The Lifestyle of Spiritual Growth

“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” -Romans 12:1-2

We’ve considered where spiritual growth begins and the foundation upon which spiritual growth is built. Now let’s turn our attention to the lifestyle of spiritual growth. Spiritual growth is not so much an event as it is a process throughout the course of your life. I think this is a point of frustration for many. A Christian might expect to follow a few steps from the Bible and then—poof!—spiritual maturity is yours! After all, so much of our society operates this way. Eat this pill—poof!—you lose weight! Buy this new deodorant—poof!—everyone will like you! Pay this new tax—poof!—the country’s problems will be solved! There are even false teachers and so-called pastors today that proclaim that you can have your best life right now! But that is not how God has designed our spiritual growth. God designed growth to be much slower. Growth in your spiritual life is comparable to physical growth. Just as we don’t grow to be physically mature in a day or in a week, we don’t grow spiritually in an instant either. Yes, there may be times of rapid spiritual growth where we have great victories and successes towards maturity. But there are also seasons of slow plodding that may seem to drag on and on. But don’t get discouraged, God is still at work, even in the slow seasons.

Here in Romans 12:1, Paul suggests here that spiritual growth is, in fact, a long process. He urges believers to present their bodies as a living sacrifice to God. We would do well to notice that Paul is encouraging us to make a decision that has ongoing effects. Make a presentation of your life to God, then live daily in service to Him. How long should we serve God with our lives? Paul doesn’t put a time limit or a number of days on this command. He simply says, “Do this.” All the days of our lives are to be lived in service to God. Whether it be 5 more days, 5 more years, or 5 more decades, we are to live in service to the Lord.

This offering that Paul speaks of is not like in many churches today where people might give of their money but they want a say in where it goes. That is not an offering. That is manipulation and a struggle for power and control. Presenting our bodies to God means that we place our life before God and leave it to be used at His discretion. An offering means surrendering something to another completely free of charge and without stipulation. We can’t put our life before God and then just as He begins to use it we take it back and say, “No Lord! This is not what I gave you my life for!” or “I’ll let you do this, Lord, as long as you compensate me fairly!” We must place our lives before the Lord and humbly live our lives in a holy and acceptable way.

Paul says living this way is our reasonable service. Some translations say here that it is our “spiritual act of worship”. I like this because it points to spiritual growth. If you want to be spiritual and worship the Lord, then you must present your bodies—your entire lives—to Him. If you want to be spiritual, you must live a holy life. If you want to be spiritual, you must live in an acceptable way before God. What does all this mean? It means that we surrender completely to God’s will in our lives and relinquish all rights and desires to Him.

Isaiah prayed, “Here am I Lord; send me.” We would do well to pray this prayer in response to Paul’s command.

The Foundations of Growth

"The entrance of thy words giveth light; It giveth understanding unto the simple." - Psalm 119:130

Yesterday we looked at the beginnings of spiritual growth. Undoubtedly, spiritual growth begins with that desire for God to search us, to know us, and to lead us in the way everlasting. Now lets consider the foundations of spiritual growth.

God's Word, the Bible, is the foundation for our spiritual growth. It is the firm foundation, the solid ground. It is the revelation of God's instruction to mankind. It stands to reason that if a Christian desires to grow spiritually, that the Word of God is the place they must turn to find instructions on how to grow. God has chosen to reveal His instructions to us in a special way in His Word. While its true that God has revealed himself to us through creation in a general way, if we want to know specifics about who He is and what He wants from us as human beings, we must turn to his special revelation.

This verse in Psalm 119 tells us that the way to get understanding is through the entrance of God's Word. As you and I read the Bible and gain an understanding of what it means, we learn how to live. You don't need to know much to become a Christian. You need to understand that you are a sinner deserving God's punishment for sin, that Christ died for your sin and rose again, and that if you place your faith in what Jesus did you can be declared righteous and have eternal life as God's free gift. After salvation, God would have you learn and grow to understand much more than this. As a new Christian learns God's Word, he gets to see this verse in action in his life. God's Word gives understanding to the simple. This chapter also tells us that "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path" (v. 105). As Christians walk through life reading and learning God's instructions, the path to walk on is literally lit up by the Word of God. This process of growth that we desire and need as Christians is laid out for us in the Bible.

It is impossible to grow spiritually without the Bible.  Job said that he considered the words from God "more than my necessary food." That means that Job saw God's Word as more important that even the physical food that he needed to stay alive. Do you feel like you are stuck? Not growing? Frozen in your spiritual life? Let me ask you, are you trying to grow without the Bible? Are you trying to find instruction for your spiritual life outside of God's special revelation to you? Christians, we must read the Bible, study what it says, commit it to memory and practice in our lives. This is the foundation to build our spiritual life on. This is the foundation of growth. Neglect it and you neglect the source of your spiritual growth.

The Beginnings of Growth

"Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me and know my thoughts: and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." -Psalm 139:23-24

Spiritual growth is an interesting concept. Most Christians would agree that they need spiritual growth. And most of us acknowledge that we are not fully mature spiritually. In fact, when we take a look deep inside our hearts, we have to admit that we are desperately far from where we often perceive ourselves to be.

Spiritual growth can also be somewhat elusive. How does one grow spiritually? Is there a formula to follow? Are there a set of clearly defined steps that, when taken systematically, lead to maturity? Or is spiritual growth more fluid, adaptive to your situation and needs? Can you grow spiritually on your own? Does it happen automatically? Is it a steady growth or rapid growth? These are valid questions.

These two verses in Psalm 139 strike me as the starting place for spiritual growth. The first step is a desire--a request: search me. The psalmist asks God to search his heart. This is a sincere request and an acknowledgement of imperfection. The psalmist lays his heart before the Lord openly and honestly acknowledging sinfulness and the need for change. "I'm not where I need to be Lord. My heart is wicked. My thoughts are inconsistent. I don't measure up."

In order to grow, we must desire to grow. Its not something automatic, as if we simply float along through life moving towards maturity. No, spiritual growth happens when we first desire it and ask God for it. We must humble ourselves. We must admit we need growth. Pride would have us close up our hearts from God's searching. Pride would have us hide the wickedness and sin that we harbor inside. This hinders and stops us from growing. Humility lays everything out on the table before God. Humility says, "Search me, O God."

Finally, in order to grow, we must pray for God's leading. "lead me in the way everlasting." God's initiative is required for our growth. God must bring us along in the process. We can't run ahead of God and expect to grow. We must follow his leading. Again, this requires humility. You cannot lead yourself to your own spiritual maturity. You must trust God's leading and follow him.

Can you see the starting place of growth? Desire it, ask God for it, and then follow his leading into the way everlasting.

We're headed to Nova Scotia!

This week Alicia and I accepted a call to pastor a church in Shag Harbour, Nova Scotia. We will be moving in late August. We are thankful, and excited about the Lord's leading in our lives. Please pray for our house in Belgrade to sell in time for our move, and for us to be able to get everything ready! Pray for all of us to have the strength needed for all the tasks before us and for the emotional strains of moving. It is painful to take up roots. We love our Belgrade family very much. But while there are difficulties, we trust that this move is ordained of The Lord, therefore we must follow him in obedience. Thank you for your prayers!

Answered Prayers

God answered all of our prayers for our Mikayla Jean. First, we asked him to heal the cystic hygroma problem that was detected early on. God answered by taking that away. Secondly, we prayed that Alicia would be able to carry Mikayla and that she would be born alive even though there was an extremely high risk of miscarriage. I remember sitting in front of the ultrasound specialist and the high-risk doctor and hearing them say ‘we see no reason she shouldn’t be born alive’. God allowed Alicia to carry her for 31.5 weeks and Mikayla was born alive December 28^th at 6:30 pm. We prayed that the doctors would care for Mikayla despite her trisomy 18 diagnosis. God answered by giving us a team of doctors and nurses that were very thorough and detailed in their care for her. Next, we asked God to give us some time with Mikayla Jean and he said yes by giving us 39 hours with her. We are so thankful to God for his answers to prayer. It has been our prayer in the last couple of weeks that God would sustain us as we live through this difficult experience. He is answering by surrounding us with our family, as well as brothers and sisters in Christ that are so loving and helpful and encouraging. We thank God and give him the glory for everything he has given us. We know that right now Jesus is caring for our little girl in heaven and keeping her safe until we get there too. We will see her in a little while. Alicia and I are grateful for all the cards, the support, the meals from our Belgrade family, and especially the prayers you have offered up on our behalf. Please pray that we would be able to work through this and continue to trust in God’s faithfulness.