Only Jesus knows the perfect time to reveal His presence to us.

Let’s go in depth into the main two ways we tear each other down rather than build each other up: Gossip and Sarcasm. I call Gossip the Outer Cut because it tears apart other people’s perception of the person I gossip about. The second cut is sarcasm. I call it the Inner Cut because it is a silent assassin that slowly kills our hearts.

We are called to speak the Truth in love to each other as one of the mechanisms by which we reach that maturity. There are two components to this command that are equally important. First, we must speak the Truth to each other. Falsehood and flattery will never spur us to the love and good deeds Christ has called us to. At the same time, we are called to speak that Truth in love. Without love motivating and guiding the communication of Truth we will end up wounding those we seek to help grow in their faith.

We cannot simply be content to be blessed by God; we must realize that we are blessed to be a blessing.

The road to transforming our tongue starts with a deep realization of how devastating our tongue can be to our lives and to the lives of those around us.

Those who embrace suffering in the body find victory over sin. Peter ties suffering to increased obedience

Fasting is denying the desires of our flesh. The great paradox is that as we weaken the desires of our flesh it actually strengthens it to be more supportive of our spirit.

Jesus came into the world through the faith of Mary. Christ enters the world through our faith as well. Every time we step out in faith Christ is able to be born into the lives of others and into every place we go. Lord, grant us the vision to see how faith can transform everything around us.

The Lord calls us to trust in Him for deliverance but we often look to the world instead. But if we do, the same thing that happened to Judah will happen to us; we will become enslaved to those from whom we sought help. We must repent of our dependence on the Lord and trust only in the Lord for our salvation.

Once a tree falls or is cut down a stump is all that remains. No one walks up on a stump and assumes something positive happened to that tree. You just realize from experience that it’s the last remnants of a tree that has been felled. Praise God that He causes Branches to grow up from the stumps of our failures.