For Salvation and Spiritual Growth for Young Daughter

3 Ways Worldly Distractions Can Hinder Your Spiritual Growth

When it comes time for my ten-month-old grandson to eat, he must be fed where there are as few distractions as possible because, as soon as he hears something, he jerks his head to see what he's missing. As I watch my daughter try to quiet her son so he can be nourished, it strikes me how much him we can be!

We live in a world filled with distractions that can significantly influence our spiritual growth and obedience if we are not careful. Here are three ways that seemingly little distractions can have a great impact:

1. Worldly distractions can keep us from salvation

In the parable of the sower (Matt. 13:1–23), we learn that one of the reasons God's truth does not take root and grow is because the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches (which can seem so harmless!) choke out the Word that's been sown.

There are plenty of things we can worry about or lust after today, aren't there? To fight this battle, I must constantly remind myself that this world is not my home. But I must also be faithful to pray for those who are so distracted by the world that they have missed the only One who will truly satisfy the longings of their hearts.

Lord, thank You for saving me from the power of sin that once rendered me a slave to my flesh and the world. Use my life as a testimony of your great love and faithfulness!

2. Worldly distractions can keep us from growing and living according to the life-giving truths of the gospel

Paul prayed that the young church in Colossae would be filled with the knowledge of God's will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding so they could walk in a manner worthy of the Lord. This would require them to say no to whatever distracted them from seeking Christ above all else.

We must do the same, dealing decisively with anything that pulls us away from what's supremely important—knowing Christ.

I find the battle is ongoing as I strive to keep good things in their proper place, such as smart phones, Internet, entertainment, , , exercise, work, children and grandchildren, home repairs, meal preparation, laundry, being occupied with worldly affairs, and so on. Even things that are very good must not keep us from what is best for our souls.

Father, I confess that in my weakness, I can be tempted to fill my time and soul with the things of this world rather than the gospel. Please help me to walk by the Spirit so I will not gratify the desires of the flesh, which keep me from doing the things I truly want to do! (Gal. 5:16–18)

3. Worldly distractions can keep us from enjoying the Lord's presence

One day, Jesus went to visit Mary and Martha who were both delighted to welcome their beloved teacher into their home. The account in Luke 10 invites us to learn an important lesson: “Her sister Mary sat at the Lord's feet and listened to His teaching, but Martha was distracted with much serving.” She was distracted from actually spending time with Jesus.

We can be distracted by things we're sincerely doing to please Jesus. Good things. But Jesus doesn't want us to be doing for Him at the expense of being with Him.

Jesus doesn't want us to be doing for Him at the expense of being with Him.

Our Lord is sympathetic to the demands of life that pull at us. Consider His few years of ministry on earth: Sick people wanted to be healed. Lame people wanted to walk. Blind people wanted to see. The Pharisees and Sadducees wanted to debate Him. His disciples wanted to elevate Him. But how many just simply wanted to be with Him?

Finally, God wants to teach us how to be at rest in the midst of the chaos and confusion of this world. That's what God is drilling down more deeply in me these days.

Regardless of what distractions, pressures, trials, or sufferings are coming at me at any given moment, my heart will only be truly at rest when it's fixed on Christ.

The more I put my trust in God's goodness and sovereign control over every circumstance of my life, the less unexpected or hard things can steal the peace or joy I have been given in Christ.

I cherish my times of fellowship with the Lord each morning, but I have learned how easily I can get caught up or discouraged by the circumstances of my day. That wasn't the case with Jesus who lived in perfect communion with His Father from hour to hour. Nothing rattled our Savior. Nothing kept Him from the work He had come to do.

Jesus was:

• Always busy, but never in a rush.
• Full of compassion, but never overwhelmed by the vast needs.
• Fully aware that many followed Him just to get something from Him, yet steadfastly committed to showing them their greater need.
• Always moving closer toward the cross where sinful men would crucify Him, yet never wavering from the mission He came to fulfill.

God calls us to a life where distractions fade and His voice becomes the One we listen to first and foremost . . .

• When we are being pushed and pulled from every direction. And when we feel life is calm and peaceful.
• When we feel we can make sense of nothing. And when everything seems to be falling into place.
• When our strength is gone and our faith is weak. And when we're feeling good and our faith is strong.

This is the life God calls us to as He weans us from the world's counterfeits of peace, joy, strength, and security. As we learn to increasingly depend on Christ for our every need and desire, we find that God's peace and joy well up in us a fountain and, even when everything around us is shaken, our confidence and hope in Christ remains.

Are there any worldly distractions you need to repent of and put aside in order to seek the Lord?

Источник: //www.reviveourhearts.com/true-woman/blog/3-ways-worldly-distractions-can-hinder-your-spirit/

Spiritual Growth

Spiritual Growth – What is it? Spiritual growth is detailed in 2 Peter 1:3-8, “His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.

Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love.

For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

”

So, spiritual growth includes: (1) increasing in your knowledge and understanding of God's Word, (2) decreasing in your frequency and severity of sin, (3) increasing in your practice of Christ- qualities, and (4) increasing in your faith and trust in God. Perhaps the best summary of spiritual growth is becoming more Jesus Christ. In 1 Corinthians 11:1, Paul says, “Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.” Jesus Christ is the ultimate example of what it truly means to be spiritual.

Spiritual Growth – How is it done? In order for spiritual growth to occur, you first need to make sure you possess a true spiritual life through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. “And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.

He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life” (1 John 5:11-12).

When you believe in Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit lives inside of you (John 14:16-17) and you are a new creation in Christ! 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” Your old nature, which is dominated by sin, is replaced with a new nature that is under the influence of God's Spirit (Romans 6-7). Spiritual growth can only occur in a person who knows the Lord Jesus Christ as his or her Savior. Learning how to grow spiritually is a life-long journey which occurs as you read and apply God's Word to your life. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 teaches us, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” In order for spiritual growth to occur, we must be taught, rebuked, corrected, and trained by God's Word. Then we will be thoroughly equipped for every good work. This is the essence of spiritual growth. Another key to Christian growth is walking in the Spirit. Galatians 5:16-18, 24-26 explains, “So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law…Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.”

Walking in the Spirit is allowing Him to fill you (Ephesians 5:18), control you, and guide you. This is brought about by consciously choosing by faith to rely on the Holy Spirit to guide you in thought, word, and deed (Romans 6:11-14). Failure to rely on the Holy Spirit's guidance will result in a believer not living up to the calling and standing that salvation provides. Ephesians 4:1 says, “…I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.”

Spiritual Growth – What are the results? Spiritual growth is a life-long process of manifesting the acts of the flesh (Galatians 5:19-21) less and less and producing the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) more and more. Notice that it is the Holy Spirit who produces the fruit in us.

Yes, we must submit ourselves to the Spirit's leading, but it is the Spirit who produces the fruit of spiritual growth in our lives.

, then you can rest assured that spiritual growth is genuinely occurring in your life.

God works in different people in different ways. Some people grow rapidly, while others grow slowly, but steadily. Our focus should not be on comparing ourselves with others, but on comparing ourselves with God's Word.

The Scriptures are the mirror to show us what we are spiritually and to shine light on the areas that need to experience and learn spiritual growth.

James 1:23-25 declares, “Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks . But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it – he will be blessed in what he does.”

Grow More!

WHAT DO YOU THINK? – We have all sinned and deserve God's judgment. God, the Father, sent His only Son to satisfy that judgment for those who believe in Him. Jesus, the creator and eternal Son of God, who lived a sinless life, loves us so much that He died for our sins, taking the punishment that we deserve, was buried, and rose from the dead according to the Bible. If you truly believe and trust this in your heart, receiving Jesus alone as your Savior, declaring, “Jesus is Lord,” you will be saved from judgment and spend eternity with God in heaven.What is your response?

Yes, today I am deciding to follow Jesus

Yes, I am already a follower of Jesus

I still have questions

Источник: //www.allaboutgod.com/spiritual-growth.htm

7 Truths to Fight Anxiety about Your Salvation

Do you even notice how often in Scripture God has to reassure his people? He’s constantly saying things , “Don’t be afraid, I am with you.” Variations of “don’t be afraid” are often cited as the most frequently repeated command in all of Scripture. God tells us over and over that we don’t need to be afraid or anxious, and yet we persist.

I have lately battled anxiety over spiritual security.

Sure, I believe and I want to follow Jesus, but do I love him enough? Am I really following, or am I deceiving myself? Will God really save me? Does he really want to save people, or is he kind of reluctant about the whole thing? What about those times when Jesus talks about the gate being narrow, and people being surprised when he says he never knew them? What if that happens?

Scripture does tell us to test whether we are in the faith, and to work out our salvation with fear and trembling. So there is a time to put serious thought into making sure we have truly repented and turned to Jesus, and making sure that our daily lives are keeping in step with him.

But if you know that you are trusting him for your salvation, there is nothing in Scripture that suggests anxiety over salvation should have power over you. Rather it says we can approach the throne of grace with confidence.

Confidence! We can have confidence that when we come to God for grace, he will grant it.

Those anxieties can be stubborn, though, so we need to remember what is true of God’s character in times when we are fearing that he will not have salvation for us or struggling to trust his promises. Here are seven truths from Scripture to hold tightly to in times of fear.

1. God’s desire is to be merciful to his children.

How different this is from us humans, whose desire is take revenge and get the spoils for ourselves. But not God. His desire is to pour out mercy.

Scripture says he longs to be merciful to his people, even when they have sinned (Isaiah 30:18); his mercies never come to an end and are new every morning (Lamentations 3:22-23); he is rich in mercy (Ephesians 2:4); he is patient with us, wanting all to come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9). We fear that God’s mercy will run out for us, that he will one day be fed up or bored and walk away from us, or that he saves us begrudgingly, obligation. This is not the God of the Bible. He is overflowing in mercy for his children and waits for opportunities to give it to us. If you are questioning God’s mercy, meditate on how he pours out his mercy on his children in Scripture.

2. God’s nature is to give.

“For God so loved the world that he gave…” I fear that God is stingy with salvation or with his other gifts, that I have to be really good to get something from him. But the Father has always been giving his love to the Son, and he loved us and gave us the Son so that we would be saved.

God is the greatest giver. He owns all of creation, he could do anything he wanted, and he chose to give himself sacrificially to us. This is not a God who withholds himself vindictively from those who seek him.

If you are fearful that God will withhold salvation from you, meditate on how deeply giving is embedded in his character.

3. God has given us his Holy Spirit as a promise.

Ephesians 1:13-14 says, “In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.” God so wants us to be confident in our salvation that he gave us himself as a guarantee! If you’re struggling to rest in God’s saving work, reflect on how the Spirit has been working in you. How has he convicted you? What sins is he helping you to overcome? How is he softening your heart toward others? How has he moved you to worship? How is he opening your eyes to understand Scriptures? Ask a close friend to share ways that he or she sees the Spirit teaching you. The Spirit’s work is a sure confirmation that God has an inheritance for you.

4. God has promised to save those who call on him for his own name’s sake.

Scripture says that God saves “for his name’s sake,” meaning that he has a stake in the game. If God were not to save, he would somehow not be as glorified. The verses above from Ephesians says that our being saved is “to the praise of his glory.

” In the Old Testament, when God makes a covenant with Abraham, a key component of his redemption plan, he swears by himself that he will uphold his covenant. So God doesn’t just desire to save us – he has put his own glory up as collateral in his salvation commitment.

Scripture says God is not a man, that he should lie. He keeps his word completely. God does not give us a flimsy salvation offer but a promise that is insured by his own great glory.

If you are worried that God will not keep his promise to you, study the places in Scripture where God ties his own glory to our salvation.

In Philippians 3:14, Paul says, “I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you.

” The Psalms speak about God teaching sinners his ways, the Proverbs about his directing our paths. If you are worried that God is secretly holding a big sin over your head, even though you’ve repented and asked him to reveal any waywardness to you, stop.

God doesn’t store up our sins and then spring punishment on us for his own amusement. He graciously reveals sin to us and teaches us to follow him. You don’t need to worry that he will let you wander off the path and then reject you.

(Or, as a sage older woman put it to me, “Aubrey, sometimes you just have to let that go.” People have got to stop telling me that … I mean, working on it!)

6. God doesn’t stir up confusion and anxiety to communicate with his children.

Know who does? Satan. Satan first interacted with humans by creating confusion and doubt around God’s words. God is always consistent in his message and character. If you are feeling doubt or anxiety around one of God’s promises, that fear is almost certainly not coming from God himself.

God tells us not to be anxious, but to trust him and to take refuge in him. Satan attacks God’s children, and one of his methods is in creating doubt around God’s words. If he can’t turn you away from faith in Jesus, he will at least try to keep you from experiencing the joy and peace that Jesus offers.

Ask God to help you trust his promises more than Satan’s lies, and refuse to bow to this fear.

While we’re on the topic of Satan…

7. Satan accuses the saints before God day and night, but Jesus sits at the right hand of God interceding for the saints.

You find these truths in Revelation 12:10 and Romans 8:34. If you are trusting Christ, Satan is accusing you before the Lord, bringing all your sin out before him. It is so easy to feel the accusation for our sin and be overwhelmed, thinking that this sin is too ugly or too shameful for God to touch.

But this thinking is the work of the devil, not of God. Jesus, after having accomplished the work on salvation on the cross, is now seated at the right hand of the Father, refuting every accusation of guilt against us.

Satan will never surprise God with such a zinger of your sin that he will decide to undo the work of the cross for you. Jesus’s work right now, as he intercedes, is to defend us from Satan’s accusations and ensure that nothing gets in the way of God’s grace for his redeemed people.

These are just some truths that I have held to in times of wrestling with spiritual anxiety. How is God using his word to comfort you? Ultimately, remember that as your Father, God wants to help you. You can lay your anxiety before him and plead for his help. He loves for his people to call on him, and he will strengthen you and give you rest.

This article was originally published on UnlockingTheBible.org. Used with permission.

Aubrey Hoeppner works in fundraising and serves in the high school ministry at The Orchard Evangelical Free Church. She enjoys cooking, eating, and reading, and she looks forward to Pi Day all year long.

Publication date: June 20, 2016

Источник: //www.crosswalk.com/faith/spiritual-life/7-truths-to-fight-anxiety-about-your-salvation.html