Comments on: Do You See Growth?

By: girl

girl — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 22:02:28 +0000

I am having a hard time with my dad. He told me that he didn’t believe in the New Testament. What should I do to help him?

By: jordan

jordan — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 22:01:41 +0000

I am having a hard time with my dad. He told me that he didn’t believe in the New Testament. What should I do?

By: Jordan R. Horner

Jordan R. Horner — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 01:32:05 +0000

I have absolutely seen a change in myself just from over the year. I started out the year very dependent on the world’s opinion of me and I needed to aspire to society’s expectations of me as a teenager. I had goals and dreams, but I really didn’t love myself. I had a non-Christian boyfriend and I was very dependent on him and because of that, I always criticized myself and I think I lost who I truly was. After our breakup in June 2009, I decided to be baptized and that marked the point in my life where I realized how much God loves me and how much I love Him in return. By witnessing God’s love, I’ve learned to look to Him instead of this world. I learned that all I can get out of life on earth if I try to please society is pain. But by turning to God’s love, I found myself and I learned to love myself because God can love me. So I think 2009 marks the point in my life where I not only gave myself over to God, but I found myself again.

By: Lauren

Lauren — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 21:28:14 +0000

Wow, what a conviction!!! Thank you for posting this.

This year i have seen definite growth, mainly in trusting the Lord with my family and friends, in relationships, and in my own life. In April we found out my younger sister has epilepsy, and she’s had to have many tests and doctors visits to see what was causing her seizures. I had such a hard time getting over the fact that my sister was having to go through this, but i realized that He is in control, and not trusting Him with everything will just make our lives harder. Last month my grandfather was diagnosed with stage four cancer. The grief was at time unbearable, but when my grandfather himself said that he trusts the Lord, and that he is at peace, i realized that i needed to do the same. What joy and peace comes from trusting Him! So, trusting in Him has been my main growing point.

By: Randi

Randi — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 02:15:38 +0000

Thanks SisterservingGod. I liked how you said we have to be “desperate enough”. Maybe God’s just waiting me to be desperate enough till I…stop trying to do it on my own. Its kinda confusing because I know I cant do it without God, but that dosn’t mean I sit back and let him do all the work. I have to be working to make myself better too, even if he’s the only one who can really change my heart. My heart dosn’t want to change by itself. Sometimes I don’t even want to change, its more like I want to change that I don’t want to change. Thank God its not that I don’t care…its driving me crazy!!! But sometimes I just…don’t know where to begin. Thanks, SisterservingGod, I’m gonna do a way better job reading my Bible this week and ask God for help… AGAIN.

By: SisterservingGod

SisterservingGod — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 19:09:28 +0000

Randi,
That is exactly the same way I feel! I keep repenting of my sins, but just do the same thing over again the next day. I try to walk in the Spirit, and then just get lazy the next day and walk in the flesh again. I’m asking God what I’m supposed to be doing, and I think I’m finally beginning to get the answers (PTL!). Matthew 7:7 says, “Ask and it shall be given you; seek and ye shall find; knock and it shall be opened unto you.” In order to live the
Christian life, we have to put forth effort. So many times, we want the Christian walk, but putting forth the effort, but it doesn’t work that way. We have get desperate enough to knock and seek until God answers us. If we aren’t reading the Bible all the time, we aren’t going to be able to serve God, or overcome our sins, because Bible reading and prayer is the life-blood of the Christian life. I think that’s what my problem is. I have a hard time finding time to read my Bible, and it’s hard for me to pray when i haven’t read my Bible. So, in doing that, i get away from God. But it doesn’t have to be this way. Repent, and ask God to help you. He will.

By: Randi

Randi — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 15:18:44 +0000

Thank you for posting this, guys. I guess I get really discouraged sometimes because…I feel like somethings the matter with me. I know I’m saved…I know it. But I keep doing the same sins over and over again, and I think I repented, but I keep doing it again! I know I cant grow if I don’t overcome, but how DO I overcome? I know I cant do it by myself, but why isn’t God doing anything? You’d think he’d be fed up with me by now.

By: Kyle R.

Kyle R. — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 22:22:35 +0000

Wow, the question hit me like a ten ton truck, am I growing? I have been haunted this year by missed opportunities to step out, stand out, and let Christ shine in my life. God has been saying, do you trust me? And I have been coming up with ways to justify not doing. Being passive, doubting, and not saying or doing the hard thing has lead me down a road of compromise and anguish and destruction and poverty. You’ve got to let Christ shine in your life and fight with all of you got to prevent yourself from diming that light with complacency.

By: Brandon S.

Brandon S. — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 04:28:01 +0000

The post above really encouraged me to press on. I sometimes have the same attitude of wanting growth without struggle. You really clarified many questions that had been spinning in my mind. I really have wanted growth, but, at times, I really have not worked for it. God definitely wanted me to see this, because I have really been wondering today why I have not grown a lot. Here is my answer, and God’s exhortation. Indeed, let us press on!

By: Emanuel Padilla

Emanuel Padilla — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 02:31:05 +0000

Spiritual growth, as I’ve learned in my life, doesn’t always come easy. I spent a lot of my high school career going through ups and downs. I loved the ups, but I hated the downs. By the end of the year I was right back where I started. I got so tired of being the same person every single year! I asked God to reveal a new weight of glory in my life. I remember telling Him I wanted to really know who He was. I guess you could say that my New Year’s resolution was to grow without “backsliding.”

So, I began to pray and read God’s word much more frequently. One day I came across a verse that really encouraged me to press forward through the downs. In 2 Corinthians chapter 4 Paul writes of his struggle. He explains how he is just a clay jar able to hold the glory of God (verse 7). He continues to say that it is God working in us that allows us to press on although badly hurt. At the end of the chapter he says something that really impacted my life. “For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.” (2 Corinthians 4:17).

I reflected and noticed that I always wanted growth without struggle. But what I realized while reading that verse was that growth is the product of troubles. I had to go through some downs and learn to hold strong. Pressure prepared me for the Glory that was to come. In Romans 8 verse 18 Paul writes, “Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later.” In other words, what you’re going through now will never compare to what God has for your future. Don’t think of struggles as a complete disaster, but as a chance for genuine growth.

Think like a track runner. During practice they sometimes train with weights tied to their wrists and ankles. After a few hard laps with the weights on they take them off, and feeling lighter they are able to run much faster. If God puts us through the weight of struggle now, he prepares and stretches our spiritual muscles for Glory later. Remember what Paul wrote, our troubles are light and momentary and achieve for us an eternal glory. Think of them as prep for the race. While we have the weights on it hurts, but in the struggle we grow the muscle to run faster, or achieve more. Be encouraged and stay strong, for God is making us grow through the hard times.
Ricky