Growing up

 Good morning everyone !!! Doug here with this mornings devo on What we heard on Sunday from Dc Tony Evans abou Maturing in Christ .
Dear brothers, I have been talking to you as though you were still just babies in the Christian life . . .
—1 Corinthians 3:1 (TLB)
Some people have received Christ but have never reached spiritual maturity. They have been in church all their lives, and yet they have never become mature Christians. They are still considered “spiritual children” and “babes in Christ.” They know little Scripture. They have little desire to pray, and bear few of the marks of a Christian in their daily living. To say, “I will resolve to do better, I will muster all my will power and revise my way of living,” is noble, but futile. A corpse could as well say, “I will-through sheer effort-rise out of this coffin and be a living man again.” You need a power outside yourself. You cannot get over the habits and chains that are binding you. You need outside help. You need Christ.
The Bible tells of a bridge of faith which reaches from the valley of despair to the high hills of glorious hope in Christ. It tells where we are, but beyond that-it tells where we may be in Christ. Now, of course, you will not be completely mature until you are in the presence of Christ, but you should be growing every day as a Christian.

 True growth is often gradual—spiritual growth included. God knows what we need and doesn’t force us or rush us. The important thing is that we’re now in the process of growing in Christ and developing a Christ-like character.
We’re admitting that we can’t achieve righteousness on our own, and that we need Jesus’s sacrifice and God’s grace. We’re surrendering the pressure we put on ourselves to do the best or be the best, and letting the Holy Spirit be the one to direct the enrichment of our lives. This act of letting go is actually what sets us free! (1 Peter 2:16, Galatians 5:1).

Our beliefs become more and more evident as we deepen them. As we pray, learn, test, try, observe and reflect, our relationship with God grows and our faith develops. It gradually permeates our intentions, our priorities and our actions.
Dc Evans said we must have a shelter when the storms of life Hit and when we develop and deepen  our relationship with Jesus we have the greatest shelter from life's hurts , pains , and storms.
So the question is Do you have Jesus as your shelter or are you running around looking for some other place to hide ? There is no other shelter that can keep you from what is comming against you in this dark day except the arms of our Lord . So no matter where you are today in your Christian walk God is calling you to a deeper relationship with Himself and longs to share His heart with you to help you through today , tommorow , and every other day .

God bless you all today as you ponder on these scriptures and allow the Holy Spirit to lead you to truth. See you all tonight at prayer , it's going to be a beautifull day so fight the thoughts of staying home , we must press on and continue to pray for our communities and the people around us..