Spiritual Growth #1

"Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on, to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me." [Philippians 3:12-14]

The apostle Paul's challenge in this verse is for us to press on, to keep growing. One of the first steps of pressing on, is to realise that we have not yet arrived! Even Paul acknowledged and recognised that he has not yet arrived, he understood that he had a lot of room for growth.

If we think back to when we first learned about the Gospel. We learned about sin, the need for a Saviour, the gift of forgiveness and the promised indwelling of the Spirit. Our first days and months are packed full of faith-filled nutrients, which is such a blessing, but there is so much more waiting for us!

Spiritual growth is a journey that helps us to mature in our relationship with God. As we spend more time with Him, every aspect of our being develops. When we grow in our faith, it is a sign that we are alive in our faith.

Jesus said the secret to spiritual growth is in abiding:

"If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you." [John 15:7]

We need to sink our roots deep into a relationship with Jesus. We cannot mature on our own without Him; our work and efforts are worthless. We need to spend time in His presence and allow Him to move in our lives.

The Spirit desires to feed us a greater understanding of who Jesus is and what is to come, but the move from infancy to maturity requires us to be willing to want it.

We can be steadily growing and developing in our faith and understanding of Jesus, but then our growth may stop! Growth is not always a straight line, there will be ups and downs, sometimes life gets in the way!

Maybe it's been a while since you have thought about this. If we have grown stagnant in our spiritual lives we need to ask ourselves:

• Why are we not growing?

• What are the barriers to growth?

Hebrews 6:1 says:

"Therefore let us move beyond the elementary teachings about Christ and be taken forward to maturity....."

So how can we move forward into maturity? By:

• Engaging with God through the Bible.

• Engaging with God in prayer.

• Engaging with God's people.

These three pillars are the foundation of spiritual growth, which we will cover over the next 2 weeks. This week, we will focus on: ENGAGING WITH GOD THROUGH THE BIBLE

The Spirit of Jesus carries us forward, by keeping our eyes on Him and learning all we can about Him from the Bible. Jesus' life on earth is a fitting example of the power of God's Word. At every step of His journey, Jesus relied on God's Word for guidance and strength.

One example we see is in Matthew 4:7-11, after fasting for 40 days and 40 nights, Jesus used the Word of God to defend Himself against the temptations of the evil one.

The Bible has transformed countless lives, and it has the power to transform our lives too. We need to read it, study it, meditate on it and memorise verses from it. The goal of studying the Bible is to see Jesus more clearly and become transformed, by the satisfying sight of Him. The apostle Paul wrote:

 "All scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work." [2 Timothy 3:16]

So with Paul's words in mind, we should take time and ask ourselves, how often do we engage with God's Word in our own lives?

It can be so easy to be swept along by the flood of our daily activities before even having a moment with the LORD. But, like a marriage or any other relationship, we have to take care of it, for it to grow. So we need to discipline ourselves to take time with God every day and make that a priority.

Something to bear in mind, is that this transformation that comes from engaging with God's Word might not always be immediately visible. It is often when we look back on our lives, that we can see the profound impact it has had on us. Isn't that so encouraging!

God bless