When God’s Pruning Became a GIFT, Things Changed.
We know that God’s PRUNING is an imperative in our life-long, never-ending journey toward SPIRITUAL MATURITY. But considering it a GIFT is a bit much, don’t you think? That’s exactly what I thought early in my faith walk when the goal was to avoid God’s pruning at any cost or, if that didn’t work, endure it quickly with the least amount of pain. But that all changed when...
I Ran Away From God’s PRUNING SHEARS
This truth makes every believer cringe, at least a little: God’s PRUNING is an imperative in our life-long, never-ending journey toward SPIRITUAL MATURITY. Ouch. “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit, he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.”...
I Wanted to be a VINE, but God said be a BRANCH.
Yesterday we addressed the importance of tending the GARDENS OF OUR LIFE with a focus on Christ and that got me thinking about one of the most powerful messages in God’s Word—”Vine & Branches” (John 15)—and its connection to our never-ending journey toward SPIRITUAL MATURITY. It does not take much of the world’s allure to convince us that we can be the VINE and produce our own...
But I HATE Gardening, God.
God started everything in a GARDEN by putting man in charge “to work it and keep it” (Genesis 2:15). And he encourages his followers today to be gardeners. He EXPECTS us to tend to the gardens in our life. Gardens are inextricably linked to our faith walk and spiritual growth. The first step in that process is to identify what gardens God has given us and then commit to nurture...
The APPLICATION of God’s Word STOPPED Me Cold
We’ve been talking a lot about Spiritual Maturity this month by focusing LESS on what we do and MORE on our surrendered obedience to God. And we’ve accepted that our spiritual growth is not exclusively about accumulating knowledge of God’s Word. With that foundation in place, we need to look at one of the most important NUANCES in our quest to grow our faith: Our spiritual...
I Thought Salvation Was a Stairway to Heaven
This just in from our global online tribe: I was taught growing up that God chooses good people and rejects bad people. Is spiritual maturity a form of that same accept/reject idea? The best place to start answering this deep and extremely important question is to reject, in no uncertain terms, the notion that God chooses good people and rejects bad people. IT SIMPLY IS NOT TRUE. Here’s...
“You Don’t Know Me.” Are YOU A Stranger To God?
This just in from our global online tribe: “I love this series on Spiritual Maturity. Thank you. My question is how these words from Jesus in Matthew fit into the picture: I don’t know you.” We cannot, ever, impress Jesus. No matter how we package and present our good works and great heart and deep prayers, we will fall short of impressing God and getting him to KNOW us....
I Was in DENIAL about the OBSTACLES to My Spiritual Growth
We’ve learned during this month’s exploration of what it means to be a spiritually-mature Christian that ALL ROADS LEAD BACK TO JESUS. That spiritual maturity is much less about the things we do and everything about our commitment to surrender everything to the Lord of Heaven and earth. That spiritual growth is about glorifying God, not elevating ourselves. That sets up this critically-important...
3 Words DERAILED My Faith Walk: “I’ve Got This.”
Spiritual maturity is all about Jesus. We should NEVER stop reminding ourselves of that truth. That’s why I have been mentioning it every day in this series on spiritual growth. It should be part of our DAILY prayers. It should be ever-present in our thoughts that spiritual maturity is about glorifying God, not elevating ourselves. That spiritual maturity is about being an OBEDIENT...
Take The Test: OBSERVING Follower or OBEDIENT Follower?
We’ve learned during this month’s exploration of what it means to be a spiritually-mature Christian that ALL ROADS LEAD BACK TO JESUS. We learned that spiritual maturity is much less about the things we do and everything about our commitment to surrender everything to the Lord of Heaven and earth. And we learned that spiritual growth is about glorifying God, not elevating ourselves. Today’s...