Personal Spiritual Review
The Four Most Important Questions Of Your Life
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Welcome! We hope and pray this experience will be an encouragement to you and also that it inspires you to evaluate your understanding and commitment to Christ and the Christian Faith.

Every professing Christian can benefit in some way from time alone with the Lord considering the next four questions. May the Lord bless you as you travel on this journey.

Though you may be doing this alone, you are not in this alone. The person (your prayer partner, encouraging you to do the assessment) has personally completed the review, is praying for you everyday during your review and is ready to discuss questions or concerns and/or pray with you every step of the way.

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INTRODUCTION

​Most employees know what a Job Review is. Even small business owners will usually hire an outside consultant to review them and their company.

Questions are usually designed to discover: What we are doing well, how we need to improve, job satisfaction and next steps.

Every Review is important and to be taken seriously by everyone involved. Jesus said, ”...be careful how you listen; for whoever has [a teachable heart], to him more [understanding] will be given; and whoever does not have [a longing for truth], even what he thinks he has will be taken away from him.” (Luke 8:18 Amplified)

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Before you begin here are a few recommendations

Pray for God’s guidance. He loves you and wants you to benefit from this experience. Trust Him in this. Scripture says, “Trust in and rely confidently on the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own insight or understanding. In all your ways know and acknowledge and recognize Him, and He will make your paths straight and smooth [removing obstacles that block your way]. Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord [with reverent awe and obedience] and turn [entirely] away from evil.” (Proverbs 3:5-7 Amplified)

Connect with your Prayer Partner with questions if needed.

Be careful about being too hard or easy on yourself if and when something comes up in the exercise you’re not comfortable with.

You will quickly notice we use the authority of Scripture as a basis for this experience. The Bible says, “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect." (Romans 12:2 NLT) Continue...
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A MESSAGE FOR OUR TIME

John the Baptist was a prophet who believed and preached the soon coming of Jesus, the Messiah (Savior). Many came before him proclaiming a similar message, but God sent John at the appointed time as the messenger to prepare the Jewish People for the Messiah’s arrival.

As you might expect, some responded to his claims with doubt and suspicion. When asked in essence, “Who do you think you are?” John simply replied, ... "I am a voice shouting in the wilderness, clear the way for the LORD's coming!" (John 1:23)

(Growing numbers of Christian leaders recognize the critical similarities of the days of John the Baptist with our time. The spirit of John’s message is increasingly paramount to today’s Church. The signs point to the second coming of Christ, and though many have preached it in the past, this may well be the right time for us today.

Explanation of “Clear the way..."

In those days, when a ruler planed a trip to another city in his region, advance men were sent to check and repair the roads, and to prepare the city and its officers for his coming. Holes in the road needed filling in and smoothing over. Dirt piles from erosion were removed, and the people were told what to do in preparation. Likewise John was the advance man sent by God to prepare people for the coming of Jesus, but they weren’t ready. They had too many “potholes” and “dirt piles” in their lives. They needed to “repent” before their Messiah arrived.

Repentance was as unpopular then as today. Jews believed they were fully accepted by God because they were, well, Jews. They were circumcised, synagogue attending and temple worshipers. They were trying to make sense of their times and doing their best to be good people. Wasn’t that enough? Yet John told them to repent and be baptized as a sign of obedience.

What does repentance mean?

Repentance essentially means change your mind, attitude and or conduct. The need for repentance can stem from recognition of habits and patterns of sin in your life, preoccupation with worldly priorities and values, or downright open and conscious rebellion against God’s will.

John came to prepare the Jews for the coming of Christ, calling them to repent and be ready. As Jews, they thought they were already in good standing with God so why would he preach?

Paul explains this in his letter to the Church in Rome. “For you are not a true Jew just because you were born of Jewish parents or because you have gone through the ceremony of circumcision. No, a true Jew is one whose heart is right with God. And true circumcision is not merely obeying the letter of the law; rather, it is a change of heart produced by God’s Spirit. And a person with a changed heart seeks praise from God, not from people.” (Romans 2:28-29)

Today the message to the Christian Church is similar

Let us read this again, applying it to Christians, “For you are not a Christian because you were born into a Christian family, go to church, or because you have gone through the ceremony of Baptism. No, a true Christian is one whose heart is right with God. And true baptism is not merely about water and ceremony , rather a change of heart produced by God’s Spirit. And a person with a changed heart seeks praise from God not from people.”

As indicated in the title, your answers to the next four questions may well chart not only your future but others as well. God bless you. Continue....

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FIRST QUESTION:
Is Jesus Truly In My Life or is Christianity Simply My Religion?

2 Corinthians 13:5 says,“Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!”

The scriptures warn against relying only on what we think is right. It is essential to know and follow the way of salvation described and illustrated in the Bible. Proverbs 14:12 tells us, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death." God has given us his word and promises to guide us into all truth if we will let him.

Let’s examine several verses relating to the facts, promises and expectations of God’s offer of salvation.

Facts:
"For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

No one is beyond the love and salvation of God because Christ died for everyone.

“For all have sinned and fallen short of God’s will...” (Romans 3:23)

Everyone has failed to live up to their God created potential. We have fallen short, not just by accident, but on purpose and repeatedly. This is what sin is.

Romans 6:23 says, “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift mof God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” That word “death” means eventual physical death, but it also means separation from relationship with God as Savior and ultimately from the experience of his Presence entirely.

We not only have equal access to the loving kindness and forgiveness of God, we are also equally guilty of breaking God’s laws. We all stand in need of forgiveness and reconciliation with God.

God hates sin because sin brings pain and suffering every time for everyone, everywhere.

The Scripture tell us, “Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.” (1 John 5:12). “And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12)

This means if you do not accept and embrace the offer of relationship through Christ on His terms you are not saved. Christ is not truly in your life, but in fact you are separated from this level of relationship altogether.

It is not popular today to use words like, “Coming to God on His terms and only on His terms”. We want to believe we are on good terms with God because He loves everyone, or because we are good people. Many believe because they are religious and go to church or were born into a Christian family they are saved and secure in that fact.

Nicodemus was a good man, a teacher in his local church, an overseer of the Jewish religion, yet Jesus said to Nicodemus, “You must be born again.”

Not even being the pastor of a church, preaching to others, or doing miracles in Jesus name can secure salvation.

Jesus said, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you...” (Matthew 7:21-23)

Answer Here