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Everyone who knows me knows how much I enjoy acrostics. Since
every Christian is to grow spiritually, I wanted to share the following
POWER acrostic with you. It will help you, as it does me, to
remember the essential elements in our spiritual progress.
Pray. The Christian who wants to grow, communicates with God
through prayer. He expresses his gratitude to Him, confesses his sins,
and comes to Him with his requests for himself and for others. God
promises to be near to all who come to Him in prayer (Ps. 145:18).
Obey. In John 14, Jesus said that our obedience to His commands is
an indicator of our love for Him (vv.15,21,23). We can’t do it in our own
strength, however. That’s one of the reasons He gave us the Holy Spirit
(vv.16-17). As we yield to Him, the Spirit provides the power to walk in
obedience (Gal. 5:16-25).
Worship. A Christian’s devotion to God is to be continuous.
Privately, he should worship God in his thoughts and prayers (Ps. 34:1).
Publicly, he should unite with fellow believers in a local assembly to
bring praise to God (Ps. 111:1; Heb. 10:24-25).
Evangelize. The good news of the gospel is to be shared. As we tell
others what Christ has done for us, we will find ourselves growing by
spiritual leaps and bounds (Mt. 28:19-20).
Read. The most direct source of a Christian’s spiritual growth is
the Bible. It must be read regularly because it is his milk and strong
meat (1 Pet. 2:2; Heb. 5:12-14). It tells us how to live (Ps. 119:105).
It is God’s word to us today.
In
this light, remember that according to the New Testament we can become
Christians only by relying entirely on what Christ did for us. He died
for our sins on the cross, and then He rose from the dead to prove that
His sacrifice was enough. Now in heaven, He offers to bring to His Father
all those who trust in Him.
Consider
the following verses:
Therefore
we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we
implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. For He made Him who
knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of
God in Him (2 Cor. 5:20-21).
Curtis
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