Journal

Here are some tools to help you with the devotionals:

• A Guide to Journaling & Prayer
• A Guide to Self-Reflection
• A Chart to help articulate feelings

Bible Text: 1 Timothy 4:9-16

⁹ The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance. ¹⁰ For to this end we toil and strive, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe.

¹¹ Command and teach these things. ¹² Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity. ¹³ Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching. ¹⁴ Do not neglect the gift you have, which was given you by prophecy when the council of elders laid their hands on you. ¹⁵ Practice these things, immerse yourself in them, so that all may see your progress. ¹⁶ Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers.

Reflection & Application

1 Timothy 4:12

• What is Apostle Paul’s exhortation to Timothy regarding establishing spiritual authority?  
• What are the criteria I use to establish/evaluate spiritual authority which run contrary to this?

1 Timothy 4:15

• Apostle Paul’s exhortation assumes that Timothy will demonstrate progress in godliness, and furthermore, this progress will be visible to others.  How does this assumption challenge the contemporary notion that my spiritual growth is strictly between me and God?

1 Timothy 4:16

• Who are the people who are affected by my personal faithfulness to God?  And how are they affected?

Prayer