Category Archives: Personal Growth

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The Importance Of Reading The Bible (ESD)

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If you take a look around our society today, you see a level of superficiality that is almost unbelievable. Somehow, over the last few generations, we have turned into a culture that is focused on instant gratification, looks only to ourselves, and refuses to nurture the inner life.

The curse of superficiality is at epidemic proportions in the twenty-first century. The problem lies in the fact that we have lost the ability to be deep people. We are smart. We are connected. We are talented. But we aren’t deep.

If we want to see some incredible change in our lives, we need to be able to look at the inner life and take it deeper than we ever have before. And one of the easiest ways to do this is to spend time in the Bible.

Bible Reading Plans

Tomorrow, we will look at several ways to start this discipline, or deepen in in our lives. But to day, I want to look at some reasons why this is so important.

Here are ten reasons to spend consistent, daily time in your Bible.

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One Word 365 – 2014 Edition

For the past few years, I’ve selected a single word to live by throughout the year. As I’ve described before, this is a word that defines my life for the year, and helps undergird everything I do for the next twelve months.

One Word 365

I’ve settled my focus on several different words over the last few years. For example, in 2011, I chose to focus on the word passion. This word underlined all I did throughout the year. It defined the year. Everything I did, I did with enthusiasm, and passion was pretty visible in most areas of my life.

In 2012, I chose the word commit. One of my biggest struggles in life has been to stick to many of the things I decide to do. Focusing on this word helped me to address that deficiency.

Last year, in 2013, I chose the word intentional. We have a large family, and as a result, we have a lot going on. I realized that I needed to be intentional, especially in my relationships with family and friends, and in my ministry.

Each year, I choose to identify and implement a single word as a part of my life plan. I add this word to the beginning of my plan, and try to use it as a piece of the foundation for every portion of my plan. Some areas are more successful than others.

The past half a year has been a pretty crazy year for my family, and for me, personally. We’ve seen several major changes in our lives, from the birth of our sixth child, to a move to the Midwest from Florida, to a change in ministry role, from youth minister to a lead minister role. I’ve also started a master’s degree program, which requires some time.

Add all of that to the higher priority things, such as family time, personal growth, fun and leisure, and it starts to get pretty hectic.

It’s been obvious to me that I need to slow down, take a deep breath, focus, and wait.

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2014 Bible Reading Plans

One of the most critical disciples we can develop in our lives is consistent, daily Bible reading. I believe strongly that we should take in something from God’s Word on a daily basis. And I believe that the benefits far outweigh the time investment. It’s completely worth it.

Bible Reading Plan Ebook

I’ve written several times in the past about this discipline:

I firmly believe that this is a critical element of our spiritual lives. And it seems to be lacking in a lot of people’s lives. I think, when you experience the many benefits of consistent, daily time spent in God’s Word, you’ll develop a craving for more.

God’s Word truly does change us.

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One Word 2013 In Review

For the past few years, I’ve selected a single word to live by throughout the year. This is a word that defines my life for the year, and helps undergird everything I do for the next twelve months.

One Word 365

The new year is quickly approaching, and a new word is on the horizon. I’m not going to reveal it now; that post will come closer to the end of the year.

I choose to identify and implement a word every year as a part of my life plan. I add this word to the beginning of my plan, and try to use it as a piece of the foundation for every portion of my plan. Some areas are more successful than others.

Right now, I’m examining the past year to see how I lived according to the word that I chose.

For 2013, I chose the word intentional.

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Succeeding In Your Plan For Personal Growth

Growth requires a strategic plan. We must be diligent about targeting our end results and keeping our focus on them if we want to grow. Having a plan and sticking to it are great ideas. But how do we go about achieving that?

I believe that there are five steps that you can take to ensure that you grow.

Growth

Making sure that you are poised for growth isn’t always as easy as you want it to be. Growth takes work. There is an element of effort involved that must take place if you want to see any improvements.

For example, one of my favorite things is a fine quality fountain pen. But in order for a fountain pen to be effective, you need to know how to use it. There was a time when my handwriting was pretty poor. I could use a fountain pen, but it wasn’t very nice to look at. But with time and practice, I improved my writing skills and now have handwriting that I’m more satisfied with. I still have along ways to go to achieve the style and look that I want my handwriting to have. But I’m well on my way.

What helped me in this? I developed a plan that would help me improve, and then I started doing it. When I didn’t want to practice, I practiced anyway. I had pages and pages with the same phrases written all over them, testing and evaluating my handwriting. And after a lot of work, my plan helped me succeed in achieving the desired results.

In this particular case, let’s talk about growing as a leader, and improving your leadership abilities. These five principles are universal enough that you can apply them to any areas where you desire to see growth. But for today’s purposes, let’s look at the topic of leadership, and see what the five steps to success are.

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Developing A Plan For Personal Growth

Everyone you ask will tell you that they want to grow. Their intentions are good. But too many people settle for the same old thing, over and over and over. And they never grow.

Because they don’t have a plan.

Growth

In order to grow you have to have a plan. It doesn’t matter what area of life you’re talking about. It can be leadership abilities. Or it can be in matters of faith and your spiritual life. It can even be in specific areas, like understanding your finances, or being a better husband or parent.

In order to grow, you have to have a plan for growth.

A plan will help keep you organized. It will assist you in working smarter towards the goals that you want to achieve in whatever area you desire to grow. A plan will help you see not only the end result, the goal, but also help you see the journey and the process of achieving that goal.

But a plan is harder to incorporate than most people think. And because it is difficult, most never accomplish their plan, and thus, never grow to realize their full potential.

There are three things you must keep in mind as you set your goals on growth. These three things will help you keep your focus on the goal. Tomorrow, we will look at some specific action steps you can take to succeed in growing. But today, let’s look at the attitudes that you must have in place.

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Becoming A Model

I love it when I read a passage from the Bible that I’ve read dozens of times, and notice something completely new. Have you ever had that happen? It happened for me just the other day.

Coin In Sand

I was reading through the book of 1 Thessalonians this week, and I stumbled across a phrase, and a challenge, that I’d never noticed before.

Paul wrote this letter to the Thessalonian church while he was in Corinth, right around the halfway point of the first century. The church in Thessalonica was a young, small church in a very large and pagan city. These early Christians faced sever challenges to their faith at every turn, including persecution and social pressures, temptations from their old, previous lifestyles, and conflicts with other Christians. Paul’s letter to these readers sounds strikingly familiar to our culture today.

In the first chapter, Paul is expressing his thanksgiving for the believers in this church, sharing how they labored and endured in the face of the trials they were experiencing. Paul writes of how they were chosen by God and how they became imitators of the Lord, in spite of severe persecution and suffering.

And then, he writes verse 7:

And so you became a model to all the believers…

A model…

How many times have I read this passage and never noticed this phrase?