What’s the secret to survival in enemy territory? Remember what God has done! Record his accomplishments in your memoirs. Don’t forget a single blessing. Create a trophy room in your heart. Each time you experience a victory, place a memory on the shelf. Before you face a challenge, take a quick tour of God’s accomplishments.

John 1:12 says, “Yet to all who did receive Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God.”

Live out your inheritance! You are loved, redeemed and filled with the Holy Spirit. You have the power of God in you to fight any battle you face.

The secret of survival in enemy territory? Remember what God has done. And remember whose you are! John 1:12—make it a verse to memorize this week. Let’s do it together at GloryDaysToday.com.

Maybe you question your place in God’s family. You wrestle with doubt-laced questions. What if God changes His mind? Reverses His acceptance? Lord knows, he has reason to do so. Parents give birth to children and abandon them. How do we know God won’t do the same? God answered this question at the cross. When Jesus died, the heavenly vote was forever cast in your favor and mind. Promised Land people trust God’s hold on them more than their hold on God. They point to Calvary as evidence of God’s commitment to them.

In this week’s Glory Days Scripture Memory Challenge I invite you to join me in memorizing John 1:12.“Yet to all who did receive Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God.”

Claim your inheritance! Join me at GloryDaysToday.com—let’s memorize God’s Word together!

Promised Land people say I’m a victor in spite of my surroundings. Wilderness people say These are difficult days and I’ll never get through them. But God’s people say, These days are Glory Days…and God will get me through!

John 1:12 says, “Yet to all who did receive Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God.” Imagine what would happen if a generation of Christians lived out of their inheritance. The lonely would find comfort in God, not in the arms of strangers. Struggling couples would spend more time in prayer and less time in anger. And children would consider it a blessing to care for their aging parents.

Paul said, “I can do all things through Christ, because He gives me strength” (Philippians 4:13). Join me in claiming your inheritance in a special 4-week journey of scripture memory at GloryDaysToday.com!

We are in the middle of our 4 week Scripture Memory Challenge. This week’s verse is John 1:12.“Yet to all who did receive Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God.”

Claim your inheritance! As a child of God you have the power of God in you to fight any battle you face. He set us free so he could raise us up. The gift has been given. Will you trust it?

God said to Joshua, “Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given you, as I said to Moses.” The people of Moses’ day chose the wilderness. Don’t make the same mistake! Joshua didn’t. He took God at his word and set about the task of inheriting the land! I encourage you to do the same!

Get started at GloryDaysToday.com.

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Let God’s Word be the authoritative word in your world! It’s a decision that rubs against the skin of our culture. We prefer the authority of the voting booth, pollster, or whatever feels good.

Paul reminded the young pastor, Timothy, in 2 Timothy 3:15: “Since you were a child you have known the Holy Scriptures which are able to make you wise.” And in 2 Timothy 3:16-17 Paul states the power of Scripture against any stronghold. “All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

These are verses I invite you to memorize with me in a Scripture Memory Challenge—a verse a week for the next 4 weeks.

Get started at GloryDaysToday.com!

Don’t chart your course according to the opinions of people or suggestions of culture. If you do, you’ll make the mistake the farmer’s son made. He sent the boy to prepare a field, reminding him to till straight lines.

“Select an object on the far side of the field, and plow straight to it,” the father said.

Later when the father checked on the boy’s progress, every row was uneven and wavy. He said, “I thought I told you to select an object and plow toward it.”

“I did,” the boy answered, “but the rabbit kept hopping,”

A straight line, like a good life, requires an unmoving target. Set your sights on the unchanging principles of God. Let God’s Word be the authoritative word in your world.

I invite you to memorize God’s Word—a new verse every week for four weeks. Join me at GloryDaysToday.com.

Our best days—our Glory Days—are ahead of us. God has a Promised Land for us to take. A Promised Land life in which Paul said in Romans 8:37, “we are more than conquerors through Christ who loved us.” In 2 Corinthians 4:16, he says we have a life in which we do not lose heart. It’s a life defined by grace, refined by challenge, and aligned with a heavenly call. In God’s land, we serve out of our giftedness and delight in our assignments. We may stumble, but we do not collapse. We boast only in Christ, trust only in God, and lean wholly on his power.

You and your Promised Land life—is yours for the taking! Your Glory Days await you.  Are you ready to march? I invite you to join me at GloryDaysToday.com—to memorize God’s Word as a powerful and useful weapon against any stronghold!

Life has many unanswered questions, but be settled about God’s faithfulness to you! Romans 8:32 declares, If God “did not spare his own Son but gave him for us all,” will he not also give you all you need for a Promised Land life? God’s Word is sure!

And 2 Timothy 3:16-17 is the reminder that Scripture is powerful and a useful weapon against any stronghold. “All Scripture is God-breathed…useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

I invite you to join me in a Scripture Memory Challenge. Let’s memorize together the verses in 2 Timothy 3:16-17!  I’ll show you how easy it is at GloryDaysToday.com.

(watch the video for Max’s tips on scripture memorization :)

This is the second week of our Glory Days Scripture Memory Challenge to memorize a verse a week.

This week’s verse is 2 Timothy 3:16-17. “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

It reminds us that Scripture is a weapon useful in all situations. I encourage you to make 2 Timothy 3:16-17 a verse to memorize this week—your reminder that you’re being equipped for an eternal assignment that will empower you to live a life set apart for a holy calling. This is no guarantee of an easy life, but it is the assurance of God’s help. You are God’s child! You are indwelled by the Spirit of the living God!

Join me at GloryDaysToday.com for more information.

Some are prone to cheat. Others quick to doubt. Maybe you worry. Yes, everyone worries some – but you own the national distributorship of anxiety. Perhaps you are judgmental. Sure, everybody can be critical, but you pass more judgments than the Supreme Court.

What is that one weakness, bad habit, rotten attitude? Where does the devil have a stronghold on you? Ahh, there is the word that fits–stronghold–fortress, citadel, thick walls, tall gates. It’s as if the devil has fenced in one negative attribute, one bad habit, one weakness and constructed a rampart around it. “You ain’t touching this flaw,” he defies to heaven and he places himself squarely between God’s help and your:

–explosive temper

–fragile self-image

–voracious appetite

–distrust for authority

Seasons come and go and this Loch Ness monster still lurks in the watery lake bottom of your soul. He won’t go away. He lives up to both sides of his compound name: strong enough to grip like a vice and stubborn enough to hold on. He clings like a bear trap; the harder you shake, the more it hurts.

Strongholds: old, difficult, discouraging challenges.

The term stronghold appears at least fifty times in the Bible. It commonly referred to a fortress with a difficult access (see Judges 6:2; I Sam. 23:14). When King David first saw the city of Jerusalem, it was an old, ancient, cheerless fortress inhabited by enemies. No wonder it was twice called a stronghold (see II Sam. 5:7,9).

The Apostle Paul uses the term to describe a mindset or attitude.

“For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh (for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but mighty before God to the casting down of strongholds), casting down imaginations, and every high thing that is exalted against the knowledge of God, and bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ; and being in readiness to avenge all disobedience, when your obedience shall be made full.” (2 Corinthians 10:3-6 ASV)

We do not grit our teeth and redouble our efforts. No, this is the way of the flesh. Our weapons are from God. They have divine power to demolish strongholds. Isn’t that what we want? We long to see our strongholds turned into rubble, once and for all, forever and ever, kaboom!

Maybe it’s time for a different strategy.

Have you asked others to help you? Everything inside you says: keep the struggle a secret. Wear a mask, hide the pain. God says just the opposite: “Make this your common practice: Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you can live together whole and healed” (James 5:16 MSG). Satan indwells the domain of shadows and secrets. God lives in the land of light and honesty. Bring your problem into the open.

I know a young couple who battled the stronghold of sexual temptation. They wanted to save sex for the honeymoon, but didn’t know if they could. So, they called for help. They enlisted the support of a mentoring, understanding married couple. They put the older couple’s phone number on speed dial and asked their permission to call them, regardless of the hour, when the temptation was severe. When the wall was too tall, they took the tunnel.

Maybe it is time to get drastic. I had a friend who battled the stronghold of alcohol. He tried a fresh approach. If I ever saw him drinking, he gave me, and a few choice people, permission to slug him in the nose. The wall was too tall, so he tried the tunnel.

One woman counters her anxiety by memorizing long sections of Scripture. A traveling salesman asks the hotels to remove the TV from his room so he won’t be tempted. Another man grew so weary of his prejudice toward non-whites, that he moved into an ethnically diverse neighborhood, made new friends and changed his attitude.

“God’s power is very great for us who believe. That power is the same as the great strength God used to raise Christ from the dead and put him at his right side in the heavenly world.” (Eph. 1:19, 20 NCV).

Ask for help. Get drastic. Try a fresh approach. Who knows, you may be a prayer away from a breakthrough.

©Max Lucado, September 2015

This may be the best-kept secret in Christendom. Conversion is more than a removal of sin. It’s a deposit of power! When you were born into Christ, you were placed in God’s royal family. John 1:12 says, “As many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God.” You have access to all the family blessings.

Surprised? You ain’t heard nothin’ yet! Paul described the value of your portfolio. “The Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ” (Romans 8:16-17).

Whatever He has—we have!  We were made for more than the wilderness. God saved you from Egypt so that He could bless you in the Promised Land. The gift has been given. Will you trust it? Don’t measure your life by your ability; measure it by God’s!

Visit GloryDaysToday.com to learn more.

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The key to spiritual growth isn’t increased church attendance or involvement in spiritual activities. People don’t grow in Christ because they’re busy at church. They grow in Christ when they read and trust their Bibles.

Desire some “Glory Days?” Engage with the Bible. Think and re-think God’s Word. Let it be your guide. Set your sights on the unchanging principles of God. Let God’s Word be the authoritative word in your world.

To begin, join me in our  Scripture Memory Challenge. It’s an adventure to hide God’s Word deep in our hearts. This week let’s memorize Joshua 1:9, God’s promise of power. “Have I not commanded you be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid. Do not be discouraged for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go!”

Take the challenge at GloryDaysToday.com!