ROAD MAP For Growth

Our class lesson a few weeks ago in “transformed!” was entitled, A ROAD MAP for Growth. As a few of the ladies were unable to attend class that evening, I am finally posting the notes here on my blog.

You don’t have to stop reading if you are a guy… this applies to each of us as we grow to become transformed into something that looks a little more like Jesus each and everyday. You know, when it’s all said and done, the character of Christ formed in you and I is all that will matter as we stand before God in heaven.

ROAD MAP for Spiritual Growth

R – Recognize that you are a work in progress
There has never been the slightest doubt in my mind that the God who started this great work in you would keep at it and bring it to a flourishing finish on the very day Christ Jesus appears. Philippians 1:6

O – Overcome the urge to “get it all together” for God
Religion – the well-intentioned effort we make to “get it all together” for God – can very well get in the way of what God is doing for us. (Eugene H. Peterson)

A – Ask for Heavenly help
That's why he had to enter into every detail of human life. Then, when he came before God as high priest to get rid of the people's sins, he would have already experienced it all himself—all the pain, all the testing—and would be able to help where help was needed. Hebrews 2:17-18

D – Develop a game plan
Where there is no vision, the people perish. Proverbs 29:18 (KJV) When people do not accept divine guidance, they run wild. Proverbs 29:18 (NLT)

M –Make stops along the way to evaluate your progress
But what happens when we live God's way? He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard—things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity. We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. Galatians 5:22

A – Allow the Word of God to transform you
Every part of Scripture is God-breathed and useful one way or another—showing us truth, exposing our rebellion, correcting our mistakes, training us to live God's way. 2 Timothy 3:16

P – Pursue an intimate relationship with Father God
Everything that goes into a life of pleasing God has been miraculously given to us by getting to know, personally and intimately, the One who invited us to God. 2 Peter 1:3

Our time alone with God is where character is molded and shaped – it’s where we are open to listening to him and allowing him to develop character in us at all cost. (Bob Kapp)