Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 281 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

Principles of Spiritual Growth – Purpose #2

Thank you for joining us for our 7 days a week, 7 minutes of wisdom podcast. This is Day 281 of our trek. Yesterday and today we are hiking on our 4^th trail on our current trek which is the Trail of Purpose.

This entire 18 trail trek is adapted from a short book called Principles of Spiritual Growth written by Miles J. Stanford. This practical information was instrumental in my spiritual growth as a young man seeking to create and live my legacy. I trust that you will also find this trek valuable in your own life, regardless of your spiritual background or perspective. Each of the trails that we hike builds on the previous one, so if you miss any of our Wisdom-Trek, please go to Wisdom-Trek.com to listen to them and read the daily journal.

We are recording our podcast from our studio at Home2 in Charlotte, North Carolina. We made good progress with the tax returns and other financial work that we needed to accomplished this weekend, which gives us a great sense of accomplishment. We were also able to attend our local church here in Charlotte. With us traveling back and forth to Ohio, we are only able to attend the services once or twice a month. It is always good to worship with our local Christ followers as we have the opportunity.

As we start this new work week, it is now time to break camp for today and head out on the 2^nd part of the Trail of Purpose. This is the 4^th of 18 trails which makes up the trek we call…

Principles of Spiritual Growth – Purpose #2

Yesterday on the first part of the Trail of Purpose, we came to understand that regardless of our status or situation on our trek of life, our purpose in life is to reflect and then become more like God’s image.  This is possible as 2 Corinthians 3:18 tells  us, “So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image.”

It is one thing to know what God’s purpose is for our lives, and it is quite another to know how we integrate that purpose into the very fabric of our lives. One of God’s most effective means is through the process of failure. Most people, including believers, are simply frantic over the fact of failure in their lives. We will go to all lengths in trying to hide it, ignore it, or rationalize about it. All the time we may very well be resisting the main instrument in the Father’s hand for conforming us to the image of His Son!

Failure, where self is concerned in our Christian life, is allowed and often engineered by God. His purpose is to turn us completely from ourselves to His source for our life—Christ Jesus, who never fails. Instead of dreading failure, we are to rejoice in our need and hunger of the heart. Jesus told us in Matthew 5:6, “God blesses those who hunger and thirst for justice, for they will be satisfied.”

We integrate more and more of God’s image as we recognize the fact that our old nature has been crucified with Christ which is told to us in Galatians  2:20, “My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

By our very nature, we will conform to those things in life that we focus our attention, interest, admiration, love, and time.  In his book The Great Stone Face, Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote this sentence, “Then, too, think of Germany some years ago, full of little Hitlers all because of fanatical devotion to a second-rate paper hanger!” Are we so different in our culture today? We have radio, TV, movies, and the internet that contribute to a rising generation of people young and old who try to emulate their entertainment or sports heroes.

What about the believer? If we are attracted to this present evil world, we become increasingly worldly. If we pamper and live for self, we become more and more self-centered. On the other hand, when we look to Jesus Christ, we become more and more like Him. Think about this…If we are to be like Christ, then God in His grace must be the change agent. The sooner we come to recognize this the sooner we will be delivered from the shackles that keep us imprisoned within our self-centered world. In everything, we take on the attributes and habits of what we focus on. We cannot and will not fulfill our purpose of becoming like God’s image through our own efforts. Throw down every endeavor and say, you cannot do it on your own, the more you try, the farther you get from His likeness. God is the only one who holds the keys that will unlock our shackles. What should you do? In Matthew 11:28, Jesus gives us the answer, “Then Jesus said, ‘Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.’”

Don’t try to be like Him, just come to Him and look to Him. Just be occupied with Him. Forget about trying to be like Him. Instead of letting that fill your mind and heart, let Him fill it. Just behold Him, look upon Him through the Word. Come to the Word for one purpose and that is to meet the Lord. Not to get your mind crammed full of things about the sacred Word, but come to it to meet the Lord. Don’t necessarily strive for Biblical scholarship, but in fellowship with Christ. Observe the Lord. Learn to meditate on God’s Word, which is Christ. As David wrote in Psalms 145:5, “I will meditate on your majestic, glorious splendor, and your wonderful miracles.”

As we allow God’s Word to permeate the very fabric of our lives, it will help us to understand Philippians 2:13, “For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.” And what is His “working in you?” He is working everything together for this one purpose: 2 Corinthians 4:11 says, “Yes, we live under constant danger of death because we serve Jesus, so that the life of Jesus will be evident in our dying bodies.” Also so that we can live for Him. Philippians [1:21] – For to me, living means living for Christ, and dying is even better.

On our trek Principles for Spiritual Growth, today we explored the second part of Trail of Purpose. On these two days, we discovered that God’s purpose for our lives is to take on His image through His son, our savior Jesus Christ. As we become more like Christ, it will then become clear what particular trails that we will need to complete on our trek of life to fulfill that purpose. For most of us, it may not be anything out of the ordinary, it will just require that we remain faithful in our everyday tasks of life.  We will have the most positive impact on our world if we continue on steadfastly with consistency and persistence doing our best each day. Keep in mind that we are to live our legacy today, so that we will leave a legacy for generations to come.

During the next two days, we will hike the Trail of Preparation where we will explore how to prepare for the trek of life that God has for us in the future. Every trail that we hike will help us to create and live our legacy each day. So encourage your friends and family to join us, and then come along tomorrow for another day of our Wisdom-Trek, Creating a Legacy.

That will finish our podcast for today. As you enjoy your daily dose of wisdom, we ask you to help us grow Wisdom-Trek by sharing with your family and friends through email, Facebook, Twitter, or in person, so they can come along with us each day.

Thank you for allowing me to be your guide, mentor, and most of all your friend as I serve you through the Wisdom-Trek podcast and journal each day.

As we take this trek together, let us always:

1. Live Abundantly (Fully)
2. Love Unconditionally
3. Listen Intentionally
4. Learn Continuously
5. Lend to others Generously
6. Lead with Integrity
7. Leave a Living Legacy Each Day

This is Guthrie Chamberlain reminding you to Keep Moving Forward, Enjoy Your Journey, and Create a Great Day Every Day! See you tomorrow!

Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 280 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

Principles of Spiritual Growth – Purpose #1

Thank you for joining us for our 7 days a week, 7 minutes of wisdom podcast. This is Day 280 of our trek. For the past two days, we hiked the Trail of Acceptance. Today we are heading out on the first part of the 4^th trail which is the Trail of Purpose.

This entire 18 trail trek is adapted from a short book called Principles of Spiritual Growth written by Miles J. Stanford. This practical information was instrumental in my spiritual growth as a young man seeking to create and live my legacy. I trust that you will also find this trek valuable in your own life, regardless of your spiritual background or perspective. Each of the trails that we will hike builds on the previous one, so if you miss any of our Wisdom-Trek, please go to Wisdom-Trek.com to listen to them and read the daily journal.

We are recording our podcast from our studio at Home2 in Charlotte, North Carolina. We had the privilege of voting early in the primary elections on Friday. Regardless of your political persuasion, I encourage everyone to invest the time to exercise your right to vote. It is one of the many reasons the U.S. is a great nation.

This weekend we are focused on completing company tax returns for our two companies and a couple of client companies. Once we are done with those, we can then move onto the several personal tax returns that we must do for ourselves and family members. All of our work with clients and family certainly adds to our purpose on this trek of life.

It is now time to break camp for today and head out on a new hike on the Trail of Purpose. This is the 4^th of 18 trails which makes up the trek we call…

Principles of Spiritual Growth – Purpose #1

Do you ever wonder what your purpose in life is? I think we all have those thoughts at times. How wonderful and encouraging it is to know that our Heavenly Father has made it crystal clear in His Word exactly what His purpose is for each one of us. During these two days, we will explore His overriding purpose for your personal life.

Let’s start at the beginning, when man and woman were created. In Genesis 1:26 it tells us that “Then God said, ‘Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us…’” The first man and woman, Adam and Eve, were made in God’s image in the realm of personality, intellect, emotions, will, and choice. This was so that there could be communion, fellowship, and cooperation between them; with God sovereign and man subject—subject to His will, which is perfect freedom. But, we know that Adam and Eve chose their own way in preference to God’s way, relying on themselves only, loving just themselves. As a result, they immediately became self-centered instead of God-centered. They were dead to God, who is the source of all life, dead in trespasses and sins. In this self-centered condition, Genesis 4 and 5 describe how Adam and Eve had children of their own, in their image, including their disobedient character traits. These inherited traits were passed down to all humans from that point forward as mentioned in Ephesians 2:1, “Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins.”

Adam and Eve’s wrong choices, and by extension our own choices, are not the end of God’s story. In ourselves, we have failed to maintain the character of God, so he provided an alternate solution. This is found in Hebrews 1:1-3, “Long ago God spoke many times and in many ways to our ancestors through the prophets. And now in these final days, he has spoken to us through his Son. God promised everything to the Son as an inheritance, and through the Son he created the universe. The Son radiates God’s own glory and expresses the very character of God, and he sustains everything by the mighty power of his command. When he had cleansed us from our sins, he sat down in the place of honor at the right hand of the majestic God in heaven.”

Jesus is the image of God back on earth. 1 Corinthians 15:45 – The Scriptures tell us, “The first man, Adam, became a living person.” But the last Adam—that is, Christ—is a life-giving Spirit.

Our natural birth made us members of the fallen, sinful first-Adam race. Our transition from the old sinful race to the new godly race is known as the “new birth.”  Romans 5:19 explains this transition, “Because one person disobeyed God, many became sinners. But because one other person obeyed God, many will be made righteous.”

Our Heavenly Father is still carrying out His purpose of making man in His image. Although His original purpose is the same, He is not using the original man to bring it about. All is now centered in the Last Adam, our Lord Jesus. As 2 Peter 1:4 puts it, “And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires.”

Although God sees us “in Christ” and in right standing before Him, we still have those inherited traits of the first man, but not forever as 1 Corinthians 15:49 explains, “Just as we are now like the earthly man, we will someday be like the heavenly man.”

The familiar verse that is often quoted when we hit a rough patch in life and know that God is working through it is Romans 8:28-29,  “And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.”

What is God’s good purpose for us mentioned in verse 28?  It is explained in verse 29: God’s original purpose of making us in His image, which is now centered and expressed in His Son, Christ, who is our life.  Paul compares our spiritual growth to labor pains in Galatians 4:19, “Oh, my dear children! I feel as if I’m going through labor pains for you again, and they will continue until Christ is fully developed in your lives.”

The open secret of healthy spiritual growth is to know and settle upon this fact as outlined in Romans 8:28-29. When we see that all things are working together to make us more and more like the Lord Jesus, we will not be frustrated and upset when life’s trek is hard, difficult to understand, and often contains an element of death – at least to our old nature. We will be able to rest in our Lord Jesus, have a constant attitude of faith, and say to our Father the words of Jesus in Matthew 6:10, “May your Kingdom come soon. May your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.”

On our trek Principles for Spiritual Growth, today we explored the first part of Trail of Purpose as we learned that our primary purpose is to be made into God’s image. On tomorrow’s hike, we will take what we explored today and learn how to put it into practice in our daily trek. Every trail that we hike will help us to create and live our legacy each day. So, encourage your friends and family to join us, and then come along tomorrow for another day of our Wisdom-Trek, Creating a Legacy.

That will finish our podcast for today. As you enjoy your daily dose of wisdom, we ask you to help us grow Wisdom-Trek by sharing with your family and friends through email, Facebook, Twitter, or in person so they can come along with us each day.

The journal for today’s trek can be found at Wisdom-Trek.com. Thank you for allowing me to be your guide, mentor, and most of all your friend as I serve you through the Wisdom-Trek podcast and journal each day.

As we take this trek together, let us always:

1. Live Abundantly (Fully)
2. Love Unconditionally
3. Listen Intentionally
4. Learn Continuously
5. Lend to others Generously
6. Lead with Integrity
7. Leave a Living Legacy Each Day

This is Guthrie Chamberlain reminding you to Keep Moving Forward, Enjoy Your Journey, and Create a Great Day Every Day! See you tomorrow!

Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 279 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

Principles of Spiritual Growth – Acceptance #2

Thank you for joining us for our 7 days a week, 7 minutes of wisdom podcast. This is Day 279 of our trek. Yesterday and today we are hiking the Trail of Acceptance. The entire 18 trail trek is adapted from a short book called Principles of Spiritual Growth written by Miles J. Stanford.

This practical information was instrumental in my spiritual growth as a young man seeking to create and live my legacy.  I trust that you will also find this trek valuable in your own life, regardless of your spiritual background or perspective. Each of the trails that we will hike builds on the previous one, so if you miss any of our Wisdom-Trek, please go to Wisdom-Trek.com to listen to them and read the daily journal.

We are recording our podcast from our studio at Home2 in Charlotte, North Carolina. On a personal note, Paula is finally finishing up one of the last major details of her quest of braces, which started nearly six years ago. She had the rare situation where she still had five baby teeth that never fell out. She had to have those pulled before getting her braces, so the orthodontist shifted her teeth to leave a place for a molar to be implanted. The permanent implant was put in today, and now she has a mouth full of straight teeth. We are so pleased. One minor adjustment to her retainer next week, and this project will be complete. How our teeth look does impact our self-image and our perceived acceptance by others.

As we continue on our hike of the Trail of Acceptance today, we once again consider what it means to be accepted by others, but most importantly, how we perceive that God accepts us. The thought of acceptance is part of our hike on our 3rd of 18 trails, which make up the trek we call…

Principles of Spiritual Growth – Acceptance #2

As we continue from yesterday, we have come to realize that God’s acceptance of us is unconditional and based solely on His acceptance of us in Christ. Christ bought our full pardon so that we are no longer under any condemnation.

The Holy Spirit always reasons down from what God is, and this produces a total change in your soul. It is not that you necessarily dislike it when you live contrary to God’s precepts. In fact, you may quite well be enjoying the fleeting pleasures of sin, as is mentioned in Hebrews [11:25]. Let’s look at how the Holy Spirit reasons. He shows us what we are in ourselves without God. That is one reason why the Spirit often seems to be very difficult and does not give peace to the soul because we are not comforted until we experientially, from our hearts, acknowledge what we are.

Until our soul comes to that point where we accept the Spirit’s leading and in agreement of our need for God, He does not give it peace. He could not. Anything less would be like placing a tiny Band-Aid on a gaping wound. The soul has to go on until it finds there is nothing to rest on but the goodness of God, and then we can acknowledge what Roman 8:31 says, “What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us?”

Sadly today, most believers actually reason just the opposite—from themselves to God. When all is going well and God seems to be blessing, then it is that we feel He loves and accepts us. But, when we are stumbling and everything seems dry and hard, then we feel that He does not love and accept us. How can this be? There is nothing about us to commend us to God, our acceptance is solely in Christ. We don’t like to acknowledge this, but the fact is that most of our true spiritual development comes through the dry and hard times. Thank God, He has accepted us in His Son, and upon this fact, we must rest our faith. Our acceptance is by grace alone.

There is nothing within us as to why God’s grace should be shown to us. There is no action that we can perform that would merit His grace…We have been accepted in Christ, who is our standing! We are not “on probation.” As far as our past life is concerned, it does not exist before God. We died at the cross, and Christ is our Life.  Grace, once given, cannot be withdrawn, for God knew all the human demands beforehand. God’s actions are independent of ours, not dependent upon them.

·       The Proper Attitude of the Man or Woman Under Grace

• To believe, and to consent to be loved while unworthy, is the great secret.
• To refuse to make “resolutions” and “vows,” for that is to trust in the flesh.
• To expect to be blessed, though realizing more and more lack of worth…
• To rely on God’s chastening [child training] hand as a mark of His kindness…

·       Things Which Gracious Souls Discover

• To “hope to be better” [that is acceptable] is to fail to see yourself in Christ only.
• To be disappointed with yourself is to have believed in yourself.
• To be discouraged is unbelief, as to God’s purpose and plan of blessing for you.
• To be proud, is to be blind, for we have no standing before God, in ourselves.
• The lack of Divine blessing, therefore, comes from unbelief, and not from a failure of devotion…

To preach devotion first, and blessing second, is to reverse God’s order, and preach law, not grace. The law made man’s blessing depend on devotion. Grace confers undeserved, unconditional blessing. Our devotion may follow, but does not always do so in proper measure.

Let me ask you a couple of questions:

• Have you been afraid to really believe God?
• Has your fear been a hindrance to allow others to really believe Him?

We must never forget what Isaiah 55:8 says, “My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts, says the Lord. And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.” To some people, constant drama in their lives is the only spur to action, and many religions and psychologies are dependent on fear to keep their followers in line. Fear is not always bad, but God has higher and more effective motivations than fear. And one of these is love. Fear after a while produces only numbness, but love flourishes on love.

To promise a person the certainty of their eternal destiny may seem, on the human level, like playing with fire, but this leaves God out of the picture. Those who have the deepest appreciation of grace do not continue in sin. Moreover, fear produces the obedience of slaves; love engenders the obedience of sons.

Until the Christian is absolutely and scripturally convinced of his standing, he is not going to do much standing but will still crawl around like an infant. We are commanded to stand firm but in love in 1 Corinthians 16:13-14, “Be on guard. Stand firm in the faith. Be courageous. Be strong. And do everything with love.”

We are accepted fully and forever by God, and we can have great confidence, comfort, and strength in the promises of 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17, “Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal comfort and a wonderful hope,  comfort you and strengthen you in every good thing you do and say.”

On our trek Principles for Spiritual Growth, over the past two days, we have completed the Trail of Acceptance. We have learned, without a doubt, that we are fully and unconditionally accepted by God because our acceptance is solely based in Christ, and not in ourselves. I trust that you understand and accept God’s acceptance of you.

During the next two days, we will hike the Trail of Purpose as we explore what God’s purpose is for your life. This may provide you with the foundation for Your Life Plan Blueprint. Every trail that we hike will help us to create and live our legacy each day. So, encourage your friends and family to join us, and then come along tomorrow for another day of our Wisdom-Trek, Creating a Legacy.

That will finish our podcast for today. As you enjoy your daily dose of wisdom, we ask you to help us grow Wisdom-Trek by sharing with your family and friends through email, Facebook, Twitter, or in person, so they can come along with us each day.

Thank you for allowing me to be your guide, mentor, and most of all your friend as I serve you through the Wisdom-Trek podcast and journal each day.

As we take this trek together, let us always:

1. Live Abundantly (Fully)
2. Love Unconditionally
3. Listen Intentionally
4. Learn Continuously
5. Lend to others Generously
6. Lead with Integrity
7. Leave a Living Legacy Each Day

This is Guthrie Chamberlain reminding you to Keep Moving Forward, Enjoy Your Journey, and Create a Great Day Every Day! See you tomorrow!

Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 278 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

Principles of Spiritual Growth – Acceptance #1

Thank you for joining us for our 7 days a week, 7 minutes of wisdom podcast. This is Day 278 of our trek, and yesterday we finished our hike on the Trail of Time. Today and tomorrow we will hike the Trail of Acceptance.

The entire 18 trail trek is adapted from a short book called Principles of Spiritual Growth written by Miles J. Stanford. This information was instrumental in my spiritual growth as a young man seeking to create and live my legacy. I trust that you will find this trek valuable in your own life, regardless of your spiritual background or perspective.  Each of the trails that we will hike builds on the previous one, so if you miss any of our Wisdom-Trek, please go to Wisdom-Trek.com to listen to them and read the daily journal.

We are recording our podcast from our studio at Home2 in Charlotte, North Carolina. We made significant progress on projects today on multiple fronts, so although it was busy, there was a sense of accomplishment. This is partially because the remote technical support for one client was a bit less intense today. Paula and our friend Bev were also able to make some reviews and edits to Your Life Plan Blueprint today, so hopefully we will be able to get back on track soon with that important project.

As we hike the trails of life, we all desire to be part of the group, to be accepted. As we are leaving our campsite for today and heading out on a new trail, we all want to feel as if we are contributing to the progress that we make. This concept is part of our very nature. As humans, our acceptance of others is usually conditional.

What we will learn on the Trail of Acceptance is whether God accepts us, and if He does, on what basis. These thoughts lead us to our hike on our 3rd of 18 trails, which will make up the trek we call…

Principles of Spiritual Growth – Acceptance #1

There are two questions that every believer must settle as soon as possible in order to be able to live the rich and satisfying life that Jesus promised us.

1. Does God fully accept me?
2. If so, upon what basis does He do so?

This is crucial. What devastation often permeates the life of one, young or old, rich or poor, saved or unsaved, who is not sure of being accepted, even on the human level.

Yet so many believers, whether “strugglers” or “sleepwalkers,” move through life without this precious fact to rest and build on from Ephesians 1:5-6, “God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure. So we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son.”

Every believer is accepted and made right by the Father, in Christ. Romans 5:1 says, “Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us.” The peace is God’s toward us, through His beloved Son—on this, our peace is to be based. God is able to be at peace with us through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Colossians 1:19-20 – For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ, and through him God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ’s blood on the cross.

And we must never forget that His peace is founded solely on the work of the cross, totally apart from anything whatsoever in or from us. Romans 5:8 – But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.

Our faith becomes a fixed attitude, as solid as stone once it begins to rest in this wonderful fact. We not only become living stones in God’s house, but we also become a holy priest. 1 Peter 2:4-5 – You are coming to Christ, who is the living cornerstone of God’s temple. He was rejected by people, but he was chosen by God for great honor. And you are living stones that God is building into his spiritual temple. What’s more, you are his holy priests. Through the mediation of Jesus Christ, you offer spiritual sacrifices that please God.

This is the solid evidence that most believers are in need of today. God never alters nor departs from the acceptance in which He has received us because His acceptance is based exclusively on the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We may feel that we wander from God’s acceptance of us when we sin, but He does not even remember our sins because he sees us in Christ. Once we have accepted God’s sacrifice, we are completely accepted for eternity. 1 Peter 3:18 – Christ suffered for our sins once for all time.

The truth is that God has not changed. His eye rests on the work accomplished by Christ for the believer. When you are not walking in the Spirit, you are in the flesh. You have turned to the old man who was crucified on the cross. We should no longer be slaves to sin. Romans 6:6 – We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin.

When you do sin, which you will, as soon as you realize it, you have to be restored to fellowship, and when you are, you find your acceptance with God unchanged and unchangeable. When sins are introduced, there is a fear that God has changed. He has not changed, but you have. You are not walking in the Spirit but in the flesh. God will not condemn you for your sins. He did that in Christ. Romans 8:1 – So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus.

Acceptance is not altered, regardless, but for your fellowship needs to be restored with God.  You have to turn from those acts that are not aligned with God’s Word.

God’s grace to us must be our basis for acceptance. There is no other. Ephesians 1:6 – So we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son.

God, our Father, is fully satisfied with His beloved Son on our behalf, and there is no reason for us not to be. Our peace and satisfaction can only spring from and rest in His satisfaction. It is from God to us, not from us to God.  When the Holy Spirit deals with a person’s heart, He does not reason from what man is for God, but from what God is to man. Humans reason from what they are in themselves as to whether God can accept them. God does not accept us in this manner. The only way that you obtain everlasting peace in our lives is by accepting that God has accepted us through what Christ did, not through what we have done or may do.

Humans reason from what they are in themselves as to whether God can accept them. God does not accept us in this manner. The only way that you obtain everlasting peace in our lives is by accepting that God has accepted us through what Christ did, not through what we have done, or may do.

On our trek Principles for Spiritual Growth today, we find ourselves on the first part of the Trail of Acceptance. We have clearly seen that God accepts us completely and unconditionally because our acceptance is through Christ. Tomorrow we will finish the trail by exploring the evidence based on facts of this acceptance. Every trail that we hike will help us to create and live our legacy each day. So, encourage your friends and family to join us, and then come along tomorrow for another day of our Wisdom-Trek, Creating a Legacy.

That will finish our podcast for today. As you enjoy your daily dose of wisdom, we ask you to help us grow Wisdom-Trek by sharing with your family and friends through email, Facebook, Twitter, or in person, so they can come along with us each day.

Thank you for allowing me to be your guide, mentor, and most of all your friend as I serve you through the Wisdom-Trek podcast and journal each day.

As we take this trek together, let us always:

1. Live Abundantly (Fully)
2. Love Unconditionally
3. Listen Intentionally
4. Learn Continuously
5. Lend to others Generously
6. Lead with Integrity
7. Leave a Living Legacy Each Day

This is Guthrie Chamberlain reminding you to Keep Moving Forward, Enjoy Your Journey, and Create a Great Day Every Day! See you tomorrow!

Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 277 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

Principles of Spiritual Growth – Time #2

Thank you for joining us for our 7 days a week, 7 minutes of wisdom podcast. This is Day 277 of our trek, and on Tuesday of this week, we are started on an extended trek that contains 18 different trails that we will hike. Our first trail was the Trail of Faith. Yesterday and today we are hiking on the Trail of Time.

The entire trek is adapted from a short book called Principles of Spiritual Growth written by Miles J. Stanford. This information was instrumental in my spiritual growth as a young man seeking to create and live my legacy. I trust that you will find this trek valuable in your own life, regardless of your spiritual background or perspective. Each of the trails that we will hike builds on the previous one, so if you miss any of our Wisdom-Trek, please go to Wisdom-Trek.com to listen to them and read the daily journal.

We are recording our podcast from our studio at Home2 in Charlotte, North Carolina. Since we are hiking on the Trail of Time for a couple of days, I am reminded just how brief our time is here on our trek of life.

Last week an online friend’s, who is a leader within one of the Facebook communities that I belong to, husband died un-expectantly. They also have two young children that have lost their father. While each day seems to rush by, and we may not accomplish all that we desire to, let us make sure that we take time for the most important people in our lives. We do not know when God may call us home, let’s make sure that we are living a legacy each day and leaving an impactful legacy for generations to come. Let’s not try to rush what is important.

These thoughts lead us to our hike for today on the 2^nd part of our Trail of Time. This will complete our 2^nd of 18 trails which will make up the trek we call…

Principles of Spiritual Growth – Time #2

As I mentioned yesterday, it seems that most Christ followers, including myself, have difficulty realizing and facing up to the unchangeable fact that God does not hurry in His development of our lives and the impact that we should have on our world. He is working from and for eternity! So many times we don’t feel that we are making enough progress unless we are swiftly and constantly forging ahead. Yesterday, we used the analogy of the oak tree and the squash. One takes decades to grow to maturity, and the other just a few months. It is only the oak tree that will be left standing for generations to come. It is the same with our Spiritual growth and renewal.

Spiritual renewal is a gradual process. All growth is progressive, and the stronger the organism, the longer the process. It is from measure to measure as Matthew 13:23 tells  us, “The seed that fell on good soil represents those who truly hear and understand God’s word and produce a harvest of thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times as much as had been planted!” It is from stage to stage as Mark 4:28 says, “The earth produces the crops on its own. First a leaf blade pushes through, then the heads of wheat are formed, and finally the grain ripens.” It is from day to day because God is not in a hurry as 2 Peter 3:8 describes, “But you must not forget this one thing, dear friends: A day is like a thousand years to the Lord, and a thousand years is like a day.”

How varied are these analogies! There are great days, days of decisive battles, days of crises in spiritual history, days of triumph in Christian service, days of the right hand of God upon us. But there are also idle days, days apparently useless, when even prayer and holy service seem a burden. Are we, in any sense, renewed in these days? Yes, for any experience which makes us more aware of our need of God must contribute to spiritual progress unless we deny the Lord, who bought us.

Regardless of what your purpose and calling in life are, we are all here on earth to give hope and to live a legacy. Our primary purpose is to point others to and bring glory to God. We must understand that it takes many years to learn and grow from an apprentice to a master in our crafts. And, so it is in our growth in our knowledge and understanding of God and His Word. There is no way to rush the process.

This is not to discourage us in any way but to help us settle down with our sights on eternity, by faith in God’s timeline, not ours. Even the Apostle Paul understood this concept, which he describes in Philippians 3:12-14, “I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead,  I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.”

Certainly this is not to discount a Spirit-fostered experience, blessing, or even a crisis; but it is to be remembered that these simply contribute to the overall, and all-important, process. It takes time to get to know ourselves; it takes time and eternity to get to know our infinite Lord Jesus Christ. It is up to us to continue on with our daily trek with endurance. The type that is described in Hebrews 12:1, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.”

So often in the daily battles of life we go to the Lord, and pray and plead and appeal for victory, for power, for mastery over the forces of evil and death. Our thought is that in some way, the Lord is going to come in with a mighty exercise of power and put us into a place of victory and spiritual dominance as in an act. We must have this mentality corrected. What the Lord does is to enlarge us to possess this power. If we desire to gain endurance or muscle strength, we must be willing to exercise. In the same way, God puts us through some exercise, through some experience, that allows us to expand and strengthen spiritually. This growth takes both time and nutrients as told to us in Colossians 2:7, “Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness.”

On our trek Principles for Spiritual Growth, we have now hiked the Trails of Faith and Time. As part of this, we need to have the faith and knowledge that God’s timing in our lives is best. Ecclesiastes 3:11 says it well, “Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end.”

During the next two days, we will hike the Trail of Acceptance and explore why God wants us to understand what it really means to be accepted in Him. Every trail that we hike will help us to create and live our legacy each day. So, encourage your friends and family to join us, and then come along tomorrow for another day of our Wisdom-Trek, Creating a Legacy.

That will finish our podcast for today. As you enjoy your daily dose of wisdom, we ask you to help us grow Wisdom-Trek by sharing with your family and friends through email, Facebook, Twitter, or in person, so they can come along with us each day.

Thank you for allowing me to be your guide, mentor, and most of all your friend as I serve you through the Wisdom-Trek podcast and journal each day.

As we take this trek together, let us always:

1. Live Abundantly (Fully)
2. Love Unconditionally
3. Listen Intentionally
4. Learn Continuously
5. Lend to others Generously
6. Lead with Integrity
7. Leave a Living Legacy Each Day

This is Guthrie Chamberlain reminding you to Keep Moving Forward, Enjoy Your Journey, and Create a Great Day Every Day! See you tomorrow!