Be inspired to overcome the biggest of all obstacles to spiritual growth.
We all want a life of peace, love, and joy. We want to look forward to a bright future as the favored beloved of God in all we do.
This is the amazing life we signed up for when we got saved—and it is possible for each of us!
However, there are obstacles & mindsets that keep us stuck in the muck of past patterns and failures unless we are willing to look honestly at them.
The biggest obstacle to spiritual growth is that:
1. We don’t understand the need to grow spiritually
I heard one guy say as he was walking out of the church, “I got saved, now I’m good to go.”
In another conversation, a gal shared, “I said the sinner’s prayer, and I bought a cross necklace and thought that was all there was to it.”
Sadly, those new babes in Christ didn’t understand.
They were born into a new kingdom.
And their most important moment was just the beginning of a new way of life!
The gift of salvation is absolutely a free gift from God. We cannot do anything—anything at all to deserve this gift of grace from our Lord!
In that blessed moment, we are born again, not in the flesh, but of the Spirit of God by His grace alone.
At that salvation moment, God rescues us from the spiritual kingdom of darkness and transfers us into the kingdom of His Son (Col 1:13).
It is a joyous moment! But then we must learn how to live this new spiritual life!
2. To overcome the largest obstacle to spiritual growth, we need to learn to develop our spirit
Dear reader, however old you are at this point, you will have spent your entire life growing and developing physically, mentally, and emotionally.
However, God created us complete as body, soul, and spirit.
And very few of us have paid any attention to growing and developing our human spirit.
For many of us, our human spirit remains underdeveloped.
Most of us are unaware of our own inner spiritual nature AND unaware of our God, who is Spirit.
The physical kingdom is familiar, but the spiritual kingdom is unfamiliar.
Once we are born again, our consciousness is awakened to things that bother us, which did not bother us before.
We find ourselves in a different kind of kingdom where we do not understand how to navigate the territory.
We are like babies in diapers toddling around on unfamiliar terrain.
Spiritual attacks come and we are unaware as to how to fight back in the spiritual world.
Most people do not realize they must grow in awareness and understanding of God’s principles to live successfully in this new kingdom.
So many of us stay stagnant.
Many of us go to church once a week and receive strength for the next week.
But inside we still wrestle with obstacles of unforgiveness, bitterness, bad habits, depression, negative thinking, addictions, ruined relationships, and all sorts of self-sins (self-righteousness, self-pity, self-sufficiency, self-promotion, etc.).
3. The key to success is to seek God and His wisdom and understanding
The Bible is clear that we are to seek God with all our heart, soul, and strength, then also to seek His wisdom and understanding.
We are to incline our ears to wisdom and our hearts to understanding. Over and again, we are exhorted to seek earnestly and eagerly to understand. [2]
In fact, the key to Daniel’s success was that he set his heart to understand.
“From the first day that you set your heart on understanding this and on humbling yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to your words” (Dan 10:12).
Growing spiritually takes effort
Our lives get so busy, that we neglect our personal relationship with our Lord.
We must set our hearts intentionally to understand the ways of the Spirit and pursue them!
It does take effort to turn aside to seek God and ask for understanding, just like Moses turned aside to explore the burning bush.
If Moses had never stopped his daily routine and turned aside to explore God, history would be different today.
Your history can be different too!
Even if you have been a Christian for a long time, you can turn aside in your mind and set your heart to understand His ways more fully.
You can overcome the largest obstacle to spiritual growth.
With more spiritual understanding comes a more fruitful and rewarding life of peace, love, and joy!
You can overcome these obstacles to spiritual growth
We all want a life of peace, love, and joy. We want to make a difference in the world.
Spiritual growth happens when:
- you understand the need to seek first God’s wisdom, understanding, and His ways for life
- slow down enough to ponder and live God’s principles every day
- when you don’t allow daily life to steal your relationship with your Lord
You will be “like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in its season and its leaf does not wither; and in whatever he does, he prospers” (Psalm 1:3).
You can overcome these obstacles to spiritual growth and live a fruitful, abundant life! You can make a difference in the world!
Action steps to overcome this obstacle to spiritual growth
- First, ask for help. The Holy Spirit is your Helper. If you honestly want to know, if you are willing to change, He will show you. He will help you understand where you are missing the mark in your life. He will share the secrets of the kingdom with you and empower you to do what you cannot do on your own.
- Second, Continue to seek Him earnestly with all your heart, and our Lord will cause you to succeed! You will overcome the biggest obstacle to spiritual growth!
Related Posts:
7 Things that Hinder Spiritual Growth. Sometimes there are other things that can hinder us from growing spiritually, things that choke and limit good Christian people.
20 Daily Prayers for Spiritual Growth (with Scripture References) is a checklist of prayers chosen to help you grow spiritually. They are short & simple daily prayers for growing spiritually based in Scripture. These are chosen specifically to help you live the amazing life God has for you!
Exciting News
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I think that is pretty good, considering there are a lot of big organizations with good websites.
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Notes:
Excellent blog with practical steps for growing spiritually.