The signs are everywhere. Moral confusion, persecution of believers, a culture drifting further from its spiritual moorings — if you have been watching the horizon, you know we are living in significant days. The question is not whether the end times are upon us. The question is: how should we then live?
The Word for You Today devotional recently offered five keys to spiritual growth that I found deeply convicting. I have been turning them over in my mind through the lens of the hour we are in, and I want to share them with you in the hope that they sharpen your own walk with the Lord. Because a life that pleases God is not an accident. It is a daily, deliberate choice.
1. Saturate Your Mind with Scripture
In a world that bombards us with noise, anxiety, and outright deception, the Word of God is not a supplement. It is survival. Paul urges us to be transformed by the renewing of our minds (Romans 12:2), and that transformation does not happen passively. It requires immersion. Read your Bible not as a duty to be checked off, but as a lifeline to be gripped with both hands.
In the end times especially, false teaching spreads with alarming speed. The believer who does not know the Word will be vulnerable to every wind of doctrine. But the one who is saturated in Scripture can discern the counterfeit precisely because she knows the genuine so well. Make the Bible your first voice of the morning and your last thought at night. Let it shape how you see, how you speak, and how you stand.
2. Make the Lord Your Dearest Friend and Confidante Through Prayer
Prayer is not a religious ritual. It is a relationship. And like any relationship, it deepens in proportion to the time and honesty we bring to it.
We are told to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17), not because God needs to be pestered, but because we need the constant tethering that comes from ongoing communion with Him. In end-times living, the temptation is to be consumed by the headlines, the fears, and the uncertainties swirling around us. Prayer is the discipline that re-orients our gaze. When you make the Lord not merely someone you talk at occasionally but the dearest friend you talk with throughout your day – sharing your worries, your joys, your confusion, and your gratitude – you will find that His peace truly does pass understanding (Philippians 4:7).
3. Nurture Christian Fellowship
Hebrews 10:25 warns us not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together, “and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.” That phrase — so much the more — is striking. The closer we draw to the end, the more we need one another, not less.
The lone-wolf Christian is a vulnerable Christian. We were never designed to walk this road in isolation. The local church, for all its imperfections, is God’s ordained community for our encouragement, accountability, and growth. Invest in those relationships. Show up not just for the Sunday service but for the deeper connections that form when believers truly do life together. In a culture increasingly hostile to the faith, Christian fellowship is both a refuge and a witness.
4. “Feed” Positive Habits While “Starving” Bad Ones
There is an old story – likely apocryphal, but profoundly true – of a grandfather who tells his grandson that inside every person two wolves are fighting: one wicked, one good. The boy asks which one wins. The grandfather answers, “The one you feed.”
Scripture echoes this principle. Galatians 5 describes the ongoing conflict between the flesh and the Spirit, and the outcome is not passive. It is determined by what we cultivate. In the end times, the flesh has more to feast on than ever: distraction, entertainment, moral compromise, and outright temptation presented as normal. The believer who would please God must be intentional about what she feeds her mind, her time, and her appetite. Feed the Spirit through the Word, worship, and godly community. Starve the flesh by cutting off what nourishes it. This is not self-righteous striving; it is Spirit-empowered stewardship of the life God has entrusted to you.
5. Develop, Practice, and Polish a Ministry of Your Own
Every believer has been given gifts, and those gifts are not ornamental. They are meant to be used for the building up of the body (1 Corinthians 12). Ministry is not the exclusive territory of the ordained. It belongs to every follower of Christ.
What does your ministry look like? For some, it is teaching the children in Sunday school or pouring into the next generation through Vacation Bible School. For others, it is the quiet, faithful work of preparing meals for a grieving family, visiting the lonely, or sitting with the sick. Some are called to intercession, to hospitality, to encouragement, to administration. The point is not that your ministry looks impressive. The point is that you have one, and that you are faithfully growing in it.
If you are unsure where you fit, do not let that uncertainty become an excuse for inaction. Ask God. James 1:5 promises that He gives wisdom generously to those who ask. Your local church is often the best place to start. Simply get involved, serve where there is a need, and watch how the Lord confirms and refines your calling over time.
The days are urgent, but they are not hopeless. In fact, Scripture tells us to lift our heads when we see “these things” begin to come to pass, because our redemption is drawing near (Luke 21:28). We are, as Eagerly Waiting has always proclaimed, a people looking for Him who shall appear, the One who will return, not to deal with sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for Him (Hebrews 9:28).
So let us not be found sleeping. Let us be found faithful: saturated in His Word, intimate with Him in prayer, rooted in community, disciplined in our habits, and active in His service. That is a life that pleases God. And it is the life He has called each of us to live, right now, in such a time as this.
The five-point framework in this post was inspired by “Keys to Spiritual Growth” in The Word for You Today devotional. The reflections and applications are my own.
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My Books, Workbooks, and Fun Books
Knowing the Unknowable One
Opening the Treasure Chest
Walking Heart-to-Heart with God
Walking Heart-to-Heart with Each Other
Fighting the Good Fight of Faith
Christian Mysteries: Why I Love Them!
List of Some Nonfiction Books You Don’t Want to Miss
Index of Assorted Topics