A Tree in Healthy Soil

A Tree in Healthy Soil

Colossians 2:6-7

"Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude."

When you receive Christ as your personal Saviour, He becomes Lord of your life. You must then choose to continue to follow His leadership through being a disciple and learner.

Jesus is not here physically, but you can still learn from Him and follow His lead in life by reading His Word and listening to wise Bible-based teachers. This helps you become firmly rooted like a tree that is planted in healthy soil.

The process continues as you need to be built up and established in your faith. You grow in your faith as you respond to what God says to you as you read and study His Word. If you reject what God is saying to you, you won’t grow. But if you respond, you will grow.

If you pursue this path of spiritual growth in your life: learning from Jesus, responding to His leading in your life, growing in your relationship with Him, learning some more, responding, etc., then God will bless you so much in your heart and your life, that you will find yourself “overflowing with gratitude”. You’ll praise Him because it feels your heart will burst if you don’t. What a great way to live!

Have you been in the wilderness long enough?

Friday 4/27/2007

The Lord our God said to us in Horeb, You have dwelt long enough on this mountain. Turn and take up your journey....
—Deuteronomy 1:6,7


As long as we have wilderness attitudes, we will continue living in the wilderness. Jesus died so we could live in the Promised Land the land of abundance.

It was only an eleven-day journey to the Promised Land, yet the Israelites wandered in the wilderness for forty years murmuring, grumbling, complaining, and blaming Moses and God for their troubles. (Deuteronomy 1:1-7). Their lack of progress was due to their attitude.

Having a good attitude in a trying situation is at least 90 percent of the battle. We can win over anything as long as we have a godly attitude. There will always be trials in life, but as we trust God and continue doing what He shows us to do, we always come out victorious.

Don't be afraid to walk in the light. As God brings your faults into the light to expose and remove them, it may be uncomfortable. This kind of discomfort, however, is temporary.

God loves you very much, and He has an excellent plan for your life. Follow the Holy Spirit, and He will lead you swiftly through the wilderness into the Promised Land.

Take the shortcut through the wilderness don't go the long way around!

Do This:

Ask the Holy Spirit to start convicting you of any wrong attitudes that are not pleasing to God so that with His help you can change them immediately.

Think of Home

Think of Home
Friday, April 27, 2007

“When you have many kinds of troubles, you should be full of joy, because you know that these troubles test your faith, and this will give you patience.”
James 1:2

God didn’t say, “If you have many kinds of troubles”...he said “When you have many kinds of troubles…” Troubles are part of the package. Betrayals are part of our troubles. Don’t be surprised when betrayals come. Don’t look for fairness here—look instead where Jesus looked.

While going through hell, Jesus kept his eyes on heaven. While surrounded by enemies he kept his mind on his father. While abandoned on earth, he kept his heart on home. “In the future you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of God, the Powerful One, and coming on clouds in the sky.” (Matt. 26:64)

When all of earth turns against you, all of heaven turns toward you. To keep your balance in a crooked world... think of home.

1 of 365 devotionals in Grace for the Moment, Volume 2
Originally printed in And the Angels Were Silent

The Little things... #4

The Little Things

Colossians 1:28-29

“We proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ. For this purpose also I labour, striving according to His power, which mightily works within me.”

The relationships you have with the people around you are a huge part of God’s plan for your life. God has placed you among the people around you so that He can work through you in their lives!

Sometimes we treat our relationships lightly, as though they were a “little thing”, but we should be constantly giving every relationship we have to God and inviting Him to work through us in those people’s lives. Don’t think that God only wants to work through you in your pleasant relationships; He also wants to work through you in those relationships that are tough.

Like the Apostle Paul in the passage above, work hard to impact every life you touch for God. When you encounter a person, always think, “How can I encourage this person spiritually? How can I turn their thoughts to the Lord? How can I pray for them?” Trust God to guide you as you speak with them.

Treat no conversation lightly, but look for ways to be used by God. How might God be able to use you today if you approach your relationships like this? The little word, the little time you give can have eternal impact.

Written by John North of Ambassadors For Christ. You can hear John Weekday mornings at 6.05am on FM103.2 and in our Audio Lounge.

The Wandering, Wondering Mind

Wednesday 4/25/2007

Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.
—2 Corinthians 10:5 KJV


Do you ever have any difficulty with wandering thoughts? The harnessing of the human mind is often like trying to train a wild animal. Don't be discouraged. With enough diligence and lots of grace from God, you can win control of your mind.

The key to casting down thoughts and not allowing them to return is to replace wrong thinking with right thinking. Fix your mind on good things. (Philippians 4:8.) Start to think good thoughts on purpose, and you will train yourself to think God-like thoughts.

Wondering about things by turning them over and over in our minds without being able to arrive at a solution leads us into confusion. The Holy Spirit quickened to me that I cannot get confused unless I am trying to figure out something that I need to leave in God's capable hands.

Negative thinking leads to trouble. Proverbs 23:7 says that as a person thinks in his heart, so is he. I believe our thoughts draw a border for our life, and we must live within that border.

Do This:

Choose your thoughts carefully. Meditate only on good (positive) things. Don't allow your mind to become preoccupied with wandering, wondering thoughts, or being negative.

The Little things... #3

The Little Things

Luke 16:10-11

"He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much; and he who is unrighteous in a very little thing is unrighteous also in much. If therefore you have not been faithful in the use of unrighteous wealth, who will entrust the true [spiritual] riches to you?"

In God's eyes, the way you spend your money is a "little thing" that reveals very important things about your spiritual life!

The reality is that everything we have is God's, and that includes all of our money. God, living in us, wants to spend His money, which He has entrusted to us, in His way, for His purposes. When we move with Him, using His money for His purposes, then God knows that He can trust us with bigger things.

Have you been holding back from giving generously to the work of God in this world, waiting for your business to get bigger and more successful so that you can give more later? In truth, if you do not give generously when your business is small, neither will you when your business is bigger.

How you use the Lord's money has a huge impact on your spiritual life. Jesus is inviting you to make Him the leader of your whole life, even your finances. If you do, you will find that God's blessings in your life far outweigh your giving.

You'll experience His "true riches".

Written by John North of Ambassadors For Christ. You can hear John Weekday mornings at 6.05am on FM103.2 and in our Audio Lounge.

The Little things...

The Little Things

Psalm 134

"Behold, bless the Lord, all servants of the Lord, who serve by night in the house of the Lord! Lift up your hands to the sanctuary, and bless the Lord. May the Lord bless you from Zion, He who made heaven and earth."

This is the last in a group of psalms called Psalms of Ascents. These psalms were used in the daily ceremonies of the Temple in Jerusalem. As the final psalm in the group, this would have been sung to the "night shift" Levites, who were coming on duty as the temple was closing down.

God challenges them not to waste their idle moments during the night shift, but to use that time to "bless the Lord!"

What idle moments are there in your life? Those are the times that often lead to real spiritual struggles. Idle moments are when anxiety can fill our minds, when lustful thoughts can invade, when bitterness and anger can rise to the surface, when fear can paralyse us.

Those very moments that lead to the greatest struggles in our spiritual lives can be turned into one of the greatest sources of spiritual growth as we begin to give those idle moments to God.

The time in the car, or lying awake in bed, or in between classes, or waiting in the doctor's office, or watching TV.

Ask yourself, "How could I bless God with these spare moments?"

Written by John North of Ambassadors For Christ. You can hear John Weekday mornings at 6.05am on FM103.2 and in our Audio Lounge.