Christian lifestyle

Train Yourself to Be Godly #11: Practicing Godly Generosity

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*Training yourself to be godly will include being generous like God.

According to one online source, there are 3,871 Self-storage facilities in Canada as of November 2025. (https://www.poidata.io/report/self-storage-facility/canada/)

People store anything and everything from exercise equipment to furniture to heirlooms and extra clothes. One of the growing storage needs has been RV storage lots because people spend thousands of dollars on something they only use a couple of weeks a year. The average Canadian has way more stuff than they need.

Here’s the question we want to ask of God’s word today: How do we train ourselves to be godly in light of our stuff? How do we handle our resources righteously?

Let’s talk about how to handle our resources righteously:

1.         Practice Tithing

Deuteronomy 14:22-23 says, “You must set aside a tithe of your crops—one-tenth of all the crops you harvest each year. Bring this tithe to the designated place of worship—… Doing this will teach you always to fear the LORD your God.”

Tithing was really important to God as he makes clear in Malachi 3:8-9.

“Should people cheat God? Yet you have cheated me!

“But you ask, ‘What do you mean? When did we ever cheat you?’

“You have cheated me of the tithes and offerings due to me. You are under a curse, for your whole nation has been cheating me.

God clearly tells the Israelites you are suffering because you are cheating me. You are not giving your tithes and offerings. God expected it. We need to consider the Discipline of Tithing.

Some suggest Jesus never told us to tithe but look at Matthew 23:23: “… you Pharisees. Hypocrites! …you are careful to tithe even the tiniest income from your herb gardens, but you ignore the more important aspects of the law—justice, mercy, and faith. You should tithe, yes, but do not neglect the more important things.” Tithing was such a big part of the Jewish faith that Jesus only seems to mention it in passing, but assumes that tithing will be part of their life.

2.         Do not Covet!

Commandment number ten of the Ten Commandments says this: “You must not covet your neighbor’s house. You must not covet your neighbor’s wife, male or female servant, ox or donkey, or anything else that belongs to your neighbor” (Exodus 20:17).

Tithing is about giving back to God from what God has given us. To “not covet” is to be satisfied with what God has given to us. When we covet, we are not satisfied with what we have. We think we are lacking something, missing out.

Part of the issue here is that we don’t need as much stuff as we think we do. We would do well to figure out how to practice the Spiritual Discipline of Simplicity and make do with less.

Beyond Tithing and Not Coveting, we need to consider Generosity.

3.         Practice Generosity

“Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father” (James 1:17). “And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:19

Not only is God generous with physical blessings, but God is also generous in giving us salvation! “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.: (Ephesians 2:8-9).

So, as we look at training ourselves to be godly, how can we be generous like God? We could be generous:

  • With our money. “God loves a cheerful giver.” – 2 Corinthians 9:7
  • By practicing hospitality. “Practice hospitality.” – Romans 12:13
  • By sharing material possessions. “If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person?” – 1 John 3:17
  • By sharing food. “The generous will themselves be blessed, for they share their food with the poor.” – Proverbs 22:9

And as we are generous, look at what will happen: “The generous will themselves be blessed, for they share their food with the poor” (Proverbs 22:9).

Be generous like our generous God by practicing some of the following disciplines:

  • Discipline of Tithing – giving at least 10%
  • Discipline of Stewardship – careful deliberate managing of the resources God has given.
  • Discipline of Simplicity – not gathering and holding on to so much stuff
  • Discipline of Generosity – reflecting God’s generosity in how we are generous to others.

What discipline will you put into your own Spiritual Life Training Plan?

Keep looking up,

Andy Wiebe

Blog Train Yourself to Be Godly #10: Working for Jesus

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*Training yourself to be godly may include viewing your work as working for Jesus.

Who are you working for?

When asked this question, you might think of the name of your boss or the company you work for. Some of you might think, “Well, I work for my family, it doesn’t matter who signs my paycheque or who gives me orders for the day, it’s all so I can provide for my family.”

1 Corinthians 10:31 says, “So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” Here are a few ideas on how to give glory to God in our work.

1.         Work as if Jesus were your boss!

Colossians 3:23 tells us: “Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people.” Work willingly, work hard, as if you are serving the Lord. Do your work as if you are working for Jesus.

This verse is in the context of Paul writing to slaves, encouraging them to please their masters all the time, even when they are not being watched. Paul expects that slaves, Christian slaves, should be great workers for their human masters, as if they are serving Jesus! If they are to do so, how much more should we who choose to work where we do!!

I wonder if our work ethic would change if Jesus were our boss?

2.         Work as a witness to Jesus

If the people you work with or serve know that you call yourself a Christian, but you are a terrible employee, what would make them interested in being a Christian?

In Titus 2: 9-10, Paul again addresses slaves when he writes: “Teach slaves to be subject to their masters in everything, to try to please them, not to talk back to them, and not to steal from them, but to show that they can be fully trusted, so that in every way they will make the teaching about God our Savior attractive.”

One might think a slave might have a good excuse not to work hard, or to find any way they could take advantage of their master, since they are being taken advantage of by them, but Paul encourages them to do their best so they might make the “teaching about God our Saviour attractive.” He expects that how they work will reflect well on God or not.

In his book, “The Practice of the Presence of God”, Brother Lawrence writes about how one can practice God’s presence no matter the task. His job was a thankless job of cleaning pots and pans, but he is well known for his consistent and joyful devotion to Jesus in the middle of his daily, menial work.

Practice God’s presence at work by talking with Jesus as you go about your day, Remember that he is a constant companion.

3.         Don’t let work take the place of Jesus – Or don’t make work your idol!

Some people are consumed with their work. They work all the time. They can’t stop. They don’t take time for their family, or to enjoy life, or to enjoy time with God. Their whole identity is wrapped up in their job – their position or their status or their power that comes with their job. Simply put… for some, work becomes their idol.

Do you know what God did after six days of the work of creating? He rested! Genesis 2: 2-3 tells us: “On the seventh day God had finished his work of creation, so he rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy, because it was the day when he rested from all his work of creation.”

God ceased from all his work.

There must be a time for us to stop. There must be a time to say, “Enough”.

One way of preventing work from becoming an idol is to take a day off. Take a day to rest, take a day to stop, take a day to focus on the One you Worship. Refocus yourself at least once a week on the one you are truly serving, and on the one you should find your identity in, not in your work. God commanded the Israelites to remember the Sabbath every week.

The Discipline of Sabbath is not just about rest, but an opportunity to refocus regularly on God as the one we worship! It is a constant reminder that we live for God, not for our work. We are to find our identity in Him, not in our work.

View your work as working for Jesus, to honour him, and to use it as a witness to Him.

Keep looking up,

Andy Wiebe

Train Yourself to Be Godly #9: Created to Work

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*Training yourself to be godly may include how you view your work.

The average person spends 90,000 hours (that’s around 10 years) over the course of their lifetime working.[i]

A 2023 survey of Canadians suggested 80% of workers were satisfied with their jobs. At the same time, another survey indicated 33% of workers plan to look for a new job next year. .

60% of workers feel burned out.[ii] 77% of workers reported experiencing work-related stress.[iii]

One statistic stated: Only about a quarter of employees worldwide are actively engaged in their work.[iv] Though many seem to find enjoyment in their work, it’s not uncommon to hear people saying they are “Working for the weekend” – or “Thank God it’s Friday”.

Even some of our jokes are funny because we generally live in a society that doesn’t like work.

My boss told me to have a good day, so I left and went to the beach.

My boss told me I’d missed too much work lately. I told him I hadn’t missed it much.

We often think of work as fulfilling duties regularly for wages or a salary. It’s about making money. Yet there is more to it. Work is also exerting strength or energy to do or perform something; it involves being creative, using skill, and producing something.

Work shows up very early in our Bible.

Often, the first thought about work is that it’s a result of the Fall, or a result of humanity’s sin and God’s judgment. Genesis 3:17-19 gives God’s judgment on Adam: “the ground is cursed because of you.” We see life becoming more difficult as a result of sin.

But this does not say that work is a result of the Fall. The judgment is not work. The judgment is difficult and sweaty work!

While we tend to think of work as a result of sin, it is actually part of the world before sin. God tells Adam in Genesis 2:15 that he has a role to play in this garden God made for him. He is to “Work it and take care of it” (NIV).

Even before that, in Genesis 1: 28 God gave the people he created a role to play in creation: “Then God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and govern it. Reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the animals that scurry along the ground.’”

Work is not a result of sin but was the first responsibility and role for humans! Along with being fruitful and multiplying, people were to govern and reign. Work is part of that governing and reigning, doing what is good for the world around us.

Work is about contributing to the good of our world. We all need something meaningful to do with our lives. We all have ways of contributing to the good of our world – to “work” in some way.

God has blessed us all with various gifts and passions and skills. Many of us have learned other skills through formal education or experience. We have gained ways of working and contributing to the “governing and reigning,” the “ruling” over the world that God created humans to do.

Hopefully, you have a job that you are created for, that fits, that feels like you are being who God created you to be! If not, ask Him to guide you to where you fit better.

As we think of Spiritual Disciplines and Practices associated with work, there are a few that we will look at in the next blog, but here’s one: The Discipline of Serving.

Mark 10:45 says: “For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

The Discipline of Serving says, “I will choose to use whatever abilities and skills I have to work for the betterment of others, serving them. Not working for my own benefit alone, but also for theirs!”

We are created to work and have the opportunity to serve others in the process.

Keep looking up,

Andy Wiebe

[i] https://www.worldofwork.ca/by-the-number

[ii] Calm’s Voice of the Workplace Report

[iii] APA’s Work in America Survey

[iv] https://www.worldofwork.ca/by-the-numbers

Train Yourself to Be Godly #7: The Encouragement of Fellowship

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*Training yourself to be godly may include fellowship and community.

It is a joy to be part of a church family that truly loves each other and cares for each other. There are some churches where people are truly experiencing fellowship as they encourage each other to become more like Jesus.

Hebrews 10: 19-25 gives a great description of what this fellowship can and should look like. It begins with a reminder that all believers are together in their relationship with Jesus. “We” can boldly enter the Most Holy Place – we – not just you, or just me, but the idea is that “we” can. And not just the people of the Old or New Testament. Not just Jews.

He is using inclusive language – as in “we are in this incredible journey of relationship with God together.” We are all on the same road to heaven, not on a bunch of unrelated individual roads or journeys, but we are on this journey of relationship with God through faith in Jesus together.

And then, in verses 23 -25, the author describes how we should be encouraging each other in our life with Jesus.

Verse 23 Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm…

Let “us” hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm. “Us”. We are not clinging to that hope – that life raft – by our self. Our hope in Jesus is not something we have to hold onto alone. We are invited to hold onto our hope in Him together!

Verse 24 Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works.

Let “us” think of ways to motivate one another. This may require a little creativity, we need to find ways of encouraging each other. The NIV says it like this: let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.

The Greek word for “spur” actually means: provocation, stirring up, sharp disagreement. We are to provoke one another to good deeds.

So the NIV is right. A spur in the side of a horse gets it moving. A spur in your side from a Christian brother or sister may get you moving in the right direction as a follower of Jesus – provoking you to consider getting involved in acting out your faith. We are to stimulate our brothers and sisters in their journey with Jesus.

Our journey with Jesus was never meant to be a solitary voyage. I have a friend who loves canoeing. This summer, he went on a 10-day canoe trip, all by himself. While that is fun for him, that is not the right picture of the Christian life. The Christian life might be best pictured by a voyageur canoe, or those Chinese Dragon boats. It is many people working together and pulling in the same direction.

Verse 25 And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another…

There are some who think they can have a personal faith in Jesus and a relationship with God, and they don’t need anyone else. That is not the picture of the Bible. We need to be intentional about meeting together. This is about more than joining others in a worship service but to meet together to encourage each other in our Christian life.

We need each other. We need to meet so we can spur each other on. We need to live life in connection with each other.

To encourage one another is to give one another courage. There are times one person has more courage than another. One person’s faith is stronger at one point than another. One person is discouraged or un-couraged and needs to be en-couraged!

Let’s finish with something practical. Here are some “Fellowship Questions” you can ask of each other when you meet with another believer. Move beyond the weather and sports and the latest hobby you are learning to finding ways of encouraging each other in our walk with Jesus.

1.         What have you been reading in the Bible lately?

2.         What have you been learning about your walk with Jesus?

3.         Do you have sense of how God is using you or wants to use you to love and do good deeds?

4.         Where are you discouraged or feeling down in your life?

5.         How can I encourage you or pray for you today?

Keep looking up,

Andy Wiebe

Train Yourself to Be Godly #5: Other Spiritual Practices of Prayer

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*Training yourself to be godly may include a rhythm of prayer and fasting, prayer and solitude, and listening or conversational prayer.

Last week, we talked about the spiritual practice of prayer. We have the privilege, as children of our heavenly Father, to talk with him about everything in our life. We can pray about all our concerns and thank him for all he has done for us.

There are a few other spiritual disciplines that are tied to prayer. It may be that you pray often, but haven’t tried some of the practices below. Or maybe you have tried them but have not intentionally made them part of the rhythms of your life. Check them out and ask God for direction on which one to try this week and which ones to incorporate into your walk with God.

SPIRITUAL PRACTICE: Prayer

The first practice is simply prayer but being intentional about determining when and where and what you will pray about. You could develop a prayer list about whom or what to pray for and schedule a regular time of day to pray. If you want to grow in your relationship with Jesus, you need to pray.

SPIRITUAL PRACTICE: Prayer and Fasting

Scripture is clear that fasting was part of people’s lives as they sought God – and usually prayer goes with the fasting. In the book of Esther, Esther asks Mordecai to tell her people to fast. She doesn’t ask them to pray, but that is the assumption – if they fast, they will be praying. They were fasting in order to hear from God and for God to give direction to Esther.

Fasting is simply going without food for a meal or two, or day or two. Some choose to fast for a week or more. Some emulate Jesus and his forty-day fast after his baptism. Some choose to fast by removing something else of importance from their life besides food, such as fasting from technology, or that special hot drink you like. The goal is to demonstrate that one’s desire for God is greater than our desires for other things.

You might want to include prayer and fasting in your walk with Jesus.

SPIRITUAL PRACTICE: Prayer and Solitude

Payer is talking with God. At other times it is just sitting and resting in the presence of God. To be in solitude. This is a hard one!

We fill our lives with busyness and with people and noise. Maybe you want to practice the discipline of Solitude – just stopping and being with Jesus. Sometimes I see this as having coffee with Jesus. Grab a coffee and just sit in prayerful thought as if Jesus is right there having coffee with you. This is less about what you need from Jesus and more about just being in his presence.

Wait. Maybe Jesus will say something – impress a certain thought or scripture on your mind. Maybe even give you direction for the day.

SPIRITUAL PRACTICE: Listening Prayer/Conversational Prayer

Very often, our prayer time is a time of giving God a list of requests and thanking him for what He has done. Sometimes we sit in solitude enjoying being in His presence.

We also need to take time to specifically listen to God. This is not about getting through my list and going on with my day, but taking time to ask God questions and wait for His answers. It is about listening for His still small voice, or a sense, or a reminder of a scripture.

For me, listening prayer works well with a journal, I write down my conversation – what I am saying and then what I think He is saying. I then ask another question to clarify or to learn more, like in any conversation.

I encourage you to slow down and spend time with God, listening and talking with, not just to, God.

Keep looking up,

Andy Wiebe

Train Yourself to Be Godly #4: The Spiritual Practice of Prayer

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*Training yourself to be godly will include intentional prayer.

It is easy to worry. We all face things that are out of our control, whether it’s the state of the world that we see in the news or the health conditions of loved ones. We don’t have to look far to realize that we do not control most things in life. This may cause us to worry, but scripture suggests an alternative.

Look at the words of Philippians 4:6-7,

Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.

We are encouraged not to worry or be anxious about anything. Anything seems to, well, include everything. There is nothing worth worrying about. It won’t help us anyway, even if we do.

Instead, we are to pray and pray about everything. We should have nothing to worry about and everything to pray about. Everything. That means that everything we can think of or imagine can be prayed about. We should pray for those suffering with cancer and for persecuted Christians, and for our work situation or relationships, and even a parking spot or finding the right Birthday present for our spouse.

The verse continues, “tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.”

God wants us to communicate our need to him. He wants us to ask for help. And he wants us to thank him for what he has done for us. This helps explain what praying for everything means as prayer includes both asking for help and thanking God for all the help he has already given. That covers everything, doesn’t it?

The verse goes on to explain the peace we can have as we bring everything to God. His peace can become a guard for our hearts and minds so that we continue to experience his worry-free peace. This peace comes from “living in Christ Jesus.” We need to continue to remain connected to Jesus if we want to have peace.

As a child, I enjoyed flying a kite, watching it get smaller and smaller as I let out the string. One day, the string came off my spool. I no longer had control of the kite. What happens to a kite that is not anchored to the person flying it? The wind may blow it for a while, but it will eventually drop to the ground. The kite is only flying free in the wind when it is anchored to its master. We are only able to fly free in the winds of life if we remain anchored to our Master, and that anchoring, that string that ties us to him is our prayer.

We need a consistent and intentional prayer life, a plan for how we will pray, if we are to train ourselves to be godly or remain connected to the God we serve. If we want to train ourselves to become more like God, we must engage in the spiritual practice of prayer. This means that I will be intentional, not just to pray for meals or to say a prayer before I go to sleep, but to pray intentionally and about specific things and even in specific ways.

I would suggest you make a prayer plan. When will you pray? What will you pray about? And then ask God to speak as you pray.

As you regularly talk with God, he will help you become more like Him.

Keep looking up,

Andy Wiebe

Train Yourself to Be Godly #3: Spiritual Practices of Scripture Memorization, Meditation, and Studying

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*Training yourself to be godly includes memorizing, meditating on, and studying scripture.

Last week I introduced Scripture Reading as a spiritual practice to train ourselves to become more godly and become friends of Jesus. Many people read the Bible, at least to some extent. This may be reading a few verses a day or reading through the Bible in a year. While there is great value in reading scripture, there is great benefit in going beyond reading alone.

So, yes, have a plan for reading the Bible regularly, but also think of going beyond just reading to memorizing, meditating on, and studying scripture. Reading can help us get the big picture of scripture and help us understand what God has written and what Jesus has said. I would like to encourage you to find a way of intentionally internalizing what you read.

Scripture Memorization

Psalm 119:11 says,

“I have hidden your word in my heart

that I might not sin against you.”

Memorization is to hide God’s word in your heart. By spending the time in scripture it becomes embedded in your memory.

At a recent worship service, the pastor started quoting Psalm 23. As he did, he coached the congregation to quote it with him. It was impressive to have many in the congregation reciting Psalm 23 from memory. The congregation had hidden Psalm 23 in their hearts.

I want to encourage you to begin memorizing. You don’t have to start with long scripture passages, but start by memorizing a verse a week. You could start with Psalm 23 or a passage from Paul’s letters like Philippians 2:1-11 which describes the humility of Jesus in coming to earth.

Scripture Meditation

Meditation is to think on a verse over a longer period of time. If you are memorizing a verse and mulling it over in your mind, you are also meditating on it as you continue to let it speak to you.

Psalm 119:15 reads: I meditate on your precepts and consider your ways.

To practice meditation is to spend time thinking and praying and talking to God about one thing, one verse or one statement about God.

Meditation slows us down as we focus on one idea for a period of time. It may be one verse or one phrase that describes God or a theological or doctrinal statement that we can think over as allow God to speak to us over time.

Scripture Study

Maybe you have read the Bible a lot, but you realize you haven’t really stopped to study it – to take time to understand certain passages of scripture or a certain book. You can use different online helps (Biblehub.com) or commentaries to dig a little deeper.

In 2 Timothy 3:16-17 we read:

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

If we long to be more godly and want to train ourselves to be so, studying moves beyond reading, memorizing, and meditating, to dig into what words and phrases and verses mean.

I encourage you to move beyond devotional booklets like the Daily Bread, and others. While they have good stories and good scriptural thoughts, learn to study the Bible for yourself. Take time to “chew” on the word of God, not just taking in what others have “chewed” in their study. Study it for yourself without just relying on the work others have done. There is value in us processing the study instead of just receiving someone else’s answers from their study.

Train yourself to be godly by spending intentional time in scripture, getting to know God, getting to know Jesus, and allowing scripture to equip you and train you to be the woman or man of God He longs for you to be.

Keep looking up,

Andy Wiebe

Spiritual Training Series #2: The Spiritual Practice of Reading Scripture

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*Training yourself to be godly will include reading scripture.

Anne of Green Gables described the type of friend she longed to meet: “A bosom friend. A kindred spirit. I’ve dreamt of meeting her all my life.” We all desire a good friend, a bosom friend who understands us, wants to spend time with us, and shares our interests.

But did you know that you can become a friend of Jesus? Or that Jesus wants to call you his friend?

In John 15:14,15, Jesus says, “You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you slaves, because a master doesn’t confide in his slaves. Now you are my friends, since I have told you everything the Father told me.”

Jesus calls YOU a friend if you do what he commands.

This is not just for the disciples – Jesus is inviting you and me – as his present-day disciples, to become his friends!

Verse 15 declares there is a change of status for Jesus’ disciples – there are no longer slaves (or servants) but friends!

But there needs to be obedience on the part of the friends.

And for the friends to be obedient to those commands – they need to know what those commands are!

Yes, Jesus is Lord, but he invites us into friendship. Jesus invites us into friendship, not as ones who must do everything Jesus said – or God said – but as ones who know the heart of Jesus and want to do the things that honor and show respect to our Lord – and friend!

You are my friends if… If what? If you do what I command.

How do we know what Jesus (or the Father) has commanded? We need to read the Bible.

If you want to be a friend of Jesus you need to spend time in Scripture getting to know Jesus, reading it like a letter from a friend rather than a textbook.

This is about getting to know the heart of God, the heart of Jesus. It’s about getting to know him and love him and desire to please him so that it is not obedience out of obligation, but because of a desire to please the one you love!

If you want to train yourself to be godly, to become a friend of Jesus and be more like him, you will want to include a regimen of Scripture reading (memorization, meditation, study, etc.), which will help you to get to know Jesus better.

First, get your own Bible, and then make a plan for reading the Bible. There are various Bible Reading Plans available, including some that take you through the entire Bible in a year. Just search the internet and you can download or order from a variety of plans, but make sure you have a plan so you can train yourself to be godly!

Read the Bible regularly so you can learn what Jesus has commanded, can do what he has taught, and be his friend, and become more godly in the process.

We are to train ourselves to be godly. It begins with reading the Bible regularly.

Keep looking up,

Andy Wiebe

Spiritual Training Series #1: Train Yourself to be Godly

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Imagine you just received a baby picture from friends who just had a baby. What if they sent you a picture every year? What if you are like me and don’t clean your fridge very often? As you put up the picture from year five, you notice the picture from the first announcement. And then you realize there has been very little change. The baby is still hardly any bigger and doesn’t seem to have developed much. Unfortunately, there are some children who do not mature the way we expect, who never crawl or walk or communicate. This makes us sad because a baby needs to grow.

As followers of Jesus, we need to grow, too.

1 Timothy 4:7 says “train yourself to be godly”.

Philippians 2:12 says “work out your salvation”.

We are to become more “godly” or Christ-like. We are to continue to grow and develop spiritually to become a better expression of the image of God as we were created to be, according to Genesis 1:27.

So God created mankind in his own image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he crated them.

Genesis 1:27

This is not just about our own hard work though. In Colossians 1:29, the Apostle Paul writes: “I work and struggle so hard, depending on Christ’s mighty power that works within me.” Yes we are to train ourselves and work out our salvation and struggle. We have a part to play in our spiritual development, but this is never something we do no our own. Like Paul we can depend on “Christ’s mighty power that works within me”.

We can and should do our part. It may be that we choose to practice some of the Spiritual Disciplines that Christians have practiced throughout history. This includes prayer, scripture reading, fasting, sabbath, generosity, and so on. As we practice these disciplines, we make an effort to do our part as we invite the Holy Spirit to do His work in us to make us a little more like Jesus.

Whatever training we want to instill in our lives, we do need to train ourselves to become godly. For this to be a priority in our lives, we need to intentionally prepare a training schedule or plan. When will you read the Bible, and what will you read? When will you pray, and what will you include in your prayer time? When will you choose to fast, and what kind of fast? How will you practice generosity, and so on?

Think back to the time when you first became a believer in Jesus. We could say you were a baby Christian. What would that picture have looked like if your heavenly Father had taken a picture and hung it on his fridge in heaven? What would a picture he took this year look like? As I look back 51 years, to the time He could have taken my “spiritual baby” picture,  I trust that my picture – the me that God sees – would give evidence of much spiritual growth and maturity. Maybe the picture would not just include me, but other people around me who have come to know Jesus or been impacted for Jesus by me.

I pray that you are intentionally pursuing Jesus and looking for ways to grow toward every fuller spiritual maturity.

Keep on looking up,

Andy Wiebe

Highlight Baptism as the Celebration It Is.

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One of my highlights of pastoral ministry has been baptism services. I have had the joy of baptizing children, one as young as nine years old, as well as a senior who was around ninety years old. I have baptized in rivers and lakes and horse watering troughs and baptismal tanks. I had the privilege of baptizing my daughters! Every baptism has been a great celebration of God drawing an individual to Himself and that individual responding by faith and a public declaration of their commitment to serve Jesus!

Baptism is one of the acts that Jesus challenged his followers to do as part of making disciples. Along with teaching them to obey everything Jesus commanded, disciples of Jesus are to make disciples of others, “baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28: 19-20). As the water runs off, the baptismal candidate is reminded of their sins washed away. My practice has usually been to immerse the candidate, so when they come out of the water it is as if they have been buried and now raised to a new life in Christ.

Baptism should always be a great celebration! I have been disappointed to be in services where baptism seemed like a side issue. One church baptized people off to the side of the stage as the rest of the congregation continued with their worship service. We heard no testimony from the candidates or the words spoken over them as they were baptized. Baptism is one of the few expressions of discipleship Jesus instituted so let’s make it a priority in our services. Let’s show everyone present that we believe this is an important step in obedience to Jesus by highlighting the whole of the baptism.

I have heard of some baptisms that happened in someone’s backyard with only the family attending. Again, I think the church is missing out when a member of their community is not baptized in the presence of the whole church, as it is a celebration of their discipleship, and discipleship must happen in community with the local body of Christ! The baptismal candidate is also missing out because they do not have the support and excitement of their church celebrating this momentous moment with them. We have celebrations for our physical birth and for wedding anniversaries, why not celebrate our spiritual birth and life too!

Baptism is important because Jesus told us to do it. It is an initial step in discipleship, so let’s not only practice it but also highlight it as the special priority it is. Let’s invite the whole congregation to gather around, whether it is in the church, or out at a lake or river, or even in a hot tub in someone’s backyard. Let’s allow the candidate to share a testimony, whether live or recorded, where they declare their allegiance to Jesus! Let’s invite unbelieving family and friends to come too, so they can experience this occasion and recognize the commitment the person is making to Jesus. Maybe the event will be an occasion for them to commit their life to Jesus, too!

Pastors can use the baptism service as a time to remind the church of God’s love, of Jesus’ sacrifice for them in His death and resurrection, and that the Holy Spirit wants to help them grow in their relationship with Jesus. Highlight baptism as part of discipleship. Those witnessing the baptism can see Christ’s incredible love and fall more in love with Him, too.

I hope you have many baptism celebrations as many come to faith in Jesus and connect with your church!

Keep looking up,

Andy Wiebe