Wednesday: Spiritual Growth Through Ministry Involvement
Spiritual growth comes only as we connect with Jesus. It cannot be produced by human beings simply performing specific tasks, even witnessing and evangelism tasks. A church cannot “program” spirituality into its members. However, it is a great truth that as believers respond to God’s call to be disciples, their personal walk with the Lord deepens and strengthens. Although we should not engage in witnessing and evangelism solely in an attempt to grow spiritually, when undertaken with a genuine love for God and for the lost, these activities bring numerous spiritual blessings to all involved.
Read John 7:17. What does this verse tell us about the doing of God’s will and increased spiritual growth?
Image © Rolf Jansson from GoodSalt.com
A valid question is, “How can a person seeking truth be sure when the genuine has been found?” In verse 17 Jesus presents a truth that will help all who want to follow Him. Those who are willing to do God’s will can know if a doctrine is, or is not, of God. How can this be? Clearly there is spiritual growth through connectedness. Jesus is saying that those who are living up to received Bible truth will receive greater light.
There is a strong connection between hearing and doing (see Rev. 1:3). Those who do God’s will, however little of His will they know, will be blessed with a deepening Christian relationship which, coupled with prayerful Bible study, will lead to greater revelations of truth and exciting spiritual growth.
Read John 4:36. What are the spiritual wages received as a result of being involved in the harvest of souls? What spiritual fellowship is suggested by the sower and reaper rejoicing together?
Many commentators suggest that the disciples were reaping where John the Baptist and Jesus had sown. The Samaritan woman herself had clearly planted some gospel seed among the people of her town. How they must have rejoiced together as the ripened spiritual harvest was gathered into the kingdom. Success through working together in witnessing and evangelism creates a bond between God and us and between us as fellow believers. As we respond to God’s call to be involved in soul winning, this bond, this spiritual closeness and growth, blossoms as a natural result of being on God’s team.
How has your own faith been strengthened through your own personal witness, both from success and failures? How does witnessing impact your relationship with the Lord?
Its good to be on God’s team. I just want to be sure God is on my Team. When I accepted Jesus as my Lord and savoir He promised me I was on God’s team. And thats the Gospel. ST. JOHN 3:17-18
The one thing that we as a church feel safe to do is to understand the doctrine & then do the will of God. That goes against what this verse says, which is do then understand. When we do to understand we don’t go armed to the teeth without the Holy Spirit. Things done in human strength have no fruit. We may never know how to play football as observers but only as we go into the field trusting the Master coach to train us thru failures & success. We are most afraid of failure as it mars our reputation but hinders growth. We should be willing to put ourselves on the line in spite of the odds. It removes prejudice & presumption then gives way to childlike faith. Then light of the doctrine just becomes clear & vivid as we study it. God bless.
Evangelism and witnessing helps me to have a strong relationship with God. Yes, the more I learn to lead others the more my faith strengthens.
Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.Ephesians 5:17. Growth is necessary in the spiritual life.
So in order to grow understanding the will of God in every step of our way is very important. The will of god is recorded in the word of god. For example the Bible does not say whom we are going to marry but what kind of person we should marry is recorded in the word of god. What exact business one can do is not recorded for every businessmen. But for sure what kind of business a Christian can do and how he should go about doing that is for sure recorded in the word of god. So for the spiritual growth knowing the will of god is essential. And when the will of God is so clear in the word of God do not look for explanations to suit your situations. For example “thou shalt not steal” simple, no explanation is needed. Circumstances what may, do not steel. That’s it. I steal because….. not accepted. So is with everything God wants us to do in the word of god. As the lesson says “Those who are willing to do God’s will can know if a doctrine is, or is not, of God.” is right.
Thanx for the inspirational reviews.
They are quite encouraging.
Be blessed.