There are many ways our spiritual growth can be stunted, and it's not uncommon for our spiritual growth to be stunted multiple times throughout our lives. While this is normal in our Christian walk, it is important that we do our best to get out of the slump and revive our spiritual growth. Below, I want to share a few reasons why our growth is stunted but include ideas to help when this is the case. Remember, it is key that we are consistent in avoiding our pitfalls yet staying consistent to habits that restore our spiritual growth.
The first reason our spiritual growth can be stunted is because of sin. If we actively live in sin, our spiritual growth will be stunted. It is hard to be in a right relationship with the Lord if we are actively engaging in sin before His eyes. Similar to Adam and Eve, when we sin, we will hide from God. God is not hiding from us, but rather, we are hiding from Him. We hide our faces from God because we know we have sinned against Him.
While it is impossible to live a sin-free life, it is important that we do our best not to sin and that we repent of our sins when we do stumble and fall. The Bible tells us that if we confess our sins, God is faithful and He will forgive us. The Apostle John tells us, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). Since we have this sure and true promise, we need to come before the Lord in prayer and ask for His forgiveness.
In addition to asking for forgiveness genuinely, we also need to repent of our sins. We cannot ask for forgiveness, continue with the same sin, and expect everything to be alright. Rather, we need to ask for forgiveness, truly repent of our sins, and move forward in our Christian walk. God knows when we are being honest in our repentance and when we are not. The longer we continue in sin, the more our spiritual growth will suffer.
If sin is stunting your spiritual growth, turn to the Lord in prayer, ask forgiveness, and walk away from your sins. Taking these steps, it will help you grow in your spiritual walk rather than falling wayward. Satan doesn't want us to grow spiritually; therefore, he will provide temptations to try to cause us to sin. This is why it's important that we put on the full Armor of God in order to take our stand against the devil's schemes (Ephesians 6:10-18).
A second way our spiritual growth is stunted is if we are not reading our Bible. The Bible is the only book in the world divinely written by God. There is no text, literary classic, or self-help book that is as crucial for us to read as the Bible. Contained within the Bible is everything we need to know about God, salvation, and eternity. The Bible is everything we need to live a life to bring glory to God and help others know Him.
If we never open the Bible, how do we expect to experience spiritual growth? There is no way to grow in our spiritual relationship with Christ if we are ignoring the book that can help us learn more about His character. The Bible is our guidebook to life, and it gives us life. We cannot expect to merely listen to a sermon on Sunday and believe we have everything we need to grow spiritually mature Monday through Saturday. Sermons are great and can help us in many ways, yet we have to read our Bible and listen to the soft whisper of God in the words. By neglecting the Bible, we will not be able to hear from God, and we will not be able to be convicted of our sins.
Each time we open the Bible and read it, we will increase our spiritual growth and relationship with Jesus. In a way, if we don't read the Bible, it sends the message that we don't see the Bible as worth reading. We may indeed be short on time, yet we need to invest the time to read the Bible. If we continue to neglect reading our Bible, our spiritual growth will continue to be stunted. It is only through consistent Bible reading that our spiritual growth will be able to soar.
A third way our spiritual growth is stunted is if we are not praying. How will we grow in our spiritual walk if we never talk with the Lord in prayer? Through prayer, we are able to acknowledge our dependence on God. If we don't go to God in prayer, we will definitely be stunted in our spiritual growth.
Prayer is vital for many areas of our life, including our spiritual growth. Through prayer, we can pour our hearts out to God, ask Him for help, thank Him, pray for others, and deepen our relationship with Him. If we neglect prayer, we will also neglect each of these crucial parts of spiritual growth. Prayer always needs to be on our minds. It should come to us as naturally as breathing. Paul tells us to pray without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18). While this might sound impossible, it is very possible.
Praying without ceasing doesn't mean we must constantly be on our knees praying or reciting Scripture, but instead, praying without ceasing means we constantly have God at the front of our minds and talk to Him as we would consistently talk to and confide in a best friend. This can take time to practice, yet it is vital that we are praying to commune with the Lord and treat Him as our very best friend. Prayer is talked about often within the church, devotionals, and Christian circles, yet the actual act of prayer is often overlooked. Due to many people misusing the word “prayer,” such as the traditional “I'll pray for you,” many individuals have associated prayer with being a negative thing or a chore that interferes with our schedule.
The truth is that prayer is crucial and extremely important for our spiritual growth. In fact, we cannot have a complete relationship with God unless we are active in our prayer life with the Lord. My mom used to have the idea that our prayers “take up” God's time, so she used to tell us to limit our prayers to not bother God. While I respect my late mother immensely, this teaching isn't biblical. God is outside of time as He created time. Time is completely within His control. Our prayers never use up God's time, nor is God ever bothered with our prayers. He wants us to come to Him in prayer and tell Him all of our worries, concerns, and needs.
Through prayer, we acknowledge our dependence on God in addition to demonstrating to God that we can't do these things on our own. While this world stresses the importance of being self-dependent, none of us can truly be completely self-dependent because we all need the Lord. None of us are capable of solving all of our problems, nor are we capable of saving our souls. We all need God, and through prayer, we acknowledge our dependence on Him. Without prayer, our spiritual growth will remain stunted.
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