Hopefully, you are going through some growing pains; so are you?

As a baby craves milk for their nourishment, once we get our teeth, we start craving regular food for nourishment. Just like plants needs water to grow, we also need food to grow.

At the same time, we grow emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. Spiritual growth doesn’t happen overnight. It involves days and nights of storms. Character, like fruit, takes time to mature.

For those who are born again, we have 2 birthdays: Your natural birthday, the day you came out of your mother’s womb; and your Spiritual birthday, when you first came to accept the Lord, Jesus Christ as your Savior.

Hopefully, we also grow mentally and emotionally as well. Hopefully, as we get older, we mature and become wiser. We should never stop learning as we get older. When I was younger, I wasn’t much of a reader. As I get older, I’m doing more reading; as you can see in some of my blogs. I’m learning new things not only about myself but how I can improve. Like fine wine, we get better with age. We wouldn’t become older and wiser without being young and foolish.

We all went through the terrible 2″s, asking a lot of questions. Then when we become teenagers, we believe we know everything. As we get older, we come to realize that we don’t know everything. That’s why we do a lot of catching up on our reading and seeking advice to help us grow.

This book is on the Principles of Spiritual Growth. First of all, our faith, hopefully, will grow as we get older in our walk with Jesus. Hebrews 11:1 states, “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Everyone knows that evidence must be founded on facts. A good reporter/blogger must do their research to gather the facts. As in the old TV series, “Dragnet,” just the facts Ma’am!

It seems that most believers have difficulty in realizing and facing up to the inexorable fact that God does not hurry in His development of our Christian life. He’s still working on me. I’m not perfect; but I shall become perfect when my time on earth is over. As my mother would say, “If we were perfect, we would be in heaven instead hell on earth.”

We are accepted just the way we are. God doesn’t make junk. He loves and accept us warts and all.

We have a purpose on earth. Jeremiah 29:11 states, “For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” I have a purpose on earth. There was a reason why I was born. Just like, there’s a reason for my blogs.

The Lord is at work preparing us for such a purpose. In preparation, there is a tearing down before there can be building up. Some of the stuff we learned as a child by our parents or anyone else, we have to be taught differently.

Youth and immaturity tend to act first and think later. Maturity has learned to take time to assess the facts. It’s like ascending a ladder.

Appropriation does not necessarily mean to gain something new but to set aside for our practical possession something that already belongs to us.

We need to be able to identify ourselves, in who we are as a person.

First a person is born again, then as the Lord continue His work in our lives to consecrate us, to make us whole.

As I heard a former pastor say, “we have to get self off the throne!” It’s not about us! Yet the world seems to make it about ourselves and forget about others.

We need to deny oneself. One of my favorite Bible verse is Isaiah 6:8, “Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “whom shall I send? and who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”

A person comes to the cross when they accept the Lord.

A disciple is one who is free from the old and free for the new. We are to pick up our cross and be willing to follow Jesus wherever He may sends us. There is a process to discipleship though.

Just as we need nourishment to grow, farmers need rain to grow their crops. Rain is a good thing; without it, the food we eat will not grow. Farmers need the right amount of rain and sunshine.

We all need rest. Babies and young children gets plenty of sleep. I don’t know about you, I remembered as a child, my sister, Barb would always tell us to go take a nap; whether we need it or not. I think it was to get us out of her hair, so she could watch Bobby Goldsboro. Back then, we hated taking a nap. Now, as we are older, we desire to take a nap; whenever we can. It seems like after eating a big meal, we want that nap for some reason.

We all need a little help at times. Yet, it is time to stop asking God for help. He didn’t help us to be saved, and He doesn’t intend to help us live the Christian life.

There can be little question concerning the importance of balance, so vital in the mechanical, physical, aesthetic and spiritual realms. Faulty balance often results in disintegration and possible devastation to the surrounding area. Our self-life is out of balance-it is all one-sided. In other words, we get out of balance; and needs to get balance. Whenever I can I go see my chiropractor for a tune-up and to get my body back in balance. Just like we are out of balance spiritually as well.

We first comes to the Lord hungry and zealous; but we must continue growing spiritually. This is when we must keep up with our reading and seeking wisdom from others. We should never stop growing spiritually, emotionally, and mentally. When we stop growing, we know longer exist. I shall be made perfect when the good Lord finally calls me home to heaven. Until then, I will continue to grow.

In the words of Joey from the series, “Friends,” “How you doing?” How are you growing? Are you becoming a better person? Don’t ever stop growing and learning new things!