“But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.”
2 Peter 3:18
When we were younger, back in the children’s church, we did sing this instructive song: Read your Bible, pray every day, pray every day, pray every day. Read your Bible, pray every day if you want to grow. If you want to grow, if you want to grow oo oo oo. Then we sing over and over again. Such a beautiful memory.
Although it is a song, it is the best advice you can ever receive or give anyone. However, it doesn’t end there; the manner of its application of that advice is what will provide the result you desire. It can be so easy to stop at the junction of salvation and rest in the assurance that, at least, there will be no hell for you. But it isn’t that true. Can you stop at accepting Christ as your Lord and Saviour junction and live all your days on earth in a way that grants you access to heaven at the end? While salvation is paramount, it is just the beginning of your steady growth in Christ.
We must continually grow in God to withstand the darts the enemy and the world constantly throw at us. We need to grow in the knowledge of Him; grow in His grace; grow in our ability to show forth His fruits; grow in His presence and in all necessary ways possible.
There’s very little you can do for God if you do not intentionally take steps to grow. And for every day you do not grow, you slide just a little further into sin until you find yourself deep in its waters. It is dangerous not to grow. It is dangerous to remain stagnant or retarded. A Christian mustn’t have stunted growth in any ramifications.
But how does this growth happen? Does it end with reading the Word and Prayer? Well, that depends on how you engage these two powerful portals. Reading the word does not just end with dutifully running your eyes through the letters so you can mark off your daily quota. Prayer, likewise, isn’t you throwing words at God that end with “in Jesus’ name”.
The Bible says that whoever is coming to God must come in spirit and in truth. This means that your heart has to be positioned to stay in the Word and Prayer to receive from God, and the Holy Spirit must be fully engaged in that process. This is how you grow. You must be entirely given to the exercise of prayer and studying the Word such that you’re coming with a mindset of, “What does God have for me?” “What is on the Lord’s mind?” “What is the Lord asking me to do away with?” “What would God have me do?” That sort of mindset is ready to obey, come what may. Such a person isn’t just doing it so he can report that He prays daily; they’re doing it so the Father can mould him.
That is how growth happens. Slowly, yet indeed, as we behold Him, we are changed.
Prayer
- Father Lord, help me grow continuously in You.
- Lord, I cast away every stagnancy in my spiritual walk with you. I refuse to be stagnant!
- Please, help me, Lord. Show me how to engage with You in Your Word and as I pray.
- Give me the grace to follow you all the days of my life.
This is our message for today, and we hope you were blessed. We’d also love to hear from you; please comment below.
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Have a blessed day!
