Category: Level: Intermediate

You just finished leading a great meeting. Everyone was happy and happy with you. Several smiled and thanked you personally. At home you are feeling thankful for being able to lead. Then, as you relax, your mind starts wandering and thinking about what a great person you are. You are a fantastic leader, so much better than most…whoa! What happened here? You were just thinking about being thankful then you started getting delusions of grandeur. How quickly spiritual pride rears its head and sabotages humble leadership. Scripture teaches that you have an old self, or “flesh” that you have to fight. It has desires that assault us, which we resist by centering on Christ, “Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh” (Rom. 13:14, NIV). This explains why these temptations and impulses rise up within us. In Continue Reading →

In the last post we looked at the benefits of understanding stages of spiritual growth as well as two repeating patterns of growth. In this post we look at two popular models of progressive growth. The second one is an expansion of the first. These models are non-repeating models of growth. This means they cover the entire lifetime of a believer and do not repeat; they will help you identify your spiritual life stage. These models are part of spiritual theology, or the theology of maturity. They are based on what the writers saw in Scripture and in their experience so they are attempts to do biblical spiritual theology. As you read through this it will help to ask yourself how it applies to your life. What spiritual life stage do you most identify with? Do you see a flow to your spiritual growth that is reflected in one of these models? Continue Reading →

Many have found it very helpful to understand the different stages of growth that Christians go through. Here are some of the reasons we might find it helpful to recognize stages of growth: Stages of growth can be grouped into three categories: non-cyclical, cyclical, and felt. This post looks mostly at cyclical stages; sequences of stages that repeat during our lives. Below are two different models of cyclical stages. CROSS AND RESURRECTION This is the most basic and biblical model of stages of growth. We follow the same pattern that Jesus did in his life and in his death. This two-fold process is mentioned many times in scripture. 1.Cross. The old self is crucified. 2.Resurrection. The new self dominates more. We can see that it is biblical, for example: Cross=“putting off” (Eph 4:22), Resurrection=“putting on” (Eph 4:24). Also, in Philippians 3:10 Paul desires: … that I may know him and the power Continue Reading →