Every kingdom operates according to something, and the Kingdom of God is no different. His Word establishes how His Kingdom works. But owning a Bible, reading it, and even knowing what it says are not the same as living according to it. In this teaching, we begin with an important foundation for this chapter of Are You A Christian? God’s commandments were never intended to produce blind obedience. They bring us into a life of faith where we know God, trust what He has said, and actually live according to His Word. That means there can be a difference between what we say we believe and what is actually governing our lives. Here’s your challenge with THIS TEACHING: Find one instruction in Scripture that you already know but have not been consistently putting into practice. Don’t go looking for something new. Take what you already know and put it into action. The Kingdom life isn’t experienced simply because we know what the King has said. We experience it when His Word becomes the standard we actually live by.

When we want to understand the love of God, we can look at Jesus. His coming to earth was love revealed. Everywhere Jesus went, people encountered the heart of the Father. The sick were healed, the broken were restored, the weak received strength, and impossible situations changed because Jesus was there. That same Jesus is victorious today. As you listen to Glory’s “YOU REIGN VICTORIOUS,” take some time to think about what Jesus has personally revealed to you about the love of God. Maybe you’ve experienced His healing, provision, strength, forgiveness, or simply His presence during a time when you desperately needed Him. What has Jesus shown you about the Father’s love through something He has done in your life?

Most of us have heard someone say, “Don’t get your hopes up.” Usually, they’re trying to protect us from disappointment. But biblical hope was never meant to be built on circumstances working out the way we want. Real hope is built on what God has said. That changes everything. In this teaching, we look at the relationship between love, hope, and faith. Hope is the joyful anticipation of good. It allows us to see beyond what is happening right now and anchor our expectation in the promises of God. Hebrews 11:1 tells us that faith then gives substance to what we hope for. So instead of lowering your expectations because of what you see, spend some time after THIS TEACHING finding a promise from God’s Word that speaks directly to something you’re believing for. Write it somewhere you’ll see it this week or drop it in the comments. Every time your circumstances try to tell you a different story, go back to what God said. Get your hopes up, but make sure they’re anchored in the right place.

Sometimes disappointment doesn’t cause us to stop believing in God. It simply causes us to stop expecting anything. We can still pray, read our Bible, go to church, and say that we believe, while somewhere along the way we quietly lowered our expectations because hoping again felt too risky. If that describes any part of your heart, we want to pray with you. This prayer is about allowing hope to rise again, not because circumstances suddenly look better, but because our hope has never been rooted in circumstances. Our hope is in God and what He has spoken. Before you begin THIS PRAYER, think about the area where disappointment has affected your expectation the most. Don’t try to manufacture hope or talk yourself into feeling differently. Simply bring that area before the Lord and pray with us. Then receive Psalm 42:5 personally: “I will put my hope in God!” You don’t have to protect yourself from disappointment by living without expectation. Let the Word of God become bigger in your heart than what you have experienced.

We’re halfway through October, and we want to try something a little different for our mid-month check-in. Pick one area of your walk with God that you want to be stronger in by the end of this month. Keep it simple and specific. Maybe you want to become more consistent in prayer. Maybe you need to spend more time in the Word instead of only reaching for it when you need an answer. Maybe you want to become quicker to obey when God speaks. Maybe you need to work on controlling your thoughts or your words. Maybe you want to become more intentional about sharing Jesus with the people around you. Whatever it is, don’t choose five things. Choose one. Then decide what you are actually going to do about it for the rest of October. If you want to grow in the Word, decide when you’re going to read it. If it’s prayer, make room for it in your day. If it’s obedience, stop postponing the thing you already know to do. If it’s your thoughts, choose the Scriptures you’re going to use to renew your mind. This is what we want ITC to be about. Not simply learning more, but training ourselves to live what we’re learning. Share your one area with us below, along with the practical step you’re going to take. Then at the end of the month, we can come back and see what changed.