welcome to today's encouragement from our daily bread I'm sure Dan Boise and I have title. Reading cold to grow
 the sea squirt is a strange creature found attached to rocks and shells it looks like a soft plastic tube waving with the current drawing its nutrients from the passing water and leaves a path of Life far removed from its once active youth
 the sea squid starts Life as a tadpole with a primitive spinal cord and brain that helps that Fine Food and avoid harm as a juvenile it spends its days exploring the ocean but something happens when it reaches adulthood settling and let's rock it stops exploring and growing in a Macabre twist it digested turn Bryan
 spineless thoughtless flowing possibly with the current the Apostle Peter encourages us not to follow the sea squirts faith and spirituality for us means taking on God's nature you do a code to grow grow mentally and I know loads of Christ spiritually and traits like goodness perseverance and self-control and practically by exploring new ways to love of a hospitality and save all those three are gifts such gross Peter says will stop us from leaving ineffective and unproductive lives
 this calling to grow is as vital for the seventy-year-old as it is for the teenager goals nature is as vast as the ocean with Bailey swim a few feet Explorer his unending character take new spiritual Adventures study serve take risks grow
 today's scripture reading is from 2nd Peter chapter 1 verses 3 to 9
 his divine power has given us everything we need for a Godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness through these he has given us his very great and precious promises says it through then you may participate in the divine nature having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires
 for this very reason make every effort to add to your faith goodness and to goodness knowledge into knowledge self-control and is self-control perseverance and two pairs of earrings gold Lina's and the godliness Mutual affection and two mutual affection love her if you possess these qualities and increasing measure they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive and your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ what the weather does not have them is nearsighted and blind they guessing that they have been cleansed from the Apostle sins
let's pray together
 father God I find a discounting that Peter would use those words that we are cold to participate in your divine nature would we want that today to grow more in the morning to your likeness in until goodness we don't want to be like the sea squid passively going with the flow would you fill us a fresh with your Holy Spirit today who you entrust to take new adventures with you and Glenn powers to do so would we open ourselves up to him and look forward to new possibilities of loving serving and growing we pray this in Jesus powerful name I'm in
 today's encouragement was provided by Our Daily Bread Ministries