Last week by the help of the Holy Spirit, we examined How to invest in our spirit being. We saw that man is essentially a spirit being and that when God investments comes upon our lives, it comes into our spirit. We examined that Scripture in 2 Corinthians 4:16 that says: “Therefore, we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day.” We emphasized that no matter the amount of investment we make in our bodies, the body wears out eventually. We also emphasized that our spirit being is not on an auto renewal machine, and that it is what we deliberately do to it that makes it better and stronger.

We also said that the only investment that does not wear out is the investment we tailored towards our spirit being and it is such an investment that is precious in the sight of God. 1 Peter 3:3-4 shows us: “Your adornment must not be merely external—with interweaving and elaborate knotting of the hair, and wearing gold jewelry, or [being superficially preoccupied with] dressing in expensive clothes; ⁴ but let it be [the inner beauty of] the hidden person of the heart, with the imperishable quality and unfading charm of a gentle and peaceful spirit, [one that is calm and self-controlled, not overanxious, but serene and spiritually mature] which is very precious in the sight of God.” (AMP)

We also examined what to invest in your spirit being. We said the investment to our spirit takes place in time and it continues until Christ appears. Philippians 1:6 says: “being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ…” So, the investment to your spirit being is not something that you do in a week or month and then you stop, it continues until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ.

We also said: investment to your spirit being requires that you partner with the Holy Spirit. We define partnering with the Holy Spirit as: walking and working in tandem with the holy spirit in order to bring about the enforcement of the will of god on the face of the earth. We also said that this partnership takes place in the place of communion with the Holy Spirit (2 Corinthians 13:14), by walking with the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:16), and sowing to the Spirit (Galatians 6:8).

Lastly on what to invest in your spirit being we said is the word of God. We said each time you study and meditate on the word of God, what you are simply doing is that you are developing your spirit being. We saw the importance of meditation in Jeremiah 15:16 when the prophet said:

Your words were found, and I ate them,
And Your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart;
For I am called by Your name,
O Lord God of hosts.

We said the word of God that would profit us is the one that we take out time to meditate upon and it settles right there in our spirit being, by becoming part and parcel of us.

What Would Investing in Your spirit do?

Number one: It will make you strong in the spirit. Luke 2:40 says: “And the Child grew and became strong in spirit, filled with wisdom; and the grace of God was upon Him.” The level of time and attention you give to your spirit would determine whether you will be strong in spirit or weak in spirit. Let me tell you the difference between the two: when you are strong in the spirit, what it means is that your spiritual life is strong, it means you are living from the inside out, it means you take your reference point from within you and not from the outside. But when you are weak in spirit, it means you would tend more towards the natural life, tending to take your realities and reference point from the outside. This is the difference.

Number two: It would open you up to a world of endless spiritual possibilities. 1 Corinthians 2:10-12 says: “But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. ¹¹ For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. ¹² Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.”

Understanding the Rudiments of Spiritual Growth

“Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, ³ as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, ⁴ by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. But also, for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, ⁶ to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, ⁷ to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. ⁸ For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁹ For he who lacks these things is short-sighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins.”

2 Peter 1:2-9

The first understanding here is that God’s divine power has given unto us all things that pertains to life and godliness, and this I believe includes the things that makes for our spiritual growth as well. God wouldn’t be demanding growth for us if He has not put in place a system in the family that would aid our spiritual growth. If you give birth to a child, the first set of investment on the child is putting together a suitable environment for such a child to thrive and grow properly in the family.

It would only be right for me to demand and expect growth from my children if I have put in place those things that would bring about that growth. In other words, I have provided food for them, I have put them in the right schools, I have taught them the word of the Lord, then I must be looking forward to their growth. This is how it is in the family of God as well because when you become born again, what it means is that you are born into the family of God and everything you would ever need to grow has been made available. That is why that Scripture says: as His divine power has given to us all things (NOT JUST SOME THING) that pertain to life and godliness.

Another crucial thing in that passage SAYS THAY WE SHOULD BE PARTAKERS OF THE DIVINE NATURE. Now, that tells us that it takes spiritual growth for us to be partakers of the divine nature. What is DIVINE NATURE? The divine nature there talks about the nature or the characteristics of God. Much more than knowing God through His acts, God wants us to know Him intimately. There are several ways through which we can know God, but those ways can be summarized under two headings: through His ways and through His acts.

You know the Bible says “God revealed His ways to Moses and His acts to the children of Israel.” (Psalm103:7). Now what is the difference? Moses knew God intimately. Much more than the acts of God, Moses knew the nature of God because God Himself revealed it to him. Exodus 34:5-7, the Bible says:

“Now the Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. ⁶ And the Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the LORD God, merciful and gracious…” Even though I am still the same God that killed the Egyptians and their firstborns for your sake, and brought upon the Egyptians those terrible plagues, I am a merciful God and I am gracious. In other words, God was telling Moses, don’t know me by those things (by my acts) that you have experienced in your walk with me so far, know me by who I truly am. “…longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, ⁷ keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and the fourth generation.”

The more the children of Israel saw the acts of God, the more they become afraid and unworthy of His presence. But God’s idea from the world go is that we become partaker of His divine nature, GROWING UP SPIRITUALLY TO KNOW HIM FOR WHO HE TRULY IS AND NOT WHAT HE DOES. Naturally, as a child grows up, he gets to know his father more and more for who he is. He grows up to know his father’s value system, his father’s love and hate and then walks with his father in that line. God wants to know Him intimately for who He is and this can only happen in the ambience of spiritual growth.

Rudiments of Spiritual Growth

- The Word of Righteousness

“And having been perfected (talking about Christ Jesus), He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him, ¹⁰ called by God as High Priest “according to the order of Melchizedek,” ¹¹ of whom we have much to say, and hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing (another way to see this is that they have grown dull in understanding). ¹² For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. ¹³ For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe…”

Here, apostle Paul identified another separate food needed for a believers’ growth that is completely outside of the elementary milk. Don’t forget, 1 Peter 2:2 shows us that new born babes desire the sincere milk of the word that they may grow thereby. However, new born babes are not expected to remain with milk perpetually, this is what the apostle Paul is saying here.

¹⁴ But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.”

Hebrews 5:9-14

What is the word of righteousness? The word of righteousness there talks about the entire body of knowledge that is needed for a believer’s healthy spiritual growth. You see, you cannot base your spiritual growth alone on just the elementary principles that got you saved, or some segment of the Scriptures and neglecting others, no! it is important that you move on to some other things. You must understand that the same loving God who gave His only begotten son to be sacrificed for your sins, also is the same God who cherishes our spiritual growth, and that He is also a just God, and that He is a Father who chastises His children. That is why Hebrews 6:1-3 says: “Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, ² of the doctrine of baptisms, of laying on of hands, of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. ³ And this we will do if God permits.

So, the word of righteousness is a compendium of the entire Scriptural requirements that is needed for a believer’s growth, and not just some selective ones. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 says: “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, ¹⁷ that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

I believe you have learnt something!

Thanks for the gift of your time, Obayomi Abiola Benjamin!
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