2000-08-06 - Passages About Spiritual Growth

The moment we accept Christ as our Savior is the most important moment of our lives. But that is only the beginning. God intends for us to grow closer to Him, and to become more like His Son. Below are several Biblical passages about spiritual growth:

Soaking Often in God's Word Promotes Spiritual Growth

Heb. 5:8 So even though Jesus was God’s Son, he learned obedience from the things he suffered. ⁹ In this way, God qualified him as a perfect High Priest, and he became the source of eternal salvation for all those who obey him. ¹⁰ And God designated him to be a High Priest in the line of Melchizedek. ¹¹ There is so much more we would like to say about this. But you don’t seem to listen, so it’s hard to make you understand. ¹² You have been Christians a long time now, and you ought to be teaching others. Instead, you need someone to teach you again the basic things a beginner must learn about the Scriptures. You are like babies who drink only milk and cannot eat solid food. ¹³ And a person who is living on milk isn’t very far along in the Christian life and doesn’t know much about doing what is right. ¹⁴ Solid food is for those who are mature, who have trained themselves to recognize the difference between right and wrong and then do what is right. (NLT)

1 Pet. 2:2 You must crave pure spiritual milk so that you can grow into the fullness of your salvation. Cry out for this nourishment as a baby cries for milk, ³ now that you have had a taste of the Lord’s kindness. (NLT)

Fellowshipping with Mature Christians Helps Us Grow in Christ

Acts 18:23 After spending some time in Antioch, Paul went back to Galatia and Phrygia, visiting all the believers, encouraging them and helping them to grow in the Lord. (NLT)

We Christians Should Work Together Toward Growth

Eph. 4:11 He is the one who gave these gifts to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. ¹² Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ, ¹³ until we come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature and full grown in the Lord, measuring up to the full stature of Christ. ¹⁴ Then we will no longer be like children, forever changing our minds about what we believe because someone has told us something different or because someone has cleverly lied to us and made the lie sound like the truth. ¹⁵ Instead, we will hold to the truth in love, becoming more and more in every way like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church. ¹⁶ Under his direction, the whole body is fitted together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love. (NLT)

Worshipping Regularly is a Necessity for Spiritual Growth

Eph. 5:17-20 Don’t act thoughtlessly, but try to understand what the Lord wants you to do. ¹⁸ Don’t be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life. Instead, let the Holy Spirit fill and control you. ¹⁹ Then you will sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, making music to the Lord in your hearts. ²⁰ And you will always give thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. (NLT)

Prayer is One Responsibility We Have in Each Other's Spiritual Growth

Eph. 1:16 I have never stopped thanking God for you. I pray for you constantly, ¹⁷ asking God, the glorious Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to give you spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you might grow in your knowledge of God. ¹⁸ I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the wonderful future he has promised to those he called. I want you to realize what a rich and glorious inheritance he has given to his people. (NLT)

Jan

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http://www.cfdevotionals.org