I will share about Christian books I have read or listened to.
I will be sharing about my life before and after Christ. I will include stories about my pet and other pets I have encountered.
Made to Thrive
Do you remember what God has saved you from and what He’s brought you through? How He’s given you a fresh start, a confident hope, and future beyond the here and now?
Because of God’s amazing grace, we have been empowered to live boldly for Him.
In Paul’s letter to his friend, coworker, and traveling companion, Titus, he says this:
“For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age…”
Titus 2:11-12 ESV
God created a world where life could thrive, where His creations could be fruitful, where His people could reign on His behalf, and where His glory could be obvious to everyone.
But when His people chose to ignore His loving intentions and when they rebelled against His masterfully designed plan, it complicated things.
It’s only by the grace of God that salvation is even possible. And it’s only from that firm foundation that we can build our lives on Him.
God created you and knows how you tick. He loves you and knows how life was designed to work best. After all, He is the designer. That’s why He gave His people guidelines, instructions, and even warnings—to show them how to thrive.
Once your salvation is secure and you realize that you can’t do anything to earn God’s love, you then can accept His invitation to live, to thrive, and to be a part of the greatest story on earth.
You were made for it.
Look at the Fruit
Imagine you have two seeds in your hand, but you can only plant one...
One seed grows easily, but it produces ugly, terrible tasting fruit. Cultivating the other seed takes time and consistent attention—but the fruit it produces is beautiful and delicious.
Which seed would you choose to plant, water, and grow?
In Galatians 5, the apostle Paul talks about two types of fruit that our lives can produce: fruit of the flesh and fruit of the Spirit.
“The flesh” refers to our unchecked desires that pull us away from God’s Spirit. Those desires produce hate, impatience, bitterness, selfishness, chaos, anxiety, and self-indulgence—and God has no association with such things.
But when we commit our lives to Jesus, He gives us His own Spirit. The power of the Holy Spirit helps us “crucify” the desires of our flesh and put them to death. And when we crucify those desires, we create room for the Holy Spirit to produce good fruit in our lives—fruit that leads to positive ...
