Ten ways to measure your spiritual growth
Based on a message by Charles Stanley
(Bible verses provided by brother bob...<><)
A hunger to know God and His truth on an intimate level
Psa 42:1b-5 (KJV)
As the hart panteth after the water brooks,
So panteth my soul after thee, O God.
{2} My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God:
When shall I come and appear before God?
{3} My tears have been my meat day and night,
While they continually say unto me, Where is thy God?
{4} When I remember these things, I pour out my soul in me:
For I had gone with the multitude,
I went with them to the house of God,
With the voice of joy and praise, with a multitude that kept holyday.
{5} Why art thou cast down, O my soul? And why art thou disquieted in me?
Hope thou in God:
For I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance.
Psa 119:9-18 (KJV) BETH.
Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way?
By taking heed thereto according to thy word.
{10} With my whole heart have I sought thee:
O let me not wander from thy commandments.
{11} Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.
{12} Blessed art thou, O LORD: teach me thy statutes.
{13} With my lips have I declared all the judgments of thy mouth.
{14} I have rejoiced in the way of thy testimonies, as much as in all riches.
{15} I will meditate in thy precepts,
And have respect unto thy ways.
{16} I will delight myself in thy statutes:
I will not forget thy word.
{17} GIMEL. Deal bountifully with thy servant,
That I may live, and keep thy word.
{18} Open thou mine eyes,
That I may behold wondrous things out of thy law.
An increasing awareness of sin
Job 13:23-24 (KJV)
How many are mine iniquities and sins?
Make me to know my transgression and my sin{O Lord}.
{24} Wherefore hidest thou thy face,
And holdest me for thine enemy?
Psa 32:1b-5 (KJV)
Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.
{2} Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity,
And in whose spirit there is no guile.
{3} When I kept silence,
My bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long.
{4} For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me:
My moisture is turned into the drought of summer. Selah.
{5} I acknowledged my sin unto thee,
And mine iniquity have I not hid.
I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD;
And thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah.
Sincere repentance and the desire to become more Christ-like
1 John 1:8-10 (KJV)
If we say that we have no sin,
We deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
{9} If we confess our sins,
He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins,
And to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
{10} If we say that we have not sinned,
We make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
Rev 3:14-22 (KJV)
And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write;
These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness,
The beginning of the creation of God;
{15} I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot:
I would thou wert cold or hot.
{16} So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot,
I will spue thee out of my mouth.
{17} Because thou sayest, I am rich,
And increased with goods,
And have need of nothing;
And knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable,
And poor, and blind, and naked:
{18} I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire,
That thou mayest be rich;
And white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed,
And that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear;
And anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.
{19} As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten:
Be zealous therefore, and repent.
{20} Behold, I stand at the door, and knock:
If any man hear my voice, and open the door,
I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.
{21} To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne,
even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.
{22} He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.
View spiritual battles, trials, temptations, and failures
as avenues of growth instead of obstacles
James 1:2-4 (KJV)
My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;
{3} Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.
{4} But let patience have her perfect work,
that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.
1 Pet 1:3-9 (KJV)
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again
unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
{4} To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away,
reserved in heaven for you,
{5} Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation
ready to be revealed in the last time.
{6} Wherein ye greatly rejoice,
though now for a season, if need be,
ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations:
{7} That the trial of your faith,
being much more precious than of gold that perisheth,
though it be tried with fire,
might be found unto praise and honour and glory
at the appearing of Jesus Christ:
{8} Whom having not seen, ye love;
in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing,
ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:
{9} Receiving the end of your faith,
even the salvation of your souls.
A desire to be used by God in the lives of others
2 Tim 2:1-2 (KJV)
Thou therefore, my son,
be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. {2} And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.
A desire for Godly obedience and commitment
regardless of the personal cost
2 Tim 2:3-12 (KJV)
Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.
{4} No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life;
that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.
{5} And if a man also strive for masteries,
yet is he not crowned, except he strive lawfully.
{6} The husbandman that laboureth must be first partaker of the fruits.
{7} Consider what I say;
and the Lord give thee understanding in all things.
{8} Remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of David
was raised from the dead according to my gospel:
{9} Wherein I suffer trouble, as an evil doer, even unto bonds;
but the word of God is not bound.
{10} Therefore I endure all things for the elect's sakes,
that they may also obtain the salvation
which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.
{11} It is a faithful saying:
For if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him:
{12} If we suffer, we shall also reign with him:
if we deny him, he also will deny us:
An increasing faith and trust in God
Prov 3:5-13 (KJV)
Trust in the LORD with all thine heart;
and lean not unto thine own understanding.
{6} In all thy ways acknowledge him,
and he shall direct thy paths.
{7} Be not wise in thine own eyes:
fear the LORD, and depart from evil.
{8} It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones.
{9} Honour the LORD with thy substance,
and with the firstfruits of all thine increase:
{10} So shall thy barns be filled with plenty,
and thy presses shall burst out with new wine.
{11} My son, despise not the chastening of the LORD;
neither be weary of his correction:
{12} For whom the LORD loveth he correcteth;
even as a father the son in whom he delighteth.
{13} Happy is the man that findeth wisdom,
and the man that getteth understanding.
A hunger for private devotion and prayer
Mat 6:6 (KJV)
But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet,
and when thou hast shut thy door,
pray to thy Father which is in secret;
and thy Father which seeth in secret
shall reward thee openly.
Isa 55:6-7 (KJV)
Seek ye the LORD while he may be found,
call ye upon him while he is near:
{7} Let the wicked forsake his way,
and the unrighteous man his thoughts:
and let him return unto the LORD,
and he will have mercy upon him;
and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
Isa 45:18-23 (KJV)
For thus saith the LORD that created the heavens;
God himself that formed the earth and made it;
he hath established it, he created it not in vain,
he formed it to be inhabited:
I am the LORD; and there is none else.
{19} I have not spoken in secret, in a dark place of the earth:
I said not unto the seed of Jacob, Seek ye me in vain:
I the LORD speak righteousness, I declare things that are right.
{20} Assemble yourselves and come;
draw near together, ye that are escaped of the nations:
they have no knowledge that set up the wood of their graven image,
and pray unto a god that cannot save.
{21} Tell ye, and bring them near;
yea, let them take counsel together:
who hath declared this from ancient time?
who hath told it from that time?
have not I the LORD? and there is no God else beside me;
a just God and a Saviour; there is none beside me.
{22} Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth:
for I am God, and there is none else.
{23} I have sworn by myself,
the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness,
and shall not return,
That unto me every knee shall bow,
every tongue shall swear.
A desire to please God by making decisions based on His will
and not on personal wants
James 4:13-16 (KJV)
Go to now, ye that say,
To day or to morrow we will go into such a city,
and continue there a year,
and buy and sell, and get gain:
{14} Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow.
For what is your life?
It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time,
and then vanisheth away.
{15} For that ye ought to say,
If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.
{16} But now ye rejoice in your boastings:
all such rejoicing is evil.
A vibrant love for God and an awareness of His presence
2 Tim 4:17-18 (KJV)
Notwithstanding the Lord stood with me, and strengthened me;
that by me the preaching might be fully known,
and that all the Gentiles might hear:
and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion.
{18} And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work,
and will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom:
to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
Isa 41:9-13 (KJV)
Thou whom I have taken from the ends of the earth,
and called thee from the chief men thereof,
and said unto thee, Thou art my servant;
I have chosen thee, and not cast thee away.
{10} Fear thou not; for I am with thee:
be not dismayed; for I am thy God:
I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee;
yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.
{11} Behold, all they that were incensed against thee
shall be ashamed and confounded:
they shall be as nothing;
and they that strive with thee shall perish.
{12} Thou shalt seek them, and shalt not find them,
even them that contended with thee:
they that war against thee shall be as nothing, and as a thing of nought.
{13} For I the LORD thy God will hold thy right hand,
saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee.
Gal 2:20 (KJV)
I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live;
yet not I, but Christ liveth in me:
and the life which I now live in the flesh
I live by the faith of the Son of God,
who loved me, and gave himself for me.
2 Cor 4:6-11 (KJV)
For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness,
hath shined in our hearts,
to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God
in the face of Jesus Christ.
{7} But we have this treasure in earthen vessels,
that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.
{8} We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed;
we are perplexed, but not in despair;
{9} Persecuted, but not forsaken;
cast down, but not destroyed;
{10} Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus,
that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.
{11} For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus' sake,
that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.
shared by;
ŠEvang. Ethel L. Buchanan
EthelBuch@aol.com
www.poetrypoem.com/feelingwordsinc
feelingwordsanointedpoetry@yahoogroups.com
www.poetrypoem.com/azusasisters
"As you climb the spiritual ladder to heaven, you will often feel a demon reaching up to grab your ankle. He's only doing his job....so just kick him off and keep climbing, you're just doing YOUR job"
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