"What is born from the flesh is flesh, and what is born from the Spirit is spirit." – John 3:6
Just like how a newborn baby needs nourishment to grow healthy and strong—sustaining his growth into puberty, teenage years, and eventually into adulthood—our spirit needs to be nourished and given enough care to grow healthy and strong.
For each aspect of life that grows, specific nourishment is needed. Healthy physical growth requires a healthy diet, enough exercise, and adequate sleep or rest. Intellectual growth requires studying, critical thinking, exercise of reasoning, and continuous learning. Emotional growth requires healthy relationships, meaningful discourse, acceptance, and love.
Just like the other aspects, spiritual growth also requires several things: a relationship with God that begins in repentance; continued fellowship with God that happens through prayer, constant Bible reading and personal worship; having meaningful relationships with a community of believers; and acting out one's faith.
Are you hoping to keep growing spiritually? Here are a few things that you can do that will surely help your spiritual growth.
1. Give Yourself Enough Rest
Giving your body the rest it needs is actually a spiritual discipline that we all need to master. When God established creation, He put 12 hours each for day and night. After six days of creating, He rested on the seventh day (see Genesis 1). He also commanded that people honour the Sabbath rest (see Exodus 20:8). Basically, God made provisions for resting, and commanded that it be received gladly.
Resting allows our body to recover the strength we need to read God's Word, meditate on it, and do what it says. Have you ever read your Bible while sleepy? If you have, then you know how hard it is. Rest to prepare yourself for a time with God.
2. Unclutter Your Mind
Unlike new age practices that tell you to "empty your mind," to unclutter your mind means to let go of the unnecessary thoughts that fill your mind so that you can fill it with what should be there: God.
We are told to pray about everything we need instead of worrying. We are told to meditate on the Word of God. We are told to fix our mind on things above. We are told to think about the truth, what is noble, just, pure, lovely, of good report, of virtue, and about anything praiseworthy in God. (see Philippians 4:6,8; Joshua 1:7-9; Colossians 3:2)
This doesn't mean thinking positive. It means thinking about God instead of things.
3. Obey God's Word
This is the most important thing on the list. After resting and uncluttering your mind, you can now read the Word of God. After reading, what's next? Obeying it.
James 1:22 tells us, "Don't just listen to God's Word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves."
Read it, and obey it.
