One of the job descriptions of Jesus in scripture is as Restorer. He restores our souls from life experiences that have gone wrong leaving us with unsettled hurts, misperceptions, wrong thinking, etc. Jesus lovingly leads us to His truth, redeems any damaged part of our soul, and brings us into His amazing joy.

Every day we have a choice to please the Lord Jesus by living as He lived, doing what pleased His Faher. What other choices do we have? We can please other people, please ourselves, or a combination of those. Our deepest satisfaction in life comes when we decide to please the Lord above all else.

To draw near to God requires us to intentionally build a relationship with Him that brings His principles into our living.

As a Believer in Jesus, we must walk in His ways. He is the way, truth, and life. We, then, walk through our days on His paths called the Highway of Holiness.

It is important to know what is growing in our hearts influencing our thoughts, attitudes, and actions. Some roots need to be pulled up so their influence is cut out of our lives. The root of righteousness needs to be nurtured to grow in abundance allowing others to see Jesus through our lives.

The Lord God anoints our lives to sanctify by making us clean and setting us apart from the world to be holy. His anointing also consecrates us by affirming who we are in the Body of Christ complete with the gifts of service He has given to us.

This final chapter of Philippians encourages us to develop the characteristics of Christ Jesus so that we learn to live a life of contentment, humility, and stay in unity with Him and our fellow Believers.

In this chapter of Philippians we learn to look to Jesus as our pattern for living as citizens of the Kingdom of God our Father.

It is important to understand and to walk in the reality of who you are in Christ Jesus. Scripture provides many descriptions of who we are as individuals in God’s household. Grab hold of these truths as they become who you are.

Having the same mind as our Lord Jesus develops our sense of belonging to the family of God our Father. Our identity as a Believer is firmly established upon who God says that we are.

The book of Jude confronts those people who pose as Believers within the church but are not. He clarifies how to distinguish between those who truly follow Jesus Christ and those who seem to be Believers outwardly but inwardly serve only themselves.

As we look into John III, we find the apostle’s contrast between leaders who example Jesus’ life of speaking truth while loving people and those who promote themselves while opposing others.

Our lives should reflect the character and life of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul stated that his life was hidden in Christ. Ours should be also. His life should flow through our lives as we seek to imitate Him in every aspect of our character and behavior.

This is a study of II John. Knowing the difference between true doctrine, teaching, and false helps our lives overflow with grace, mercy, and peace as we love others well.

The finger of God is so mightily powerful in ways that bring redemption and conviction into our lives.

Guarding your heart is simply not allowing anything to enter into your attitudes, desires, and/or beliefs that does not stand in agreement with God’s Word and His heart of love. We especially need to be on guard about offenses. Jesus said it is impossible to not experience offense, but how we deal with that offenses either frees our hearts to maintain our peace with God or throws us into attitudes and behaviors that are not pleasing towards God or others.

As a dwelling place of God’s Spirit, we have the responsibility before HIm to love Him without reservation. We step into this by asking His Spirit to help us process the things that affect our soul that causes us to feel defiled or separated in some way from His presence. We must examine ourselves routinely, doing a spiritual check-up, to ensure we are submitted to the cleansing power of God’s word through the presence of His Spirit.

In living the life God has infused us with, we come to enjoy keeping His commandments, find power to overcome in this world, and bear within us the confirming testimony from God our Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit that we belong to Him.

To grow to mature faith in the Lord we must learn the difference between the Spirit of the Living God, who always speaks truth, the spirit of man that stems from earthly reasonings and desires, and the spirit of the world that is under the influence of the wicked one. Testing the spirits must be intentional, guided by the scriptures and the Holy Spirit, and training our senses to rightly discern the difference between what we hear, read, and see.

God’s love fills us with the capacity to know Him more fully. We become members of His household through faith, sons and daughters who walk in peace. We have been reconciled to God. Our lives should become testimonies that He dwells within us and reveals Himself through us as we grow in maturity in the word of Truth.

Experiencing the love that God has for us empowers us to defeat false beliefs with His Truth, enriches our approach to God with bold confidence, and causes us to life a life of Kingdom authority with discernment of good and evil, knowing that we are accepted in His love for us.

When God defines Himself as Light, He is telling us that there is no lie or falsehood in Him ever. He is the author of complete truth and brings to our hearts an understanding of what He reveals to us through scripture about Himself and about who we have been created to be. He created us to experience and live in His love and to share His love with others.

When scripture defines Believers as ‘salt,’ it is referring to our God-given ability to create in others an appetite to know who Jesus is, how to come to Him, and how to apply the scriptures to our daily lives so that His life is reflected through our own lives.

As we grow stronger in our ability to discern between good and evil (beneficial and harmful), we grow stronger in confidence towards God through maturing faith. We develop skills of righteousness to live by with testimonies of God’s faithfulness to help us overcome every temptation and trial in life.

To become Spiritually fit we must allow the Holy Spirit to train our senses to discern between good and evil. Good refers to what is beneficial to us and pleasing to our Father in Heaven. Evil refers to that which is harmful to us and unpleasing to the Father.

Having a heart that is established upon God involves our thoughts and the motivations of heart as well as our affections. This takes place at the very core of who we are. We are His and choose to keep the focus of our life upon Jesus.

Learning to follow Jesus requires that we learn to live in a way that imitates Him by overcoming natural temptations, internal attitudes that are unworthy of Him, and walking with humble obedience in the commands of God.

It is good to know what pleases the Lord so we can live according to His Word. This must be taught and we, His disciples, are learners who build our character and lives upon the teachings of scripture.

Jesus said that to follow Him requires taking up our cross and dying to oneself daily. This requires sitting down to count that cost to begin living as He lived.

To walk worthy of the Lord requires knowledge of who He is and how to walk in a way that grows our character to bring honor to Father God.

Our hearts need to stay on fire for the Lord. Only He can ignite that flame of passion through speaking to us and opening our understanding.

We are disciples, students, of the Lord Jesus who need Him to train us to live in His righteousness.

The Wilderness is a place of God’s provision and protection as we learn who He is and how He wants us to live.

Jesus is called both the Bread of Life and the Fountain of Life. These label Him as the food we hunger for and the water we thirst for.

The Holy Spirit dwells within us to empower us to be witnesses for Christ Jesus as well as to live in Him.

Scripture tells us to examine ourselves to see whether or not we are walking in faith. We all need spiritual check-ups just as we need physical check-ups.

God looks upon our hearts to see how our attitudes reflect His presence and influence upon our lives.

We know that God has an endless supply of treasures to share with us. You are His special treasure, most highly valued.

As we give ourselves to the Lord in obedience, He has promised to overflow our lives with blessings.

God has given us a new and living way to walk with Him in including an ongoing revelation of new things to discover in Him.

Transformation is a vital part of walking with Christ Jesus as we learn to become more like Him.

Grace is a gift of God that can grow. As we partner with God, His grace increases to fullness as we rejoice in truth and hope.

All of us experience doubt. What we do with them either moves us into faith or into fearful struggle.

How we speak the words of God’s Kingdom to ourselves affects how we live it out.

The difference between experience and encounter defines external events that stir our emotions and internal changes that transform our living.

All of us have limitations. Sometimes we unintentionally limit ourselves. The Lord desires to help us overcome these limitations so we can soar into His presence and find fulfillment.

God’s peace ruling one’s heart brings clear focus and stability. We can trust what the Lord speaks to us and do what He directs us to do.

God’s faithfulness is His promise to us that is permanent, supportive, and never fails.

The habits of our heart and mind will affect how we live our lives - in a way that reflects our relationship with Jesus or the opposite.

Successful living in God’s Kingdom requires us to be intentional to walk obediently in God’s ways. We must know what His ways are.

A well-ordered soul is a healthy soul, helping us live life successfully.

Encouragement to pursing God’s heart is found in Psalm 63 by seeking His counsel early and following intentionally after Him as well as doing what He says.

Developing wisdom starts with asking God to give us this life skill and then practicing it by right application to every area of life.

This well-known chapter is often referred to as the Proverbs 31 woman, yet it contains truths that can apply to men as well.

Asking the Lord to help shift our focus from what we are experiencing to His Kingdom perspective produces a rejoicing heart.

Speaking Truth in our hearts transforms us from the inside out.

Trusting the Lord to make all things work together for our good.

Abiding in Christ is remaining in His presence.

Loving God with our whole being.