The word shallow means of little depth. If our faith has no depth, then it’s only on the surface. Faith with no depth cannot withstand the storms of life and is quickly lost.

Hebrews 11:6 – But without faith it is impossible to please him, for he who comes to God must believe that he is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him.   NKJV

Two things stuck out to me in this verse. First, But without faith it is impossible to please him. The word impossible means not able to occur, exist or be done. This verse doesn’t say it will be hard or difficult to please God it says impossible. That is how important our faith is to God that it is impossible to please him without it. He wants us to know him, love him, trust him but most of all believe in him. He wants us to be confident and assured in him. When we pray and ask him for something he wants us to do it with confidence, knowing in our hearts he will answer. Sometimes when we are in trouble or hurting we begin to doubt what God can and will do for us. We get discouraged and think there is no way out, but God is there and he will bring you through. We need to cling to God during our hard times not push him away.

The second thing that stuck out to me was He is the rewarder of those who diligently seek him.   The word diligently means constant in effort, attentive and persistent in doing anything. In Proverbs chapter 8 it says And those who seek me diligently will find me. We have to persistently and seriously seek him. He wants us to spend time in his Word and in prayer striving to know more. He wants us searching for ways to get closer to him and if there are things in our life that are preventing us from getting closer to him, he wants us to be willing to give those things up. He wants us to be willing to make sacrifices in our lives just to be able to get closer to him.

Faith takes constant work and effort on our part. We have to stay in his Word and when things get hard dig in deeper. When we feel we can’t take anymore and we have reached our limit cry out to God to help you but don’t walk away. You can’t build your faith by ignoring God. You can’t have deep rooted faith if you don’t spend time in his Word or in prayer. Meditate on his Word or in prayer give him a chance to show you what he wants. People say they don’t know what their purpose is then spend time in prayer. We all have a purpose to serve God. If you don’t know what he wants you to do in this life then spend time with him. Serve God in your church or community, witness to people about how wonderful Jesus is and tell them what he has done for you. I believe we are all here to serve him. Once you start focusing on God and on building your faith, God will begin to show you things and open doors for you. He will make your purpose known. I believe God is looking for Christians that are seriously seeking him. I believe he is looking for Christians who want to serve and glorify him on this earth.

I believe for us to avoid having shallow faith we must do 3 things.

1. Spend time in prayer. Talk to God tell him your hopes and your dreams. God doesn’t want to just be a part of our church life. He wants to be our life. He wants to be involved in every aspect of our life. Tell him your problems no matter how big or small. Talk to him throughout the day in short prayers. All prayers don’t have to be all formal and two hours long. Just tell him the things in your heart. He already knows all of it, he just wants to hear it from you.
2. Stay in the Word. Read his Word daily. Meditate on scripture and allow him to speak to you through each verse. As you begin to do this God will start to show you things you have never seen before. I have read some verses dozens of times but each time I think I know everything there is to know about a verse, he will show me something different. His Word will remind you of how Mighty and Powerful our God is. His Strength will be revealed to you in his Word but most of all his Love for you will be revealed.
3. Serve God. I believe serving is the one area a lot of Christians fail in. God wants us to help others. I believe you can serve in your church, community outreaches and sharing Jesus with others. You can also serve by letting others see Jesus in you. A kind word or a thoughtful gesture can go a long way with someone who is down and may feel broken. Serving doesn’t have to some grand event it can simple be taking the time to let someone know they matter and that you are there for them. Loving others is a great way to serve God.

Thank you for reading and I hope you have a great day in Jesus Christ!!

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I was reading in Zephaniah chapter 4 yesterday when verse 17 jumped out at me. I spent the rest of my evening and morning thinking about this verse.

The Lord your God in your midst. The Mighty One, will save. He will rejoice over you with gladness. He will quiet you with his love. He will rejoice over you with singing.

I began to pray and dwell on this verse as I felt God had led me to it and that it was something I needed on a personal level. As I began to pray this verse, I broke it up into sections and meditated on it to allow God to show me what he wanted me to get out of this particular verse. I hope this helps you as much as it helped me.

1. The Lord your God in your midst. The first thing that stuck out to me is that is says “your God” it doesn’t just refer to him as God but as your God. The word your gives us ownership in this relationship. The word your means belonging to or associated with the person the speaker is addressing. That’s pretty amazing when you think about it. That the one and only God who is our Lord and Savior belongs to us. He didn’t just belong to his 12 disciplines in the past and today he doesn’t just belong to pastors and churches but to each and every Christian. However, with any type of ownership comes responsibility. As with any relationship that you are vested in you take some ownership in it. We introduce our spouses as my wife or my husband and other people refer to your spouse as your husband or your wife. This doesn’t mean that we dominate their every move because we own them as a person, but we have ownership in the relationship. This means we have responsibilities, accountabilities, and expectations that we are held to. For this relationship to succeed you have to own your actions and take care of the relationship. You spend time on your relationship, you communicate your wants, needs and desires to the other person in this relationship and you want them to do the same. This is the ownership God wants in his relationship with each of us. He wants us to put forth effort and not sit back and wait on him to do everything. He wants to share his wants, needs and desires with us regarding our relationship with him and he wants us to share the same with him. I believe he was showing me that he is tired of us sitting back waiting on him to do everything. He wants us to get up and get involved in this relationship and do our part. He wants us to put forth the effort to grow our relationship with him. He wants us to take responsibility for our actions and for the time we put in this relationship. If it takes two people working together to make any other relationship we have work, why do we expect God to do all the work in our relationship?
2. The Mighty One will save. He will rejoice over you with gladness. As Christians we know that he can save us because he has saved us. He has given us salvation through his son Jesus Christ. He saved us from eternal torment known as Hell. I believe every time someone is saved that God does rejoice over it with gladness because he knows the torture and torment that he saved us from. Yes, he saved us from despair and things on this earth, but he saved us from Hell. People don’t like to talk about Hell, but we better realize that Hell is real and thousands are going their daily. On average 153,424 die every day. That is a lot of people and remember the road to Hell is wide and many are on it. I believe God was showing me in this that as Christians we need to be doing more to get people saved. We need to be witnessing to people, doing outreaches in our communities, our state, our country and the world. As I thought about this number 153,424 I wondered how many of these went to Hell. How many people that died yesterday went to Hell. Were any of those people someone I could have witnessed to if I had just taken the time to do so? If I had taken responsibility and lived up to my expectations in my relationship with God could I have stopped one person from going to Hell yesterday? I became very convicted because so many times I let other things become more important and I take my relationship with God for granted. I expect him to do all the work and I sit back and wait on him. We need to all remember who the Mighty one is that saves and do our part to get people saved. I want God to rejoice in gladness every minute of everyday because we as Christians are on fire for him and we are taking ownership in our relationship with him and by doing so people are getting saved in record numbers. When Paul preached after being filled with the Holy Spirit over 3,000 were saved. Can you imagine if Christians today began to witness after being filled with the Holy Spirit and preachers began to preach after being filled with the Holy Spirit how many people could be saved. Think about all the technology we have today that allows us to reach millions of people all over the world in a matter of seconds when all Paul had was word of mouth. See the Holy Spirit didn’t need our technology of today to save over 3,000 people through Paul but imagine what we could do with it today if we were filled with the Holy Spirit.
3. He will quiet you with his love. This one really spoke to me as well because I get so caught up in everything going on around me that my mind has trouble being quiet. The noise of the world can take over our minds and this can prevent us from hearing what God is trying to tell us or show us. At times when I am trying to pray or study the Word my mind starts thinking about what I need to be doing around the house or at work instead of focusing on God. We stay so busy in this day and time, yet we accomplish very little. We need quiet time with God. We need to disconnect from the world around us during our prayer and bible time to allow God to calm our spirit and direct our path. Let him fill you with his love and replenish us. He will take away our worries and the stresses of life that we bring on ourselves. When we focus on God and his desires for us there is a peace and calmness that comes over us. A lot of the anxiety and stresses we feel,  we bring on ourselves because we set all these goals that aren’t for us. These goals are not your purpose on this earth and once you realize this and surrender to God’s plan for your life there is a quietness and stillness in your life.
4. He will rejoice over you with singing. I believe God does rejoice over us when we receive him our personal savior, but I believe he also rejoices every time we defeat the devil. I believe he rejoices when we are tempted, and we don’t succumb to that temptation.

I love it when a verse that is so short says so much to you in your spirit. I believe as each of us read his Word that each verse has a message for us we just have to be open and willing to listen to what God has to tell us. He wants to have a personal and close relationship with each one of us but he is not going to force us.

Thanks for reading and I hope each of you have a great day in Jesus Christ!!

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I was Reading in Mark chapter 4 this morning where Jesus is explaining his parable saying the seed is the Word and how when sown on different types of ground you get different results. The ground represents people’s heart and their faith in God. I believe we still see this ring true in our world today.

The people that are by the wayside as he describes in verse 15 are the people who don’t stick with anything. They will get all involved in something but within a few weeks or months they are on to the next adventure. They never give themselves 100 percent to anything they always stay along the edges of everything and when the fun is over they are gone. These people never truly receive the Word deep in their hearts so there is no depth or growth in them spiritually. We see these people quickly walk away from God when they need him most. These are the people that if they are in a group of Christians will talk about God and how much they love him but if they are with the worldly crowd, they blend right in with no mention of God. They use God to their advantage from a worldly perspective to get ahead or to be accepted. They do not have a true relationship with God or know Jesus Christ as their personal savior but only talk the talk.

The people that are stony ground are the people who love God as long as everything is going good but the minute something bad happens they run from God. They tend to get mad with God when things don’t go their way and walk away. There is no true substance in their relationship, they are only in it for what God can do for them and when God doesn’t do what they want him to, they walk away and don’t look back. They are not vested in God and they are not interested in what they can do for God only what he can do for them. Their faith and love for God is very shallow and they have the me, myself and I complex.

The people that are thorny ground are the people who truly can’t let go of the world. They say they want to serve God, but they let the things of the world pull them away. They are more invested on what type car or home they have than where they are in Jesus Christ. Their bank account and their reputation or popularity with the world is very important to them. They want to live for Jesus, but they don’t necessarily want everyone to know. They don’t want people to think they are a fanatic or obsessed with Jesus. They still want to be liked by everybody, so they tend to not talk about Jesus to everyone only to the a select few in order to not offend anyone.

The people that are good ground are the people who hear the word, accept it, and bear fruit Jesus says in verse 20. These are the people you see a real change in their lives when they accept Jesus Christ as their personal savior. You don’t just see the change when they are at church but in their day to day life. These people spend time in the Word thirsting for knowledge and wisdom from God. They are the people others go to when they are in trouble and need prayer. These people talk about Jesus and what he has done for them to everyone. They want to serve God in their church, their community, and all over the world. During hard times they keep their eyes on God and they know he will pull them through. They may not understand everything that happens in their life, but they understand God’s love and that his Word says he will never leave us or forsake us.

Which type of ground are you?

Thanks for reading and I hope you have a great day in Jesus Christ!!

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I find for a lot of Christians it is much easier to forgive others than to forgive themselves. Sometimes we are our worst critics. We tend to berate and belittle ourselves over past sins even after God has forgiven us. We allow our past sins to hold us back from fulfilling God’s purpose.

The bible says when our sins are forgiven they are remembered no more. As Christians we sometimes wear our past sins around our neck like an anchor or weight and wonder why we are drowning. We wonder why God is not using us or why we are not growing in our relationship with God and the reason is we have left no room for God. We hoard all this guilt and shame and God can’t move in that. God wants to take us to new places in our faith, but we have to leave the past behind. We can use our past as a testimony of what God can do and where he can bring us from, but not as part of our future. We must learn to forgive ourselves.

As Christians we are not perfect and we are going to make mistakes throughout our journey with Christ, but once the Holy Spirit convicts us and we repent then let it go. Don’t let Satan tie every mistake or every sin around your neck to weigh you down. You have the power and the strength to free yourself from all the baggage you are lugging around. Tell Satan today you are done with the guilt and the shame and lay it all down. Ask God to fill all the places in your heart, where you once stored all the guilt and shame, with him and you will see things start to change.

Let’s make a vow today to leave the past in the past and let’s move forward in Jesus Christ today.

Thank you for reading and have a great day in Jesus Christ!!

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As all drivers know on a four-lane road you have the slow lane and the fast lane. People who drive in the fast lane prefer the slow drivers stay out of their lane. I started thinking about this in a spiritual sense and realized as Christians we have a fast lane and slow lane as well.

Christians in the slow lane are moving in the right direction but there is no urgency or real fire there. They are content where they are in their walk with Jesus and they continue that slow and steady pace each day. They pray and read the Word but there is no excitement. They faithfully attend and serve in their church, but they have lost their hunger for the new things of God. They have forgotten that unquenchable thirst for the Holy Spirit to be poured out on them and others around them. They feel they have seen and know it all. If these Christians accidentally get in the fast lane they can become road blocks or stumbling blocks for Christians in the fast lane. They can take the excitement and enthusiasm out of anyone. However, sometimes that Christian in the fast lane instead of slowing up may nudge them either back into the slow lane or cause them to have to pick up speed.

Christians in the fast lane are on fire for God. They don’t know where God is taking them, but they are along for the ride. They pray with excitement and they study the Word with enthusiasm. You can spot this person a mile away because you see the joy and peace all over their face. They get up each day with anticipation of what will God do today. They eagerly wait for his presence and to feel and see the Holy Spirit poured out on God’s people. They rejoice in other people’s victories. They know they have only touched the surface of what God can do and they want more. They want to serve in their church, in their communities, or anywhere that God leads them. They are not ashamed to say they are a Christian and to tell others about Jesus. They have big dreams and goals in their faith and they know that God can and will take them there.

I wish I could say that Christians stay in the fast lane, but I believe the truth is that we change lanes often in our walk with the Lord. We get on fire and we get in that fast lane but over time we move over into the slow lane and we become content where we are. I can’t help but think what we as Christians could do in this world if we stayed in the fast lane.

Thank you for reading and hope you have a great day in Jesus Christ!!

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I was reading about Saul this morning in Acts and his hate for the church and God’s people. Chapter 9 starts out saying Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciplines of the Lord, then in verse 3 the Lord begins to speak to Saul and by verse 6 Saul trembling says “Lord, what do you want me to do?” Now, we all know that Saul becomes the Apostle Paul and all the great works he did to glorify God, but I want to focus on just these first few verses in chapter 9 this morning.

Saul, who approved of Stephen being stoned to death, made havoc of the church, and put God’s people in prison yet Jesus still wanted him. Saul, still being filled with hate traveling to Damascus in search of destroying more of God’s people, and Jesus still wanted him. You see, Jesus Christ knew what Saul could and would become and he wasn’t focused on what he was. Sometimes we dismiss people because of what they currently are, and we don’t see what they can become. Often, we dismiss ourselves because of what and where we currently are, and we don’t see what we can become but Jesus does. Jesus Christ knows where he wants to take us and he doesn’t care where we are or where we have been.

Jesus Christ began to speak to Saul when he was still full of sin, he didn’t wait until Saul was clean. Jesus knew he could clean Saul up once Saul accepted him as his Savior. The same is true with you and I today. Jesus doesn’t care how dirty or full of sin we or anyone else is because he knows he can clean us up. As Christians, sometimes we don’t witness to someone because we think they will never listen or that they are too bad but we can’t see where Jesus can take them. It is our job to witness and to tell others about Jesus Christ not to decide who is worthy to hear it.

In verse 6, Saul says “Lord, what do you want me to do?” You see, Jesus wants that same response from you and I today. He wants us to not only ask “Lord, what do you want me to do?” but be open to his response. His response may be something we are not comfortable with or maybe it wasn’t in our plans, but he wants us to follow him. I believe he will take us out of our comfort zone just to see if we will follow him. I believe our reward is great when we follow him but we all have to have the courage to step out in faith and truly follow him.

I pray today for the courage and strength to look beyond people’s weaknesses and sin and tell them about Jesus and what he has done for me. I pray for the courage to step out in faith and follow him wherever he may lead me.

Thank you for reading and I hope you have a great day in Jesus Christ!!

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Now that Christmas is over all the lights and decorations, that we have been looking at since November, will come down. These will be stored away until next November when they will shine again to celebrate Christmas. This started me thinking about our light and decorations as Christians and do we store these away and only present them on special occasions?

As I have written in previous post, I believe our light comes from the Holy Spirit that dwells in us when we are saved. I believe this light is what sets us apart from the world and draws attention to us as being different. In Luke 11:36 it says, If then your whole body is full of light, having no dark part, the whole body will be full of light, as when the bright shining of a lamp gives you light. I believe this light shines brightly when we first get saved because we are plugged into Jesus Christ that powers our light. We are getting a steady current of electricity or power from his Word, prayer, and just dwelling in his presence. We stay close to our power source, so we can remain plugged in but over time if we are not careful we can start to move away from our power source. We let ourselves get too busy to study his Word or spend time in prayer. Then, we began to pile the things the world is throwing at us on top of our light. Because of these two things, our light becomes dim. People don’t notice our light anymore. We begin to blend in with the crowd and are not set apart.

The decorations I believe are the gifts and services you give back to him. I believe when you are living and fulfilling your purpose for the glory of God these are the ornaments and bows that decorate your life. As you begin to serve and fulfill your purpose, your behavior changes and the way you speak changes. The fruits of the Spirit which are love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, and faithfulness become evident in someone who is striving to walk worthy of the Lord. Colossians 1:10-12 says, that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy; giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. These along with your light set you apart from the world. These things make the world take notice and see that you are different. However, as our light dims our decorations diminish because we are no longer focused on God and serving him but have become consumed with us. We begin to have self-pity instead of compassion for others. It becomes all about what others have done to us rather than what can we do for others. We begin to have the mentality of look what all I have done, and no one even noticed so I am not doing anything else. This is a worldly mentality not a Godly mentality.

When our light dims and our decorations diminish, this is when we do the most damage to God’s reputation. If someone who doesn’t know Jesus Christ as their Savior is watching you and sees the change in you, but after some time, you return to the same behaviors and attitude you had prior to being saved, you just damaged God’s reputation. Your actions just confirmed every doubt that person ever had about God. Just stop and think about how many people have we turn away from God because of our actions? This is a scary thought, but one as Christians we should stay mindful of each day.

While our lights and decorations for Christmas may be gone, let’s keep our lights and decorations for Jesus Christ burning strong.

Thanks for reading and I hope you have a great day in Jesus Christ!!

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I was thinking about Christmas and all the gifts we give to each other and I begin to think about all the gifts God has given us, including his son Jesus Christ. In my morning prayer time, I began to just thank him for the different gifts he has given me, but I got stuck on mercy. The definition of mercy is compassion or forgiveness shown toward someone when it is within one’s power to punish or harm.

I began to think about all the times he has shown mercy on me and never once did I deserve his mercy. He showed mercy on me as a sinner and he is still showing mercy on me today as a Christian. I continue to fail him daily, yet his mercy continues to cover me.   His mercy broke the chains, the devil used to bind me, to set me free. Through his mercy he took me from where I was and put me on solid ground. I am thankful and amazed that he would think I was worth his mercy then or now. Thank you, Jesus, for having mercy on me!

I was reading in Luke chapter 17 this morning where Jesus healed 10 men with lepers when they asked that he have mercy on them. After he cleansed them it says only one came back with a loud voice glorifying God, and fell down on his face at Jesus’s feet, giving thanks to him. How many times has God shown us his mercy that we did not come back and fall at his feet giving glory and thanks to him? We take his mercy for granite sometimes knowing that Jesus Christ was shown no mercy on that cross for you and me.

When you pray today, take the time to thank God for the mercy he has shown you in the past, showing you in the present, and is going to show you in the future.

Thank each of you for reading and I hope you have a great day in Jesus Christ!!

Merry Christmas!

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Do you have passion, humility, and power when you pray or are you just giving lip service?  Prayer brings you into God’s presence. If you are a Christian, I believe he turns toward you and leans down to listen to you. Do you think he really wants to hear that short memorized “go to” prayer you repeat each day in order to not feel guilty for not praying? I believe the answer is no.

I believe for some, prayer is just lip service and has become nothing more than a ritual they do each day. How often do we tell someone we are praying for them or that we will pray for them, with no intention of ever praying for that person or their situation? If the truth be told many who say this haven’t prayed in years for anything, it’s just become what you say when someone is in need or is hurting. I don’t believe God ever intended for prayer to be taken as lightly as it is in today’s society. Prayer is a privilege given only to Christians. It is our life line to God, so why do we treat it as an obligation rather than the honor that it is? I believe if we begin to pray the way God and his Word intended we would see prayers being answered all over the world.

I believe God is wanting us to humble ourselves in his almighty and powerful presence and just breathe him into our heart and into our spirit. I believe he wants us to freely open our hearts and souls to him and let our prayers flow from there. I believe he wants us to pray earnestly for our needs and the needs of others. I believe he wants us to open up to him and share our hopes and dreams, and present these to him with the humility of knowing we can’t do it on our own. I believe he wants us to ask him for guidance and protection in our day to day lives. I believe he wants us to ask him for forgiveness in all the ways we fail him. I believe he wants to feel our love and admiration for him during our prayers as we totally surrender to him. He wants us to give him our all in prayer.

I do believe God wants us to humble ourselves before him, but I do not believe he wants us to be weak in our prayers or in our day to day lives. I believe he wants us to use the power he gives us and be fearless for him. I believe he wants us to be confident in what his Word says and pray with power and boldness to him. I believe he wants us to stand firm in our faith but always remembering it is from him that we draw our strength.

Let’s get back to praying to God the way he intended and stop just going through the motion or prayer.

Thanks for reading and I hope you have a great day in Jesus Christ!!

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I hear people use the word priority or priorities frequently when talking about their daily life or employment but what about with God. Where does God fit in your list of priorities? As Christians, we know that our relationship with him should be our top priority.. We have heard this saying “when we put God first everything else falls into to place,” but do we really apply this to our lives? I believe for most of us, the answer is no.

The word priority in the Webster’s dictionary means a thing that is regarded as more important than another. The right to take precedence or to proceed before another. With this definition, make a mental note of your top priorities at this very moment. As Christians, our top 3 would likely consist of our family, our employment, and God but in what order?

We make time for our jobs by showing up when we are scheduled to work and providing the service we were hired to do. We should do our jobs to the best of our ability as our employer hired us to do. This is how we make money and support our families financially and while it should be in our top 3 priority list, do we make it number one? Sometimes we can get so caught up on how much money we can make and what we can buy, that we make it our top priority. We start to put our identity in things instead of God. We start trying to keep up with others or out spend others and we make money our top priority. When we do this, we end up in so much debt that we now must work all the time just to make ends meet. Sometimes we end up losing everything declaring bankruptcy because we put our identity in things and not in God. Now, I am not saying it is a sin to have or want nice things but don’t put your identity in things. If you judge your success or the success of others by the car you drive or the house you live in, then you need to get your priorities in order.

We should make time each day for our children and our spouses to ensure they know their importance to us. We show them love by just being there for them.   I believe sometimes we get so caught up in our children and having them in all the activities that are available that we stay in the road running them from location to location. We don’t spend quality time with our children or our spouses when we do this. I am not saying we shouldn’t let our children participate in activities but if it is taking up all of your time every day then it’s too much. When did family time become all about activities and not just spending time together. What are we teaching our children about family if we are not spending time together as a family? I believe family time is important and I believe you owe this to your children and your spouse. I believe time with your spouse is just as important as time with your children. The family unit should be God, your marriage then your children. I see so many parents who put their children before God and their spouse and then are shocked when their marriage falls apart. Under God your marriage should be your top priority. You are setting the example for your children of what a family home should be. Your children will emulate the behavior they see from you as a husband or wife when they are grown. If they grow up in a home full of chaos and fighting they are more than likely going to live in that as an adult. I believe it is our job to show them what a healthy and loving marriage should be, and we can only do that by valuing, loving, and supporting our spouses.

If we truly put God first, then the other priorities will fall in the right order. When we put God first, we find time to pray and for God’s Word. It may be praying while we are at work or driving down the road or listening to the bible on audio. Once you start putting him first, you will be surprised how your stress levels decrease because your priorities are shifting, and God is now in control. You will begin to feel more peaceful and calm as God cuts through all the clutter in your life. You will begin to fulfill your purpose for him and serve him in all areas of your life. You will learn to say no to things that take time away from your top priorities. You will become more concerned with your spiritual growth than your financial growth.

Thanks for reading and I hope you have a great day in Jesus Christ!!

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