Category: Bible Challenge

“And now, just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to follow him. ⁷ Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness.

⁸ Don’t let anyone capture you with empty philosophies and high-sounding nonsense that come from human thinking and from the spiritual powers^[a] of this world, rather than from Christ. ⁹ For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body.^{[b] 10} So you also are complete through your union with Christ, who is the head over every ruler and authority.” v. 4-10

Nothing excites me more than seeing someone come to know Christ as their Lord and Savior.  Their excitement and passion to see other experience what they have is so encouraging.  But sadly, many of them seem to lose that excitement after a little while.  Why does this happen?  That’s a great question and maybe something you have experienced also.

In today’s passage, Paul addresses this very thing.  He says that with the same excitement and passion you accepted Jesus, you must use to continue to follow Him.  It’s not always going to be easy and it is going to take some work on your part, but the truth is, the more you spend time with God in His Word and through Prayer, the closer you will be to Him and the more excited you will stay about your relationship with Him.

Personal Growth has to happen in-order for the things of God to stay fresh and exciting in your life.  Without personal growth, your faith will become weak, and God will seem distant.  Just like a plant needs soil and water to grow, we need the Word of God and Prayer in our lives to grow deeper in-love with God.

“I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death, ¹¹ so that one way or another I will experience the resurrection from the dead!” v. 10-11

How dedicated are you to knowing Christ?  Are you willing to sacrifice desires to get to know him more?  When I read these words its easy for me to say, “oh man, I want to experience this!” It’s easy for me to be excited about it, and maybe even highlight the verses in my Bible or memorize them, but what I forget to consider is the cost of having this type of relationship.  Living for Christ means that I have to surrender my life on a daily basis to Jesus!  Let’s be honest, some days are easier than other days, some hours are easier than other hours, and some minutes are easier than other minutes, but at the end of the day I have to ask myself this question, “Today, did I live more for Christ or Myself?”  It’s in this question that we find the areas that we have or haven’t surrendered completely to God.  These areas are either drawing us closer to God, or keeping us from experiencing the mighty power of God that raised Jesus from the dead.  I can only speak for myself, but I want to be totally surrendered so I can experience the mighty power of God that raised Jesus from the dead! It’s in this daily surrender that I find the power of God working in my daily life.  It’s not always easy, and some days are a real battle, but nothing can compare to experiencing the power of God!

Father, help us to see you and to be more like you so we can experience all of you changing us and others by the things you are doing in our life.

“Do everything without complaining and arguing, ¹⁵ so that no one can criticize you. Live clean, innocent lives as children of God, shining like bright lights in a world full of crooked and perverse people. ¹⁶ Hold firmly to the word of life; then, on the day of Christ’s return, I will be proud that I did not run the race in vain and that my work was not useless. ¹⁷ But I will rejoice even if I lose my life, pouring it out like a liquid offering to God,^[e] just like your faithful service is an offering to God. And I want all of you to share that joy. ¹⁸ Yes, you should rejoice, and I will share your joy.” v. 14-18 (NLT)

As Christ Followers we are a called to live above reproach!  This is sometimes challenging because our flesh, human nature, or sin nature, wants to go against this process.  We sometimes find it easier to complain and argue about issues instead of praying and engaging to make a difference.  But the challenge to become more like Christ remains.

Today, lets focus on our attitude.  Lets be mindful of our words and body language and look for ways to serve others.  When we do this, the Bible says we shine brighter Jesus, and people have less power or things to criticize us about.

“Because of Christ and our faith in him,^[d] we can now come boldly and confidently into God’s presence.” v. 12 (NLT)

I have to be honest, this is one of those verses that I have read but skipped over many times because the last part of this chapter is so powerful.  However, today when I read, this verse jumped out at me and convicted me of how I treat prayer.  Prayer is my direct access to God and to think that I am entering into the presence of God and sharing words with Him and He is listening to me is so huge.  Sadly, many times we, I, will pray without thinking about what is taking place.  I am thankful that I can come to God anytime and anywhere, and He hears me.  But my attitude and gratitude sometimes isn’t in awe of what is actually taking place.  Sometimes I am so casual in approaching God, that I lessen all that Christ did on the Cross which made the way for me to have direct access to God.  Maybe this doesn’t make sense.

Today, I want to remember each time I pray that I am entering into the presence of the most Holy God.  I so desperately want to be changed from the inside out to be more like Him and less like me and I want to talk to Him as I would a friend.  What an awesome privilege we have through Christ to have direct access to God, let us never forget that!

“But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, ⁵ that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead.” v. 4-5 (NLT)

I don’t know if we realize how big these first two words are or how much they mean.  But these two words ‘But God’ change everything about us.  You see, we could put any situation in front of these two words, for example, ‘I felt hopeless, But God . . .’  The important thing to remember is God can step into any situation and change it.

Today, will you give your situation to God so you can experience the ‘But God’ today?

“All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ. ⁴ Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. ⁵ God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure. ⁶ So we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son.^{[b] 7} He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins. ⁸ He has showered his kindness on us, along with all wisdom and understanding.” v. 3-8 (NLT)

Can you believe that from the very beginning God had a plan for us to be in relationship with Him.  Before He created anything, he knew about you and about me and His plan was for us to be holy and without fault in his eyes.  Can you imagine what that would look like today?  To be holy and with out fault has always been the goal.  However, since sin has entered our world, the enemy does everything possible to keep us from experiencing this and become this type of person. It would be really depressing if it ended there, but the good news is that God has done everything possible to get our attention and remind us of His unfailing love by through the life, death, and Resurrection of His Son Jesus Christ.  In Christ, we can be restored to the relationship that sin separated.  That’s the Good News of the Gospel, and leads to God’s ultimate plan found in Ephesians 1:10,

“And this is the plan: At the right time he will bring everything together under the authority of Christ—everything in heaven and on earth.” v. 10 (NLT)

One day Jesus is coming back!  He is coming back with power and authority to restore what sin has made a mess of. It will be a glorious and sad day for all.  For those that have accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior it will be a time of rejoicing in His return.  For those that denied Christ, or chose not believe, or even waited for “the right time” it will be to late, and they will be judged according to the things they have done.  Just think about that for a moment before you move on.

When it comes to your relationship with God, where are you at?  As we read today, God desires to have a relationship with us, He has proven that by sending His Son to live, Die, and Come back to Life in the Resurrection.  Today, may we think about this and ask God what is keeping us from being holy and without fault in His eyes.  Then lets pray and ask God to forgive and restore us in Christ to be the person He created us to be before the creation of the world as we know it!

“So Christ has truly set us free. Now make sure that you stay free, and don’t get tied up again in slavery to the law.” v. 1

Freedom is expensive and many times taken for granted.  Christ died to set us free from sin and from a long list of laws and regulations.  Christ came to set us free – not free to do whatever we want because that would lead us back into slavery to our selfish desires.  Rather, thanks to Christ, we are now free and able to what was impossible before – to live unselfishly.  Those who appeal to their freedom so that they can have their own way or indulge their own desires are falling back into sin.  But it is also wrong to put a burden of law-keeping on Christians.  We must stand against those who would enslave us with rules, methods, or special conditions for being saved or growing in Christ.

Today think about how you live, are you led more by the Spirit and His desires, or are you led more by your own desires.  There is a battle going on over the way you live and the choices you make will either set you free, or lead you to slavery, or keep you in the slavery of sin.

“That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are^[e] being renewed every day. ¹⁷ For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! ¹⁸ So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.” v. 16-18

The way you live matters! People watch the way we handle difficulties.  I know this first hand because of the encouraging words people have shared with me over the last couple of month.  My wife and I have a deep faith in Christ.  It is that very Faith in Christ that has gotten us through some very scary and difficult times concerning our youngest son Jackson.  We could have easily blamed God or turned our back on Him.  Instead, we prayerfully sought Him out and asked Him to give us the strength we need for each day . . . and He has!

This passage talks about that very thing, when trouble comes your way, don’t spend all your time focusing on the trouble, seek the Face of God and you will see that challenge in a new light and have a better perspective on how to handle it and get through it.  You will also experience the peace of God.  Remember, you are not a lone! God cares so deeply for you, and He is only one prayer away!  Will you seek Him today and trust Him for a better tomorrow?