Ten ways to measure
your spiritual growth
based
on a message by Charles
Stanley
(Bible verses provided by
brother bob...<><)
A hunger to know God and His truth on an intimate
level
Psa 42:1b-5 (KJV)
As the hart panteth after the water brooks,
so panteth my soul after thee, O God.
{2} My soul thirsteth for God, for the living
God:
when shall I come and appear before God?
{3} My tears have been my meat day and night,
while they continually say unto me, Where is
thy God?
{4} When I remember these things, I pour
out my soul in me:
for I had gone with the multitude,
I went with them to the house of God,
with the voice of joy and praise, with a multitude
that kept holyday.
{5} Why art thou cast down, O my soul?
and why art thou disquieted in me?
hope thou in God:
for I shall yet praise him for the help of his
countenance.
Psa 119:9-18 (KJV) BETH.
Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way?
by taking heed thereto according to thy
word.
{10} With my whole heart have I sought thee:
O let me not wander from thy
commandments.
{11} Thy word have I hid in mine heart,
that I might not sin against thee.
{12} Blessed art thou, O LORD:
teach me thy statutes.
{13} With my lips have I declared all the
judgments of thy mouth.
{14} I have rejoiced in the way of thy
testimonies, as much as in all riches.
{15} I will meditate in thy precepts,
and have respect unto thy ways.
{16} I will delight myself in thy statutes:
I will not forget thy word.
{17} GIMEL. Deal bountifully with thy
servant,
that I may live, and keep thy word.
{18} Open thou mine eyes,
that I may behold wondrous things out of thy
law.
------------------
An increasing awareness of
sin
Job
13:23-24 (KJV)
How many are mine
iniquities and sins?
make me to know my
transgression and my sin{O Lord}.
{24} Wherefore hidest thou
thy face,
and holdest me for thine
enemy?
Psa 32:1b-5 (KJV)
Blessed is he whose
transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.
{2} Blessed is the
man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity,
and in whose spirit there
is no guile.
{3} When I kept silence,
my bones waxed old through my
roaring all the day long.
{4} For day and night thy
hand was heavy upon me:
my moisture is turned into
the drought of summer. Selah.
{5} I acknowledged my sin
unto thee,
and mine iniquity have I not
hid.
I said, I will confess my
transgressions unto the LORD;
and thou forgavest the iniquity of
my sin. Selah.
------------------
Sincere repentance and the desire to become more Christ-like 1 John
1:8-10 (KJV)
If we say that we have no
sin,
we deceive ourselves, and
the truth is not in us.
{9} If we confess
our sins,
he is faithful and just to
forgive us our sins,
and to cleanse us from all
unrighteousness.
{10} If we say that
we have not sinned,
we make him a liar,
and his word is not in us.
Rev 3:14-22
(KJV)
And unto the angel of the church of the
Laodiceans write;
These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true
witness,
the beginning of the creation of God;
{15} I know thy works, that thou art neither
cold nor hot:
I would thou wert cold or hot.
{16} So then because thou art lukewarm, and
neither cold nor hot,
I will spue thee out of my mouth.
{17} Because thou sayest, I am rich,
and increased with goods,
and have need of nothing;
and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable,
and poor, and blind, and naked:
{18} I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in
the fire,
that thou mayest be rich;
and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed,
and that the shame of thy nakedness do not
appear;
and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest
see.
{19} As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten:
be zealous therefore, and repent.
{20} Behold, I stand at the door, and knock:
if any man hear my voice, and open the
door,
I will come in to him, and will sup with him,
and he with me.
{21} To him that overcometh will I grant to sit
with me in my throne,
even as I also overcame, and am set down with my
Father in his throne.
{22} He that hath an ear, let him hear what the
Spirit saith unto the churches.
------------------
View spiritual battles, trials,
temptations, and failures
as avenues of growth instead of
obstacles
James 1:2-4 (KJV)
My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers
temptations;
{3} Knowing this, that the trying of
your faith worketh patience.
{4} But let patience have her perfect
work,
that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting
nothing.
1 Pet 1:3-9
(KJV)
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ,
which according to his abundant mercy hath
begotten us again
unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ
from the dead,
{4} To an inheritance incorruptible, and
undefiled, and that fadeth not away,
reserved in heaven for you,
{5} Who are kept by the power of God through
faith unto salvation
ready to be revealed in the last time.
{6} Wherein ye greatly rejoice,
though now for a season, if need be,
ye are in heaviness through manifold
temptations:
{7} That the trial of your
faith,
being much more precious than of gold that
perisheth,
though it be tried with fire,
might be found unto praise and honour and glory
at the appearing of Jesus Christ:
{8} Whom having not seen, ye
love;
in whom, though now ye see him not, yet
believing,
ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of
glory:
{9} Receiving the end of your faith,
even the salvation of your
souls.
------------------
A desire to be used by
God in the lives of others
2 Tim 2:1-2
(KJV)
Thou therefore, my son,
be strong in the grace that is in Christ
Jesus. {2} And the things that thou hast heard of me among many
witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach
others also.
------------------
A desire for Godly obedience and
commitment
regardless of the personal
cost
2 Tim 2:3-12
(KJV)
Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good
soldier of Jesus Christ.
{4} No man that warreth entangleth himself with
the affairs of this life;
that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a
soldier.
{5} And if a man also strive for masteries,
yet is he not crowned, except he strive
lawfully.
{6} The husbandman that laboureth must be first
partaker of the fruits.
{7} Consider what I say;
and the Lord give thee understanding in all
things.
{8} Remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of
David
was raised from the dead according to my
gospel:
{9} Wherein I suffer trouble, as an evil
doer, even unto bonds;
but the word of God is not bound.
{10} Therefore I endure all things for the
elect's sakes,
that they may also obtain the
salvation
which is in Christ Jesus with eternal
glory.
{11} It is a faithful saying:
For if we be dead with him, we shall also live
with him:
{12} If we suffer, we shall also reign with
him:
if we deny him, he also will deny
us:
------------------
An increasing faith and
trust in God
Prov 3:5-13 (KJV)
Trust in the LORD with all thine heart;
and lean not unto thine own understanding.
{6} In all thy ways acknowledge him,
and he shall direct thy paths.
{7} Be not wise in thine own eyes:
fear the LORD, and depart from evil.
{8} It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow
to thy bones.
{9} Honour the LORD with thy substance,
and with the firstfruits of all thine
increase:
{10} So shall thy barns be filled with
plenty,
and thy presses shall burst out with new
wine.
{11} My son, despise not the chastening
of the LORD;
neither be weary of his correction:
{12} For whom the LORD loveth he correcteth;
even as a father the son in whom he
delighteth.
{13} Happy is the man that
findeth wisdom,
and the man that getteth
understanding.
------------------
A hunger for private devotion
and prayer
Mat 6:6
(KJV)
But thou, when thou
prayest, enter into thy closet,
and when thou hast shut thy
door,
pray to thy Father which is
in secret;
and thy Father which seeth
in secret
shall reward thee
openly.
Isa 55:6-7
(KJV)
Seek ye the LORD while he may be
found,
call ye upon him while he is
near:
{7} Let the wicked forsake
his way,
and the unrighteous man his
thoughts:
and let him return unto the LORD,
and he will have mercy upon him;
and to our God, for he will
abundantly pardon.
Isa 45:18-23 (KJV)
For thus saith the LORD that
created the heavens;
God himself that formed the earth
and made it;
he hath established it, he created
it not in vain,
he formed it to be
inhabited:
I am the LORD; and
there is none else.
{19} I have not spoken in
secret, in a dark place of the earth:
I said not unto the seed of Jacob,
Seek ye me in vain:
I the LORD speak righteousness, I
declare things that are right.
{20} Assemble yourselves
and come;
draw near together, ye that are
escaped of the nations:
they have no knowledge that set up
the wood of their graven image,
and pray unto a god that
cannot save.
{21} Tell ye, and
bring them near;
yea, let them take counsel
together:
who hath declared this from
ancient time?
who hath told it from
that time?
have not I the LORD? and
there is no God else beside me;
a just God and a Saviour; there
is none beside me.
{22} Look unto me, and be
ye saved, all the ends of the earth:
for I am God, and
there is none else.
{23} I have sworn by
myself,
the word is gone out of my
mouth in righteousness,
and shall not return,
That unto me every knee shall bow,
every tongue shall
swear.
------------------
A desire to please God by making
decisions based on His will
and not on personal
wants
James
4:13-16 (KJV)
Go to now, ye that say,
To day or to morrow we will
go into such a city,
and continue there a
year,
and buy and sell, and get
gain:
{14} Whereas
ye know not what shall be on the morrow.
For what is
your life?
It is even a vapour, that
appeareth for a little time,
and then vanisheth away.
{15} For that ye
ought to say,
If the Lord will, we
shall live, and do this, or that.
{16} But now
ye rejoice in your boastings:
all such rejoicing is
evil.
------------------
A vibrant love for God and an
awareness of His presence
2 Tim 4:17-18
(KJV)
Notwithstanding the Lord stood
with me, and strengthened me;
that by me the preaching might be
fully known,
and that all the Gentiles
might hear:
and I was delivered out of the
mouth of the lion.
{18} And the Lord
shall deliver me from every evil work,
and will preserve me unto
his heavenly kingdom:
to whom be glory for
ever and ever. Amen.
Isa 41:9-13
(KJV)
Thou whom I have
taken from the ends of the earth,
and called thee from the
chief men thereof,
and said unto thee, Thou art
my servant;
I have chosen thee, and not cast
thee away.
{10} Fear thou not; for I
am with thee:
be not dismayed; for I am
thy God:
I will strengthen thee;
yea, I will help thee;
yea, I will uphold thee with the
right hand of my righteousness.
{11} Behold, all they
that were incensed against thee
shall be ashamed and
confounded:
they shall be as nothing;
and they that strive with thee
shall perish.
{12} Thou shalt seek them,
and shalt not find them,
even them that contended
with thee:
they that war against thee
shall be as nothing, and as a thing of nought.
{13} For I the LORD
thy God will hold thy right hand,
saying unto thee, Fear not;
I will help thee.
Gal 2:20
(KJV)
I am crucified with Christ:
nevertheless I live;
yet not I, but Christ liveth in
me:
and the life which I now live in
the flesh
I live by the faith of the
Son of God,
who loved me, and gave himself for
me.
2 Cor 4:6-11
(KJV)
For God, who commanded the
light to shine out of darkness,
hath shined in our
hearts,
to give the light of
the knowledge of the glory of God
in the face of Jesus
Christ.
{7} But we have this
treasure in earthen vessels,
that the excellency of the power
may be of God, and not of us.
{8} We are troubled
on every side, yet not distressed;
we are perplexed, but not
in despair;
{9} Persecuted, but
not forsaken;
cast down, but not destroyed;
{10} Always bearing about
in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus,
that the life also of Jesus might
be made manifest in our body.
{11} For we which live are
alway delivered unto death for Jesus' sake,
that the life also of Jesus might
be made manifest in our mortal flesh.
IXTHEUS CHRISTIAN
GROWTH DEVOTIONALS
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