Tag Archives: spiritual growth

December 14, 2023 · 5:30 AM

Getting In The Wheelbarrow

I like to tell people that you will always act on what you truly believe, especially when you’re under pressure. It’s easy to say you believe something, but the proof comes when stress is applied. There’s a story of a man named Charles Blonden who famously put out a tightrope across Niagara Falls. He crossed it several times using different methods like stilts, backwards, blindfolded, carrying a stove and cooking on it. One time he pushed a wheelbarrow across it. When he arrived on the other side, the crowd applauded. He then asked who believed he could push someone in that wheelbarrow across the tightrope. Everyone cheered agreeing that he could. He then asked for a volunteer from the cheering crowd. The crowd fell silent and no one volunteered. Later his manager Harry Colcord did ride across on his back.

It’s easy to say we believe something until we have to get I to the wheelbarrow. In the Old Testament, God asked Abraham to take his only son to the land of Moriah and offer him as a sacrifice (Genesis 22). This was a faith testing moment. God had already told him that through Isaac he would have many descendants. He took Isaac to the mountain anyway because He truly believed God. David’s faith was tested too. He had been anointed king, but God delayed in that promise. He had several opportunities to kill Saul, the current king, but he trusted God’s timing instead. Many opportunities presented themselves, but he passed on them all as he waited for God’s perfect timing.

Testing is part of God’s means of proving our faith just like He did for those in the Bible. If He tested them, He’ll test us. 1 Peter 1:7 says, “Their purpose is to prove that your faith is genuine. Even gold, which can be destroyed, is tested by fire; and so your faith, which is much more precious than gold, must also be tested, so that it may endure. Then you will receive praise and glory and honor on the Day when Jesus Christ is revealed” (GNT). Testing purifies and solidifies our faith. Don’t back down from what you believe when hard times come or when you’re called out on it. Get in the wheelbarrow and trust God to carry you across Niagara’s Falls. He’s proven time and time again He’s able to, but it’s up to us to trust Him enough to get in.

Photo by Sergey Pesterev on Unsplash

Throwback Thursday is a feature I’m using to help build some margin into my schedule to pursue other ventures. Each Thursday I’ll be bringing you a previously written devotional that still speaks encouragement to us from God’s Word.

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October 30, 2023 · 5:48 AM

Filling Gaps

If I asked you what your worst subject in school was, what would you say? Now if I asked you why it was your worst, you’d probably think of some reasons. It could be you didn’t like the teacher. That could be the class that had the most homework in it. Maybe you never did quite understand it and once you got behind, you could never catch up again. When we have a learning gap in a subject, it can create tension, especially if you struggle to fill that gap. Some parents get their kids a tutor to fill the learning gap. Some spend some extra time trying to help their kids. Then there are those who say, “I didn’t like it either. You’re just going to have to live with it.” That person lives with that gap and has a mental block that they may never get past.

Let’s take that same concept and apply it to our faith. There are people in the Bible who had some gaps. In Mark 9 we read the story of a man who had a son that was possessed by a demon. The disciples had a gap in their faith and couldn’t cast it out. When they approached Jesus, the boy went into convulsions and Jesus asked how long had he suffered like that. He told him it had been happening since childhood and asked if Jesus could do anything to help. Jesus said, “What do you mean ‘if’?” He then flipped it on him and said, “If you are able to believe, all things are possible to the believer” (TPT). The man recognized his gap and said, “I do believe, but help me overcome my unbelief!” (NLT)

I Thessalonians 3:10 says, “Night and day we pray earnestly for you, asking God to let us see you again to fill the gaps in your faith.” Where are your gaps in your faith that you need filled? What are the areas you struggle to understand or grow in? We all have them, but not all of us are doing something to fill them. We become like the student who just lives with the gap and struggles with it their whole life. Once you’ve identified your gap, join a life group that covers that subject, ask your pastor to recommend a book on the subject and seek God for understanding and help like the man in Mark 9. There are lots of ways to grow in the different areas of our faith. You don’t have to live with the gaps. We should be constantly growing and learning in our faith to fill the gaps so we can be have strong roots that grow down deep into Jesus.

Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash

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October 9, 2023 · 5:43 AM

Yielding To God’s Process

In high school I was on the varsity basketball team. At the beginning of each season coach would run us a lot to condition our body. He would make us do jumping exercises too so we could increase our vertical leap. It was after we were worn out that we would begin shooting practice. He wanted us in mid game condition so we could learn to shoot while our boys was tired. After that, we went through our plays and then ran some more. Finally, we had to make 100 free throws before we could leave. Coach always pushed us hard because he understood that while we had skills and talent, there was a gap from where we were to where we could be. His job was to increase our skills and our endurance which meant he had to push us.

Early in the Gospels we read where Jesus called the disciples to follow Him. Some were fishing when He asked them to give up catching fish so they could learn to fish for men. Matthew was in his tax collection booth when Jesus called and redeemed him. Each one he called was asked to give up their life, their routine and their normal life in order to learn from Him. They lived a nomadic life while they listened to each sermon, watched the compassion Jesus had and asked questions around the campfire at night. Jesus pushed these 12 men to be more than they were. He taught them, trained them and gave them opportunities to put into practice what He did. When He went to Heaven, they grew even more and turned the world upside down. It didn’t make sense to the outside observer, but because they had spent time with Jesus and submitted to being disciples, they changed the world.

Hebrews 12:11 says, “Now all discipline seems to be painful at the time, yet later it will produce a transformation of character, bringing a harvest of righteousness and peace to those who yield to it” (TPT). God sees potential in you and wants to help you reach that potential. There’s a gap between where you are right now and where you could be. In order to get there, you’re going to have to submit to His process of discipleship. You’re going to have to endure being uncomfortable, being pushed and stretched so that He can produce in you a harvest like you’ve never experienced. It starts with yielding to Him as the authority of your life. You must give Him control rather than just letting Him be a guide. Discipleship is sitting at His feet, learning from Him, giving up what you want for what He wants and accepting His plan over yours. Only then will you reach the potential He’s placed in you and bring in a harvest like never before.

Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash

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July 17, 2023 · 5:40 AM

Seeking To Know God More

Several years ago I was at work when a crazy thunderstorm popped up. My boss called me and said she needed help. When I went out the front door of the building, her car was in the street with water over the hood. I waded through the water into the street and told her to put it in neutral. I then pushed the car into the parking lot. As she was getting out of the car, I noticed my wedding ring was missing. I began searching through the high water for it while lightening was striking and it was pouring down rain. I searched for an hour and a half and couldn’t find it. I then waited for the storm to stop and started looking again as the water receded. After another hour of searching, I couldn’t find it. I prayed, “Lord, I give up. I don’t know what to do.” When I opened my eyes, the ring was between my feet.

In Acts 8 there’s the story of an Ethiopian eunuch who went to Jerusalem to worship and was on his way home. What you may not know is that the Old Testament forbid eunuch from entering the Temple. This man had traveled a long way searching for God only to have been turned away. Even in his rejection, he kept searching for God and bought a scroll of Isaiah to help him. As he was reading it, God sent the disciple Philip to go meet him. Philip heard him reading and asked if he understood. The eunuch said no one had guided him to know God or to understand it. So Philip explained the prophesy of Isaiah 53 in reference to Jesus and the Good News. The eunuch wanted to be baptized after that and asked what laws would stop that. I’m sure Philip smiled and said that Jesus was available to all who seek Him. Then he baptized the eunuch.

Jeremiah 29:13 says, “You will seek me, and you will find me because you will seek me with all your heart” (GNT). Even though you have found Jesus as the Ethiopian eunuch did, you must still continue to seek God. Just as you can’t know a person after one encounter, you can’t know God with one. That first encounter brought salvation, but there is so much more God wants us to know about Himself. Have you grown complacent with where you are in your relationship to Him? He says if we will seek Him and search Him out more, you will find there more to Him and that He wants to reveal Himself to you, but you must seek Him with your whole heart. Don’t stop trying to get to know Him, His Word or His ways. Search for Him like a lost treasure. Don’t give up in the middle of a storm. Don’t quit searching just because things are going well either. There is more to God than you can ever know or search out, and He’s willing to show Himself to you if you’re willing to seek Him out.

Photo credit Unsplash

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June 27, 2023 · 5:43 AM

Heart Soil

Micro-farming has become a thing in recent years. People are buying a lot in a neighborhood and turning it into a small farm. Whether you’re building a huge farm or a micro farm, you success depends on prepping the soil. Depending on the crop you want to grow, you’re going to have to start with fertilizing it. Your soil needs the proper nutrients if you’re going to have abundant crops. Next, you’ll need to till up the ground. This will soften the dirt so seeds can grow and help you get out any rocks or items that would prevent seeds from taking root. Finally, you’ll need a fence to keep out people and animals that would try to rob you of your fruit.

In Mark 4, Jesus told a parable about a farmer. This person scattered seed all over his lot. Some fell on the footpath, some fell on soil with rocks underneath, some fell where there were weeds and some fell on good soil. Birds came and ate the seeds on the footpath which prevented a harvest there. The ones that fell on the soil with rocks underneath couldn’t take root and dried up in the heat. The ones that fell among the weeds fought for nutrients with them, but were soon chocked out. Only the ones that fell on fertile soil produced good crops. As Jesus told this, He was illustrating how our hearts receive the Word of God. We can go to church all we want, but the condition of the soil of our heart will determine our growth, not how good the preacher is.

Hosea 10:12 says, “Plant the good seeds of righteousness, and you will harvest a crop of love. Plow up the hard ground of your hearts, for now is the time to seek the Lord, that he may come and shower righteousness upon you” (NLT). Notice how the responsibility of plowing the soil of our own heart belongs to us. It’s not someone else’s responsibility. We must fertilize the soil of our heart to make sure it has the right nutrients. Think about what you’re putting in your heart and mind daily. Then we must break up the hardness we’ve allowed to accumulate under our soil by letting God heal our past. Then we need to build a fence to guard our heart and mind from the enemy who wants to prevent the seeds from taking root. We do this by building relationships with godly people whom we’re able to confess our sins to. Don’t let another day go by without taking responsibility for the soil of your heart. If you’re not producing the Fruits of the Spirit like you want, work on your soil.

Photo by Toni Reed on Unsplash

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May 16, 2023 · 5:38 AM

Maturity Matters

I read something a while back that shocked me. It said the average person only reads one book after they leave school. One book for the rest of their life! That’s crazy to me, and I’m not a person who devours books. That means that the average person will mature physically once they’re out of school, but not intellectually. They do very little to grow their mind, improve their understanding of the world or learn something new. I realize we have a ton of information at our fingertips with the internet, but articles aren’t books. They give you the Cliff Notes, not the full tools that will truly help you improve. It should be worrisome to us that the average person peaks intellectually between 18-24 years old.

Paul spent most of his entire adulthood traveling to young churches and writing them letters on the importance of growing and maturing in their faith. He was constantly telling them and Timothy, his understudy, to grow their roots down deep, mature their faith and produce fruit. He understood that we’re not supposed to stop once we’ve accepted Jesus and are baptized. There’s a lifetime of growth and learning ahead of you. Yet, somehow, the same mentality that affects our learning growth, infects our spiritual growth. It tries to remove our drive to learn more about Jesus, change how we live and mature in our faith. When that happens, we miss out on the abundant life God has for us. We become like the Israelites who wandered in the desert for 40 years. We’re out of the bondage of sin, but we fail to reach the Promised Land flowing with milk and honey.

Ephesians 4:13-14 says, “This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ. Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth” (NLT). Maturity in Christ perfects the Body of Christ from false teachers, builds unity in the Body and makes us more Christlike. Take time to read this full chapter today. God has so much more for us. We can’t be satisfied with milk when He has meat waiting for us. We must be intentional about our spiritual growth and maturity. It requires us to learn more about Him and to live out our faith more than one day a week. It requires us digging into God Word ourselves and relentlessly pursuing Him. God has more to this life for you. Don’t be satisfied with where you are.

Photo by Ben White on Unsplash

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November 22, 2022 · 6:01 AM

Accepting Second Place

When I was a teenager, I had a shirt that read, “Second place is first loser”. When I watched “Talladega Nights” and Ricky Bobby said, “If you’re not first, you’re last,” I laughed pretty hard. He expressed my mentality pretty well. I’ve always been on the competitive side. Part of that must come from being the middle child. I honestly can’t stand losing, and now my son has it. He got a 99 on a test this year. He came home disappointed and said, “I might as well have failed.” Not being first is a hard pill to swallow, but it is what Christ has called us to. When we accept Him, we are to get off the throne of our life to make Him number one, putting ourself in second place.

On the night before Jesus was to be crucified, He knew what was coming. For 33 years He knew what He was born to do. Even though He knew it, and was willing, His flesh fought back. In Mark 14:36, we hear Him pray, “Father, my Father! All things are possible for you. Take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet not what I want, but what you want” (GNT). He made a conscious effort in the most difficult circumstance to submit to God’s will and place His own in second place. He was demonstrating to us that we must yield to God and constantly offer Him first place in our lives. Anything less is not true submission to Him.

1 Peter 3:15 says, “But in your hearts set Christ apart [as holy—acknowledging Him, giving Him first place in your lives] as Lord” (AMP). Becoming a mature Christian is the process of giving up the throne of your life to Jesus. It’s willfully taking second place, which is a very hard thing to do. When we accept second place, and allow Him first place in our lives, we fulfill God’s will for our lives because we have life in proper order. If you’re struggling to give up first place, you’re not alone. It’s a daily process of taking up our cross, crucifying our flesh and following Him (Matthew 16:24). Spiritual growth and maturity happen when we accept second place.

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November 21, 2022 · 5:49 AM

Positive Pressure

Several years ago I was diagnosed with sleep apnea. I would fall asleep, but never get rest. I would also stop breathing for up to a minute before popping up gasping for air. The doctor said that having my heart go from a resting rate to the sudden fast beat could kill me, so he put me on a CPAP machine. He explained that I had a negative pressure where the pressure outside my body was greater than the pressure inside my body. The CPAP, which stands for continuous positive air pressure, would force air inside my body to push against the negative pressure and keep me from not breathing. Ever since I’ve been on it, I’ve been able to get rest when I sleep.

In Matthew 4, Jesus had just been baptized and was led into the wilderness for a 40 day fast. While He was hungry and weak, the enemy brought negative pressure in order to tempt Him. He was first tempted to turn stones into bread, but He pushed back by quoting the Word of God. He was then tempted to test God, but again He pushed back with what the Bible says. Finally He was offered earthly kingdoms in exchange for eternal ones. Just like before, He was able to overcome by the Word of God. In doing so, He taught us how to overcome the negative pressures we all face.

Psalm 1:1-3 says, “Oh, the joys of those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or stand around with sinners, or join in with mockers. But they delight in the law of the Lord, meditating on it day and night. They are like trees planted along the riverbank, bearing fruit each season. Their leaves never wither, and they prosper in all they do” (NLT). Having God’s Word in our heart provides a positive pressure inside us that pushes back against all the negative pressures from people around us. Without having it in our hearts, we can have the life choked out of us spiritually. Reading the Bible, memorizing Scripture and studying it are all ways we create positive pressure inside our spirit in order to overcome.

Photo by Ben White on Unsplash

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August 31, 2022 · 5:51 AM

Open The Flow

During the drought this summer, my yard started to die. I began using the sprinkler in the evenings, and I moved it around every so often. Wherever I placed it, I would turn the water faucet on full blast in order to cover the most ground possible. Little by little, the grass began to turn green again. When I looked at my neighbor’s yards, many of them had started doing the same thing. I can honestly say that i didn’t see anyone watering their yards with the water barely turned on. Can you imagine how ineffective that would be? Yet some of us only open the flow of Jesus into our lives a little, and we wonder why we’re not growing.

When you accept Jesus as your savior, you are saved and begin your relationship with Him. However, you and I control the valve on how much we allow Him to influence our life. If we restrict the flow of Him into our life, not much is going to change in how we talk, act or live. We will remain in spiritual immaturity. Those who open the flow, will grow and be changed. The more of our life that we give Him access to, the more we become like Him. The more we move toward spiritual maturity. Our lives will bear the fruits of the Spirit as well. There are clear differences between those who restrict Jesus in their lives and those who don’t. Your spiritual life will always grow in proportion to the amount of influence you allow Jesus to have in it.

Colossians 1:10 says, “We pray that you would walk in the ways of true righteousness, pleasing God in every good thing you do. Then you’ll become fruit-bearing branches, yielding to his life, and maturing in the rich experience of knowing God in his fullness!” (TPT) God desires that each of us would yield all of our life to Him. When we do, we open ourselves up to His fullness. How much of your life have you yielded to Him? If you’re not bearing much fruit in your life or are not experiencing all He offers, surrender everything to Him. You’ve trusted Him with your eternity. Why wouldn’t you trust Him with this life? How He sees you has to become more important than how others see you. Open up the flow of His presence in your life and watch the growth take place.

Photo by Patrick Pahlke on Unsplash

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July 4, 2022 · 5:32 AM

Overcoming Obstacles

Some of my favorite shows to watch are obstacle course ones. I used to watch “Wipeout” pretty regularly. My new favorite is “Floor Is Lava”. I love watching the creativity and bravery the people use to take on the obstacles. However, there are a lot of people going through these courses who never make it to the end. The obstacles prove to be too much for them to handle, and they’re knocked out of contention for the grand prize. If we’re not careful, the same thing can happen to us as we follow Jesus. There are obstacles that are constantly trying to knock us off course and to interfere with our relationship with Him.

In Mark 11, Jesus was in His final week. He was facing obstacles that were trying to throw Him off course. At one point He was hungry and approached a fig tree, but it didn’t have fruit on it, so He cursed it. The next day, as they walked by, Peter noticed it was dead and pointed it out. In verse 23, Jesus responded, “I tell you the truth, you can say to this mountain, ‘May you be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and it will happen. But you must really believe it will happen and have no doubt in your heart” (NLT). Some scholars believe he was using a Hebrew colloquialism referring to obstacles that impede progress, and that we shouldn’t let any obstacles stand between us and our faith in God.

We all face obstacles that sucker punch us and try to come between us and God though at some point in our lives. For me it was the untimely death of my mother and a divorce. For you, it will be different. The important thing is to identify the obstacles standing in your way so that you can remove them. It’s going to take some faith in order to move these obstacles. You’re going to have to trust God when you can’t see Him or feel Him because of the mountain in your way. Don’t give up, and don’t believe the lie that God doesn’t care about you or your situation. Speak to your mountain in faith. Cast it into the sea and begin growing in your faith once again. You don’t have to stay where you or or succumb to the obstacle. There is more life and growth ahead for you.

Photo by Joshua Earle on Unsplash

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