3 Important Areas Every Christian Needs To Grow In This Year

As a Christian, you should grow each day in your walk with God. In this Blog Post, I want to share with you 3 very foundational areas you need to grow in.

I remember when I now started to go to Church, I had no idea how to do a lot of things.

I knew I should pray but wasn’t sure the correct way to pray or how to study the Bible, or how to preach a sermon.

I realised that I needed to grow in a lot of areas if I wanted to be an effective Christian.

These are 3 key areas to help us to be whom God has called us to be.

They are basic character traits that we need to have as followers of Jesus.

It’s not always easy to live up to these traits.

1 Thessalonians 1:2-3 We always thank God for all of you, making mention of you constantly in our prayers. We recall, in the presence of our God and Father, your work produced by faith, your labor motivated by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.

We Need To Grow In Our Faith

Ephesians 2:8-9 For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift—not from works, so that no one can boast.

In this Scripture Paul thanks the Thessalonians for their Work that was produced by faith.

Because of their faith in God , it led them to work.

Im not talking about working on your job – I mean working for God.

The Thessalonians’ work had been produced by faith.

Paul made it clear that believers are saved by faith alone (Ephesians 2:9) but that faith should produce good works in the life of each believer.

Faith is not meant to be practiced in a vacuum; instead, believers are to do good works.

We work not to be saved but because we are saved. The work is for the kingdom of God. They were workers for God.

They were working. Not sitting idly.

Every time you get involved in your church and you sing a song, or read scripture, share a testimony – You are working because of your faith. It might feel like something small but it helps to build, not only your faith but the faith of others.

When we look at the World and all that is happening today with COVID 19, we can begin to lose faith but we need to continually be working on increasing it.

Romans 10:17 So faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the message about Christ.

Every time we gather to listen to a sermon or hear someone share from the Bible, our faith increases.

Today we can listen to the Bible online.

Today we can go on Youtube and other sites and listen to some of the best preachers preach and explain the Word of God to us. We may need to stop watching so much cat videos online and tune in to a preacher instead.

‘We can go on TBN and other Christian networks and hear some good sermons. We just need to change the channel.

If you have a kid you can let them watch the show SMILE OF A CHILD instead of watching too much Peppa Pig.

Ask God to help you to grow in your faith. Ask the Holy Spirit who is your best friend to make you into a person of Faith. When you believe in something IT SHOWS. People die for their faith because they believe in it.

We Need To Grow In Love

Love is one of the key traits of a Christian. 1 Corinthians 13 is dedicated to that subject.

John 3:16 For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.

We ought to love everyone, even the hard to love ones.

The ones you want to knock down, the ones you can’t stand. Even outsiders of the church you have to love.

Jesus died for all men – not just the church people. Jesus cries when a murderer is gunned down.

Their Love motivated them to labor

When we love God it motivates us to labor for him

During his visit to the Boys’ Town orphanage in the 1940s, a reporter for Life magazine observed a ten-year-old boy carrying a much older boy on his back.

“Isn’t he heavy?” asked the reporter.

“He ain’t heavy,” replied the younger boy. “He’s my brother”—giving rise to the song that would later be written about this true story.

It’s not a burdensome obligation, but a labor of love that says, “God’s been so good to me that I can’t help but carry someone else.”

God is looking for Laborers!

When God brings you into his kingdom he blesses you so that you can be a blessing to others.

He didn’t bless you to sing, so you could make money with your talent.

He blessed you to use it for his glory and not your glory.

Many of these Hollywood stars today started off in church.

Don’t labor out of duty but out of love.

Ask God to help you to have this kind of heart.

In this scripture, their love for God motivated them to labour.

Imagine a wife and Her husband only chatting for 10 minutes till the alarm goes off.

If a husband just provides and doesn’t have intimacy – that is not something to keep a marriage working.

When he loves, he does almost anything she wants just to please her.

Ask God to give you a heart of love so that you can labor in love.

We can show our love to God by showing love to his people. Serving his people is a way of love.

When we see someone in need and do something for them to help them that is laboring in Love.

Notice the key phrase is Love for God not love for anyone.

Some people might be heavily involved in church, but it is love for someone in the church that is motivating them to do the work.

Let your labor be motivated by LOVE FOR GOD.

This was what impressed Paul. They laboured in love despite the challenges they were facing.

The believers were willing to give of themselves (even if it meant hardship) in service to others. Only God’s kind of love could prompt such willing labor.

May this be your motto for 2020 – Lord help me to Labor in Love

We Need To Grow In Hope

When we look at society today it easy to want to give up.

Because of Covid 19 many Christians are going through a lot.

We can ask ourselves WHY ME!

Some people are jobless for years.

It is not easy at times. If being a Christian was easy we would have more people in Church.

These Thessalonians were going through intense persecution – but yet the bible says they endured.

When we see all these Martyrs – being killed you wonder how they could endure that ordeal.

The reason is because they have hope beyond the grave. God has promised us great things.

We have the hope of heaven, We have the hope of a mansion waiting for us no matter the size of our houses. We have the hope of no more sickness, no more diseases, no more crying.

That is the hope we have in God. That is what he promises us once we endure until the end.

When we see a brother or sister losing hope, we need to be there for them. We need to be there to encourage them, be there to pray for them, show our love for them.

It is hope in God that will give us the strength to continue on.

When a woman is pregnant she endures the pain. A newborn child is what makes the pain worth it in the end. I want to let you know that whatever you going through It will be worth it all when you see Christ!

2 Corinthians 4:16-18 Therefore we do not give up. Even though our outer person is being destroyed, our inner person is being renewed day by day. For our momentary light affliction is producing for us an absolutely incomparable eternal weight of glory. So we do not focus on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

The pain and suffering we see are temporary but the unseen – what God has planned for his kids – is eternal.

Let us not lose hope – let us move on; nothing is wrong with falling at times – but get back up. If you are feeling discouraged and losing hope – share it with your church group

There is strength in numbers. They could pray with you or even visit you. Everyone goes through seasons of questioning God. Let us not lose hope!

Jesus allowed himself to be beaten, spit upon, crucified – because there was hope.

He endured that temporary pain so that we can have permanent pleasure in heaven with him.

It is about hope – our hope in God will cause us to endure.

Application

Which of these do you struggle with most?

Is it that your Faith in God is so small that you’re not doing anything much for him ?

Is it that your love for God is growing cold and you do things grudgingly? Or is it that you tend to lack hope right now?

You might say that I don’t know what you going through? And you are right!

But God knows and God cares about your situation. He offers hope to the hopeless!

Take some time this week in your prayer time and ask God to help you in these areas to become better . You may never become perfect in it, but you can become better.

Leave a comment below and let us know how you plan to Grow in one of these areas!