“All Scripture is inspired by God and beneficial for teaching, for rebuke, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man or woman of God may be fully capable, equipped for every good work. ” 2 Timothy 3:16-17.
This new year has finally come. What an amazing time. Each new year I endeavor to do something that will help me grow in Christ and be equipped to do the work He has called me to do. I have been praying that God will help me become who He has made me to be. I have been praying about this for some time, and three things keep coming to my mind. I have decided these will be what I will focus on for all of 2026. And these are not necessarily what I do now, but what I must do in obeying His calling for me.
First, I must read the scriptures more on a regular basis. I have not been as focused on this as I have been in the past. God has been telling me this must be so important that I never miss my times of reading and interacting with Him. Unfortunately, I have not been as devoted to this as I used to be in the past. I am not pleased with myself because of this. So, I have decided to go back to what He told me in the past. Thus, I started on January 1st to read a minimum of ten chapters a day, starting in Genesis and ending in Revelation. I began with Genesis 1-11, and then today I move forward with verses 12-20. And as I read, I also research areas that I am not as familiar with, striving to learn something new every day. If it says something I desire to know more about, I will do research to help me understand it in a deeper way. In so doing I can form a deeper relationship with God each day.
Second, I am changing what I listen to. Back in 1977 when I accepted Christ as my Savior and Lord, I gave up many things I had been doing that were wrong, and He introduced me to some amazing Christians, as well as some amazing Christian music, both of which helped me grow in my faith much faster than I had thought possible. Music from artists like Larry Norman, Keith Green, and Glenn Kaiser. I am going back to these amazing people; who’s music helped me live my life as I should have lived it but never did before. They changed me far more than I could have imagined. It is very difficult to find these amazing people and groups, but what I do now is go to Pandora and tell it to “Shuffle Kerry Livgren on Pandora”. It then plays songs by Kerry Livgren who was one of the founders of the band Kansas, who wrote and sang amazing Christian songs, as well as other similar bands or individuals like Him. And you can put any singer or band that you like as well. I use him because I appreciate the old Christian music it brings up, which include many incredible Christian songs written and performed by Kerry and other amazing artists. During this time, both this music and the incredible Church I went to, The Rock Church in Homestead Florida, solidified my Christian life far more than I could have imagined.
And third, reading more from authors that can help me be a stronger Christian then I am now. One of my absolute favorite author’s, Francis Schaeffer, has had an incredible influence on me, and I read three of his books every two years, those being in a trilogy book,
- The God Who is There
- Escape from Reason
- He is there and He is not Silent.
His books make me think about many things regarding Christianity and how I must live it out. And this year my son bought me three books for Christmas, written by Bob Stewart, a Professor at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. I met him when visiting my son who attended seminary there. Bob is an amazing person to talk with.
I want to encourage everyone reading this to ponder these three things and determine if this is something that could assist you in your Christian growth. God has made it clear to me that this is something I need to do. My heart is in helping people understand and thus accept Christ as their savior and Lord and also helping those who are Christians grow and become stronger in their faith. The three things I have listed in this blog post are just some of what God has told me I must do. If, in reading this, you believe these are things that could help you grow, I encourage you to pray and see if this is something that can help you become stronger in your Christian walk. These are what He is calling me to do. Pray and ask God what He desires you to do this year. I believe His coming is very soon, and we must be ready for the very difficult times that are approaching. Do you know what He is calling you to do? If you are not sure, go to Him in prayer and ask Him, then prepare yourself to do what He says regarding your calling. He will get you ready for what He wants you to do. Just be ready to go out to do this work.
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