As I was reflecting on ways for Christians to avoid stumbling, I wanted to share 9 areas I have personally found effective for myself. I hope these are encouraging.

Keys to avoid stumbling:

1) Study the word Psalms 119:105 “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.” Psalms 119:11 “I have hidden thy word in my heart so I will not sin against thee.” John 14:15 “If you love me obey my commandments.”

If you are walking in darkness, it is wise to carry a light. How can you know if you are off track from Gods standards (Not your standards) unless you study His guidance to you?

2) Be real with your struggles, no need to pretend to have it all together – Romans 3:23 All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Isaiah 64:6 All our righteousness are like filthy rags

1 John 1:10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us. James 5:16 Confess your sins one to another and pray for one another that you may be healed.

I once saw a facebook comment from a Pastor that said since he came to Jesus, he has never sinned. He was being serious by the way. Talk about a person who has some major blind spots. I can tell you for myself that while the Holy Spirit has cleaned up some dirty rooms in my soul and there are some areas of sin that I claim victory over thanks to God, there is still much work for the Holy Spirit to do in me. We were not meant to go through this life alone. Find people you trust and can be open and honest with about your struggles and confess them and ask them to pray for you that God will help you become more and more like Jesus. Be vulnerable, it is worth it.

3) The wonderful gift of repentance – 1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. Psalms 32:1 How blessed is he whose wrongdoing is forgiven vs 3 When I kept silent about my sin, my body wasted away

Through my groaning all day long. Vs 5 I acknowledged my sin to You,

And I did not hide my guilt; I said, “I will confess my wrongdoings to the LORD”;

And You forgave the guilt of my sin.

Holding onto sin is like lovingly holding onto a cup of poison. Why would we want to do that?

When Jesus sent out his 12 disciples in Mark chapter 6 with a message to tell others to repent, this was a very loving message. The reason God calls us to repentance is because He loves us and wants blessings for us. Our sin instead brings curses and pain into our life and leads to death. Greed leads to the death of compassion, lying leads to the death of trust, sexual immorality leads to the death of intimacy and can lead to Physical and emotional pain, etc.

Repentance is simply agreeing with God our sin is destructive and turning from it to a better path God lays out for us.

4) Walk in Humility – Phil 2:5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: 6: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; 7: rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8: And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross!

Wow, I love those verses. Whenever I get proud or arrogant, the best remedy for that is to keep my eyes on Jesus who is the role model for being humble.

5) Walk in Confidence –

Ephesians 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, 4: just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love 5: He predestined us to adoption as sons and daughters through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, 6: to the praise of the glory of His grace, with which He favored us in the Beloved. 7: In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our wrongdoings, according to the riches of His grace 8: which He lavished on us.

I am not the sum of my worst mistakes, but rather I am a forgiven, adopted child of the King, a Prince of Heaven, and my Heavenly Father lavishes His grace on me despite all my failings and short comings. He roots for me and cheers me on, and just as He did in scripture with David, Job, Moses, etc. despite their sin and short comings, My Heavenly Father also brags on me and if you are His child, He brags on you as well. As such, while on my own righteousness I have zero confidence to even acknowledge I am a follower of Christ as I often am but a poor reflection of Jesus, In Jesus my identity soars and I am confident and stand on solid ground.

6) If love is not the motivation, its not worth pursuing

1 Corinthians 13: 1 If I speak with the tongues of mankind and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2: If I have the gift of prophecy and know all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3: And if I give away all my possessions to charity, and if I surrender my body so that I may glory, but do not have love, it does me no good.

Love this. If we are not sharing out of love, what is the point?

7) Know when to speak, and when to stay quiet

Mark 6: 11 Any place that does not receive you or listen to you, as you go out from there, shake the dust off the soles of your feet as a testimony against them.”

Jesus sent his disciples out to carry a message to the world of repentance and He sends us His children with that same compassionate and loving message, but he also tells us not to beat a dead horse. If the Holy Spirit leads you to share truth with someone out of love for them, then by all means speak up. However, Jesus also calls on us to know when to move on. If someone is not receptive, move on. I saw a great post on facebook that said do not play chess with a rooster. You may win the game, but the rooster is still going to crow and poop all over the chess board. Wise words. We would all do better to simply agree to disagree. Its about love, not about winning some argument. Loving someone means knowing when to speak and when to remain quiet.

8) Speak life

Proverbs 18:21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue

James 1:19 Be Quick to listen, slow to Speak and slow to Anger.

Anyone that has read through a political or religious post on Facebook and seen some of the back and forth comments will cringe. We can speak death to each other, or life. Choose to speak life.

9) Praise God in the midst of your pain and suffering.

Acts 16:22 And the multitude rose up together against them: and the magistrates rent off their clothes, and commanded to beat them. 23 And when they had laid many stripes upon them, they cast them into prison, charging the jailor to keep them safely 24 Who, having received such a charge, thrust them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in the stocks. 25 And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them.

After being stripped naked and beaten, and in a cold dank prison cell in chains, Paul and Silas sang praises to God. The reason they could do that is they had decided God is good and despite any difficult circumstances they would face, they determined to praise God.

In the calm, and in the storm, God is good. Do you believe that? If you do, it is remarkable what worshipping God in the midst of trials does for your spirit. Your circumstances may not change, and God may elect to continue to allow you to suffer, but worship takes your eyes off you and fixes them on the goodness of God where you can see eternal hope even in the middle of current despair.