The ability of a believer in Christ Jesus to grow up spiritually by learning to develop his spirit man will give him greater spiritual strength.
A Christian who cannot develop his spirit man will be easily swayed, by every wind of doctrines which the enemy is often using to manipulate those who are being deceived by it.
When a Christian is not so much concerned about his own spiritual growth, that believer in Christ is setting himself up for the road to destruction.
Jesus once described the spiritual state of such a believer in this way:
“But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.”
Matthew 7:26-27 NKJV
If the very foundation of a Christian’s spiritual life is faulty and shaky, then nothing else will be able to stand in his life. Such a believer will not be stable and strong in faith. This explains why the enemy will find him susceptible to be attacked easily.
He will often fall for anything, that comes out of the imagination of his carnal mind, rather than from the word of the living God. He therefore can easily be swayed by the popular views of this world, rather than to believe and stand on the promises of God to him in His written word.
It is when a believer in Christ is not rooted and grounded in the word of God, that such a believer will become swayed to bow and bend to any popular view of his unsaved world, rather than faith in what the word of God says about him.
The imagination of his unrenewed mind can be easily used by the enemy, in swaying him away from faith in God’s promises for his life.
And when his faith in the promises of God is swayed, his love for Jesus will become cold.
The enemy uses this to prevent the love of God in such believer from manifesting the goodness of God towards that believer.
God is a good God.
But God is not and will never be in any popularity contest with anyone, or anything in this world or elsewhere.
He is the Almighty, the Righteous One, the Holy God, the Omnipotent, the Omnipresent and the Good God. He does what He wants to do, how He wants to do it, and to whom He wants to do it.
God’s way is never in accordance with the ways of men or of this world. He is not about being fair to anybody; but He will always relate with us, from the position of our faith in His promises to us.
And His promises to us are all written in the Bible for us to know and believe in them.
The Psalmist says:
“Who may ascend into the hill of the LORD? Or who may stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not lifted up his soul to an idol, nor sworn deceitfully. He shall receive blessing from the LORD, And righteousness from the God of his salvation.”
Psalms 24:3-5 NKJV
You will have let the unsaved world deal with fairness. That’s what they often trade in.
The world will always judge one another based on fairness, because they are seeing things from the position of the mindset, the flesh and emotions.
God does not see you as His child like that. He looks and searches always for your faith in Him to give you what He has promised you in His word.
When we are living by faith before God, then we are pleasing Him and we will have access into His favor.
But to get His favor, we’d better be sure that we’re on track with His written word and our proactive faith before Him.
The Bible says:
“But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.”
Hebrews 11:6 NKJV
When we have the favor of God, heaven will always be on attention to hear us from here on earth.
That’s why we don’t ever get worried about Him being fair with us. God is never fair to anyone; but He will always favor His children over the unbelievers.
He’s always looking to see how His children are making use of His Word, which He had given them to use in doing exploits on the earth to prosper themselves.
In the Parable of the Talents (see Matthew 25:14-30); Jesus told us about the man with just one talent.
The man could have used his only talent to get one more talent. But he did not do anything with what he had. He eventually lost what he had, to the person who had positioned himself for the favor of God, by using his five talents to get five more talents (Matthew 25:28).
At the end of that Parable, Jesus said it loud and clear:
“‘For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away. And cast the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’”
Matthew 25:29-30 NKJV
Does this statement of Jesus sound like being fair to the man with one talent? No, not at all.
The Kingdom of God is not about being fair to anybody. It is all about what we are doing with our faith in Him, to position ourselves for His favor here on earth.
Faith is the only currency that works in God’s Kingdom.
When we are well positioned for God’s favor, to do exploits with our faith in Him and in His promises; then He will bring the increase that is necessary for us to enlarge His Kingdom here on earth.
We were created by Him to please Him alone and not ourselves.
The only way that we can position ourselves to please Him, is through our faith walk which works with His loving kindness inside of us.
Our ability to walk by faith before Him, positions us for His favor.
And there is nothing as wonderful and beautiful, as having the favor and the goodness of God following us.
God is our help.
Therefore, our help in the time of trouble never comes from the world’s system, or the governments of this unsaved world.
Neither can we ever be saved from trouble by following the popular opinions of men.
A Christian who really wants to grow up in faith, needs to stop running to the systems of this world, or its people for help.
Our help as Christians will always come from God.
God is not a beggar either. He does not ever expect any of His children to beg Him for anything; but He does expect us to have faith in His Word, to work for us in doing what He has promised us to do.
King David said:
“I have been young, and now am old;
Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken,
Nor his descendants begging bread.
He is ever merciful, and lends;
And his descendants are blessed.”
Psalm 37:25-26 NKJV
God is not begging anybody to do anything for Him. Neither is He moved by emotions as some beg in prayers before Him.
But He does expect us to look up to Him, in the time of troubles by using our faith in Him and His promises.
The scriptures say:
“The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, To the soul who seeks Him. It is good that one should hope and wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.”
Lamentations 3:25-26 NKJV
We can’t go to God in prayer for anything without faith in Him. Yes, we do need to be bold, but it is really the faith walk before Him, that gets His attention in responding to our prayers.
Yes, we do need boldness in approaching and asking Him for anything; but it is actually our act of faith in Him, to do what He had promised us to do, that really gets us the needed response from Him.
If you truly believe that your help comes from God, you will be running to Him in the time of trouble and not be running away from Him.
Yes, God can use people to help you, but God also knows how to direct people towards you.
It is the lack of faith in God that often drives many to be seeking the favor of men, rather than seeking the favor of God.
God is the only One we need to be turning to for help. He knows our needs better than people do, and He knows how best to meet those needs better than we do.
There is no real help for the believer in Christ apart from God, and God will always use His written word to direct the believer’s steps out of trouble.
You have been called into His Kingdom, so that you may be looking into His word and searching your (heart) spirit man for guidance and help.
People may sympathize with you and even take time out to listen to all of your problems and woes in life, but they can’t really help you.
They can only sympathize with you in most cases.
But when a Christian turns to God’s word for help in the time of trouble, God will pick him up and will start directing his steps out of those troubles.
The Holy Spirit is our Helper.
The Holy Spirit is given to us in helping us always in this way. Jesus said of the Holy Spirit:
“He will glorify me, because he will receive from me what is mine and will tell it to you.”
John 16:14 NET
The Holy Spirit brings God’s voice to us in helping us in our time of need. He will bring out of the deposit of God’s word in us, to direct our steps out of trouble.
Spiritual growth comes to a believer who is obedient to the voice of the Holy Spirit in this way.
He grows in faith and love towards God, faster than the believer who always runs to people or the world’s system for help.
We did not get into the Kingdom of God, so as to keep relying on the world, from which Jesus got us delivered for help in a time of need.
This is one of the reasons why we abide in God’s Word always for help.
His Holy Spirit will lead and guide you always, as long as you are focused on His promises.
So where does your help come from?
Are you trusting in God during your time of need?
God is closer to you than ever before. If you open your heart to Him, He will guide you and lead you out of your troubles.
The Psalmist said:
“Give us help from trouble, For the help of man is useless. Through God we will do valiantly, for it is He who shall tread down our enemies.”
Psalms 108:12-13 NKJV
And again, David said:
“I will lift up my eyes to the hills— From whence comes my help? My help comes from the LORD, Who made heaven and earth. He will not allow your foot to be moved; He who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, He who keeps Israel Shall neither slumber nor sleep. The LORD is your keeper; The LORD is your shade at your right hand. The sun shall not strike you by day, Nor the moon by night. The LORD shall preserve you from all evil; He shall preserve your soul. The LORD shall preserve your going out and your coming in from this time forth, and even forevermore.”
Psalms 121:1-8 NKJV
This is how God helps those who put their trust in Him.
