Hi Everyone.After a very big gap, I am going to try to get the EmmDevs going again. I apologise for being so sporadic - it has been a challenging and relentless time, coupled with significant frustrations on the tech-side: it is getting more and more difficult to send out email that actually gets delivered on the other side. I hope to get on top of all the issues eventually.
This series is a kind of back-to-basics which is appropriate in the the light of Easter past, Ascension tomorrow and Pentecost around the corner. It is a reworking of a series I wrote in 2003. The basic truths are still applicable...
God bless and Love,
Theo
Growing in our Faith
Have you ever tried to run up the down escalator?
If one wants to get to the top, one has to keep moving!
To stop is to lose ground - The same is true for our walk with Christ - we must constantly fight against the gravity of our daily cares and our own weaknesses and strive forward to become more and more like Jesus.
If one wants to get to the top, one has to keep moving!
To stop is to lose ground - The same is true for our walk with Christ - we must constantly fight against the gravity of our daily cares and our own weaknesses and strive forward to become more and more like Jesus.
But how do we do this? How do we grasp the fullness of life that God has for us? There are five basic disciplines that will help us overcome our tendency to drift away from God.
They are:
1. Regular Bible Reading
2. Meaningful Prayer
3. Character Forming Contact with other Christians.
4. Learning to hear and obey the Holy Spirit on a daily basis.
5. Sharing our faith in a real and wholesome way.
Authors like Steven Covey have correctly perceived that growth is a character issue and that character is formed by our habits. As we grow in our walk with God, it is our character that is at stake. Like a block of marble that must be chiselled and shaped and filed, so our characters must go through a process of refining. These five habits are habits that are found in all growing Christians. (We'll be spending a few days on each of these habits.)
Fortunately we are not left to struggle on our own. We don't just have to grow all by ourselves. God immerses us, like young plants, in the rich nourishing soil of his grace and He waters us with the knowledge that comes through His Word. We don't have to earn God's love - He has already shown His love to us. We don't have to go out and look for God - He has already found us...
| But grow in the grace and the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To Him be glory, both now and forever! Amen. (2Peter3:18) |
