How to Be Spiritually Strong

Years ago my wife, Cathe, and I were on a flight home when the pilot made an announcement about 45 minutes from the airport. He said that we would have to make an emergency landing, and the flight attendants would be going over the safety procedures with us once again.

Now, when the flight attendants went through those procedures the first time, I was reading a magazine and didn’t pay that much attention. But things had changed. And you’d better believe that I listened to the flight attendants the second time.

What made the difference? My life depended on it. (And by the way, we landed safely.)

When we hear the Word of God, we need to listen as though our lives depend on it because they do—our spiritual lives do.

Think of it this way. We’re in a spiritual battle, and we fight a spiritual battle with spiritual weapons. Ephesians 6:17 tells us, “Put on salvation as your helmet, and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (NLT). Memorize and use the Word of God.

Soon after the famous evangelist Billy Sunday became a Christian, he went to an older minister and asked him for some advice on how to grow spiritually.

The man replied, “If you will spend fifteen minutes a day letting God talk to you through the Bible, and fifteen minutes talking to God in prayer, and fifteen minutes talking to someone about God, they will never write ‘backslider’ after your name.”

How does God speak to us? He speaks to us primarily through the Word of God, the Bible. A successful Christian will be a Bible-studying Christian, and a failing Christian will be someone who doesn’t open the Word of God.

You determine what kind of Christian you will be.