The Fundamental Principles for Spiritual Growth

To grow spiritually, there are seven steps you must take.  If you do not take these steps, whatever else you do, you will be a failure when it comes to spiritual development.  These steps are elementary.  Let’s call them the seven fundamental principles for  spiritual growth.

Step one in spiritual development is to learn to forget the past.  In Philippians 3:13-14 it says "Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, FORGETTING THOSE THINGS WHICH ARE BEHIND, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus."  The person who thinks he has arrived and knows it all will never grow spiritually.  Nobody knows it all!  Actually, the more you grow in the Lord and learn about Him, the more you realize how little you know.  Forget even the blessings of God that are behind, because if you live on past blessings, you are living on stale manna.  You must learn to forget your past mistakes, failures, and sins.  

Step two in spiritual development is closely associated with learning to forget the past.  If you want to grow spiritually, you must also learn to forgive.  In Ephesians 4:32 it says "And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, FORGIVING ONE ANOTHER, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you."  To forgive as God forgives means you are not to remember any wrong a fellow Christian might have done to you.  It doesn't matter what anyone has done to any of us.  It couldn't come close to the debt we owe the Lord for forgiving our sins.  

Step three in spiritual development is to learn how to pray.  You cannot grow spiritually and be a success in your Christian walk without developing a prayer life. A successful prayer life must be built upon the Word of God.  In John 15:7, Jesus said, "If YE ABIDE IN ME, and MY WORDS ABIDE IN YOU, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you."  To abide in Jesus means not only to be born again, but also to walk in continual fellowship with Him.  You'll never be successful in your prayer life if you don't know God's Word. 

Step four in spiritual development is closely associated with learning to pray.  You must also learn to believe God and His Word.  The prayer of faith just won't work unless you believe.  How do you believe?  Jesus said in Mark 11:24:  "What things so ever ye desire, when ye pray, BELIEVE that ye RECEIVE them, and ye shall have them."   We often fail to receive what we've asked for because we walk by sight instead of by faith in the promises of God.  

Step five in spiritual development is to learn to worship.  In John 4:23-24, Jesus said to the Samaritan woman at the well:  "But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall WORSHIP the Father IN SPIRIT AND IN TRUTH: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in  spirit and in truth."  That means you don't have to be in a particular place to worship God.   Our bodies,  not some  brick-and-mortar building,  have become the temple of  the living God  (1 Corinthians 3:16).   So learn to worship God with your spirit, not in some dead,  formal way with your mental faculties or your soul.    Also, by speaking in tongues we have a supernatural means of communicating with Him (1 Corinthians 14:2).

Step six in spiritual development is to learn the secret of giving.  Not only should we give out of duty and obligation, but we should give to the Lord because we love Him, worship Him, and adore Him.  You need to add faith to your giving.  Tell the Lord you are mixing faith with your giving, and remind Him of the scripture in Luke 6:38: "Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom.  For with the same measure that ye give withal it shall be measured to you again."

Step seven in spiritual development is to learn to witness for the Lord.  Jesus stated that believers were to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit so they could become witnesses for Him.  That was one of the purposes of the endowment of power from on high:  "But ye shall RECEIVE POWER, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and YE SHALL BE WITNESSES UNTO ME" (Acts 1:8).  The greatest witness you can be to the world is to live a life that's sold out to the Lord. Like the old proverb says, "What you are speaks so loud, I can't hear what you say."

So apply yourself to learn these seven fundamental principles for spiritual growth. And don't get frustrated because you won't grow up spiritually overnight.  Just take it a step at a time.  As you learn to forget, to forgive, to pray, to believe, to worship, to give, and to witness, you will be well on your way to spiritual maturity!