“As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby”
1 Peter 2:2 (KJV).

Sam was very impatient with himself. Though he was a new Christian, he could not understand why he was not as spiritual as some of the other students who had walked with the Lord for several years.

I explained to him the Christian life, like physical life, involves a process of growth. A person begins as a baby and goes through various stages of childhood, adolescence and young adulthood to reach Christian maturity. Very few, if any, Christians, I explained to him, become spiritually mature overnight.

Lane Adams, a beloved colleague, gifted teacher, preacher and author, said, “I shrink inside when I think of the times I have mounted the pulpit, recited the conversion experience of the apostle Paul, and then indicated that he went out and turned the world upside down for Jesus Christ immediately.”

He continued, “This simply was not the case. There is a difference of opinion among scholars concerning New Testament dating, but it seems rather plain that many years went by before the Holy Spirit laid the dramatic burden on Paul as a missionary of the cross.”

If you strongly desire to serve the Lord in some particular way, such as teaching, ask the Holy Spirit in faith to empower you to become an effective teacher. Now, it may be that the Holy Spirit will see fit to make you a great teacher overnight, but this is most unlikely. So if it does not happen, do not be discouraged. Have faith!

Continue to ask and believe that the Holy Spirit will make you an effective teacher of the Word of God and be willing to work hard and long to develop your natural ability. The Bible reminds us that “faith without works is useless.”

If we are unique members of the Body of Christ, and we are, if we possess special tasks to accomplish, and we do, then the Holy Spirit will empower us to carry out those tasks. God does indeed have a plan for each of our lives. And He gives us the direction and power of His Holy Spirit to accomplish that plan as we continue to trust and obey Him.

Bible Reading: 2 Peter 3:14-18

Action Point: Recognizing that I am in the process of maturing spiritually, I shall seek to accelerate my spiritual growth by hiding the Word of God in my heart, spending time in prayer, walking in the Spirit and sharing my faith in Christ with others as a way of life.

by Dr. Bill Bright
Used by Permission

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“His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness… For this very reason, make every effort to add to.” 2 Peter 1:3 and 5

The business owner who wishes to see positive numbers in the profit column regularly traces the company’s financial progress. Any supervisor who genuinely cares for the welfare of her employees – as well as for the success of her company – consistently tracks how well the employees are doing.

Christians, too, have a way to measure their progress, or growth. God wants to see his children grow to be more like Jesus, and who among us does not want to have the characteristics of Jesus increasingly evident in our lives?

Peter writes that we should make every effort to “add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love.”

In their effort to increase employees’ progress, employers and supervisors can provide a positive and encouraging work atmosphere, training sessions, seminar, etc. But God provides much more. He “has given us everything we need for life and godliness.” The Apostle Paul writes,

“God is at work within you, helping you want to obey him, and then helping you do what he wants.” (Philippians 2:13)

How’s your progress?

Father, thank you for providing everything we need to grow spiritually. Forgive us for too often being satisfied with the status quo, or measuring ourselves by others.

by Marilyn Ehle
Used by Permission

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“Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.” 1 Peter 2: 2 & 3

It was a hectic time. Too often we found ourselves getting “take out”. Then we walked into a friend’s home and the roast beef smelled wonderful. The fast food had filled the need of the moment but the roast beef meal was so much more satisfying.

We all know the sluggish slide our bodies take when we “fast food” it too often.

We often try to “fast food” it as Christians too. Oh we get some nutrition from our quick reading and our prayer on the way out the door. But our hearts hunger for the “roast beef” and we don’t even recognize it.

Sluggishness sets into the soul when we neglect good spiritual nutrition too long. Are you finding unrest in your soul or perhaps some anger or irritation? Is lack of peace and impatience beginning a slow slide into your spirit?

“Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.” 1 Peter 2: 2 & 3

Spiritual fast food is great for those crazy days now and then, but if it is your steady diet your soul will be malnourished.

God longs to feed your soul. He provides a meal you don’t want to miss.

Father God, Today I ask that You will rekindle my hunger for You. I pray that You will lead me in new ways of knowing You. Help me take the time to grow up in my spiritual tastes. Thank you for the nutrition You have provided in spiritual fast food, but help me to desire more. I know you have a feast for those who take the time to come. May I be one of them. ?In Jesus name I pray, Amen.

Take responsibility for your spiritual condition.
•    Put some Christian music on.
•    Read your Bible and ask God to speak to you.
•    Take time to pray alone and listen.
•    Find a Christian friend to talk with.

Real satisfaction awaits you as you crave pure spiritual food. Ask God to help you hunger for Him in new ways. He has a feast for those who linger with Him.

By Gail Rodgers
used by permission

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Before every major new thing God did in the Bible God would tell His people “Consecrate yourself, purify yourself, repent.” Over and over, God showed new revelations of Himself or a new unfolding of His glory to those who prepared the way by purification. Study for yourself and see how many times God said, “Consecrate yourself, for tomorrow I will (or you will).”

• Before leaving Egypt—Exodus 12:15, Luke 12:1, 1 Corinthians 5:6-8
• Before God met Moses in holy glory on the mountain—Exodus 19:10
• Before crossing the Jordan—Joshua 3:5
• Before God revealed sin in the camp—Joshua 7:13
• Before God’s new king was anointed to bear the lineage of Jesus—1 Samuel 16:5
• Before bringing the ark of the presence of the Lord to the place He prepared for it—1 Chronicles 15:12
• Before Hezekiah’s revival—2 Chronicles 29:5
• Before God pours out His Spirit—Joel 1:14, 2:15
• Before the entrance of Jesus into the world the message was “Repent to prepare the way of the Lord”—Matthew 3:2-3
• Before Jesus went to the cross—John 17:19
• Before the King of kings and Lord of lords reveals His omnipotence—Revelation 2-3

We all long to love God from a pure heart, but we are easily distracted and give our love to other things. Sometimes we don’t even realize it. God knows our weakness and loves us anyway. His constant encouragement to consecrate and purify ourselves is an act of a loving Father that knows what is best for us. God is jealous for the spirit He has put in us (James 4:1-5). He wants us to partner with Him in the things He is doing.

Consecration should begin with us. It is so easy to point the finger at other people who “need to get right with God.” Before praying for others, our church, community or nation, first we need to pray for ourselves. Titus 2:13-14 says, “We wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.”

Are you willing to pray,

“Jesus, thank You for redeeming me. Work in me Your redemption from all wickedness and purify me for Yourself for Your own possession, eager to do what is good.”

Movements of God are birthed in prayer and holiness as God’s people humble themselves to seek God’s face. The primary purpose is to seek God. To know Him and align all of who we are with who His is. Seek God’s face with humility and repentance, because God is the only answer to the urgent needs of our personal lives, our families, His church, the nation, and the world. Ask God how you are to seek Him.

by Sylvia Gunter
used by permission

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Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the realm of the dead, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom. Ecclesiastes 9:10

In his book, Excellence Wins, Horst Schulze spells how he did it. As co-founder of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, he tells how we took it to the top of excellent and respected hotels. He spells out a no-nonsense guide to becoming the best in a world of compromise. An enjoyable read, it tells not just how to build a hotel brand, but how we all should manage our lives.

Though not a spiritual book, as I read it, I couldn’t keep from putting a spiritual spin on it. God wants us to live excellence in our spiritual lives. Like Schulze, who says to put the hotel guests first, God wants us to put Him first in our lives.

Excellence is the quality of excelling, of being the very best at something. Human beings have an intrinsic desire to see excellence. In every people group across the world, excellence is prized and rewarded. Whether it is a tribe celebrating excellence in hunting or a Wall Street accountant promoted because of his excellence in finance, our appreciation of excellence comes from our Creator. To be made in God’s image means that He imparted some of His character qualities to us (Genesis 1:27). We crave justice because He is just (Psalm 9:16). We love because He is love (1 John 4:16). And we strive for excellence because He is excellent in everything He does (Deuteronomy 32:4).

Many things get in the way of human excellence, including apathy, carelessness, and laziness. Our sinful nature is that part of us that is unlike God and is in fact in opposition to God and His excellence. We are all born sinners, and that sin manifests itself in a thousand ways. We cut corners, we shirk, we settle for second best (or third or fourth best) if the effort to achieve excellence is more than we’re willing to give. God’s cure for our careless ways is to remind us that He is our ultimate judge. We must answer to Him for how we spend our time, our resources, and our energy (Matthew 12:36; 1 Corinthians 3:13–15). Striving for excellence should be a part of all we do: “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving” Colossians 3:23–24.

Aware that it is Christ Himself we are serving, we don’t want to present Him with anything but excellence. Whether it is sweeping streets or running a country, we should strive for excellence in work ethic, in character, and in craftsmanship. No one is good at everything, but we’re all good at something. God expects us to develop the skills and gifts He’s given us in order to serve Him and others better.

Are you striving for excellence in your spiritual life?

by John Grant
used by permission

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• Growing Pains – A devotional on Spiritual Growth 
• Meditation for Spiritual Growth
• Developing Spiritual Maturity
• Marinated in the Word

The post Excellence appeared first on Thoughts About God.

‘And this is my prayer:

“that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.”  Philippians 1:9-11 (NIV)

There is a real art to cooking. My bride rules the inside kitchen and I am in charge of grilling outside. But there are rules that apply to both venues.

The first one is the slower and lower, the better. The other is to prepare the meat properly before cooking. I have used various preparation sauces, different ones for different meats. Marinating is the process of soaking foods in a seasoned, often acidic, liquid before cooking. It is a technique of adding flavor by immersion in liquid. The process can often take several hours or even overnight, but the end result from marinating and cooking slowly results in far better taste when done.

There is a spiritual parallel here. As we grow in the Word and in the Christian faith, growth takes time and it also calls for total immersion in the Word.

God is into marinating instead of microwaving. Too often Christians think they can give the word a casual and occasional quick view, say a quick prayer and be on their way. No wonder culture dictates our faith instead of our faith dictating culture.

Our salvation can begin in an instant, but spiritual growth takes time. We can read Christian books and listen to great sermons, but there is no substitute for being daily in the word and constantly in prayer mode.

When we are saturated in the Word, we gain a Word view to replace the worldview. When we are Bible literate, God gives us opinions and responses as to how to respond the situations and decisions the world hands us.

We are to be in the world but not of the world. It is not easy. In fact it is downright impossible without being immersed in the Word and spending great quantities of fellowship in pray with God. It is much more that just attending church on Sunday.

So take time to immerse yourself in the Word. Do it deliberately and regularly and the finished product will have a heavenly aroma.
(a thought on life from John Grant)

by John Grant
used by permission

FURTHER READING

• Growing Pains – A Devotional on Spiritual Growth

•  Pray Before You Leap 

• Meditation for Spiritual Growth – A Devotional by Charles Spurgeon

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“I meditate on your precepts and consider your ways.” Psalm 119:15

There are times when solitude is better than community, and silence is wiser than speech. We will be better Christians if we take more time to be “alone” with God, and gathering spiritual strength through meditation on His Word, so that we will be refreshed to work in His service.

We should take time to ponder God’s word, because then we get real nourishment out of it. Truth is something like a cluster of grapes on the vine: if we want wine, we must work for it; we must press and squeeze it many times. The worker’s feet must come down joyfully upon the bunches, or else the juice will not flow. They must stomp the grapes well, or else much of the precious liquid will be wasted. So likewise we must, by meditation, work at God’s clusters of truth, if we really want to grow through God’s wisdom.

Our bodies are not sustained just by putting food into our mouths. The process which supplies our muscle, nerves, and bones is the process of digestion. By digestion the outward food becomes absorbed into our bodies. Likewise, our souls don’t become well-nourished merely by listening to this and that, to part here and there of divine truth. Hearing, reading, and learning require inwardly digesting to be useful, and this digesting of the truth requires meditating upon it.

We may wonder why some Christians, although they hear many sermons, make slow advances in their spiritual walk? It’s because they do not thoughtfully meditate on God’s Word. They love the wheat, but they do not grind it. They would eat the corn, but they will not go into the field to gather it. The fruit hangs upon the tree, but they will not pluck it. The water flows at their feet, but they will not stoop to drink it.

Our prayer today is “Lord, help us overcome such foolishness.” And let this be our firm intention in response: “God, I will meditate on your precepts.”

Originally written by Charles H. Spurgeon.
Updated to modern English by Darren Hewer, 2008.
Used by Permission

Further Reading

•  God Is…

•  Going Deeper with God

•  Salvation Explained

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Often, as a child, when I complained about some ache or pain that had no clear physical explanation, the simple parental diagnosis was: “It’s just growing pains.” I used to imagine my muscles and bones actually hurting while they stretched and grew. While I know nothing about the scientific nature of this evaluation, I do know it has a spiritual application that is entirely accurate. It hurts to grow.

It hurts to grow because we have to die to old ways in order to live anew, and old ways die hard.

We place a high premium in life on dying peacefully, but in reality dying almost always is accompanied by pain. We have dependencies with coping mechanisms that have enslaved us. It’s hard letting go of our security blankets.

In a touching scene from an older romantic comedy, Mr. Mom, Michael Keaton has to coax his toddler’s “whoopee” blanket away from him. Upon rendering it up, the little boy asks for a moment to himself to grieve the loss and we can almost touch his pain. We would like similar moments to grieve our little daily deaths, but we have to learn to move on, because the pain of losing is followed by the greater joy of finding God always meets us on the other side of our loss.

It hurts to grow because growing usually means facing into some fear or weakness that has limited us. Though God saves us through no effort of our own, he asks for our cooperation when it comes to our spiritual growth. Real spiritual growth only happens when our effort to act upon God’s word meets the provision of the Holy Spirit in us.

Or as Paul teaches, “Put into action God’s saving work in your lives, obeying God with deep reverence and fear. For God is working in you, giving you the desire to obey Him and the power to do what pleases Him.” Philippians 2:12-13 (NLT).

This is always the spiritual principle of growth. We obey by stepping into our weakness or our fear, trusting in the fact that because it is something He asks of us, He will meet us somewhere along the way with the power to do it. This is almost always a painful proposition because it requires a step into the unknown. What if God doesn’t show up? I suppose we can ask that question, but we will never get the answer on this side of the risk. We have to take the step, believing that there is something there that we can’t see. And if that doesn’t hurt, it’s probably not faith.

Old ways die hard, but new life dances on the gravestones.

By John Fischer
Used by Permission

Related Reading

•   Going Deeper with God
•   Lessons for Spiritual Growth
•  Salvation Explained

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