Spiritual growth is the process of becoming more and more like Jesus Christ. When we place our faith in Jesus, the Holy Spirit begins the process of making us more like Him, conforming us to His image. Spiritual growth is perhaps best described in 2 Peter 1:3-8.
3 By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence. 4 And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires.
5 In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, 6 and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, 7 and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone.
8 The more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
These verses tell us that by God's power we have "everything we need" to live lives of godliness, which is the goal of spiritual growth. Notice that what we need comes "through our knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ," which is the key to obtaining everything we need. Our knowledge of Him comes from the Word, given to us for our edification and growth.
There are two lists in Galatians 5:19-23.
19 When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, 21 envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God. 22 But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!
The first list is the "acts of the flesh" listed in verses 19-21. These are the things that identified our lives before we came to Christ for salvation. The acts of the flesh are the activities we are to confess, repent of, and, with God's help, overcome. As we experience spiritual growth, fewer and fewer of the "acts of the flesh" will be evident in our lives.
The second list is the "fruit of the Spirit" (verses 22-23). These are what should characterize our lives now that we have experienced salvation in Jesus Christ. Spiritual growth is identified by the fruit of the Spirit becoming increasingly evident in a believer's life.
When the transformation of salvation takes place, spiritual growth begins. The Holy Spirit indwells us (John 14:16-17). We are new creatures in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17). The old, sinful nature begins to give way to the new, Christ-like nature (Romans 6-7). Spiritual growth is a lifelong process that depends on our study and application of God's Word (2 Timothy 3:16-17) and our walk in the Spirit (Galatians 5:16-26).
As we seek spiritual growth, we should pray to God and ask for wisdom concerning the areas He desires us to grow in. We can ask God to increase our faith and knowledge of Him. God desires for us to grow spiritually, and He has given us all we need to experience spiritual growth. With the Holy Spirit’s help, we can overcome sin and steadily become more like our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Pastor Wayne will be speaking this weekend and He shares the following regarding his message The Next Level:
God is calling us to grow up in our faith. The time for being perpetual spiritual babes is coming to a close, especially for those who have been in the faith for a long time. It will take a strong relationship with God for us to stand in the trying days ahead. Those who are young in the faith will need those who are strong to help guide them as values and society continue on the decline. This Sunday join us for an encouraging word that will challenge us to go higher in God so that we will be able to stand in these last days and encourage others to do so.
God bless you as we meet at the church or as you watch online!
Every Blessing,
Pastor Barry Risto
Lead Pastor