Regular, consistent Bible study gives us spiritual discernment and the ability to distinguish true biblical teachings from those that are false. You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The Bible is difficult to understand in places. Those who are ignorant of the Scriptures can take text out of context to create a pretext and a false one at that.
If you are in the Bible the Bible gets into you and then you can rightly divide and discern what the context means when reading difficult verses. Maturity does not happen automatically. If you are not a Christian, you cannot fully grasp the meaning of the Word because the things of God are foolishness without the Spirit of God 1 Cor 2: I beg you today to consider repenting before the Day of the Lord and then put your trust in Christ.
Bible Verses About Growth
That is the most mature thing that you could ever do. Bible Verses by Topic. Would you like to get the daily question in your FB messenger? Just click the button below to get started. Bible Verses , Spiritual Maturity. Graduate work at Moody Bible Institute. His books are inexpensive paperbacks that are theological in nature: Read them in the archive below. If you like what you're reading, you can get free daily updates through the RSS feed here.
Thanks for stopping by! Your concluding point about the world not understanding the Word was so true and at the same time, so frustrating to Christians who are trying to shake the unbeliever from their sleep death , for they are truly dead spiritually, and it is ONLY the Holy Spirit who is able to shake them awake. These babies were ignorant of the effect these things would have on them. Unfortunately, there can be a high price to pay for such ignorance. The same thing can be true, spiritually speaking.
We need to be careful about what goes into our spiritual mouths. We need to be as careful about what we see and hear with our physical ears as we are about what we physically eat. Many Christians think nothing at all of gulping down some poisonous doctrine that will poison their spiritual life and, eventually, ruin their testimony if they accept it. A number of years ago, a denominational minister was filled with the Holy Ghost and spoke with other tongues.
I knew of no greater soul-winner than this man. He could get people saved when no one else could.
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It seemed to me that you could stand up the 12 best preachers in America and let them all preach and give an altar call. Then you could have this man preach to the same crowd, and he would get more saved than any of them did—even after they all had the first shot at it! That was his ministry. But this man got to reading after some false teaching. He finally accepted some false doctrine and got into a ditch.
Growing Up, Spiritually
But we must examine these things in light of the Word. No one is going to be lost—everyone is going to be saved, even the devil. And this man quit preaching to the lost. I know some Pentecostal people who were tremendous soul-winners, getting people saved and filled with the Holy Ghost. But they got taken up with certain doctrines. No, God is not doing a different thing.
They were just off their rocker! God is still concerned about saving people. Some things are poisonous. But too many times, Christian people will feed on everything in the world except the right thing, and they become poisoned.
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Then they lead disciples off after themselves. If the Spirit of God is in it, He is concerned about there being unity. The Spirit of love never divides. I went into a Christian home and saw some books lying on the living room table, which I knew were poisonous. When a need arose for the Grecian widows to be cared for, the apostles said they could not do it because they had to give themselves to the ministry of the Word of God and prayer Acts 6: These two always go together.
Not only should the Word of God inspire and inform our prayer, believers should also consistently pray Scripture. When Christ was dying on the cross for our sins, he prayed two scriptural prayers: While Christ was being murdered on the cross, Scripture not only prompted his prayer— it was his prayer. How do you use Scripture in your prayer life? While praying, Paul was kneeling. The normal way for Jews to pray was standing up cf. This is how our prayers should be.
I fast twice a week. His prayer was prideful and selfish. Christ warns the disciples not to pray loud and long in order to be seen by others Matt 6: In contrast, Christ tells the disciples to go into their closet and pray privately—to be seen only by God. In fact, we probably get a picture of this with the issue of tongues at the church in Corinth. Many commentators believe that when Paul says a person who prays in a tongue edifies himself and he who prophesies edifies others 1 Cor These people are glorifying themselves instead of thinking about the others who were present.
1 Samuel 2:26
However, Paul commands that everything in church worship be done for the edification of others 1 Cor Many Christians are like that—their prayers are meant to be seen and heard by others rather than God. Be careful of prideful prayer. When we pray, we must remember that God opposes the proud and gives grace to the humble James 4: Only those who pray with humility receive grace.
He not only recognizes God as his own Father, but also as the Father of all believers in heaven and on earth. The prayer is not individual but familial, as it considers other family members God cares for.
2 Peter 3:18
When praying, we must remember that we are part of a family. We must constantly remember others in our prayers. It has been said that if a billionaire donates ten dollars, he gives out of his riches, but if he donates one million, he gives according to his riches. Since the Lord is infinitely rich in glory, let the saints get ready for a deluge!
Why should we ask so little of so great a King? Thou art coming to a King, Large petitions with thee bring; For His grace and power are such, None can ever ask too much. When praying for ourselves or others, we should pray great petitions. We should pray for God to abundantly supply needs, to greatly use others for his kingdom, etc. What are some other practical principles concerning prayer?
What disciplines have you found helpful in your prayer life? Most Christians live without this power, and therefore live ineffective lives. How can we allow the Spirit to strengthen us? This is clear from the context of Paul praying for believers to be strengthened.
Christ fasted and prayed for forty days, and left the wilderness empowered by the Holy Spirit Lk 4: After they prayed, the building was shaken and they all left filled with the Spirit of God. The Spirit empowers believers when they pray. If we are to be empowered by the Spirit, we must live in the Word of God. There is a story in the Old Testament about Jehoshaphat, the king of the Judah, fighting a battle against a nation through worship.
Top 7 Bible Verses About Spiritual Maturity
After consulting the people, Jehoshaphat appointed men to sing to the LORD and to praise him for the splendor of his holiness as they went out at the head of the army, saying: Similarly, when Elisha was approached by Jehoshaphat and Ahab about whether to go to war against another nation, he asked for a harpist. The harpist played, and the Spirit of God came upon Elisha to prophecy 2 Kings 3: God inhabits the praises of his people Psalm And do not quench the Spirit.
However, when we give thanks and praise to God, he empowers our inner being. This means the spiritual part of man where God dwells and works.
The inner man of the lost sinner is dead Eph. The inner man can see Ps. He also must be cleansed Ps. The outer man is perishing, but the inner man can be renewed spiritually in spite of outward physical decay 2 Cor. It is this inner power that makes him succeed. If our inner being is weak, we will not desire the things of God. In fact, we will find that we desire worldly things more than the things of God.
Paul says that when a believer is strengthened in his inner being, Christ dwells in his heart through faith Ephesians 3: What does this mean? However, our position is often different from our practice. They practiced sexual immorality chapters 5 and 6 , were suing one another chapter 6 , and abusing spiritual gifts like tongues chapter 14 , but they were still saints—set apart by God and indwelled by him 1 Cor 6: When we are not empowered by the Spirit of God, we live as slaves of sin, instead of as free men cf. We talk and walk like the world, even though we are not of the world.
In a life like that, Christ can never feel at home. Is Christ at home in your heart? Or is he like a visitor? Is he comfortable with your entertainment and how you spend your free time? Is he comfortable with your thoughts and friendships? Paul says this to the Corinthians:. Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?
You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body. A life empowered by the Spirit is one that is totally dependent upon God—a life of faith.
He does not want to grieve the Holy Spirit. As a person matures in Christ—living more by faith than in the flesh—he is empowered by the Spirit of God in the inner being. This results in a life where Christ is at home. Is Christ at home in your life? Or is he like an unhappy visitor—uncomfortable and constantly grieved? How do you think Christ feels about your life? Consider your thoughts, words, friendships, hobbies, work, etc. How can you make him more at home? The root is where a tree or plant gets both its nourishment and its stability.
Also, the foundation of a building is the most important part of a structure. If the foundation is off, one cannot continue to build. In my second building program, we had to spend several thousand dollars taking soil tests because we were building over an old lake bed. For weeks, the men were laying out and pouring the footings.
Without a root and foundation of love, a believer cannot grow spiritually, for it is the springboard for spiritual growth.