God calls us to gaze at Him in prayer and only glance at our problems. If we reverse the two, we can allow circumstances to dictate our view of God, we can take our sins lightly and we can be deceived by Satan. We should approach God with humility, listening and surrendering to His will.

Four great discoveries are revealed i n Romans 6 . We have evil natures and have committed sins against a Holy God. While we desire to do well, we always struggle with wrongdoing. Jesus provides victory over sinful behavior.

De-stressing essentials include cultivating true spirituality, developing a positive self-image and focusing on positive dreams and goals for your life.

Psalms of joy and consolation are read by Pastor Roger Barrier with the piano stylings of Julie Barrier. Meditate and worship as you hear the shepherd’s voice!

Satan’s objective is to block us from closing the gap to the abundant life God intends for us to enjoy. Satan steals us from intimacy with God by keeping us locked in the past of our hurt, anger, bitterness and guilt or bound in the future of our worry, fear and anxiety. In God’s five-part plan we can resist Satan proactively and wear God’s armor of protection.

Three things are going on in the Acts ministry of Christ today. Christ is coming as the spirit to dwell in His followers. Jesus is engaged in His greatest work of building His church using dispersed believers. Christ is adding members to His church as His power enables us to do His work on earth.

The sin of lukewarmness can look like indifference to sin, disinterest in the lost, eroded Christian values and integrity, apathy in obedience to Christ, neglect of personal devotional life and selfishness. God is grieved when His people lose their love for Him. If the church is to remain strong until Christ returns, it will be because, as individual Christians, we have stayed passionately on fire for Jesus Christ.

Jesus teaches that it is hard to live by God’s values when we don’t know what they are. He instructs us to saturate our minds with the Scriptures and live accordingly. Compromise usually starts small, erodes slowly, always lowers the original standard and is seldom offensive (except to true Christians and to Jesus). We are significant in the Lord’s eyes when we are faithful to His Word in all situations.

The battle is at hand. We must carefully avoid compromising our faith and drifting away from our relationship with Christ. Walk intimately with Jesus every day by holding firm to the tenants of our faith. The best way to avoid apostasy is to live a well-intentioned, vibrant, living, growing and maturing Christian life.

Jesus warns Sardis, the dead church, that pretension is deadly. They are commanded to strengthen their faith, repent and obey God’s Word. When we do the same, our eternal destiny is settled once and for all.

Faithfulness means that we have a balanced view of a loving God and a holy God so that we proclaim both doctrines of Heaven and of Hell. How do we avoid apostasy? Put mystery, fear, awe and holiness back into our view of God. Live like Jesus is our Lord—not just our friend. Do not allow Satan a foothold. Instead, interact with the Holy Spirit to lead a spirit-filled life.

What causes Peter’s transformation? He is transformed by his journey through suffering, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and the words of Jesus. To be changed by Christ, we must welcome suffering with joy, keep on being filled with the Holy Spirit and saturate our lives with the words of Christ.