then show up. And let God’s word be the authoritative word in your world.

From A Love Worth Giving

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Denison Forum

Denison Forum – Tiger Woods explains his arrest in Florida

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Tiger Woods was arrested yesterday in Florida on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs. His mugshot with drooping eyes and frazzled hair soon went viral. He later issued a statement that is making headlines this morning, claiming that “alcohol was not involved” and citing “an unexpected reaction to prescribed medication.”

Whatever the cause of his arrest, it is another sad chapter in a story that was once so promising. I remember when Woods seemed destined to pass Jack Nicklaus’s eighteen major championships on the way to recognition as the greatest golfer of all time. After winning the US Open in 2008, he had fourteen major titles and was in the prime of his career.

A year later, he drove his Cadillac Escalade into a fire hydrant and a tree. Media scrutiny led to revelations of marital infidelities. He and his wife divorced the next year. Woods has not won a major tournament since.

The day before Woods’s arrest, Bernhard Langer became the first man to win all five senior major golf championships. I watched his victory on television and the interview in which he was asked to comment on his record-breaking success.

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Charles Stanley

Charles Stanley –The Stages of Our Christian Life

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Philippians 1:5-7

Each Christian’s journey is unique. Yet certain stages of growth should be common to all of God’s children. For example:

  • The Lord wants to teach new followers basic principles as a foundation on which to build. He expresses these truths through other believers, His Word, and life circumstances.
  • God allows us to serve Him. We were created to do good works, and this becomes evident as Christians glorify Jesus (Eph. 2:10).
  • The Lord lets us experience “frustrated inadequacy.” Pride and self-confidence are threats to spiritual growth. Therefore, our Father brings us to the place where we realize we can achieve nothing of value without divine guidance and power.
  • To make freedom a reality, the Father brings His children face to face with whatever holds them captive. We often carry hurts, fears, or other baggage and on our own have no idea how to gain victory. God allows us to struggle through such issues with His help. As we surrender to Him and seek His perspective, He works to liberate us.
  • The Lord teaches us how to live the “exchanged life” (Gal. 2:20). Our sinful nature has been crucified with Christ, and the Savior’s life is expressed through us as we surrender to the Holy Spirit’s influence.

Do you recognize these stages as you look back over your walk with Christ? Perhaps you can identify an area where God still needs to work in your life. Is there anything standing in the way of allowing Him to live fully through you? Surrender to the Holy Spirit, asking Him to help you become more like Jesus.

Bible in One Year: Nehemiah 11-13

 

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Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread — Let Honor Meet Honor

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Read: Matthew 6:1–6

Bible in a Year: 2 Chronicles 7–9; John 11:1–29

Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.—Matthew 6:1

I’ve always been impressed by the solemn, magnificent simplicity of the Changing of the Guard at the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery. The carefully choreographed event is a moving tribute to soldiers whose names—and sacrifice—are “known but to God.” Equally moving are the private moments of steady pacing when the crowds are gone: back and forth, hour after hour, day by day, in even the worst weather.

In September 2003, Hurricane Isabel was bearing down on Washington, DC, and the guards were told they could seek shelter during the worst of the storm. Surprising almost no one, the guards refused! They unselfishly stood their post to honor their fallen comrades even in the face of a hurricane.

Underlying Jesus’s teaching in Matthew 6:1-6, I believe, is His desire for us to live with an unrelenting, selfless devotion to Him. The Bible calls us to good deeds and holy living, but these are to be acts of worship and obedience (vv. 4-6), not orchestrated acts for self-glorification (v. 2). The apostle Paul endorses this whole-life faithfulness when he pleads with us to make our bodies “a living sacrifice” (Rom. 12:1).

May our private and public moments speak of our devotion and wholehearted commitment to You, Lord. —Randy Kilgore

Grant me the strength this day, O Lord, to persevere, to return honor to Your name where I am serving. My desire is to give myself in selfless devotion because of Your love for me.

The more we serve Christ, the less we will serve self.

INSIGHT: In the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5-7), Jesus issues a warning about showcased religiosity and hypocrisy (6:1-8). After His strong caution against it, He gives us the proper motivation. Our reason to share with open hands, to raise our hands in prayer, and to fold them before an empty plate is both stated and implied. When we do these things, we do them out of love for the Father, the source of all good things, knowing He will bless our efforts. The approval of the Father is better than any praise we may receive from friends and neighbors. It is the reward from Him that we should truly and deeply desire.   J.R. Hudberg

 

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Ravi Zacharias

Ravi Zacharias Ministry – What Is Remembered

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In the days of Mordecai and Queen Esther the people of Israel set themselves to remember an eventful time in their history. Mordecai sent letters throughout the provinces calling for the memorializing of the month that was turned “from sorrow into gladness and from mourning into a holiday.”(1) Near and far, the call was sent to annually remember the day the tables were turned and the Jews received relief from their enemies. And so it was determined: “These days of Purim should never cease to be celebrated by the Jews, nor should the memory of them die out among their descendants.” These days were weighted with enough hope to press upon them the need to remember forever. Moreover, and most significantly, they saw the certain possibility that they might forget.

There are moments in our lives when we realize that we are beholding the carving of a day into the great tree of history. On the night before my wedding I scribbled anxiously in my journal, “It will never be this day again, but the seventeenth of every August will never be the same either.” I knew from that day forward it would be difficult (and detrimental) to forget that day on the calendar—it would carry the force of forgetting so much more than one day.

Israel’s history is wrought with such commands to remember. God told the Israelites that they would remember the night of Passover before the night had even happened. “This day shall be for you a memorial day, and you shall keep it as a feast to the LORD; throughout your generations, as a statute forever.”(2) Moses and Aaron were told to instruct the whole community of Israel to choose a lamb without defect and slaughter it at twilight. They were then to take some of the blood and put it on the doorposts of their houses. “The blood will be a sign,” the LORD declared. “And when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike the firstborns of Egypt.”

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Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – Come as a Little Child

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And He called a little child to Himself and put himself in the midst of them, and said, Truly I say to you, unless you repent (change, turn about) and become like little children [trusting, lowly, loving, forgiving], you can never enter the kingdom of heaven…—Matthew 18:2-3

One thing children are not is complicated. Children have no trouble letting you know what they want, running into your arms when they are afraid, or giving you a big generous kiss, sometimes for no apparent reason. They are not sophisticated enough to hide their hearts or feelings very well, and as a result, communicating with them can be easy and refreshing.

That’s the way God wants us to be when we talk to Him. We need to approach God with childlike simplicity and faith. Just as children are naturally inclined to trust their parents completely, we also need to be guileless, pure, and free from doubt as we trust God. Then we can experience God’s miracle-working power and see things change.

We do not want to be childish in our relationships with God; we want to be childlike. The Lord is not looking for complicated relationships. He is looking for sincere hearts and childlike faith. He wants us to approach Him as little children approach people they love. He wants us to let Him know what we want (see Philippians 4:6) and to run to Him when we feel threatened or afraid (Psalm 91:1-7). He wants us to show our affection for Him, sometimes for no apparent reason (see Psalm 34:1) and to share our hearts openly with Him (see Psalm 62:8).

Love God Today: “Lord, help me to have a pure, simple, childlike faith and love for You.”

From the book Love Out Loud by Joyce Meyer.

 

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Campus Crusade for Christ

Campus Crusade for Christ; Bill Bright – Our Treasuries Filled

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“My paths are those of justice and right. Those who love and follow Me are indeed wealthy. I fill their treasuries” (Proverbs 8:20,21).

“How does it feel to be a millionaire?” someone once asked the maker of Pullman cars, George M. Pullman.

“I have never thought of that before,” replied Pullman, “but now that you mention it, I believe I am no better off – certainly not happier, than when I did not have a dollar to my name and had to work from daylight to dark.

“I wore a good suit of clothes then, and I only wear one suit at a time now. I relished three meals a day then a good deal more than I do three meals a day now. I had fewer cares, I slept better and may add that I believe I was generally far happier in those days than I have been many times since I became a millionaire.”

As Pullman learned, true wealth is not found in earthly riches. The heart can never be fully satisfied with anything of the world; beside, the world passes away. True wealth is found in the knowledge of Christ and of His great salvation, and in the possession of the abiding riches which He bestows on all who believe in Him.

True wealth has to do with spiritual health – inner peace, clear conscience and sins forgiven. That man, woman or young person with abiding faith in Christ, who is yielded to the control of God’s indwelling Holy Spirit, has true wealth – the supernatural life.

Bible Reading: Proverbs 8:22-31

TODAY’S ACTION POINT: I’ll begin to look more to the “Bank of Heaven” for my true wealth.

 

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Max Lucado

Max Lucado – A Cloak of Love

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Do you know anyone who is wounded and afraid? Do you know anyone who is guilty and embarrassed? Do you know anyone who needs a cloak of love? “Love covers a multitude of sins,” the scripture says in 1 Peter 4:8. Love doesn’t expose. It doesn’t gossip. If love says anything, love speaks words of defense. Words of kindness. Words of protection.

Do you know anyone who could use some protection? Of course you do. Then give some. Pay a gas bill for a struggling elderly couple. Promise your kids that, God being your helper, they’ll never know a hungry day or a homeless night. Tell your husband that you’d do it all over again and invite him on a honeymoon. Make sure your divorced friends are invited to your parties. Do you know anyone who needs a cloak of love? Then, give it.

From A Love Worth Giving

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Denison Forum

Denison Forum – What Israel taught me about Memorial Day

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Today, thousands of men and women carrying the names of fallen soldiers will conclude a thirty-one-day relay across a total of 6,200 miles. Organized by the nonprofit “Carry The Load,” the two routes began in Seattle, Washington and West Point, New York. They will meet in Dallas today for a Memorial Day March.

Last year, their event raised more than $2 million to build homes for veterans, provide adaptive training for injured soldiers, and support mental health programs. Their goal this year is to raise $2.5 million.

Their commitment is what Memorial Day in America should be all about.

Known as “America’s most solemn occasion,” this day has been set aside to remember the 1.3 million men and women who died in the service of our nation. This is the very least we can do for those who died for us and for those who grieve their loss. I am frankly concerned that in recent years Memorial Day seems to have become less about our fallen heroes and more about a three-day weekend to start the summer.

Contrast our holiday with the way Israel commemorates Yom HaZikaron, its Memorial Day, each year on April 30. Candles are lit in homes, schools, and synagogues. A siren is heard all over the country. When they hear it, Israelis stop everything. Those driving on roads and highways stop, get out of their cars, and stand in silence as they remember those who have died for their country.

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Charles Stanley

Charles Stanley – The Process of Sanctification

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Hebrews 5:11-14

Many modern-day inventions are designed to help us accomplish tasks more quickly. The microwave, for example, shortens cooking time drastically, while washing machines and computers speed up other chores. New technology has the added effect of increasing life’s already fast pace as well as our desire for instant solutions.

Not every process, however, lends itself to acceleration. Consider our growth in Christ, which is known as sanctification. Being a Christian is neither an event nor a quick fix. Rather, it is a journey. There are things for us to learn along the way, and while we may unwisely choose a longer path than necessary, there really are no shortcuts.

Sadly, some people grow little after salvation. They are not encouraged in their faith or discipled well. Others fail to pursue maturity through prayer, meditation on Scripture, and fellowship. God is not pleased when His children opt for complacency. That’s why His Word tells us to “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Pet. 3:18).

Consider how spiritual development benefits believers. By learning God’s ways, we can walk in obedience and live contented, purposeful lives for His glory. We also gain the ability to discern truth from distortion.

Do you notice any change in your life and character since the day you were saved? Are you able to detect spiritual growth over the last year? Your heavenly Father wants to mature you. So make a continuous effort to cooperate with Him by reading Scripture, praying, fellowshipping, and repenting of all known sin in your life.

Bible in One Year: Nehemiah 8-10

 

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