The Essential 100, Day 87 Contentment. Do we understand what it truly means to be content? Are we finding rest and joy in Christ regardless of our circumstances? Read 1 Timothy 6:3-21. So many people can get so caught up in money and the desire for more money. Yet, God explains to us the need to be content with what we have and where we are. God places us where he wants us to be so that we can be the most effective for him. And, he doesn’t allow us to be tempted beyond what we are able and so sometimes, he has to remove us from situations that might…

The Essential 100, Day 85 We can be made holy. Because of Christ’s sacrifice, even through all of our mistakes, we can be made holy. Read Colossians 1:1-23. God’s creatio is truly amazing. The power and the majesty that is displayed and tells the story of the character of God is truly are inspiring when we think about it. And then when we compare ourselves to it, we recognize our mistakes and our faults and our flaws. Yet God didn’t leave us in that position. Through Christ’s life and his sacrifice, he made a way for us to be made right with God. God sees us through the sacrifice of…

The Essential 100, Day 84 What do you think about? When we reflect on our thoughts for the day, does it fall into this list? Read Philippians 4:2-10. Thinking back on the subjects that we think about and talk about during the day, would those qualify as true, honorable, pure? Would others around us agree with our assessment? The way we think is an indication of what will ultimately be spoken by us. Our truest self is revealed in our thoughts. Are those thoughts a reflection of Christ living and working in our lives? If not, how can we surrender to him and allow him to guide our thoughts. Only…

The Essential 100, Day 83 We are under attack. Some days may feel more like it than others, but make no mistake, Satan is out to destroy us. Read Ephesians 6:10-20. God has given us several tools to help us defend ourselves and to keep us focused on him. The question becomes, are we using them? Do we take out these tools every day and put them on? Looking around our life, we recognize and see evidence of the attack of Satan on our lives. How will we respond? How we defend ourselves? God is more than capable of defending us and keeping us focused on him, but we have…

The Essential 100, Day 82 What does the Spirit look like in our lives? Are we allowing the Spirit work and move through us because if we are, there are some specific characteristics that will be evident in our life. Read Galatians 5:16-6:10. The fruit of the Holy Spirit is the listing of the characteristics that God’s Holy Spirit lives out in our lives. These are not suggestions and they are not items that we get to pick and choose from. All of these are to be evident in our life. As we look at our life and the way that we interact with other people, how would we characterize…

The Essential 100, Day 81 Victory. We have victories through Christ in every area of our life. Read Romans 8. Through our daily lives, we see that God is over every area of our life. Through Christ we have victory in every area. We are more than conquerors. Not only do we have victory, we have overwhelming victory and the ability to work through and change our circumstances because of the influence and the impact that Christ has on our lives. How are we allowing Christ to influence our lives today? How are we working and moving through everything that he has given us to do? We must never become…

The Essential 100, Day 80 When others accuse us of being believers, how do we respond? Paul had to give his defense in Acts 25-28. Through these chapters, we see Paul make his case amd appeal to the various people with boldness. He knew what he believed, he held to it and he was strong in his arguments. When others talk to us about what we believe or why we believe it, how do we respond? Do we share the message of Christ with others and do we have boldness while we do it?

The Essential 100, Day 79 Share the message. Do we share the message of salvation intentionally? Paul did. Read Acts 16-20. As we read about the missionary adventures of Paul, we see a man dedicated to sharing the word of Jesus Christ and the good news of his message and salvation with absolutely anyone and everyone he could. We see all the trials and difficulties that he faced while he did that, but he realized the importance of the message and the desperate need of the people to hear it. Are we willing to share the same message with anyone and everyone that we come in contact with every day?…

The Essential 100, Day 78 Disagreement. It was bound to happen. The new church with new believers spreading across new lands. Now, the have reached a place where there is some disagreement between them. How do they handle? Read Acts 15. When the believers disagreed, they didn’t just hide the issue. They didn’t try to avoid it. Instead, they looked at the issue head on and decided to meet together to understand it and to make a decision. They wanted unity. Being able to understand what God’s will is and to live that out together every day was of the utmost importance to them. How do we approach conflict? How…