June 21, 2019

Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:12-14.

Therefore, putting aside all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander, like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the Word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation, if you have tasted the kindness of the Lord. 1 Peter 2:1-3.

Today your LORD (יהוה) God says:

See everything as an opportunity for growth.

Each day you have many opportunities to grow or to become irritated. Time spent in service to another is not wasted, though it may keep you back from your plans for the day. My Son told you that if someone puts you in service for one mile, you should put in two miles. But there were also times when He told His disciples they had work to do and were not to slow down by greeting people along the way, that is, falling into useless chatter and idle conversations that do nothing good for anyone. It takes growth in spiritual wisdom to discern what is the purpose of the moment. But it is always to grow. Planted in My courts you will grow like a Lebanon Cedar, as an oak of righteousness, like a tree planted near running water whose leaves never fade and whose fruit never fails. And how do you get there? Meditating on My Word day and night and not deviating to the right or the left. It is by My Word and seeing things in My Word, that you will grow.

Every moment of the day you can either grow or stay where you are, which really is the equivalent of going backward. My apostle Paul wrote, “Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 3:12-14.

Do you know what I am talking about? Growing is about maturing in Christ, that is, becoming more and more like Him in your attitude and behavior. My description of a perfect (complete) man through My servant James, is a person who controls his tongue. He can control his entire body. By what people say, you can determine how mature they are or how immature and foolish they are. Life and death are in the power of your tongue.

My Son only spoke My Words and did the works I showed Him. And He grew and increased in wisdom and grace before Me and men. He is the perfect man. Satan had no hold in him.

The most common way Satan gets hold of a stronghold in your life, and once he has got that he can take you captive to do his will and destroy you, is by getting you to witness with him, that is, speak his words of fear, doubt, unbelief, gossip, judging, anger, complaining, lust, obscene jesting, complaining, grumbling, bemoaning your situation, depression. You may think you are just expressing your feelings, but I did not give you a spirit of fear, depression, anger, or any of those other negative things that grieve the Holy Spirit. When you start thinking those thoughts and saying those words, I see an enemy’s hand in it. Weeds. You have swallowed his deceptive bait hook, line and sinker.

So how do you grow? Like any growth takes place in the physical—for people, you have to eat, exercise and learn how to talk, reason, and do various tasks as you adapt to the culture you are in. With plants and crops, first the seed is planted, then you must cultivate it until it sprouts, the blade comes, and then the head, then the mature grain in the head, and when the crop permits you immediately put in the sickle because the harvest has come. Mark 4:26-29.

You grow on My Word and lining up your thoughts and behavior with it as your teacher. There is no other way to mature into the amazing person you were created to be. You were created in My image and likeness by My Word, and just as My Word created you, so it sustains and replenishes you. And when you wander off on a detour from My plan, My Word can restore you.

You have been born again of imperishable, not perishable, seed, and are a new creation in Christ. Therefore, putting aside all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander, like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the Word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation. 1 Peter 2:1-3.

My Words are Spirit and life. They are Words of everlasting life. My Words are life to those who find them and health to all their flesh. They are good to grow on. Man does not live on bread alone but every Word that comes from My mouth.

And I have given you gifts to help you grow. I gave you some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping you for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until you all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of My Son, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ, and it has pleased Me that all the fullness of God dwells in Him bodily.

As a result, you are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth in love, that is My Word, you are to grow up in all aspects into Jesus, for you are His body, who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love. Ephesians 4:11-16.

When you grow in My Word, you become united solidly with other believers who are growing too.  You are being built up together into a temple of the Holy Spirit where the gifts and fruit of the Spirit are flowing and growing. Divisions, prejudice, squabbles, disputing are all signs of immaturity and not of growth.

When you are behaving in a selfish, jealous manner, you are behaving as infants and are not growing in spirit. Paul found the Corinthian church filled with divisions and immorality—carnal minded believers, still walking in the flesh (limited to their five senses and their feelings) rather than in the Spirit. He wrote to them, “And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to men of flesh, as to infants in Christ. I gave you milk to drink, not solid food; for you were not yet able to receive it. Indeed, even now you are not yet able, for you are still carnal minded, fleshly. For since there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not behaving like men of mere flesh with dead spirits, and are you not walking like mere men?” 1 Corinthians 3:1-3.

What I want to open you to is a mindset of growth. Use everything that happens to you each day as a wondrous opportunity to grow in your relationship with Me—growth in your love walk and in your fruitfulness for My Kingdom. And it all starts with the imperishable seed of My Word received with humility into your heart.

Jesus was about My affairs from His birth on. At twelve years old He astounded the teachers in the temple by His understanding and answers. Luke 2:47. And after that, He kept increasing in wisdom and stature, and in favor with Me and men. Luke 2:52. He grew in grace. He was overflowing with grace and truth. Why? He is My Word made flesh and He never spoke on His own initiative but only as I showed Him. No Word of His was ever without effect. Crowds were amazed at His teachings for He taught with authority and not like their scribes.

If you recall the child of Hannah, Samuel, who learned to hear My voice and follow Me at a young age, matured and came to know Me by My Word.  I revealed Myself to him by My Word. 1 Samuel 3:21. And as Samuel matured, I was with him and let none of his words fail. He spoke My Words and lived them, and his life was fruitful. He brought a nation out of darkness back into My marvelous light. He again united what had divided.

Joshua grew from a servant of Moses, spending his days before Me in the meeting tent, to the leader of My people Israel and commander in chief of their armies, leading them in a miraculous conquest of the Promised Land. And as long as he lived, and those who knew him lived, the nation remained mature, united, and faithful, of one heart and mind, conquering the land together, but after the death of Joshua and those who knew his leadership, the people stopped growing in My Word, abandoned Me and turned to other gods. And they were no longer united but divided and going off in their own evil desires and pursuits. It was not until Samuel that they again began to grow together in My Word until under David they became one united glorious nation. Why? Because David loved My Word more than anything else and lived by it. Just read Psalm 19.

And you will see the pattern of the immaturity, division, poverty, defeat, and violence of My people whenever they forgot the Word, but then when someone again found My Word and began to devour it and live by it, everything would change and become filled with wonder, peace, abundance, victory and shalom again. Like Hezekiah and Jehoshaphat. The miracles would begin again.

And in your life, it is the same. And that is why Satan goes after My Word to take it out of your heart, to make you doubt it, despise it, and trample it underfoot. He wants you speaking his words, and on them he knows you will never grow but become immature and fearful. Like happened to Adam, Eve, Cain, and so many others who have followed a life of no Word. You cannot experience anything good or lasting apart from My Word. For you are made by it and held together by it. And if you continue in My Word, you are truly My disciples, and then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.

See things as I do. See them in My Word. Find the passage that applies to what you are experiencing each day. It is there and it will open your eyes to the wonder of all I am doing in your life to help you grow into the fullness of Christ Himself. In other words, you will be just like Him in this world, filled with grace and truth. Blessed to be a blessing.

Each day you can grow and glow or be irritated and filled with darkness. If you are only looking out for your own interests, that is, what you think are your interests (self-glory), your will end up with your god as your belly and destroy the life you were trying so hard to attain. If instead, in all that comes your way each day you seek My glory, you will find yourself growing into the very image of Christ, beholding this transformation as in a mirror, from glory to glory, just as from the Lord Spirit. 2 Corinthians 3:18.

And it all has to do with the honor and place you give My Word.

I love you. See everything during your life as an opportunity for growth and things will look very different to you from now on.