#VictoryMonth DAY 4: THURSDAY, 5TH JANUARY 2017
DAY 4: THURSDAY, 5TH JANUARY 2017
FOCUS: GREAT GRACE TO GROW UPWARD IN LIFE.
TEXTS: COL. 2: 6-9, 2 PETER 3:13, ACTS 4:33
INSIGHT FOR EFFECTIVE AND FERVENT PRAYERS
We need great grace to go forward and grow upward in life. Growing upward in life will make your life to be right and bright. It will make your life blissful, useful, fruitful, inspiring and highly profitable. You cannot grow upward if you don’t grow downward. Unless you are rightly and deeply rooted in Christ, you cannot grow to be Christ like.
Growing upward simply means becoming Christ in likeness. If you don’t grow spiritually, your life cannot glow and be fruitful. It has been said, “Growth is evidence of life. Life is equal to growth. When there is life, there’s growth. Where there is growth, there is life.’’ This is certainly true in the spiritual realm. Growing up in Christ is spiritual growth. God intends that the spiritual life He gives to us in Christ, grow into maturity. But many people spend years in the Lord without growing spiritually. There are so many babes or infants in the kingdom of God. This is tragic because every one that fails to grow up in Christ cannot enjoy all the spiritual blessings and benefits the Lord has for the matured in Christ. This is why you must grow upward in life.
Growing upward in life is a privilege, it is an obligation and responsibility for us. The overall goal of growing upward is to become more like Jesus Christ. The great question is, to what extent are you like Christ or to what extent are you unlike Christ? Growing upward implies spiritual progress. It entails being filled with the fruit of righteousness (Phil.1:11). It is standing perfect and complete in all the will of God (Col. 4:12)
It is bearing the fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22-23) , It is adding Christian grace to our faith (2 Peter 1:5-8) It is being rooted and built up in Christ. The Root gives Stability to the tree. The life of a tree depends upon the rootedness: uproot it and you destroy it., so we die, if not rooted in Christ.
Growing upward start from being rooted in Christ. Our faithfulness, strength and purity depend on our depth in Christ. The deeply rooted we are, the better we grow up in Him.
To grow up, you need a perfect heart (blameless heart) not a perverse or twisted heart, or a proud heart (Ps. 101:2,4)To be ‘perfect’ before the Lord does not mean to be sinless. It means to be sincere and without pretence. John called it walking in the light (1Jhn. 5:10.) It takes a circumcised heart to grow up. A hard-hearted inhibits growth. An uncircumcised heart is a fountain of ungodliness. “And with ungodliness in life, you cannot grow up to Christlikeness. To grow upward is to love God with all your heart, and with all your understanding, and with the soul and with all the strength, and to love your neighbour as thyself (Mark 12:33). And this can only be possible with a circumcised heart. “And the Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of the seed, to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul. That thou mayest live
(Deut.30:6). What is the state of your heart?.The conditions of your heart determines how far you can grow, glow and go in life. The state of your heart determines the stability of your life. You have to work upon your heart if you want to grow upward. Your heart is the seat of spiritual growth. You can only upward in life, if your heart is Right with God. Hear what the word of God says. “Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the cause of your life’’ Prov. 4:23, NLT. And according to New Century Version, “Be careful what you think, because your thoughts run your life’’. So it is clear that to grow upward in life, the state of your heart is very important. (Psalm 95:10).Work on your heart and your life will keep growing upward.
LET US PRAY
- O Lord, I want to grow upward in life, help me.
- O Lord, empower me with Your great grace to grow upward in life.
- O Lord, cause my life to be ever right and bright.
- O Lord, help me to become more like You in everything.
- Heavenly Father, deliver me from spiritual forces that make growing upward in life difficult.
- Lord, circumcise my heart so that my heart will not ruin my life and destiny.
- Father, help my life to be filled with the fruit of righteousness.
- O Lord, help me to stand perfect and complete in all Your will.
- O Lord, let my life bear the fruit of the Spirit.
- Read 1Peter 1:5-8, O Lord, help me to add Christian grace to my faith, so that my life will never be barren or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
- O Lord, let Your great grace cause my whole life to go upward and forward in life.