Three Daily Habits To Grow In God
Habits make or break us. In fact, our lives are byproducts of the daily habits we form. Research says that it takes 21 days to form a habit. Take the next three weeks to build these three habits in your life, and watch your walk with God grow:
- At breakfast each morning, read one chapter of Proverbs. In the time it takes to eat, you can easily read a chapter.
- Find a scripture in the chapter you read that really stands out to you. Write it down on a piece of paper or a 3 X 5 index card and carry it with you wherever you go.
- Whenever you hit slow times in your day, such as being stuck in traffic on the school bus, pull out the card and meditate on your scripture.
Commit these three simple habits to your life, and you will grow rapidly.
Three Reasons You Should Tithe
There are really more than three reasons you should tithe, but if these don’t inspire you to tithe, another 100 reasons won’t either.
- God says if you don’t tithe, you’re robbing Him (Mal. 3:10-11). This doesn’t sound like a very good plan. I’m sure God has a good security system that lets Him know anytime a thief robs Him of His tithes. Do you think God is going to bless a thief who is robbing Him?
- God said that if you do what He says, He will flood you with blessings. It sounds like a good thing to be flooded with blessings. Get your boat ready for God’s good flood.
- God will work His pest control on anything that will try to attack your finances. Some people lose great financial crops because of pests, accidents, theft, and so forth. Use pest control by tithing.
God says, “Test me in this” (Mal. 3:10 NIV). Put Him to the test. Honor Him with your tithes, and watch the blessings flow your way.
by Blaine Bartel.
Excerpt permission granted by Harrison House Publishers
Blaine and Lori Bartel didn’t set out to build a place like this. They became it.
Blaine once lived at the top of the ministry world—national TV, a booming youth movement at Church on the Move, and a growing church in Dallas. But while the stage lights were bright, the darkness underneath was darker. A secret 23-year sexual addiction buried everything he valued—his marriage, ministry, finances, reputation, and identity.
Crushed and barely holding on to life, he spent over a year in deep therapy, wrestling with shame and fighting for healing. Then, somewhere on a windswept highway between Kansas City and Tulsa, he heard the voice that lifted him out of the soil:
“I am not going to give you a recovery. I am calling you into resurrection.”
Everything changed.
Blaine found complete freedom and began decoding a Jesus-centered path that leads men out of the grave and into new life. For more than a decade, he’s been guiding other men through that same resurrection.
Lori was walking her own road—rebuilding after 17 years married to a chronic alcoholic, carrying both the wounds and the courage of a woman who refused to stay broken. She was searching for purpose, for peace, for somewhere her heart could breathe again.
Then God crossed their paths.
They met over pasta at Ti Amo (“I love you”—God’s little wink).
A year later, in a simple wedding wrapped in hope, they said yes to each other and to a calling bigger than themselves.
Today—13 years in—they share one mission:
To pull men out of addiction and to rebuild the marriages addiction has shattered.
House of Resurrection is the fruit of the very ground that once tried to bury them—a sacred space for honesty, healing, and brand-new beginnings.
They are joyful parents of four grown kids, proud grandparents of two, and happiest anywhere with lakes, beaches, sunshine, and reminders that darkness never gets to write the final chapter.