“Freedom!” It is one of the greatest longings of your soul and something you pursue throughout your life. When you place your faith in Jesus, you are freed, indeed. But too often through the course of life you can find yourself reshackled to something other than the One who set you free. Submission to God is the only way to live truly free.

Have you ever said something you wish you could take back immediately? Or have you ever been hurt by someone else’s words? Your tongue is a powerful tool. God saves you and redeems you to live differently than those of the world – that includes in your speech.

Ever heard the expression “in one ear and out the other”? God’s way of life is True Life and he’s concerned that we match up our living with what he desires for us. To bring our faith to life, we want to marry our hearing and doing.

No matter how good of a planner you might be, your life is most likely filled with unexpected circumstances. How does your faith inform the way you respond in those situations? What does it say about what you believe about God?

The Holy Spirit is often the forgotten Person of the Trinity. We remember God the Father and Jesus, but the Holy Spirit becomes an afterthought. This week we will explore the Person of the Holy Spirit. We will look at the truths that He is personal, He has specific purposes, and He is powerful.

Demons are a popular subject of entertainment, the occult, and our culture. There are many books on the subject, but few have a true Biblical foundation. We need to understand the true nature of demons and what they do so that we can be prepared for the spiritual battle that surrounds us. We need to understand the nature of the fight and the figures that war against us. And most of all, we need to see that Jesus already has victory. While we need to be sober minded and wise, we don’t have to live in fear.

Angels are a very real and active part of God’s creation. There are angels all around us who are doing God’s work. They have different levels of power, different kinds of roles, and different tasks—but all serve God and His purposes. Angels may be around us more than we realize, and we should be prepared to encounter angels at any moment. With an accurate understanding of angels we can be encouraged to join in God’s work and see clearly the spiritual encounters in our lives.

One dangerous temptation in work is to make it the primary source of meaning, purpose, and satisfaction. Work is definitely a gift, but it is not the source of these things. Rather, it is designed to point us to the gift giver. God calls us to embrace work as an act of worship—it is a response to the good and loving God who saves and transforms us in His grace. Work cannot give worth, but it is a wonderful way to thank God for the value He gives and point others to their worth in Christ.

Work is hard and often frustrating. This is the result of sin in the world. While work was given as a gift, it too has been impacted by sin and brokenness because of the human tendency to reject God and His design. However, we can know that God’s grace is at work in every aspect of life, including work. In fact, God is using work as a tool to refine and transform us so that we look and think more like Jesus. It may be that the most frustrating parts of work are the very things that God wants to use to heal the most broken places in our hearts. We really can embrace the work of the Holy Spirit in the hard parts of work.

Work is a platform to share the love and truth of God with others. Whatever the work may be—a job, school, stay at home roles—work provides a way to point others to Jesus. We help ourselves and bless others when we see every aspect of work, however small or mundane, as an opportunity to worship God and love others, and even see it as a primary path for sharing the good news about Jesus.