The week’s memory work is Philippians 2:12-13:

Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

Create simple drawings to represent a few of the words in the memory work.

Write out the verses with what you created to help you begin to memorize the words.

This week in the Journey Tool is the week we study the nature of what it means to experience change. At this point in Renewal, you may not have identified with God what you desire Him to help you change, but this week provides information on how to experience change in the journey.

Experience looks like taking the plan you created for change and implementing the steps into your life. Experience is the time in which you start to do the work of change in partnership with God.

Philippians 1:6 And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

God commits to complete His work in us. He is asking us to commit to Him too.

How committed are you to partner with God for change on your spiritual journey?

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus teaches that the wide road is the popular path. The wide road starts easy and then gets hard. In the same respect, there is a narrow road that very few people choose on the journey. The narrow road is more challenging to discover. It starts hard and gradually becomes easier as we partner with Jesus for growth and change. As Christ-followers, we are to be committed to the narrow road as referenced in Matthew 7:12-14 “So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets. ‘Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.'"

The narrow road is where our relationship with the Lord gives us the courage to begin to do the thing God is calling us to do. Remember, this is not the place we try harder; it is the place to partner in a relationship with God to experience change and spiritual growth. What does becoming more committed in your spiritual journey look like in practical terms?

Pray:

Lord, because you have made me, I owe you the whole of my love; because you have redeemed me, I owe you the whole of myself; because you have promised so much, I owe you my whole being. Moreover, I owe you as much more love than myself as you are greater than I, for whom you gave yourself and to whom you promised yourself. I pray you, Lord, make me taste by love what I taste by knowledge; let me know by love what I know by understanding. I owe you more than my whole self, but I have no more, and by myself I cannot render the whole of it to you. Draw me to you, Lord, in the fullness of your love. I am wholly yours by creation; make me all yours, too, in love.

Anselm 1033-1109