So we have not stopped praying for you since we first heard about you. We ask God to give you complete knowledge of his will and to give you spiritual wisdom and understanding. Then the way you live will always honor and please the Lord, and your lives will produce every kind of good fruit. All the while, you will grow as you learn to know God better and better.  Colossians 1:9-10 

Why does God bless or punish us?  Ever stopped to think about what you really believe?

James Bryan Smith tells of a woman in his church who believed she needed to have what she called a daily “quiet time” when she read a selection from a daily devotional book in order for God to bless her.  He writes, “Soon she began to think that if she did a longer quiet time, she would get more blessings. At one point, she was reading seven devotional books during her prayer time.”  Smith explained to her that [Spiritual] “disciplines only do one of two things: connect us to God or help break the power of sin.”[1]

So, if you’re listening to, or reading this devotional–sorry, you won’t receive a financial benefit because you did, or conversely, get sick because you miss a day in your streak of daily devotion times.  In the Bible book of Colossians, the Apostle Paul wrote to Jesus-followers telling them that he asked God to “give [them] complete knowledge of his will and… spiritual wisdom and understanding” so that two things would happen in their lives: they would “always honor and please the Lord” and their lives would “produce every kind of good fruit.”

Scripture is clear that the end result of any spiritual practice we bring into our lives is this: that, “All the while, [we] will grow as [we] learn to know God better and better” (Colossians 1:9-10).

Knowing God and living transformed lives that genuinely reflect Him, is always our goal.

[1] Smith, J. B. (2022, August 22). Dallas Willard’s 3 Fears About the Spiritual Formation Movement. ChristianityToday.com. Retrieved August 29, 2022, from www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2022/september/dallas-willard-fears-spiritual-formation-movement.html.