Attaining Spiritual Growth! Page 45

“Then we will no longer be infants
 tossed back and forth by the waves,
and blown here and there by every wind of teaching
 and by the cunning and craftiness of men
 in their deceitful scheming.
  Instead, speaking the truth in love,
we will in all things grow up
 into him who is the Head, that is, Christ.”
Ephesians 4:14-15

How do we grow physically?  With time….. and by the stretching and pulling or growing of our bones and skin.  Sounds painful and sometimes it is!!  When it’s all said and done we’ve changed; we look different than before!  Time quietly brought growth and with it-some physical maturity!

How do we grow spiritually?  Spiritual growth cannot be seen with the physical eye but it happens in relatively the same way; by the stretching and tugging of our soul through adversity! Using the sandpaper of circumstance; the nuisance called necessity and the huge realization that we need something other than self we eventually find that our minds are ready to expand to hold new truth!  This realization is stirred into us by discernment-which is given to us spiritually. 

“This is what we speak,
not in words taught us by human wisdom
 but in words taught by the Spirit,
expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words. 
The man without the Spirit
 does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God,
for they are foolishness to him,
and he cannot understand them,
because they are spiritually discerned.”

1 Corinthians 3:13-14

We are now ready to have a time of growth with our invisible God- who is creator of heaven and earth, of all that we see and don’t see-  and, of course, the creator of intricate man.  Scripture details this below: 

“He is the image of the invisible God,
the firstborn over all creation. 
For, by him all things were created;
things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible,
whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities,
all things were created by him and for him.
 He is before all things and in him all things hold together.”
Colossians 1:15-17

Unlike physical growth, spiritual growth doesn’t happen naturally by the nature of the human condition.  Instead it happens in a vastly larger place-within the spiritual heart-of–the-matter!  Because we are earth-bound at the moment, our human spirit is developed and strengthened through the experience of perseverance, through the building of our character over time, and through our clinging to hope as needed!  Scripture says:

“We know that suffering produces perseverance;
 perseverance, character; and character, hope.
 And hope does not disappoint us, because
 God’s love has been poured out into our hearts
 through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us”

Romans 5:3-5

God’s love is a key ingredient in the scripture above.  Conversely, it is our love for God that allows spiritual growth to take place when we bow in prayer and have a meeting-of-the-mind with that which is greater than all thought and beyond all understanding- with and through the spiritual meeting with a Holy God! 

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
 neither are your ways my ways,”

declares the Lord.

“ As the heavens are higher than the earth,
 so are my ways higher than ours ways
 and my thoughts than your thoughts. “
Isaiah 55:8-9

Being born into this world necessitates growth-for without it we would remain helpless!  In the same way, when we spiritually awake to the human condition called selfishness and death…we realize that there is something greater to be hoped for (other than death) and learned (other than selfishness).  If we are attuned to this part of our spiritual nature we begin to sense God and then we can begin to discern that we are a spiritual being with an eternal heritage!  This revelation is just the beginning of spiritual growth AND it is necessary-for without it we would remain lost in the mystery of the material world! 

“I have seen the burden God has laid on men. 
He has made everything beautiful in its time.
 He has also set eternity in the hearts of men;
 yet they cannot fathom what God has done
from beginning to end.”

Ecclesiastes 3:10-11

For God so loved the world
that he gave his one and only son that whoever believes in him shall not perish
 but have eternal life.

John 3:16

 Finally, we begin to seek growth from within the spiritual realm because our perspective has changed.  There is more to know, there is a difference to make; there is hope beyond the physical…life beyond death!  This news changes us!  We begin to hope that it will change others. Jesus called us to change the world!  And there it is……

Then Jesus came to them and said,
“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations,
 baptizing them in the name of the Father,
of the son and of the Holy Spirit,
 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.
 And surely I am with you always,
 to the very end of the age.”

Matthew 18-20

Scriptural Summary on Spiritual Growth:

“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more
 than all we ask or imagine,
 according to his power that is at work within us,
 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus
 throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
 Ephesians 3:20

Song Recommendation:

Word Of God Speak

BY:  MercyMe