Growing in Grace

A Walk of Faith Wednesday, February 6, 2019 -Greg Laurie So the people of Israel walked through the middle of the sea on dry ground, with walls of water on each side! —Exodus 14:22 It must have been very exciting when the Israelites walked through the middle of the Red Sea on dry ground. Maybe they saw fish cruising by in the walls of water on each side, like the best aquarium ever. But they had to walk for hours and hours. It took all night. That is the Christian life. It’s just a walk with the Lord. Sometimes there’s a lot of excitement in the beginning of the Christian life when we realize what God has done for us. But as time passes, we might start taking things for granted. And we might find ourselves becoming apathetic. If that describes you, then you need to plot your RPGS: (1)  Read  the Bible every day. You never outgrow it and never get beyond it. God’s Word never becomes irrelevant. (2)  Pray  about things. Bring things up before the Lor...

What kind of people do you hang around with? Show me your friends and I will show you your future. Pay attention to what kind of people you're spending time with.  -Greg Laurie, Harvest Daily Devotion for 7/21/28

Greg Laurie Thursday, January 25, 2018 While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, saying, "What do you think about the Christ? Whose Son is He?"                                     —Matthew  22:41 –42 Without question, Jesus Christ is the most controversial figure who has ever lived. He is loved, worshiped, and followed by some. He is hated, despised, and rejected by others. He is disregarded and ignored by most. But it always will come down to Jesus. Who is Jesus? Two thousand years ago, Christ Himself asked the question: “What do you think about the Christ? Whose Son is He?” (Matthew  22:42 ). And to this very day, people are still confused about the answer. Maybe there has never been a time when more people profess faith in Jesus yet at the same time have no clue as to who He really is. Many will speak with respect about Christ. They will say things like,...

Greg Laurie Wednesday, January 24, 2018 "For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."                                                                                                —Luke  14:11 If we have learned nothing else from our culture telling us what we should do to be happy, we have learned this: It is just not true. We have realized where happiness isn’t. Prior to becoming a Christian, I already knew the answer was not in the world. I knew it wasn’t in my mother’s world of hedonism and drinking and partying. I knew it wasn’t in my world, limited as it was at seventeen years old. So I was wondering where it was. And then I became a Christian. We have a different paradigm to follow, given...

Greg Laurie Tuesday, January 23, 2018 Now after six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John, and led them up on a high mountain apart by themselves; and He was transfigured before them. His clothes became shining, exceedingly white, like snow, such as no launderer on earth can whiten them. —Mark 9:2–3 The miracle of the Transfiguration wasn’t that Jesus shined like the sun; the miracle was that He  didn’t  shine like the sun all the time. When Jesus came to Earth, He never gave up His deity. But we might say that He shrouded His glory and laid aside the privileges of His deity. Jesus Christ is God. He is a member of the Trinity, coequal and coeternal with the Father and with the Holy Spirit. Jesus was God before He was born, and He remained God after He became man. His deity was prehuman, pre-Mary, and pre-Bethlehem. Jesus laid aside not His deity, but the privileges of deity, to model what it is to be a servant. Paul told the believers in Philippi, “Let this mind ...

Greg Laurie Monday, January 22, 2018 What is causing the quarrels and fights among you? Don't they come from the evil desires at war within you?                                                                 —James 4:1 I think we could safely say that so many of the problems we deal with are because of our selfish human natures. Selfishness is at the root of many sins. It is amazing how even little children have this trait. Have you ever noticed when two children are playing and one child doesn’t care about a certain toy until the moment the other child picks it up? Suddenly both children want it. They scream and pull, and they will destroy the toy in the process. It’s all because one child wants what the other has. That is just human nature. We are born that way, and we carry this trait with us through life. James p...

Greg Laurie January 20, 2018 "I am praying not only for these disciples but also for all who will ever believe in me through their message. I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one--as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me." —John  17:20 –21 Have you ever noticed there are some people who like to fight? They like to argue, and they are unhappy when they are happy. So they find something to get worked up about, something new to debate. They love conflict. It’s a sad way to live. When I was a younger Christian, I felt that it was my job to set everyone straight. I had been a Christian for about a year and had been reading the Bible and going to church almost every night of the week. I thought , I’m going to set everyone straight.  That was the way I was. I knew everything. I had the answer to every question. And if you held a view different from mine, then I was going to talk you...

Greg Laurie Thursday, January 18, 2018 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us. —1 John  2:19 When someone who has made a profession of faith suddenly walks away from it (seemingly out of nowhere), the question is often asked, “Did he lose his salvation?” But the question I would ask is, “Did he ever have it to begin with?” Really, the only way to tell if a person is a genuine Christian is whether that commitment stands the test of time. So how can you tell if you are really saved? Here are some questions to ask yourself. Is Jesus Christ Lord?  (See 1 John  4:15 .) Christianity is Jesus. And if you don’t have a relationship with Jesus Christ, then I don’t know what you are. You may be religious, but you’re not a real Christian. Do I obey Christ’s commands?  (See 1 John 5:3.) This doesn’t mean that if you ...

Greg Laurie posted this on his Facebook page on May 16, 2014 A lot of people claim to be Christians today. It is not uncommon for a celebrity to tweet a Scripture So, are these people Christians, and do they really love t he Lord? I am in no position to answer that. Only God knows, and only they know. All I can do is evaluate spiritual fruit. Jesus said, “By their fruits you will know them” (Matthew 7:20) . Jesus told us, “Judge not, lest you be judged.” This, of course, is the nonbeliever’s favorite verse to throw in the face of the Christian that dares to challenge them on choices they have made in light of Scripture. But what does it mean to “judge not”? First, let me tell you what it does not mean. It does not mean that we can’t evaluate and look for the results of true faith in our life, as well as the lives of fellow believers. In fact, the Bible tells us that we as Christians should render judgments like that. Paul wrote these words to the believers in Cor...