#HowPeopleGrow

Intro post: In order to mature into becoming the people God created us to be, we embark on a lifelong journey of growth. Follow our posts this month as we explore how lasting change can truly be possible in a person’s life.

Day 1

• Article: “What inhibits you from developing relationships that move you closer to Christ?”
• Graphic: “We change our behavior when the pain of staying the same becomes greater than the pain of changing.” – Pete Scazzero #HowPeopleGrow
• Verse: Practice these things, immerse yourself in them, so that all may see your progress. 1 Timothy 4:15 #HowPeopleGrow
• Quote: Jesus did not die to increase our self-esteem ... Jesus died to bring glory to the Father by redeeming people from sin. – Edward Welch
• Article: “Healthy relationships involve having boundaries, knowing what you are responsible for and what you are not responsible for.”

Day 2

• Graphic: “The extent to which two people in a relationship can bring up and resolve issues is a critical marker of the soundness of a relationship.” – Henry Cloud
• Verse: Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God… Heb. 6:1 #HowPeopleGrow
• Quote: The problem sincere Christians have with God often comes down to a wrong understanding of what this life is meant to provide. – Larry Crabb
• Article: “Christians tend to struggle in these 4 concepts during their lifetime.”

Day 3

• Graphic: “Values are sometimes worth living and dying for, and are certainly worth dating and breaking up over.” ― Henry Cloud #HowPeopleGrow
• Quote: “You get what you tolerate.” ― Henry Cloud #HowPeopleGrow
• Verse: And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment… –Philippians 1:9 #HowPeopleGrow
• Article: “Do you need some ideas to refresh your time in God’s word?”
• Article: “Encourage someone to learn how to connect with God by spending time in the word.”

Day 4

• Graphic: Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own… –1 Cor 6:19
• Verse: But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. – Matthew 6:33 #HowPeopleGrow
• Quote: We are more concerned about looking stupid (a fear of people) than we are about acting sinfully (a fear of God). – Edward Welch
• Article: “If you don’t understand the role of the Holy Spirit in your life, you will miss out on many opportunities and blessings that God wants to give you.”

Day 5

• Graphic: He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. –2 Cor. 9:10 #HowPeopleGrow
• Quote: “Somehow, turning to God and trusting him with the mysteries of suffering is the answer to the problem of suffering.” – Edward Welch
• Quote: "True intimacy is only built around the freedom to disagree.” ― Henry Cloud #HowPeopleGrow

• Article: "What are you doing in your life to develop the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ?"

Day 6

• Graphic: “You are imperfect, you are wired for struggle, but you are worthy of love and belonging.” ― Brené Brown #HowPeopleGrow
• Verse: Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him... 2 Corinthians 2:6-7 #HowPeopleGrow
• Quote: “Refuse to be average. Let your heart soar as high as it will.” – A.W. Tozer #HowPeopleGrow
• Article: How to Pray with Confidence.

Day 7

• Graphic: “Emotional health and spiritual maturity are inseparable. It is not possible to be spiritually mature while remaining emotionally immature.” – Peter Scazzero #HowPeopleGrow
• Verse: Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? – Galatians 3:3 #HowPeopleGrow
• Quote: “Never say to a third party something about someone that you do not plan to say to the person himself.” – Henry Cloud #HowPeopleGrow
• Article: “Could you be a leader at risk?”
• Article: “Are you feeling stuck in your prayers?”

Day 8

• Graphic: You don’t really know who you are until you have gone through suffering. We can measure our spiritual growth by the way we behave under pressure. – Edward Welch
• Verse: So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love. – 1 Corinthians 13:13 #HowPeopleGrow
• Quote: “The critical issue on the journey with God is not “Am I happy?” but “Am I free?” – Peter Scazzero #HowPeopleGrow
• Article: “If you’re not growing, it might be because you’re not helping someone else.”

Day 9

• Graphic: “The fool tries to adjust the truth so he does not have to adjust to it.” – Henry Cloud #HowPeopleGrow
• Quote: “When genuine love is released in a relationship, God’s presence is manifest.” ― Peter Scazzero #HowPeopleGrow
• Quote: “We cannot be too careful about the words we use; we start out using them and they end up using us.” ― Eugene H. Peterson
• Article: “Pass this on to someone in your life who may need some encouragement.”

Day 10

• Graphic: “Go figure out what this Scripture means: ‘I’m after mercy, not religion.’ I’m here to invite outsiders, not coddle insiders.” ― Eugene H. Peterson
• Verse: An intelligent heart acquires knowledge, and the ear of the wise seeks knowledge. – Proverbs 18:15 #HowPeopleGrow
• Quote: “The great thing to remember is that though our feelings come and go God's love for us does not.” ― C.S. Lewis #HowPeopleGrow
• Article: How might a current struggle you’re experiencing help you discover lessons you need to learn?
• Quote: My biggest fear, even now, is that I will hear Jesus' words and walk away, content to settle for less than radical obedience to Him. ” – David Platt #HowPeopleGrow

Day 11

• Graphic: “This is one of the marks of a truly safe person: they are confrontable.” – Henry Cloud #HowPeopleGrow
• Quote: “True humility is not thinking less of yourself; it is thinking of yourself less.” – C.S. Lewis #HowPeopleGrow
• Verse: Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. – 2 Corinthians 5:17 #HowPeopleGrow
• Quote: “When we are rested, we notice desires as well as lies buried in our souls.” – Adele Ahlberg Calhoun #HowPeopleGrow

Day 12

• Graphic: “A runner can never see the finish line in the middle of a marathon...” – Henry Cloud #HowPeopleGrow
• Verse: Desire without knowledge is not good, and whoever makes haste with his feet misses his way. Proverbs 19:2 #HowPeopleGrow
• Quote: “You can’t have the true peace of Christ’s kingdom with lies and pretense.” – Peter Scazzero #HowPeopleGrow
• Quote: “There are far, far better things ahead than any we leave behind.” – C.S. Lewis #HowPeopleGrow

Day 13

• Graphic: “Always remember that while grace and truth come together, grace comes before truth.” – John Townsend #HowPeopleGrow
• Verse: Brothers, do not be children in your thinking. Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature. – 1 Corinthians 14:20 #HowPeopleGrow
• Quote: People who always want to be happy & pursue it above all else are some of the most miserable people in the world. – Henry Cloud
• Quote: Transformation and healing always begin in a place of desire. There needs to be willingness to take a risk on Jesus... – Adele A. Calhoun

Day 14

• Graphic: “Love can’t rule when shame is in charge.” – John Townsend #HowPeopleGrow
• Article: “As they pour out their heart, I need to remind myself that I am not in the “problem-solving” business, but in a “help-people-grow-in-Christ” ministry.”
• Quote: “Character = the ability to meet the demands of reality.” – Henry Cloud #HowPeopleGrow
• Verse: When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. – 1 Corinthians 13:11 #HowPeopleGrow
• Quote: “Here is the rule: the way you live reveals what you really think about God...” – Edward T. Welch #HowPeopleGrow

Day 15

• Verse: More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope… – Romans 5:3-4
• Quote: “Loving well is the goal of the Christian life.” ― Peter Scazzero #HowPeopleGrow
• Graphic: “Courage starts with showing up and letting ourselves be seen.” ― Brené Brown #HowPeopleGrow
• Quote: “What you do with your resources in this life is your autobiography.” ― Randy Alcorn Stewardship in #HowPeopleGrow

Day 16

• Graphic: “Failing well means ending something that is not working and choosing to do something else better.” ― Henry Cloud #HowPeopleGrow
• Verse: But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen. – 2 Peter 3:18 #HowPeopleGrow
• Quote: “Shame corrodes the very part of us that believes we are capable of change.” ― Brené Brown #HowPeopleGrow
• Quote: “The key to loving God is to see Jesus, to hold him before with as much fullness and clarity as possible...to adore him.” – Dallas Willard

Day 17

• Verse: Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. – Philippians 3:12 #HowPeopleGrow
• Quote: “Be willing to tolerate the discomfort necessary for growth.” – Peter Scazzero #HowPeopleGrow
• Quote: “Practice is the hardest part of learning, and training is the essence of transformation.” – Ann Voskamp #HowPeopleGrow
• Graphic: “Giving jump starts our relationship with God. It opens our fists so we can receive what God has for us. ” – Randy Alcorn #HowPeopleGrow

Day 18

• Quote: “Few people arise in the morning as hungry for God as they are for cornflakes or toast and eggs.” – Dallas Willard
• Verse: Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be still wiser; teach a righteous man, and he will increase in learning. – Proverbs 9:9 #HowPeopleGrow
• Quote: “It is easy to say we love others, but difficult to allow them the freedom inherent in love.” – Henry Cloud #HowPeopleGrow
• Graphic: “Trust God to run the universe without you.” – Peter Scazzero #HowPeopleGrow

Day 19

• Graphic: 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. – Philippians 1:6 #HowPeopleGrow
• Quote: “A life contemplating the blessings of Christ becomes a life acting the love of Christ.” – Ann Voskamp #HowPeopleGrow
• Quote: “In times of affliction we commonly meet with the sweetest experiences of the love of God.” – John Bunyan
• Quote: “Of all spiritual disciplines prayer is the most central because it ushers us into perpetual communion with the Father.” – Richard J. Foster #HowPeopleGrow

Day 20

• Graphic: “Vulnerability is the birthplace of innovation, creativity and change.” – Brené Brown
• Quote: “Freedom comes from taking responsibility; bondage comes from giving it away.” – Henry Cloud #HowPeopleGrow
• Quote: “He who runs from God in the morning will scarcely find Him the rest of the day.” – John Bunyan
• Video: Cucumbers don’t transform into pickles overnight. Likewise, people who follow Jesus also need to be immersed in the right ingredients and to stay there for a time in order to see their lives change.

Day 21

• Graphic: May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. – Romans 15:13
• Verse: Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. – Psalm 119:105 #HowPeopleGrow
• Quote: “It is profitable for Christians to be often calling to mind the very beginnings of grace with their souls.” – John Bunyan
• Quote: “Reject anything that is producing an addiction in you.” – Richard J. Foster #HowPeopleGrow

Day 22

• Graphic: “The desperate need today is not for a greater number of intelligent people, or gifted people, but for deep people.” – Richard J. Foster #HowPeopleGrow
• Verse: All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness… – 2 Timothy 3:16 #HowPeopleGrow
• Quote: “It is said that in some countries trees will grow, but will bear no fruit because there is no winter there.” – John Bunyan
• Quote: “Faith is born and sustained by the Word of God, and out of faith grows the flower of joy.” – John Piper #HowPeopleGrow

Day 23

• Article: “Where are you at in the process of becoming Christ-centered, lifetime-laborer?”
• Verse: “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, & you will know the truth, & the truth will set you free.” – John 8:31-32 #HowPeopleGrow
• Graphic: So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. – 2 Corinthians 4:16 #HowPeopleGrow
• Quote: “In prayer it is better to have a heart without words than words without a heart.” – John Bunyan

Day 24

• Graphic: “Christianity is not about our disciplined pursuit of God, but about God’s relentless pursuit of us...” – Peter Scazzero #HowPeopleGrow
• Verse: If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. – 1 John 1:9 #HowPeopleGrow
• Quote: “Imperfections are not inadequacies; they are reminders that we're all in this together.” – Brené Brown #HowPeopleGrow
• Article: “What is holding you back from helping another person learn how to follow Christ?”

Day 25

• Graphic: “I'm practicing the discipline of not having to have the last word.” – Dallas Willard
• Verse: The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. – 1 Timothy 1:15 #HowPeopleGrow
• Quote: “Life can be difficult, so have fun whenever you can to the glory of God.” – Peter Scazzero #HowPeopleGrow
• Quote: “Stop trying to impress people with your clothes and impress them with your life.” – Richard J. Foster #HowPeopleGrow
• Article: “Do you have questions about fasting?”

Day 26

• Graphic: “Solitude is the practice of being absent from people and things to attend to God.” – Peter Scazzero #HowPeopleGrow
• Quote: “Staying vulnerable is a risk we have to take if we want to experience connection.” – Brené Brown #HowPeopleGrow
• Quote: “If you are too busy to read, you are too busy.” – Richard J. Foster #HowPeopleGrow
• Article: “What makes for quality discipleship?

Day 27

• Graphic: “Spiritual life is not a life of laws and precepts but a life of participation, affection and love, a life mingled and mixing with God.” – James Bryan Smith
• Quote: “You cannot shame or belittle people into changing their behaviors.” – Brené Brown #HowPeopleGrow
• Article: “It’s better to consider these questions towards the beginning stages of a relationship.”
• Quote: “Most of us never examine the scripts handed to us by our past.” – Peter Scazzero #HowPeopleGrow

Day 28

• Graphic: “What separates privilege from entitlement is gratitude.” – Brené Brown #HowPeopleGrow
• Verse: Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity. – 1 Timothy 4:12 #HowPeopleGrow
• Quote: “One of the blunders religious people are particularly fond of making is the attempt to be more spiritual than God.” – Frederick Buechner
• Quote: “The practice of “turning aside to look” is a spiritual discipline that by its very nature sets us up for an encounter with God.” – Ruth Haley Barton

Day 29

• Graphic: “We imitate God by stopping our work and resting.” – Peter Scazzero #HowPeopleGrow
• Verse: See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition... – Col 2:8 #HowPeopleGrow
• Quote: “We do not think ourselves into new ways of living, we live ourselves into new ways of thinking.” – Richard Rohr. #HowPeopleGrow
• Quote: “In my experience, self-hatred is the dominant malaise crippling Christians and stifling their growth in the Holy Spirit.” – Brennan Manning

Day 30

• Quote: “If we are a people rich in social relationships, we are rich indeed. Whenever we develop significant friendships with those who are not like us culturally, we become broader, wiser persons.” – Richard J. Foster
• Verse: And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” – Acts 16:31 #HowPeopleGrow
• Quote: “I've found what makes children happy doesn't always prepare them to be courageous, engaged adults.” – Brené Brown #HowPeopleGrow
• Quote: “The great illusion of leadership is to think that man can be led out of the desert by someone who has never been there.” – Ruth Haley Barton

• Graphic: But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. – Gal 5:22-23