Keys to spiritual maturity: Watch your thoughts (Part 5)
OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD Our thoughts even go further and affect our relationship with God. God is the ultimate picture of hope for every human being. Yet despite this many are losing hope and the rapid growth in the illness of depression bears testimony to this. When hope is lost, discouragement and depression set in….
Keys to spiritual maturity: Watch your thoughts (Part 4)
OUR THOUGHTS HAVE CONSEQUENCES Our thoughts affect our lives. In essence we are a product of our thoughts. Change the way you think and the way you see things will also change. If you think that you are not good enough and that you will never make it, then the possibility is good that you…
Keys to spiritual maturity: Watch your thoughts (Part 3)
WHERE IS YOUR FOCUS? It starts by evaluation where our focus lies. What are we focusing on and what do we allow our minds to dwell on. In South Africa, where I live, many people live in fear of crime and violence. It eventually affects every aspect of their waking lives. It even begins to…
Keys to spiritual maturity: Watch your thoughts (Part 2)
GIRD UP THE LOINS OF YOUR MIND This may sound like a very strange concept, but it is a concept from the Bible that has given me direction and understanding. 1 Peter 1:13 Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be…
Keys to spiritual maturity: Watch your thoughts (Part 1)
It has been said that we become what we think. If this is true then our thought-life plays a far greater role than we ever could have imagined.I have discovered that our thoughts and what goes on in our minds has a great bearing on who we are and what we become. What do we…
Keys to spiritual maturity: Courage (Part 9)
HOLD ONTO YOUR COURAGE Having courage is a key to success in our lives. I once heard someone say that life is not for the faint-hearted! In a sense we have got to hold onto our courage and not allow it to slip through our fingers. Sometimes circumstances can erode our courage. We must however…
Keys to spiritual maturity: Courage (Part 8)
COURAGE TO APPROACH GOD! One of the greatest joys is the knowledge that we can approach God. As we approach God we must do so with boldness. This boldness is a form of courage and at the same time confidence. We must courageously approach God! We must not just try things on our own and…
Keys to spiritual maturity: Courage (Part 7)
SUMMONS COURAGE! We need to summons our courage. We need to speak to ourselves and tell ourselves to have courage. 1 Thessalonians 2:2 But though we had already suffered and been outrageously treated at Philippi, as you know, yet [in the strength of] our God we summoned courage to proclaim to you unfalteringly the good…
Keys to spiritual maturity: Courage (Part 6)
A PICTURE OF COURAGE I once saw a demonstration of courage. The illustration involved two chairs. The chairs were placed just far apart enough that you would not touch the one while touching the other. The one chair represented where you are and the other chair represented the future. To get from the current chair…
Keys to spiritual maturity: Courage (Part 5)
COURAGE AND BRAVERY One of the qualities that goes hand in hand with courage is bravery. Courage for me tends to be a bit of a philosophical concept. Bravery on the other hand makes it real. I recently watched a documentary on David Livingstone. He was a Christian Missionary, who, in the face of tremendous…