Growing in Your Relationship with God
“Four Spiritual Needs”
When we accept Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord, God by His Spirit does a miracle in our “heart” (inner being) causing us to be spiritually born-again. Jesus described this event in John 3:1-7 as being “born of the Spirit” referring to an Old Testament prophecy given by Ezekiel, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.” (Ezekiel 36:26-27)
However, our “spiritual birthday” is only the beginning. God desires that we grow up to maturity in Christ and fulfill His unique destiny for our lives. There are four needs that we all have in order to grow spiritually and to accomplish God’s purposes:
1. Personal Bible Study
“Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.” Matthew 4:4
“The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life.” John 6:63
“…like newborn babes, long for the pure milk of the word, that by it you may grow in respect to salvation,…” I Peter 2:2
2. Prayer
“Keep watching and praying, that you may not come into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Mark 14:37
“Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything; tell God your needs and don’t forget to thank Him for His answers. If you do this you will experience God’s peace…” Philippians 4:6-7 TLB
3. Friendship with other Christians
“He who walks with wise men will be wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm.” Proverbs 13:20
“Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work: If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up.” Ecclesiastes 4:9-10
“…let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; …” Hebrews 10:24-25
4. Telling Others about Christ
“Jesus said to him, ‘Go home to your people and report to them what great things the Lord has done for you, and how He had mercy on you.’” Mark 5:19
“He said to them, ‘Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.” Mark 16:15
“The Christian Race”
“In a race, everyone runs but only one person gets first prize. So run your race to win. To win the contest you must deny yourselves many things that would keep you from doing your best. An athlete goes to all this trouble just to win a blue ribbon or a silver cup, but we do it for a heavenly reward that never disappears. So I run straight to the goal with purpose in every step. I fight to win. I’m not just shadowboxing or playing around. Like an athlete I punish my body, treating it roughly, training it to do what it should, not what it wants to. Otherwise I fear that after enlisting others for the race, I myself might be declared unfit and ordered to stand aside.” I Corinthians 9:24-27 TLB
