By Gavin Aleogho
Are you tired of seeing your spiritual life fluctuate up and down with no steady growth? Have you tried your best to see that you continuously experience a glow in your Christian life but to no avail?
Are you tired of seeing your spiritual life fluctuate up and down with no steady growth? Have you tried your best to see that you continuously experience a glow in your Christian life but to no avail?
After
giving your life to Jesus Christ, your spiritual growth is largely depending on
you as a person. Your sincere desire for growth and the decision you make which
is solely based on the amount of truth you are exposed to, both have a way of
accelerating your growth.
Mind
you, I’m not talking about the acts that will make you look religious. I’m
talking about how you can experience a stress-free Christian growth while you
are enjoying good relationship with everyone that is in your sphere of life.
I
will be pointing your attention to seven spiritual exercises which are
Scripture based and are guaranteed to help you experience a glow in your
spiritual life continuously.
1.
The Word of God.
“And
now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is
able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are
sanctified.” Acts
20:32.
“As
newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby:” 1 Peter 2:2.
One of the first
and major requirements for spiritual growth is the Word of God, the Bible. If
you must experience growth in your Christian walk, you must seek to know God
the more through His revealed Word. You can’t shift this responsibility to your
Pastors or on your Bible Teachers. They surely have a part to play, but the
sole responsibility of the application of the Word of God rests on you.
You have to know
the Word for yourself. Take out time to study the Bible for yourself. Don’t
neglect to read Spirit Inspired Books. Get messages and listen to them.
Mind you, you
can’t outgrow studying the Bible. You have to cultivate
the attitude of studying, meditating and applying the Word of God if you must
see growth.
2.
Fasting
“As
they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me
Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them.”Acts 13:2.
Fasting is a
spiritual exercise that helps to stretch your spirit man beyond its comfort
zone. There are some heights you won’t attend spiritually without fasting.
Fasting actually humbles you; it brings your flesh under subjection, because
the real enemy to your spiritual growth is your flesh. Fasting is the cure to
handling your flesh.
When you fast,
you find it difficult to talk anyhow. Fasting reduces your bodily or physical
sensitivity to issues that does not contribute to your spiritual growth.
If you can fast
at least once a week from; you will see a remarkable growth in your spiritual
life.
3.
Evangelizing
“For
I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto
salvation to every one that believeth…” Romans 1:16.
There is a
height you will never achieve if you don’t consciously become a witness of Christ.
Do you want to see greater manifestation of God’s gift in your life? Do you
want God to work miracles through your hands? Do you want to live life beyond
the ordinary Christian life? Then you must go out and preach. I always
experience a different dimension of God’s grace when I share the gospel of our
Lord Jesus Christ.
You have to learn
to do evangelism beyond the conventional way. Let evangelising or witnessing be
part of your life. Let it be part of every of your conversation. Then you will
continuously experience greater dimension of God’s grace upon your spirit.
4.
Prayer
“But
ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the
Holy Ghost,”
Jude 20
Prayer is an act
that shows your dependency on God. But more especially, prayer is actually the
meeting place between God and man. There can’t be any spiritual growth without
effective prayer life. When you remove prayer (God-dependent), you only have futile
(self-dependent) activity.
I must state
that not all kinds of prayers aids in achieving spiritual growth. When you are
engulfed with praying for just material needs, it will never help you grow
spiritually. I believe praying for bread and butter is for babes in Christ. If
you want to achieve spiritual growth in your prayer life, then you must step up
your prayer life to praying in the Spirit, which is praying in tongues. Prayer
of intersection also helps your spiritual growth, as well as praying for God’s
will to be done.
5.
Fellowship
The gathering of
brethren together in fellowship is beyond just the activities that you can see
with your natural eyes. It is a spiritual ceremony. What many people see or
hear is just the message, songs, announcement and the rest. But in reality, it
is beyond those; it’s a spiritual business. There is a spiritual impartation
that goes on in such a meeting. There is refreshing of the spirit man when you
come in fellowship with other believers which you might never get when you are
in isolated or when you avoid fellowship.
“…the
times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord” Acts 3:19b.
Furthermore, you
should be mindful of the kind of fellowship (church) you attend because it has
a way of affecting your spiritual growth. Is your church making you more
carnal? Do you get fired up to serve God the more after your church meetings? The
fellowship (church) you attend should be one that after attending you should feel
a great urge to get closer to God.
“Behold,
how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!...for
there the LORD commanded the blessing, even life for evermore.” Psalms 133:1,
3b.
6.
Giving and
Rendering of Service
“and
to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to
give than to receive.” Acts 20:35b.
Giving for a
child of God is not just for the purpose of gain, it is actually an expression
of the regenerated man. In giving you discover purpose. Giving in this contest
is beyond cash or material possession. It includes but not limited to abstract
things like your time, gifts, knowledge, energy, skills, services etc. All
gears towards the Kingdom business.
You can’t really
experience growth when you live for yourself. You have to express it through
service in the house of God and service to humanity. You can’t just be getting (receiving
everything from others) and expect to increase spiritually. You can’t just be
receiving sermon upon sermon without finding a way of giving it out. The
spiritual gift you are given is not for yourself but for others.
Do you want to
experience growth…start giving, start serving, start helping, and start impacting
others with what you have.
7.
Having a Spiritual
Mentor or Role Model
“Iron
sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.” Proverbs 27:17.
Having someone that
you are accountable to have a lot of benefits in your Christian race. You can’t
be a lone ranger when it comes to your spiritual growth, the Scripture says
iron sharpens iron. When you have someone that you are accountable to, it has a
way of helping you. Furthermore, when you know that someone is watching over
you, this also has a way of putting you in check.
How blessed are
you when you have someone who can tell it to your face that you are heading the
wrong direction. Or that will tell you that you should improve on your prayer
life or take a step that will help you?
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