Our impact and effectiveness as leaders will largely be determined by the level of our own spiritual progress.
Spiritual growth is like physical growth with one exception. Physically, we are born as infants and progress through various stages of development until growth slows down in our late teens and we eventually reach our physical prime around the age of 30-35 years old. Then, because of the curse that is on the Earth, we begin to decline physically until we eventually die.
Spiritually, we should never slow down in our growth or reach a peak from which we begin to decline.
The greatest thing we can do for ourselves, and others is to pursue God with all our heart and give ourselves entirely to our own Spiritual progress and development. We should always be growing in Him. increasing in the knowledge of His word and cultivating a more intimate relationship with Him. Spiritual growth and progress must always remain our most important ministry. The closer we get to God the more helpful we will be to others.
2 Peter 3:17b-18 …beware lest you also fall from your own steadfastness, being led away with the error of the wicked; 18 but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Ephesians 4:11-16 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, 13till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; 14 that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, 15 but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ— 16 from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.
Paul and Peter are telling us about the importance of growing in the grace and knowledge of God. However, there’s something else going on here too. In both passages, we see an effort to convince readers not to fall prey to false teachers and false doctrines so that their spiritual growth would not be hindered.
Believing a false doctrine will not only stunt our spiritual growth but cause us to grow in ways that create strongholds of wrong thinking and wrong believing that cause us harm as well as those that follow our teachings.
To grow in our faith, we must be able to discern, and tune out any voices that add to, or take away from the gospel of Jesus Christ. We can’t grow spiritually if we allow ourselves to be poisoned by false teachings and doctrines of men and devils. These days, false teachers and false doctrines are more numerous than ever. Steady spiritual growth will require us to be spiritually discerning, focused on truth, and guard our hearts from all evil influence.
The first and most important discipline we must have in place is putting God’s word first in our lives.
1 Peter 2:1-3 Therefore, laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking, 2 as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby,
Here we see two more requirements for continued spiritual growth. Laying aside selfish and self-seeking behavior and desiring the sincere milk of the word.
Selfishness is an anti-Christ spirit. This is why we are commanded to die to self. Envy, jealousy, selfish ambition, malicious thoughts and actions, evil speaking, and corrupt communication, are all birthed from a self-centered wellspring. Look at what James has to say about this.
James 3:14-17 But if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth. 15 This wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic. 16 For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there. 17 But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy.
When we engage in self-seeking behavior, we are feeding the carnal man. We then cause confusion and become a landing strip for demonic activity. In this environment, spiritual growth stops and we become weakened and vulnerable to more demonic influence.
Stewarding God’s Kingdom
Luke 17:20-21 Now when He was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, He answered them and said, “The kingdom of God does not come with observation; 21 nor will they say, ‘See here!’ or ‘See there!’ For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you.”
The kingdom of God is in the heart of every believer. The kingdom of God is like the Garden of Eden in the Old Testament. Just like the Garden of Eden, there are two trees in the kingdom of God in our hearts. The Holy Spirit represents the Tree of Life, and our sovereign, free will represents the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.
When we are born of the Spirit, the kingdom of God enters us as a seed and it is our responsibility to guard, tend, and protect that seed, watering it, feeding it, and exposing it to the light of God’s word.
Luke 13:18 Then He said, “What is the kingdom of God like? And to what shall I compare it? 19 It is like a mustard seed, which a man took and put in his garden; and it grew and became a large tree, and the birds of the air nested in its branches.”
If we are not diligent in guarding the kingdom in our hearts, our spiritual growth is compromised.
Proverbs 4:23 Keep your heart with all diligence, For out of it spring the issues of life.
To guard our hearts is to guard God’s kingdom. Spiritual growth is reflected in our lives in direct proportion to the growth and health of the kingdom within us.
We have far more distractions now than at any other time in history. It requires a disciplined approach to personal devotion and spiritual growth to fight against the tides of constant distractions. We have so many voices vying for our attention that is easy to be pulled off course and compromise our relationship with the Lord.
Avoiding Itchy Ears
Several years ago, the Lord corrected me strongly while reading a book by a popular Christian author. As I was reading, the Lord spoke to me and said, “Jack, I don’t want you to eat any more leavened bread.” Being overweight, I said, “OK Lord,” thinking He was putting me on a diet of sorts. He immediately corrected my thinking and said, “No, what you are doing now is eating leavened bread.”
I had this immediate revelation that I was reading books about the Bible far more than I was reading the Bible. I have long been a voracious reader and realized my error. I was constantly looking for the latest teaching and the latest revelation. I was seduced by the eloquent words, profound thoughts, and statements of respected ministers. I was being an itchy-eared fool.
I was reading my Bible, I had a devotional time where I would read a chapter or two, pray, and then go about my day, but then I would spend hours reading other men’s books, and teachings, watching sermons on YouTube, or watching Christian TV. This is a dangerous and common mistake that many Christians fall into and think nothing of it.
The Lord called this leavened bread, emphasizing that the Bible alone contains the pure, unleavened bread of truth. These things have their place, but only as supplements to our personal reading, studying, and listening to the Bible for ourselves.
If all we fed our bodies were vitamins and supplements, we would quickly lose weight, lose strength, and weaken until we eventually die. If all we do is have a 20-minute devotional a day, we will remain a spiritual baby.
1 Peter 2:2 as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby,
No matter how far we have progressed in our spiritual growth, we should all respond to God’s word as a newborn baby. A newborn needs milk every two to four hours to remain healthy and grow properly. It is no accident that God uses this analogy to teach us how desperately we need His word.
When Moses died and Joshua took over the leadership position in Israel, God gave Joshua this instruction.
Joshua 1:8 This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.
Joshua’s instruction is just as valid for us today as it was for him. Without constant intake of, exposure to, and meditation on God’s word, we will not be able to obey the word, we will not make our way prosperous, and we will not have good success.
The book of Proverbs gives us further insight.
Proverbs 4:20-23 My son, give attention to my words; Incline your ear to my sayings. 21 Do not let them depart from your eyes;
Keep them in the midst of your heart; 22 For they are life to those who find them, And health to all their flesh. 23 Keep your heart with all diligence, For out of it spring the issues of life.
Giving the word its proper attention and respect brings life and health to us personally, as well as those we are leading.
The Impact of Personal Relationship with the Word.
The primary way we relate to God is through His written word. Jesus is called “the word of God” for a reason. How we revere and respect God’s written word is a direct reflection of how much we respect and value Jesus and all he has accomplished.
Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
This is a powerful verse that helps us understand the impact that God’s living word has on our lives. After a few months of reading only the Bible, I began to change. I was starting to see things differently. It was like coming out of deep sleep with a foggy mind, slowly becoming aware of my surroundings. I could feel the light of God’s word at work in me, doing surgery on me, exposing darkness in my heart and mind. As the months and years passed, I became increasingly aware of some things.
- First and foremost, I saw that many of the doctrines that I was taught and believed for decades were not even biblical. I had strongholds of wrong thinking and wrong believing that could only be dismantled by constant exposure to the sincere milk of the word of God. The unleavened bread of truth. I was finally beginning to know the truth after almost three decades, and the truth was setting me free.
- My relationship with the Lord changed. It was enriched in more ways than I can articulate. My understanding of God’s nature grew, and I began to finally understand who He was, and in turn, began to understand who I was in Him. He showed me things about His nature and how He thinks. I understood more about His great love for us and my love for Him grew.
- I saw the importance of intimacy with the Father. I understood that intimacy is where the greatest transformation takes place for a believer. My prayer life became enriched. My compassion for others who were bound by the same deceptions that I was began to increase, and I found myself spending more time praying for others than I did for myself.
- I saw the importance and need for holiness. I asked the Lord to teach me and lead me into holiness. His answer to that prayer was to teach me the fear of the Lord. He showed me that holiness is perfected in the fear of the Lord. (2 Cor 7:1) I could see that this was a missing component in most of the body of Christ.
- Wisdom increased and became evident to me and others. The Lord would give me the right things to say, and the right questions to ask, and I had the restraint to remain silent where previously I was often too quick to respond. My influence over others increased and I saw clearly the tremendous responsibility we have as teachers and leaders.
- Obedience to God’s word became easier. My faith and trust in Him grew stronger by the day. Worry and anxiety had no place to land in my life.
- Demonic attacks increased against me when I gave myself to only reading God’s word, but my understanding of spiritual warfare increased rapidly as well. So much so that the Lord inspired me to write a book on spiritual warfare.
- Pride, arrogance, and bitterness were exposed in my life. As I flooded my heart and mind with truth, the darkness within me was manifest and forced me to deal with it. This birthed a holy fear and humility in me that I had not previously known.
- My heart became increasingly broken for the body of Christ. I realized that most Christians were trapped in the itchy-eared deception that I was and I began to pray for the worldwide body of Christ daily.
- It was now easier to hear when God spoke to me personally. Many Christians say that they don’t hear God speaking to them. The truth is, that He has already spoken many things to us in His written word. If we are not interested in what He has already recorded, why would He be inclined to speak to us about anything else?
These are just a few of the things that changed in me, and for me after putting God’s word first in my life.
It is easy to get trapped into depending on others to feed us and interpret God’s word for us. However, we have a responsibility in our relationship with God to pursue Him for ourselves.
The primary way we do that is through seeking to understand Him through what He has already said to us in His written word. Not seeking other men’s opinions on it, not depending on our pastor’s interpretation of it, and not reading or listening to the latest book or teaching about it. We must discover what He is saying to us personally by reading it and listening to it for ourselves?
It takes less than 80 hours to listen to a digital recording of the entire Bible being read to us. Being a slow reader is not a valid excuse. We have so many tools available to us now to make absorbing God’s word easy that no one should be scripturally illiterate. It is an indictment against us for how little we value the written word of God.
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