WORD for Today!!

Good Morning everyone!! I pray that you have a blessed and prosperous day!! This morning I want to encourage you to grow in your relationship with Christ and work on being unified with those around you so that you will grow and mature in your walk with Christ!! In Ephesians 4:1-16, it reads: "As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit--just as you were called to one hope when you were called-- one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. This is why it says: "When he ascended on high, he led captives in his train and gave gifts to men." (What does "he ascended" mean except that he also descended to the lower, earthly regions? He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.) It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work." If we mature in our relationship with Christ, we won't be tossed around when trials, temptations or attacks of the devil come at us. We will know what we need to do, stand firm in our faith and remind the devil he is under our feet. We will not be moved!!! In fact fear will not have a place!! Also, we won't be moved by by the craftiness of man or false teachers. When you first excepted Christ into your lives, you were infants in the Lord, you needed basic teaching, but as you grow and mature you need more solid food, more of an indepth relationship with Christ. There are many people who have been christians for years who are living off of milk!! But the Lord said now is the time to take a stand and take your place as the mature christian he wants you to be. Then you won't be moved by cir****tances or situations!! Its time for solid food or solid teaching. This means you need to spend more time reading, studying, praying and really getting to know Jesus. Now I say this, because I know that some days its impossible to spend the time that you desire to spend with him. The key word is desire. You have to start somewhere, even if its 10 minutes a day, 20 minutes a day. You will find that as you do this daily, you will begin to spend more and more time with Him and time will fly by! You will ask yourself, where did the time go!! You will find that as you grow that Jesus will be the person who will fill that void in your life that many experience!!! He loves you and wants to be your everything!! Let him be apart of it!! My prayer for you is that you would desire and begin to mature in your relationship with Jesus, be in unity with others and help them mature as well AND that you would feel the prensence of Jesus in all that you say and do!! I love you all!! Lucy