Establish Habits for Spiritual Growth

Rick Warren.
“So we continue to preach Christ to each person, using all wisdom to warn and to teach everyone, in order to bring each one into God's presence as a mature person in Christ.” (Colossians 1:28 NCV)

The most practical and powerful way to get believers headed in the direction of spiritual maturity is to help them establish habits that promote spiritual growth.

You cannot talk about character without talking about habits. Character is the way you habitually act. For example, if you are honest only part of the time, or if you are honest only when you consciously choose to be honest, you cannot claim to have the character quality of integrity.

Develop the Love

"And what this love consists in is this, that we live and walk in accordance with and guided by His commandments His orders, ordinances, precepts, teaching. This is the commandment, as you have heard from the beginning, that you continue to walk in love guided by it and following it." (2 John 1:6, The Amplified Bible)

Quite simply, God says love is keeping His commandments. That brings love out of the indefinite into something explicit. But God has done more than define love for you. He's given you instructions so that you can know how to love as He loves. By giving you His Word, God has given you His love manual in black and white. All you have to do is follow it and you'll be walking in love.

If you've made Jesus Christ the Lord of your life, you've already taken the first step of obedience. The love of God has been born within you. But, unless you take steps to develop it, that love will remain hidden within you. Love works in much the same way as the force of faith. Like faith, love becomes active through knowledge of the Word.

Free From the Curse

"Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree." (Galatians 3:13)

You know the story. Satan came to Adam's wife in the form of a serpent and deceived her into disobeying God. Adam, although he was not deceived, followed suit.

When Satan came into the Garden that day, he didn't have any power at all. He had to come in like a sneak, not even talking to Adam directly but talking to his wife.

Now Adam was standing there, and he should have kicked him out right then. But he didn't. Instead, he set aside the command God had given him and did what Satan told him to do instead...and when he did that, he made Satan his lord.

In bowing his knee to Satan, Adam gave Satan the authority that God had given man. He made Satan the illegitimate ruler of the earth. Immediately things changed. Through one man's trespass, death passed to all men (Rom. 5:12).

The earth and everything in it was suddenly cursed.

Discover Purpose Is this the life for me?

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Take a look at your life. How would you describe it? Contented? Rushed? Exciting? Stressful? Moving forward? Holding back? For many of us it’s all of the above at times. There are things we dream of doing one day, and there are things we wish we could forget. In the Bible, it says that Jesus came to make all things new. What would your life look like if you could start over with a clean slate?

The Bible talks about the world beginning with the creation of a beautiful garden and two blameless people who walked and talked with God. They were truly innocent – they didn’t even know that they were naked. But it didn’t stay that way. They chose to turn away from God and sin entered the world, and with it guilt, shame, regret. Humankind was no longer blameless. But God still loved the world that he created and so he sent his Son to redeem it.

Jesus came, and died, and rose again to wipe the slate clean. He was scourged, tormented, and finally nailed on the cross for humankind’s sins – this was all part of God’s plan to bring you and I back into relationship with him. God wants to be a part of your life. Is this the life for you?

God is perfect, powerful, and yet personal. The Bible tells us: “He (God) is the Rock. His work is perfect. Everything He does is just and fair.” (Deuteronomy 32:4)

God created the world, which reflects His magnificence, balance, and beauty. “For God created the heavens and the earth and put everything in place, and he made the world to live in and not be an empty chaos.” (Isaiah 45:18)

Would you like to know God personally?.

God loves you and created you to know Him personally.
God’s Love: “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:16).

God’s Plan: “Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent” (John 10:7-10).

What prevents us from knowing God personally?

People are lost and separated from God, so we cannot know Him personally or experience His love.

People are Lost: “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23)

People were created to have fellowship with God; but, because of our own stubborn self- wills, we chose to go our own independent way and fellowship with God was broken. This self-will, characterized by an attitude of active rebellion or passive indifference, is an evidence of what the Bible calls sin.

People are Separated: “The wages of sin is death” [spiritual separation from God] (Romans 6:23).

This diagram illustrates that God is holy and people are lost. A great gulf separates the two. The arrows illustrate that people are continually trying to reach God and establish a personal relationship with Him through their own efforts, such as a good life, philosophy, or religion but we inevitably fail.

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The fourth step of your journey explains the only way to bridge this gulf.

Jesus Christ is God’s only provision for our sin. Through Him alone we can know God personally and experience His love.

He Died in Our Place: “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).

He Rose from the Dead: “Christ died for our sins…He was buried…He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures…He appeared to Peter, then to the twelve. After that He appeared to more than five hundred…” (1 Corinthians 15:3-6)

He is the Only Way to God: “Jesus said to him, `I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me’” (John 14:6).

The diagram above on the right illustrates that God has bridged the gulf that separates us from Him by sending His Son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross in our place to pay the penalty for our sins.

It is not enough just to know these three truths…

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We must individually receive Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord; then we can know God personally and experience His love.

We must Receive Christ: “As many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name” (John 1:12).

We Receive Christ through Faith: “By grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is a gift of God; not as a result of works that no one should boast” (Ephesians 2:8,9).

When we Receive Christ, we Experience a New Birth: (Read John 3:1-8)

We Receive Christ by Personal Invitation: [Christ speaking] “Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him” (Revelation 3:20).

Receiving Christ involves turning to God from self (repentance) and trusting Christ to come into our lives to forgive us of our sins and to make us what He wants us to be. Just to agree intellectually that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and that He died on the cross for our sins is not enough. Nor is it enough to have an emotional experience. We receive Jesus Christ by faith, as an act of our will.

These two circles represent two kinds of lives:

Self-Directed Life

 Self is on the throne

Christ is outside the life

Interests are directed by self often resulting in discord and frustration

Christ-Directed Life

 Christ is in the life and on the throne

 Self is yielding to Christ

Interests are directed by Christ, resulting in harmony with God’s plan

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Which circle best represents your life?

Which circle would you like to have represent your life?

The following step explains how you can receive Christ…

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You can receive Christ right now by faith through prayer!

(Prayer is talking with God)

God knows your heart and is not so concerned with your words as He is with the attitude of your heart. The following is a suggested prayer:

Lord Jesus, I need you. Thank You for dying on the cross for my sins. I open the door of my life and receive You as my Savior and Lord. Thank You for forgiving my sins and giving me eternal life. Take control of the throne of my life. Make me the kind of person You want me to be.

Does this prayer express the desire of your heart? If it does, pray this prayer right now, and Christ will come into your life, just as He promised.

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