Before the foundations of the earth, God planned our lives. This is often referred to as purpose. Interestingly, our purpose in life is in line with His eternal purpose for creation. Little wonder He went as far as sacrificing His son- Jesus Christ to redeem us and connect us back to His original plan for us.
Even before redemption our heart (our core, our spirit) yearned to be connected to this divine roadmap for our lives. It’s the spirit of a man that can adequately retrieve this divine blueprint and communicate it to the soul, where it becomes an unquenchable desire. It then suggests that only a grown spirit can live up to full potential. A man cannot live a fulfilled life beyond the growth he has experienced in the inner man.
Jesus grew in the spirit before he could realize His purpose. If you say, yes, Jesus was God in the flesh; but the Bible also recorded that John the Baptist also grew in the spirit. Hence, if we must effectively carry out God’s predetermined assignment, we must pay the price for growth.
Our inner man must be robust. No wonder Paul prayed that the Ephesians may be strengthened by the Spirit with might in the inner man. (Ephesians 3:16).That’s applicable to us today. Just like a farmer plants healthy seeds on a good soil, so also must we consciously open the gates of our hearts to the Word of God so that we can be built up.
Just like the same farmer applies wisdom to cultivate that which is planted, so also we must wisely guard our hearts against diverse spiritual pollutants that the adversary has programmed to weaken us. Yes it takes God’s input to bring about increase, but that’s after the planting and watering has been done. So, don’t be passive about growth in your spirit. Growth ultimately comes from God but this will be in proportion to your commitment.
God brings people into lives to help us grow into His purpose. He started with the home where we were born, and then where we lived, schooled and other places such as our workplace and church. Hence we must seek to know God’s mind concerning where he wants us to be at every point in time.
We must make sure we are following God’s will regarding marriage, profession, opportunities, location, places of work and profession; because all these are meant to help us grow into what God wants us to be. The list is endless.
Actually, we expose our spirit man to danger when we are in a wrong place or in a wrong company. We deny our spirit from attaining its full potential and consequently we won’t have the gusto to fulfil divine purpose. We will remain as ordinary men. God forbid!
Man’s definition of success differs from that of God’s. He rates us according to the prescribed assignment. Another truth we must be conscious of is that we are to help others grow! At times, the signals we receive may differ from what we enjoy but we must be wise enough to obey the instructions we receive from heaven.
Living in disobedience by having our way comes with grave consequences which may not occur immediately. Disobedience dampens and deadens the inner man, while obedience strengthens it.
Our life is hidden in Christ and knowing Him brings our spirit to a state of self-realization. This not a one-time event, but an ongoing unfolding of what our spirit is designed to be. It requires courting the Lord. Yes, courting, like a man courts a lady.
After all we are His fiance eagerly waiting for the wedding day. Courtship entails regular communication, and therefore we must learn to really feel at home with our groom. We must learn to speak with Him and also spend good time listening to Him. His words have been carefully laid in print for us in languages that we can understand. We must study his love letter to us—the Bible every day.
In fact this lovely bridegroom of ours comes to us in our daily experiences, but we must learn to see Him with the eyes of faith.
Let’s be careful therefore to see the ‘behind the scenes’. Other brethren comprise His body. Let’s therefore be humble enough to learn from one another in love. Friends, let us go on to pay the price of growing our spirits. This is an indispensable factor in the fulfillment of our purpose.
By
Opeyemi Rowland
Thriving
operowland@gmail.com