Growing In Christ Series

Let's start off today by imagining a friend that gives you the gift of a new road bike. You always dreamed of taking a bike out on the road and you're now equipped and outfitted to hit the road. But what if you never used that bicycle? The gift by itself doesn't take you places and owning athletic equipment doesn't automatically get you in shape. The opportunity is there, but effort has to accompany it.

Now let's use that analogy and look at Christ's gift of salvation. The gift is free, but we sometimes fail to understand that we have to put forth some effort into our discipleship. To grow in Christ means that we have to engage in the process ourselves.

The gift is there. But are your efforts there as well? Let's take a little time today to talk about growing in Christ. We will be using Paul's letter to the Colossians chapter one. Prayer

A few weeks ago, we began talking about being an authentic church and what are the characteristics of an authentic church. We said that an authentic church needed to be grounded in Christ. Christ needs to be the foundation for all church endeavors. Then, as the church is grounded in Christ, we are called to share Christ whenever the opportunity arises. In this process of being grounded in and sharing Christ, we should be growing in Christ. For a church to survive, for a Christian to remain strong in their conviction, each of us needs to be growing in Christ.

My children's sermon to the Pakistan children this week concerns being aware of the false teachers that can lead us astray. When Paul wrote to the Colossian church, he so badly wanted to visit with them. But in it all he experienced opposition. Still their situation needed his attention by way of this letter. This strong church was having trouble from false teachers within. To grow in Christ, they needed to rid themselves of these false teachers and the false doctrines and commit to helping each other grow in Christ.

Do you realize that it is part of our responsibility as a Christian to help others grow in Christ? Let's see what Paul says.

Colossians 1:9-10 – “For this reason also, since the day we heard this, we haven’t stopped praying for you. We are asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, 10 so that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and growing in the knowledge of God,’

When we surrender to God's call on our life, He fills us with the knowledge of what He wants us to do. He reveals His will to us. A lot of times Christians feel discouraged by the lack of spiritual progress in their lives. Growing in Christ is not easy. It takes some effort. Even though God does the heavy lifting, we're required to do a significant amount of work as well. That's precisely why we have to pray to be strengthened with all the power that God will give us. Are you praying about your spiritual growth? I wonder how many of us have even thought about that.

Paul kept praying for the Colossian believers so that they would be filled with the knowledge of God's will. The more we know what God's will is, the more likely we'll be able to obey it.

That's why prayer is so important. We don't want our spiritual growth to be limited to what our efforts can accomplish. We want the change in our lives that only God can bring. Am I right? Praying for God's will says that we're trying to align our lives with God's direction. And we don't need to doubt that God will answer those prayers.

In addition to what might be on our prayer list, we need to also pray for God's will. If you're not really sure what God's direction is, then realize that God doesn't want to keep it a secret. Of course, God wants you to do His will more than you want to do His will. So, God is waiting for us to ask. Be sure of what you ask for.

How do we apply this to our lives? Set aside some time to be with God. In prayer, ask Him to make His will clear to us and to fill us with all we need to grow in Him. Then be still and listen for what God wants to reveal to you. You might be asking, "How will I know that God is revealing His will for me?" You will know in the same way you knew God was calling you to step out and make a public profession of your faith by accepting Jesus as your Savior." You just know.