Today on the blog I want to talk about how to develop a spiritual growth plan, because let’s be honest—maturity doesn’t just happen.  I think sometimes we assume growth as we modify behavior and attend church regularly, but church activity doesn’t necessarily produce growth. You know what I mean, right?  When the focus is all about doing the right things and maintaining appearances.

 

Here’s the thing, it’s not about outward actions, and it’s about the heart.  What I mean is that before he looks at what you do, God is concerned about the condition of your heart.  His plan and purpose for your life is all centered on bringing you into a place of perfect healing, which only happens through a life-time of surrender and obedience.

 

Salvation makes the way in easier, because the broken condition of humanity has no hope of measuring up to God’s holy law.  Jesus paid the debt, which opened the door for deep, personal intimacy.  If you seek to gain access through religious activity instead of intimacy you will never really experience fulfillment—that only happens in the presence of God.

 

Sometimes in an attempt to break it all down, we mistakenly reduce spiritual growth to religious knowledge.  Maturity is thus defined by how much you know of God.  The problem with this supposition is the failure to acknowledge the relational component.  How much you think you know about God isn’t the point; it’s about knowing him, which only happens as you press in.

 

God made you, not because he needed to, but because he wanted to.  By design you exist for the purpose of relationship.  All relationships take intentional work and the one with God is no different, however do not slip into distorted the conclusion that this means you must earn God’s favor.  Salvation is free and God’s grace is extravagant.

 

What is Spiritual Growth?

 

So what then is spiritual growth?  I’m glad you asked!  Growth is really an analogy for experience based learned.  Growth occurs through the experience of a personal encounter with God.

 

Personal encounters are promised, because that’s what Christ’s death provided—access! Trust activates faith, which leads to surrender and that’s the way into the presence of God.  Revelation from God only comes from a heart bowed in humble trust.

 

God speaks to his people all the time, but many miss it in their pursuit of knowledge over presence.  That said I want to clarify that the practice of spiritual disciplines is not wrong.  In fact, there are many incredible disciplines that indeed help produce spiritual growth (I’m a HUGE fan of these tools), but understand they are vehicles not qualifiers.

 

I want to tell you that spiritual growth matters, but not because it’s required.  The LORD invites you to come close so that he can lavish himself on you.  When you choose to opt out, you miss out on what it means to experience his abundance.

 

Entering into his presence requires the “work” of surrender.  Dying to yourself can feel like the most impossible thing, but I’ve learned that all it takes is my agreement to trust God.  That brave bold step gives the Father permission to do the impossible.  You see, there are somethings that while I can identify them as toxic, I cannot manage to cut them off in my strength.  When I agree with the LORD, he steps in and gets into the hard to reach places and fights for me.

 

 

 

 

Re-framing spiritual growth

 

Really, for me, spiritual growth is all wrapped up into worship, because worship is about loving God.  You see, worship is so much more than just an action point in our Sunday morning services.  So much has been written and spoken about regarding this topic over the years, yet I still believe there is great misunderstanding.  You and I were made for worship—intimate relationship with God.

 

 

Growth or maturity is the result of surrender and obedience, which is always a response to a revelation or experience of God’s love.  It starts with an encounter and is refined through the process of practice.  I have come to realize that EVERYTHING I do must be birthed from what happens in His presence.  My worship is the response to his unbelievable and perfect love—my response is to come, surrender, receive, and then obey.

 

Worship is expressed in a million different ways.  You and I are different, so how we relate and interact with the Father will also be different.  There is nothing wrong with that, in fact, God celebrates our diversity—he created it!

 

 

 

 

Recognizing distractions that hinder spiritual growth

 

 

There are a lot of things that can hinder your pursuit of spiritual growth.  I want to remind you that you have an enemy, who is on the attack.  He has one single-minded goal, with a million different strategies all designed to take you out.  Learn to recognize is handiwork.

 

He will use bad, sad, heavy, and hard to wear you out.  Every step you take is marked by the incessant sound of his voice, twisting, taunting, and lying about everything.  He does not want you to experience healing and restoration, so he will stop at nothing to confuse your mind and heart.  If he can clog your soul by silencing the voice of truth he takes it as a win.

 

God pursues you relentlessly, you can count on that, but he never violates your choice to choose.  He promises protection and provision, but you must walk in it—this is product of surrender.

 

Assuming that because you have given your life to Christ means you are following him is not necessarily accurate.  In the full, general sense of the statement, sure, but a life surrendered to Christ is never once and done.  Surrender is active and repetitive.

 

Wondering aimlessly can be fruitless, because you may find yourself walking in circles.   This happens when you chose activity over presence—even if it’s beautiful religious activity.  A great illustration of this is the story of Mary and Martha.  Mary sat at the feet of Jesus, while Martha fussed about fixing a meal.  (Luke 10:38-42)

 

Martha became frustrated, because Mary wasn’t helping.  I believe she secretly longed to join Mary at Jesus feet, but her compulsion toward striving took her in the other direction.  Sometimes even seemingly good details can become distractions.

 

 

 

 

What is a spiritual growth plan?

 

I recently started a Facebook Group called, Unrestrained | Chasing after the more of God, because I wanted to develop a space and place to inspire and encourage deeper intimacy with God.  As I worked at it I found myself thinking about what kind of tools or resources might be helpful.

 

Our busy culture helps to create many challenges to the conventional ways of the church.  I’m sure you have already noticed, but times are changing!  There was a day, when spiritual growth was inspired through the commitment and practice of regular gatherings around the word.  I’m not saying that there aren’t churches offering great discipleship, but with the cultural shift into consumerism, it has made this discipline challenging.

 

The attitude of entitlement comes in strong with the firm assertion that the responsibility of spiritual growth rests firmly on the shoulders of church leaders.  Here’s the thing, no one but you is responsible for your spiritual growth.

 

The beauty of the church is the sense of community and togetherness.  As a body we have so much to offer one another by way of encouragement.  The power of testimony can be so motivating, but ultimately you are the only one who can surrender and step into the presence of God.

 

So with that in mind I drew from some tools I’ve used in the past in leadership development and goal setting.  I put together a little outline that will help you formulate a personal spiritual growth plan, which is simple to use and easy to adjust as you go along.

 

 

 

 

How to use the spiritual growth plan

Before you even start into this process, I want you to lay down any aspirations of conquering everything all at once.  One of the biggest things that contribute to stalling out in the middle of establishing new habits is taking on too much. This is a simple tool designed to help you focus direction, define your goals, establish motivation and stay on task.  Keep is simple.

 

I want you to start by asking the LORD what he wants to show you.  Linger a little while in this process and wait for him to speak.  Sometimes it takes a time to clear out all the noise in your head so that you can hear.  Don’t rush; just wait.

 

What do you want to see in your relationship with God?  Start there.  Define the area of intimacy you want to see an increase in and then allow the Holy Spirit to show you the way to go.  It is ALWAYS easier to surrender and press into something the LORD has initiated rather than just doing something just because it sounds good.

 

Learn to embrace every step of the process.  Resist the temptation to treat this like test, because there is no timeline.  Each moment is a gift, which is worthy of complete discovery.  So don’t rush through the seemingly mundane in order to reach the spectacular.  Those amazing a-ha moments of revelation are built a thousand little moments, so don’t undervalue the power of little things.

 

 

 

 

Ready, Set, Go!

 

Okay, so now you have to low-down on why spiritual growth matters, what a spiritual growth plan is, and how to use it, all you need is the workbook so you can dig in!  Click the link below to download a copy of your own Spiritual Growth Plan workbook! And have fun!

 

 

 

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