How to Grow in Christ Even When Life is Busy

In 2 Thessalonians 3:10, Paul speaks about a rule that “if a man does not work, he shall not eat”. And then we read in Ecclesiastes 10:19 that “money is the answer for everything”. This does not permit the unholy prioritization of money, but it is an indication that working is not an optional endeavour; it is non-negotiable for any man. It is survival.

Why Busyness Makes Spiritual Growth Feel Optional

The economy of the world we are in now is so rigid and unfriendly that, without a source of income, you are almost guaranteed a miserable life. So, everyone needs to get busy and make money. Many aspects of the life we desire seem tied to money.

The cost of living is on an upward trend, credit is piling up, and so are the bills. So, when a man or woman says they are too busy for God, it may sound a bit reasonable. The visible pressures of life often feel more real than faith in what we cannot yet see.

But the story will be different for someone who has tried so hard, being busy doing everything he can, and still the effort at working hard produces no result. It is at this point that we begin to realise the importance of a power that is bigger than us. At the point where all efforts fail is when we start to see the need to seek God.

Does Spiritual Growth Affect Success and Productivity?

Spiritual growth does not eliminate work, and it does not put aside the importance of making money and earning income. But your spirituality teaches you a targeted strategy for building wealth that you otherwise cannot think through by your own efforts. Deuteronomy 8:18 tells us that it is God who gives us the power to produce wealth.

It is okay to work hard, and it is okay to be busy, but it is not okay to be too busy for your spiritual growth. Because the strategy for a fruitful, less busy, and successful life lies in the growth of your relationship with God. The growth of your spiritual life sets the pace for the success of every other thing you get to do.

Spirituality Precedes Productivity

In Matthew 6:33, Jesus teaches us to seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all the things we seek and are busy doing will be given to us. Seeking God, which is our spiritual growth, is the key to the good things of life without being too busy to rest.

Learning to grow spiritually when life is busy is a function of the choices we make and what we prioritize in our lives. Spiritual growth is not what comes to us effortlessly. It requires a conscious, deliberate, and determined effort to achieve. The devil knows the benefits of your spiritual growth and would cloud your life with so much noise that you would relegate the most important aspect of your life to the bottom.

The Danger of Distraction and Spiritual Neglect

John 10:10 tells us that the devil only comes to kill, steal, and destroy. This does not translate to you seeing a black creature with horns come to you; it is him stealing your time and flooding your life with pseudo-important things, such that you do not have the time for the really important things.

By the time you take stock of your life, you realize that you have been very busy but achieving little. Because what makes success possible and the time and effort put into the task worth it, is the God factor in it. That God factor comes from your relationship with God, which gives birth to your spiritual growth.

One truth that I need you to embrace is that you cannot reap the benefits of prayer if you are not praying. The secret to a gloriously fulfilled life is when you put in as much effort into your spiritual growth as you put into every other activity that is keeping you busy.

Why Spiritual Growth Requires Intentional Effort

In Matthew 11:12, Jesus informs us that the Kingdom of God is forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it. The pursuit of God’s Kingdom requires determination and focus. It is so important that it requires force to take hold of it. There is so much benefit in being a child of God that your spiritual growth should be pursued with your life. You need to seek God like your life depends on it because it does depend on it.

There would be days when you don’t feel like praying; days when you tell yourself you will pray later and read the Bible later. And “later” turns to days and days into weeks and weeks into months and even years until your guards are totally down and you become utterly powerless. And that is exactly where the devil wants you to be.

It is important that you treat your spiritual growth like you would treat your physical growth. You need to feed your spirit just like you would feed your body. The Kingdom of God is advancing; it is not waiting, and so you need to pursue it and secure your position in it for your own benefit.

2 Peter 1:3 says, “His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue”. What you need for life has been given to you, and so the responsibility of taking hold of it is yours. And this gift that pertains to life and godliness comes through the knowledge of God in you, which translates to your spiritual growth.

The only way to grow spiritually when life is busy is to make a firm and determined decision to put your spiritual growth as a priority in your life and on your time. It may not be easy, but it is doable. And with the help of the Holy Spirit, you will succeed.

The struggle with time is not a thing to be ashamed of. I am also often tempted to skip those activities that sustain my spiritual growth, and I can tell you that those other activities that I use my time for instead of God feel very important, too.

But I have learned to prioritize God in my life, knowing that God has power over all things and He makes all things work together for my good. What I miss while spending time with God will come back to me bigger and better.

Encouragement for the Christian Struggling with Time

Understanding the importance of God in the success of your efforts, you need to be intentional about making time for Him. A little time squeezed out of screentime, phone-call time, or even your sleep time will go a long way in boosting your spiritual growth, success of effort, and quality of life. Start small and grow it over time, but by all means, you need to start.

I pray that the Lord fights the battle of your time management for you and gives you victory. May the Lord enlighten your heart to what is truly important and help you fight against the noise and distraction that steal your time. 

If this message stirred something in your heart, don’t stop here. Here are books that go deeper into these truths—offering clarity, encouragement, and practical faith for real-life seasons. Each one was written to strengthen you where you are and help you walk forward with confidence in God. Explore the books and take the next step in your faith journey today. Click on the button below for details.                                               

 

How Can I Raise Godly Children When I Feel Overwhelmed?

There are days when parenting feels heavy, when you question whether you are doing enough — or doing it right. Days when the noise, correction, responsibility, and spiritual pressure feel overwhelming. And in those moments, you quietly ask: “Lord… how do I raise godly children when I feel like this?”

Parenting Is a Sacred Trust

Being a parent is such a beautiful blessing from God. That the Lord would entrust a human He formed in His own image and likeness in your hands is more than a privilege — it is sacred.

What I see in being a mother is that God trusts me enough to handle and care for what I didn’t create, but He created. It’s like building something beautiful and handing it to someone else. So, for me, and for many like-minded people, being a parent is a blessing, and God would never bless us to stress us.

The Intentionality and Spirituality of Parenting

When God was laying a curse on the serpent in Genesis 3:15, he declared that “He will put enmity between the woman and the serpent and between its offspring and hers. He will crush the serpent’s head, and the serpent will strike his heels.”

While it can be assumed that the offspring of the woman here may be referring to Jesus Christ, it is not far-fetched that the devil is on a permanent mission to destroy the offspring of the woman. With this truth, it becomes very important that, as parents, we raise godly children who are well-equipped to crush the head of the serpent.

My reasoning in this matter is this: Based on the declaration of God in Genesis 3:15, the first to strike is very important. If the serpent strikes first, it affects the heel of the offspring, which is needed to crush the head of the serpent. If the offspring strikes first, he crushes the head of the serpent, and a dead serpent cannot strike back. Genesis 3:15 reveals that there is a spiritual battle over offspring. That makes intentional parenting spiritually significant.

Raising Godly Children Is Not an “I” Assignment

Malachi 2:15 tells us that one of the reasons why God established and ordained marriage is because He seeks godly offspring from their union. Then we learned in Genesis 18:19 that God chose Abraham so that he would direct his children and household to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just.

The first thing I want to highlight is that raising godly offspring is not a responsibility of just one parent. Marriage is the joining together of a man and a woman, witnessed by God and expected by God to raise godly children from their union. Scripture shows fathers taking responsibility for directing their households, while mothers actively partner in shaping and nurturing the children.

God expects that there would be low moments in a man’s life, and when I say man, I mean both male and female. Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 tells us that “two are better than one because they have a return for their work, if one falls, the other will help him up.” I believe this is the reason why God designed raising godly children as an assignment for couples and not just one individual. God knows there will be low moments, and so He had prepared for that ahead of time.

The question we are trying to get an answer to in this blog is: “How can I raise godly children when I feel overwhelmed?” The first answer to that question is that raising godly children is not an “I” assignment, but a “we” assignment. So, when, as a parent, you feel overwhelmed, you should have the support of your spouse to fall back on.

A Parenting Secret for Married and Single Parents

But more than the support of your spouse, and for those who are single parents, there is a bit of a secret to raising godly children that we need to explore. Isaiah 54:13 says, “All your sons will be taught by the Lord, and great will be your children’s peace.”  This is God taking the burden of raising godly children off you. He is reminding you that you are not raising your children alone.

Psalm 55:22 tells us to cast our cares on the Lord, and he will sustain us, He will never let the righteous fall. When God gives you an assignment, He equips you for it, and because He knows there will be times when you will feel overwhelmed, He says at such times, bring the burden to Me (God).  

So, when we understand that our children are taught by the Lord, and we have free, unhindered access to approach God with all our cares, including the stress that has caused us to be overwhelmed, then we begin to see the answer more clearly.

Parenting in Faith Requires Actions

But when we cast our cares unto the Lord and trust that our children will be taught by Him, does that remove all responsibilities of raising godly children from us and place them on God? Maybe not literally like I have just stated. Casting our care on the Lord is done in prayers and seasoned by our faith.

But faith without deeds is dead. We have Proverbs 22:6 that tells us to train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not turn from it. We still have to train the child or children; it will just be made easy by our prayer and faith in God and His word, whereby you are raising your child and not getting overwhelmed doing it.

The Lord teaches your children, but God is Spirit; you will be the body carrying the presence of God, acting out God’s will for the life of your child. God then teaches your child through you. One very simple way of God teaching your child through you is when your life becomes a living example, a godly illustration for your child to emulate.

It is when your child sees God in you, and he is trained by what he is seeing and learning from your life. In such a situation, your child is not taught by words or intense discipline but by your righteous living.

Your Life is a Sermon Used by the Lord in Training Your Child Without You Getting Overwhelmed

Training a child in the way of the Lord begins with training oneself in the way of the Lord. Children learn faster from what they see than what they are told. A parent is expected to practice what he preaches. When you do this first, you are one step closer to raising a godly child without getting overwhelmed.

It is not strange, as a matter of fact, it is a common occurrence that children follow in the footsteps of their parents. So, it is important that as a parent, you are deliberate and conscious of the footprints you are leaving as you live your life.

My first son in the university is determined and passionately focused on pursuing the same career as his father. When you ask him what his motivation is, he is quick to say it’s his Dad. His father is his role model.

Parenting With Discernment and Sensitivity

Another way that God teaches your child through you is by giving you a discerning spirit. When your child seems to be drifting away, the Holy Spirit alerts your spirit to act and also directs you on what actions to take that correct the situation effectively. For this approach, your sensitivity is important.

Training in Love While Setting Boundaries

Children often need validation, and they need to feel protected. Communicating with your children and being open and truthful with them, even when it makes you look vulnerable, is a tool in raising godly children. However, it’s important to set and maintain boundaries and balance love, firmness, and discipline. You should also be available to listen to them.

Even when you feel overwhelmed, ensure you discipline your children well. The Bible tells us that when we spare the rod, we spoil the child (Proverbs 13:24). Refraining from stern discipline is not the correct way of expressing love to your child.

The Bible says it is, in fact, a display of hatred. So, when we love our children, we are careful to discipline them. But disciplining in love for correctional purposes is love. Disciplining in hatred, as a means of transferring aggression, is abuse. That is the difference.

So, How Do You Raise Godly Children When You Feel Overwhelmed

So, to put this all together, as a married parent, the assignment to raise godly offspring is not yours to bear alone. That is why God brought you and your spouse together in marriage. When you feel overwhelmed, your spouse should help.

Raising children who fear and love God is a burden you should carry to God in prayers. He takes the burden off you, trains your children, and does a good job of it far beyond what you can do by yourself.

This is not to say that you will not still have long days, or absolve you of your parental duties completely, but you will no longer feel alone in this assignment. Because when God is heavily involved, the heavy responsibilities become grace-filled assignments.

Final Encouragement

I pray the Lord bless you with children who bring peace to your life and joy to your heart in Jesus’ name.

Amen

If this message stirred something in your heart, don’t stop here. Here are books that go deeper into these truths—offering clarity, encouragement, and practical faith for real-life seasons. Each one was written to strengthen you where you are and help you walk forward with confidence in God. Explore the books and take the next step in your faith journey today. Click on the button below for details.                                               

 

How to Deal With Anxiety God's Way?

Anxiety is that tight feeling in your chest when the future feels uncertain. It is defined as “worry, nervousness, or unease, typically about an imminent event or something with an uncertain outcome. It can also be described as a feeling of fear, dread,  and uneasiness, often characterized by a future-oriented, excessive, and uncontrollable worry about potential threats.

In the description of anxiety, there are two important characteristics that I want to focus on a little. These two characteristics are “worry” and “fear”. So, as we try to understand the position of God on anxiety, we will also be looking at what the Bible says about worry and fear.

Anxiety can make you feel like you are carrying the world alone. It whispers that you must solve everything yourself and at a stated time. And when you cannot, it makes you feel like you have failed.

Is Anxiety a Sin According to the Bible?

Anxiety is something we have all felt at some point in time, in varying degrees and complexity. And even being in a close relationship with God, you are still not immune to anxiety. At times of anxiety, your faith is tested, and your trust in God is put through the fire. And I would like to say that neither anxiety, fear, nor worry has been labelled as a sin in the Bible.

Although anxiety, fear, and worry have their negative effects on our faith, they in themselves do not constitute a sin. They may lead to sin, they may affect one’s physical health and damage the body, but they are not regarded as a sin in the Bible.

So, when you panic over bills that are not paid, or your health that is falling, or your children that are not doing well, or your marriage that is failing, or where the next meal is coming from, what is happening is that you are getting anxious. Getting concerned over things like this is not a sin, but it attacks your faith, encourages fear, and can make you sin eventually if not checked.

What the Bible Says About Anxiety

Philippians 4:6 says, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your request be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”

The scripture above is what the Bible tells us about anxiety. In my own words, I hear Paul saying in this scripture that you should not panic concerning anything. This does not mean there won’t be situations that will make you panic, but your knowledge of Christ should boost your faith that you have peace, the peace of God.

In 2 Timothy 1:7, it says, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind”. In this scripture, Paul is encouraging us not to be afraid of anything. Fear is not of God; it does not solve any problem, and it does not produce any benefit.  

Note that the fact that the scripture encourages us not to be afraid of anything does not translate to living carelessly and dangerously in the name of having faith. If you are sick, you are still encouraged to see a doctor and live a healthy life. Staying idle, without working, and having faith alone will lead to poverty. Deuteronomy 6:16 and Mathew 4:7 remind us not to tempt the Lord.

How to Overcome Anxiety Biblically

We have learned that the Bible says we should not be anxious and that God has not given us the spirit of fear, but the reality still stands in the fact that things that make us anxious exist. The reality is still that the bills are piling up, the marriage is shaking, the health is failing, and the testing of our faith is real. So, how do we reconcile our reality with what the scripture is saying?

In Philippians 4:19, Paul said, “And God will supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus”. If God is telling you not to panic or be anxious, it is because He already has you covered. The heaven and the earth and all that is in them belong to God, so if He tells you not to panic, it is because He has what is required to meet your needs within His reach. And He makes these resources available to you at the exact time when you need them.

Ephesians 3:20 says, “Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the power that works in us.” And 2 Corinthians 9:8 says, “And God is able to make all grace abound towards you, that you always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work”.

The two scriptures above are just so profound. It is not just that God will meet your needs; He will exceed them. As a matter of fact, as long as you remain in Him, if you can think a thing and you ask, you will receive. God supplies what aligns with His will and His purpose for you — and He does so abundantly. So, when God says, " You should not be anxious about anything, it’s because there is an abundance of resources to establish that which He has declared.

What Jesus Taught About Worry

The teachings of Jesus in Matthew 6:25-34 are worth discussing before concluding this blog. Jesus said, “Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on”. In this teaching, Jesus says, " Your life is worth more than food, and your body more than clothes”. And this is Jesus teaching us to prioritize the order of things in our lives.

He gave examples of the birds and flowers that neither sow nor reap, yet they are well taken care of by God. But the deep thought for me in this scripture is when Jesus highlights that worry adds nothing of value to our lives. It does not add to our quality of life, nor does it solve any problem. If Jesus sees it so, then we should also.

Practical Ways to Fight Anxiety with Faith

So, when you ask, “What does the bible say about anxiety”? We have looked at this from three different standpoints: anxiety, fear, and worry. And for all three, the Bible does not deny that they exist; it teaches us how to respond to them because they drain your faith and leave you worse off.

But Jesus gave us the right solution to our concerns. He says to seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all other things will be added to us. And Paul gave us a similar solution, he says, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your request be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.  

It can be tough when we are faced with situations that test our faith, and not be anxious, worry, or be afraid. But if God has pulled through for you once, you can be sure He’ll pull through for you again. One good approach is to keep a portfolio record of your blessings. As long as you are a true child of God, if He did it for you before, He will do it again. God never fails.

Anxiety may visit you. But it does not have permission to stay. Not when you know the God who holds tomorrow.

If this message stirred something in your heart, don’t stop here. Here are books that go deeper into these truths—offering clarity, encouragement, and practical faith for real-life seasons. Each one was written to strengthen you where you are and help you walk forward with confidence in God. Explore the books and take the next step in your faith journey today. Click on the button below for details.

                                                    

 

Does God Forgive A Man Who Continues to Sin?

It is interesting that a lot of times we resolve in our hearts to live for God, to run away from sin and live holy, but often, it is then that temptations get heightened and the pressure to fall gets doubled. It’s just as if the hold of sin gets tighter.

The Struggle Against Falling

My own personal experience comes with the determination to go on a fast. On a regular day, I can run on 8 hours without food, especially when I am very busy, but the moment I decide to go on a fast, I start to feel a bang in my stomach even before noon.

Paul captures this in Romans 7:15, when he said, “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do, I do not do, but what I hate I do.” So, if you feel just like this, then you are not alone. We are more in this than you can possibly imagine.

I want to assume that the falling we are speaking of is the falling into sin, because that is what we need God to forgive us for. One beautiful thing about God is that He is a righteous and merciful judge, faithful to forgive all our sins.

God Still Loves Me Even When I Keep Falling

Lamentations 3:22-23 reads, “Because of the Lord’s great love, we are not consumed, for His compassion never fails. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” This is the posture of God to all of us whom He created. Remember that He created us in His image and likeness. So, He loves us deeply.

Proverbs 24:16 tells us that though a righteous man may fall seven times, he will rise again. When Peter asked Jesus how many times one can forgive their brother who has sinned against them, He responded by saying seventy times seven (Matthew 18:21-22). If God asks us to forgive our neighbors that much, you can be sure He forgives us much more.   

The Sinful Nature of Man

The nature of man is to sin; that has been our inherited state since the time Adam fell. The ability to live a righteous life without divine support is not in man. The more a man tries to live righteously in his own effort without falling, the more he falls, and the Lord is aware of this.

Isaiah 64:6 says, “All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags”. God understands the natural state of man; He knows that without His intervention, we cannot attain holiness. The inherent nature of man is sin. And even though God cannot condone sin, He still helps us live above it.

When God sent His Son, Jesus, to die for our sins, He didn’t give any limit to the number of sins Jesus died for. There were no categories of sin that were exempted from that mission. Romans 3:23 tells us that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. The category is: everyone and every sin.

The Redemptive Work of Jesus for the Fallen Man

So, the first assurance that we have from the Bible is that God has taken care of all these sins for everyone by presenting His Son, Jesus Christ, as an atonement sacrifice through faith in His blood (Romans 3:25). So, the righteousness that God is seeking is not the one that comes from self-act of righteousness that is like a filthy rag, but the righteousness that comes through faith in the blood of Jesus.  

That is why we read in Romans 8:1 that "there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus”. This is because our acts of righteousness come not from our self-effort and a struggle with sin that we cannot win. After all, our nature is sin, but by that which comes from our strong faith in Jesus and His finished work for us.  

God Forgives Man, But Hates Sin

In Psalms 103:3, we have a confirmation that God forgives all our sins, not some, but all. But that does not give us an open blanket permission to sin. We can sin and be sure of receiving forgiveness, but that is not an open cheque permission to sin deliberately. God hates sin, and we see that everywhere in the Bible. Psalms 5:4, Proverbs 6:16-19

God loves us, no doubt, and He cares for us deeply. But He hates sin. Hebrews 12:14 tells us that without holiness, we cannot see God. When you keep falling into sin, that does not remove His love for you, but it weakens your intimacy with Him.

In Romans 6:1, Paul asked, “Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?” God loves us so much, but He hates the sin in us because He is Holy, and if we must gain access to Him as His children, then we must do so in holiness.

Forgiving us of our numerous sins is not a problem for God; He does that all the time. The worry is not about the forgiveness, it’s about the “keep falling” because God does not want us to keep falling.

Living Sin Free Through the Holy Spirit

Romans 8:3-4 says, “for what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so He condemned sin in sinful man in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.

We know that the inherent nature of a man is sin; no matter how hard we try in our own effort, we will keep falling into sin. With our baggage of sin, we cannot have access to God. So, God did something profound: He sent His son, first as a sacrificial payment for our sins, so that the back-and-forth case of falling is taken care of, and then fulfilled in us the ability not to keep falling by giving us the Spirit of His Son.

Ephesians 1:13 reads, “And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in Him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit”. This scripture is where it all begins. You receive the gospel of Christ and believe in Jesus. With that decision, you are marked with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit.

Romans 8:11 says, “And if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit, who lives in you”. Once you believe in Jesus, you are marked with God’s promised Holy Spirit. This same Spirit was in Christ Jesus, and now He is in You.

Jesus carried the Holy Spirit in Him, and so though He was in the likeness of a sinful man, He was able to live without sin. That is the same Holy Spirit that God has deposited in those who receive Jesus. When we stop living according to our flesh, which is our sinful nature, and start living according to the Spirit, we begin to live without sin. The battle against “keep falling” is then won in our lives.

So, to answer the question: “Can God Forgive Me if I Keep Falling?” The answer is that God has forgiven you all of your sins, and we know that because the Bible has said so. But God does not want you to keep falling. He wants you to live a righteous life, and that cannot be in your sinful nature or self-effort. It can only happen when you receive Jesus, believe in Him, and live according to the Holy Spirit.

If this message stirred something in your heart, don’t stop here. Here are books that go deeper into these truths—offering clarity, encouragement, and practical faith for real-life seasons. Each one was written to strengthen you where you are and help you walk forward with confidence in God. Explore the books and take the next step in your faith journey today. Click on the button below for details.