Discipleship

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Do you desire to fire your pastor? Perhaps you should fire them up instead!

Praying for your church is like filling a balloon with helium, the more it is filled, the more it will soar and not sore! For us to grow not just numerically, but in what is much more important, spiritually and in community to one another, requires our discipline and passion to pursue Christ more and ourselves less. We have to grow in Christ in a cherished, intimate growing relationship with Him as LORD over all and LORD over us. We are called to become purpose driven with His purpose at our helm of leadership and lives so that our trust and intimacy is rooted in Him and not in our...

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Prayer Part III, Do you feel connected to God when you pray?

To pursue a more vibrant prayer life, we have to be willing and able to saturate ourselves with it and in it! Also, we need a desire to move our prayer life from the occasional extracurricular activity to a passionate pursuit, and carry out prayer sincerely, earnestly, and vibrantly with His Spirit and Truth! This means prayer must become more than a just thing we do; rather, it becomes an attitude and a constant pursuit. We grow beyond our regular prayer times; we still have them, but we no longer limit ourselves to pray just at those times. We realize that...

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How is your prayer life? Is prayer your first response for all thoughts and encounters in your life?

Have you ever thought through why you do not spend more time with God? What aspects of your time and commitment hold you back from prayer? Most of us do not have the kind of prayer life we should have; in my experience, most people give up because either they do not know how to pray or they do not understand the significance of prayer. Others may have prayer lives but they are not godly or effectual prayers; these tend to be the prayers with only the self-interests or personal agendas in mind. We may know about prayer, but...

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Basic discussion starter questions to help you open doors in sharing your faith to others!

Transitions you can use to turn a conversation to spiritual things.

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Have you ever been hammered by Satan and/or temptations? If so, how did you handle them? Satan is real and he is powerful. Satan is our enemy, but we have access to an immensely far, far greater power. You must stand strong against him and not cringe with terror, because the One who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world...

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We have to realize that the Fruit of the Spirit is a "must" endeavor--not a convenience or a mere attitude, nor is it just for children or something to be ignored. Rather, it is a principle hallmark that points to God's Holiness and effectual Christian living. It is not something we are to regulate to the youth departments of the church, thinking we have grown beyond it as adults. Rather, it is the most important thing a Christian and, especially a minister of the Word and church leader, is to be doing. It is who we are to be, growing and maturing as a lifelong journey of our spiritual formation our faith development and deployment.

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Fruit of the Spirit Part II

The Fruit of the Spirit is the continual and indispensable application of God's work in us that spurs our growing, effectual, spiritual development. This, in turn, assembles the elements we need to further build and live out our faith so we can effectively and graciously relate to others around us.

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In Acts the Bible tells us we need to be in relationships for our personal and spiritual growth. As Paul and the early Christians taught and received teaching "from house to house," we too must respond in our walk with Christ in each others homes (Acts 5:42; 20:20)!

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Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

We are called to learn and develop faith because faith is essential and of the utmost importance for every aspect of the Christian life. Without faith, we can do nothing! As Christians, especially those who are responsible for the education and care of others, we are called to build our spiritual formation from...

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Part I: Do you know what Spiritual Warfare is all about? Some Christians spend all their energies on this subject while others do not even know that they are to be on guard against Satan and his demons. They do not know that they need to be ready for attacks and be able to protect themselves against the veracity of "Spiritual Warfare." Others blame the devil and his entourage for all their ills, accepting no responsibility for their own life and actions.