HOW DO I GROW SPIRITUALLY?

Spiritual habits do not earn salvation or keep you saved. Salvation is by grace through faith in Christ. But after salvation, God has ordained that believers should walk in good works. You grow because you are saved, not in order to become saved.

God tells believers to grow. Growth is not just a personal preference. It is a biblical command. The believer should grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. This means your faith should become more settled, your understanding clearer, and your walk more obedient.

Growth is built by faithful habits. Spiritual growth is usually not dramatic every day. It is formed by steady obedience: reading the Word, praying, gathering with believers, confessing sin, resisting temptation, serving others, and continuing when you feel weak.

Feed on Scripture daily. The Word of God strengthens the believer. It teaches truth, corrects wrong thinking, exposes sin, gives wisdom, and builds faith. A growing Christian must learn to feed on Scripture, not only on emotion, advice, or motivation.

Continue in prayer. Prayer keeps your heart turned toward God. A growing believer learns to thank God, ask for wisdom, confess sin, pray for others, and depend on the Lord daily.

Grow with faithful believers. God uses other believers to teach, encourage, warn, correct, and strengthen you. Spiritual growth is helped by faithful fellowship in a Bible-believing church.

Do what God shows you. Bible reading should lead to obedience. A person who hears the Word but refuses to obey deceives himself. Growth happens as the believer receives truth and responds to it by faith.

Put off the old and put on the new. Spiritual growth includes change. The believer must put off the old ways that belonged to the former life and put on the new man. This happens as the mind is renewed by God’s truth.

Walk in the Spirit. The Christian life cannot be lived by the strength of the flesh. The believer must learn to walk in the Spirit. This means yielding to God’s truth, refusing the flesh, and depending on God for strength.

God produces fruit in the believer. Spiritual growth is not only learning more facts. God changes the believer’s character. The fruit of the Spirit shows the kind of life God desires to produce in His children.

Grow by serving the Lord. A believer should not only receive teaching. He should also learn to serve. Serving helps you grow in faithfulness, humility, love, responsibility, and usefulness in the work of the Lord.

Do not measure spiritual growth only by feelings. Some days you may feel strong, and other days you may feel weak. Keep walking with God. Growth comes through patient faithfulness, and God continues His work in the believer.

What should a growing Christian do? Spiritual growth should be simple, biblical, and steady. Do not try to build your Christian life on excitement alone. Build it on truth and faithful obedience.