Plan to grow in God's Word in 2024

Do you have a plan for spiritual growth in 2024? If not, start praying and planning for one now. It’s not too late. Always plan on spiritual growth. It’s like anything else, if you aren’t intentional it won’t happen. God isn’t going to snap His fingers and spiritual growth all of a sudden takes place. He’s not a genie in a bottle that you rub and He grants your wishes.

Spiritual growth takes commitment. It’s like an athlete. If you want to excel on the field or court, you are going to discipline yourself to workout daily, eat right, practice hard, listen to your coaches, study the game plan, etc. if you want to be a great musician you are going to take lessons, practice daily, study, etc. The same goes for spiritual growth. Don’t put it on the back burner. Put it front and center and intentionally plan to grow in God’s Word throughout 2024 and therefore grow closer to God.

First of all, don’t depend on your pastor to do all of your work. He’s very important and we need to be in church every Sunday listening to the message God has placed on His heart. But if that's all you do, you will starve spiritually. Do you only eat once a week? Of course not. You'd starve to death. It's the same with the spirit. We must feed our spirit daily with the Word of God.

Devotionals are good to read. But let me warn you right here, don't let devotionals be your only source of Bible study. For me, devotionals are a good starting point. I use them to crank my spiritual engine every morning.

Here are some devotionals I recommend:

- I receive a daily devotional every week day in my email inbox from Max Lucado. He is such a talented writer. You can sign up for them at his website, https://maxlucado.com/daily-devotional

- My friend Debi Head Parnell writes a daily devotional on Facebook called, "Jesus and Java." Debi is also a talented writer. You can find Jesus and Java on FB at https://www.facebook.com/groups/733451830057403
It's a FB group, so you need to join it, https://www.facebook.com/groups/733451830057403

- This year I read two daily devotional books, "Lead Like Jesus Leadership Development for Every Day of the Year" and "Voices of the Faithful." These were both good, but "Voices of the Faithful" had the most impact and I highly recommend this devotional. It was written by missionaries with the International Mission Board with Beth Moore writing monthly intros. Wow! I don't think I've ever said this about a devotional book, but this one is life transforming. God touches your heart as you read first-hand stories from the mission field. The stories inspire and challenge. You will laugh and you will cry. These are missionaries who put their lives on the line in remote places around the world to tell people about Jesus. They have given up everything to serve Jesus wherever He sends them. Look on Amazon and thriftbooks.com. It was published in 2005. You will not regret buying this devotional book. My good Brother and friend, Jim Lanley, has three entries in it from his nine years as an IMB missionary in China.

"Lead Like Jesus" isn't deep, but it gives good, short insights to the book's title, leading like Jesus. Each day there is a snippet of a leadership topic, a corresponding Bible verse, and a prayer. A friend gave it to me years ago, and I've enjoyed reading through it this year. It was published in 2008. You can also find it on Amazon.

In 2024, I'm going to continue to kickstart my day with Jesus and Java and Max Lucado's devotionals. In addition, I'll add "Voices of the Faithful Book 2" and "A Year with C.S. Lewis." I'll let y'all know how those are. I already know they're going to be great, especially "Voices of the Faithful Book 2." Jim has four entries in this book.

That's enough for this blog entry. Tomorrow I'll share some more tips on putting together a spiritual growth plan.