Look Straight Ahead

Look Straight Ahead

TODAY’S SCRIPTURE

Let your eyes look straight ahead, fix your gaze directly before you.

Proverbs 4:25, NIV.

TODAY’S WORD

What are you looking at today? Not in the natural, but with your spiritual eyes. In other words, what is in the forefront of your mind and in your heart? Are you constantly dwelling on your problems or things that have happened in your past?

In the natural, you will move in the direction that your eyes are looking. In the spiritual, it works the same way. Whatever you focus your mind and heart on, you will move toward. That’s why today’s verse tells us to look straight ahead. If you are constantly dwelling on your problems or things in your past, wondering “what if,” then you will stay right where you are. But if you choose to forgive and release the past, then you can focus on what is ahead of you, and you’ll begin to move forward.

God doesn’t want you to live in the past. He wants you to keep growing and moving forward. Make the decision to meditate on His goodness and focus on His promises. Look straight ahead so you can see His blessing and move forward into the life of victory He has promised you!

PRAYER FOR TODAY

Heavenly Father, today I set my focus on You. I choose to forget the past by forgiving others so that I can look straight ahead to Your promises. I ask that You direct my heart on the path of life that You have for me in Jesus’ Name. Amen.

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Building Blocks of Spiritual Growth 10 hours ago  by Rick Warren “So we continue to preach Christ to each person, using all wisdom to warn and to teach everyone, in order to bring each one into God's presence as a mature person in Christ.” (Colossians 1:28 NCV) I believe there is a logical order to building knowledge, perspective, conviction, skills, and character. First, you must start with a foundation of knowledge. Since spiritual growth is based on God’s Word, the first level of learning is to gain a working knowledge of the Bible. Perspective and convictions must be Bible-based. On top of knowledge of the Word, you add perspective. The better you get to know God’s Word, the more you’ll begin to see life from God’s viewpoint. Conviction naturally grows out of perspective. Once you begin to see things from God’s perspective, you begin developing biblical convictions. An understanding of God’s purpose and plan changes your motivations. Conviction then gives you the motivation to maintain spiritual habits. Eventually, through repetition, those habits become skills. You don’t have to consciously focus when you do them anymore. When something becomes easy for you to do, that is called a skill. When you put knowledge of the Word, perspective, conviction, and the corresponding skills together, the resulting product is character! First you know it; then you understand it; then you believe it with your whole heart; then you do it. The result is character. Here are five questions you need to ask about your Christian education program: Are people learning the content and meaning of the Bible? Are people seeing themselves, life, and other people more clearly from God’s perspective? Are people’s values becoming more aligned with God’s values? Are people becoming more skilled in serving God? Are people becoming more like Christ? As Paul said in Colossians 1:28, “So we continue to preach Christ to each person, using all wisdom to warn and to teach everyone, in order to bring each one into God's presence as a mature person in Christ” (NCV). At Saddleback, our vision for maturity is very clear: to bring glory to God by presenting Jesus Christ with as many Christ-like disciples as we possibly can before he returns!