I’m sure I’m not alone in wanting to use the new year as a chance to refocus to grow spiritually. Maybe you want to develop better prayer habits or read the entire Bible. Maybe you want to try to go to church more often. But overall, improving your life of faith is admittedly no easy feat. I used to tell myself every year that this would be the year I’d finally become the “good, mature Christian” I’d always wanted to be. The problem was that I would set the same goals, year after year, without being able to make any lasting changes in my life. I was obviously doing something wrong.
If your goal is to grow spiritually in 2021, it would be good to first consider what, or more accurately Who, it is that makes us grow. Ultimately, God is the one who grows our spirits (1 Corinthians 3:6). This means that He knows best what exactly we need in order to grow. And thankfully, He makes it all known in His letter to us: the Bible. I was once very misguided in that I relied on my own methods. I didn’t actually consider God’s ways to grow closer to Him. In hopes that you, dear reader, are not also misguided in this way, here are five God-centered ways to grow spiritually in 2021.
Do a Spiritual Health Check
On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.”
Matthew 9:12
Just like we get our physical health checked, we also need to check our spiritual health. This is one of the most important steps in preparing for spiritual growth. In order to know what to work on, it’s necessary to first assess and acknowledge the current state of your spirit. How are you doing spiritually? Is your spirit healthy? Sick? Fatigued? Are you getting enough proper nutrition? Enough exercise?
Oftentimes, it’s difficult to know how our spirit is actually doing because it is not simply a matter of emotion or physical feeling. However, God gives us some guidance in understanding the state of our spirits through Jesus’ parable of the sower. A healthy spirit is like good soil (Luke 8:15). It’s able to hear the Word, understand and retain it, and produce a crop (Matthew 13:23). Much like how we gauge our relationships with others, a healthy relationship with God should be centered around communication, understanding, and trust. Are you in constant two-way communication with God? Do you know His heart? Do you sincerely trust in God and His Word? And can He trust you? These are some things to consider in a spiritual health check.
Seek Him with All Your Heart
You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.
Jeremiah 29:13
It may seem daunting at first to set out on this journey of spiritual growth. Maybe you have no idea where or how to begin. Perhaps you feel unworthy, stuck, or at your wits’ end, but just remember that it always starts with the heart. Once you make up your mind to truly seek God with all your heart, remember that God has already promised you’ll be able to find Him.
God not only searches our hearts, but He also tests them (1 Thessalonians 2:4). So it’s not about how much you have or haven’t invested in your church. It’s not about how many hours of community service you’ve done, or about following Christian traditions. What truly matters is whether you are ready to have an intimate relationship with God and get to know Him for who He really is. That includes what He likes and what He wants from His people. If you’re ready to love God in the way He wants to be loved, surely He will keep His Word, and will be found by those who are truly seeking.
Stay Committed!
Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
James 1:2-4
If you really want to grow spiritually this year, it’s important to stay focused and committed to that goal. I guarantee that there will be a million and one reasons for you to stray from your path. Many of those reasons will come from within yourself, while others will be from your environment. This is because the last thing the enemy wants is for you to get closer to God.
Regardless of what kind of obstacles stand before you, keep the promises you made to God close to your heart. Stay determined to keep them. Like any other kind of growth, spiritual growth takes perseverance and dedication. One thing that helped me to keep going after a countless number of setbacks is remembering that God hasn’t ever given up on me, so I shouldn’t give up on Him either. We may fall again and again, but God will always get us back on our feet, if we ask Him, to continue walking with Him.
Embrace the Growing Pains
Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. We live by faith, not by sight. We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.
2 Corinthians 5:6-8
Do you remember how it felt to grow out of childhood? Most likely, it was uncomfortable. The achy muscles, the cramps, and not to mention the emotional strain of dealing with all of the changes happening within and around us. Growing spiritually is also a process of change, so it entails a certain amount of discomfort and pain. Embrace these symptoms as they are signs of growth away from what the body wants and towards what God wants. And that’s exactly what our spirits need.
It may not always feel like it, but it’s actually a blessing to be personally trained and disciplined in this way, because it means that God is treating us as His children (Hebrews 12:7). As long as we continue to strive to live by faith and not by sight, all of the growing pains will have been worth it in the end.
Ask, Seek, Knock
So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
Matthew 6:31-33
This wouldn’t be a Christian blog post without a final emphasis of the importance of prayer. And as I mentioned before, spiritual growth is impossible without the hand of God. So, we need to pray and ask for help, but what exactly are we supposed to pray about? Jesus told his disciples in Matthew 6 that God already knows everything that we need. Then we should pray first over spiritual matters: for His kingdom and His righteousness.
Keep in mind, however, that God will answer your prayer if you genuinely seek Him, but it may not be in the way you expect. If you ask for spiritual growth, you will be given opportunities to grow. The choice to take those opportunities is completely yours. Like it says in Matthew 7:7-8, when you knock, the door will be opened. But it’s up to you to pick up your feet and walk inside. The great news is that as God promised through Jesus, if you do decide to embark on this journey, He will equip you with everything you need along the way. Continue to pray and communicate with God while also asking Him to train your eyes and ears to recognize the way He is answering your prayers.
I wish I could give you a list of quick fixes or hacks, but trees don’t grow overnight. It takes a great deal of time and often painstaking effort, but know that you are not alone. You are never alone. Not only is God and all of heaven rooting for you, but there are many others who are on this same spiritual journey of growth. So look forward to the miracle of what God can do in your life when you fully seek and trust Him! It will be far beyond your expectations.
Written by Y
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