By CTA-Christ to All
Daily Renewal: Focusing on God
The call to pattern our lives after our Great Example, Jesus, is not always easy. There are abundant blessings to be enjoyed in setting aside our selfish desires to serve others and advance the Kingdom, but if we’re honest, there are many challenges as well. Perhaps no one in Scripture, besides Jesus himself, knew more about these challenges than the apostle Paul.
Though Paul didn’t dwell on his hardships in his letters to the churches, he does mention a few times just how many trials he endured for the sake of the Gospel. 2 Corinthians 11:16–33 gives a detailed account of the physical and emotional adversity he faced while ministering. But 2 Corinthians 4:8–9,16 (ESV) sums up his attitude toward suffering:
We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed. . . . So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inward self is being renewed day by day.
How was it possible that Paul’s inward renewal continued even as his body and spirit bore the marks of adversity? The answer comes in verse 18 (ESV):
We look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.
Paul’s inward life was daily renewed by shifting his vision to focus on the infinite reward of an eternity with his Savior. With this heavenly perspective, he was able to see his trials as temporary and maintain his focus on loving God and serving others no matter the cost.
Like the Christians in the early church that Paul addressed, our congregations also face an onslaught of temptation, discouragement, and external pressures in their efforts to live out Christ’s commands to love God supremely and love their neighbors as themselves. They need daily encouragement to keep their hearts and minds focused on the “eternal weight of glory” (2 Corinthians 4:17 ESV).
The women in your congregation face unique fears, challenges, and opposition in their pursuit of Christlikeness. It is important to offer unique tools to aid women’s devotional life as they seek encouragement for their journey.
Here are some of the ways devotional books crafted with women in mind can help strengthen their inward life.
Women’s Devotional Books Offer a Framework for Spiritual Growth
Like a trellis offers support and structure for a climbing plant to thrive, books can help guide women’s devotional life by offering a framework for their spiritual growth. This structure ensures that various aspects of their discipleship are exercised daily - from adoration, to confession, to thanksgiving, to supplication - in a balanced and intentional way. Following a prescribed plan of prayers, Scripture, and reflections can help guide the women in your care to flourish in all aspects of their devotional life.
Strong in the Lord® Softcover Devotion Book offers encouraging Scriptures and a month’s worth of devotions for women.
Daily Devotional Books Help Women Encounter the Living Word
There is a time and place for deep, cerebral study of the Word of God, but in order for the Word to have its full powerful effect on our lives, it has to pierce the heart (Hebrews 4:12). A good devotion book can make the Word come alive for your women through stories, prayers, and application for daily life. Women will find fresh perspectives and thought-provoking wisdom in the pages of a devotional book that strengthens their connection to the Living Word of God and keeps their vision focused on what really matters.
Joy in the Journey Prayer Journal combines Scripture with thought starters and easy-and-quick activities to guide women to a greater appreciation of God’s grace in their lives.
Devotion Books Build a Community of Faith
While introspection and one-on-one communion with God is vital to our spiritual growth, we were never meant to be islands where “God and me is all I need.” The Christian life was meant to be lived in community. Nineteen times in Paul’s letters, he exhorts Christians to encourage one another. When a group of women works through a devotional book together, they are bolstered by hearing and sharing the insights they receive. Through these shared experiences, women find support, fortitude, and guidance from fellow sisters in Christ.
Devotionals Provide Encouragement for Daily Life
Women’s devotional life can be greatly impacted by books which provide encouragement for their daily lives. To gain a consistent heavenly perspective, women need fresh eyes to see the divine in the mundane. The best women’s devotional books help them to see in their ordinary lives the extraordinary expressions of the goodness of God and his faithfulness in every circumstance. While mountain-top experiences provide important markers of remembrance, the vast majority of the Christian life is spent in the commonplace of daily duty. Your women will be blessed by books that help them see all of life as worship of our good God.
Ordinary Moments: Extraordinary God Softcover Devotion Book looks at the lives of seven biblical women to explore how ordinary moments can become extraordinary opportunities.
As leaders, we are tasked with fostering the spiritual growth of the women in our care. An important aspect of their growth is helping them to maintain the heavenly perspective Paul talks about in 2 Corinthians. A devotional book can help train their spiritual eyes heavenward and give them strength for their earthly journey.
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