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We said last week…
Make a decision and be determined that this year, 2023, you are going to grow deeper in the knowledge and understanding of God’s Word.
Why? Because the first enemy or hindrance to your faith is a lack of understanding God’s Word.
Hosea 4:6 NKJV
My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge…
It’s very important that a believer is established in the fundamental truths of God’s Word.
Fundamental means the beginning, the foundation, the groundwork, back to basics.
That is what God told me towards the end of last year.
“Teach and preach again on the foundational principles of my Word. I want my people to be established on a firm foundation and I want them to grow strong in Me.”
The Bible speaks of at least three stages in spiritual development which correspond to three stages in physical development.
Babyhood
Childhood
Manhood.
Let’s look at the characteristics of each stage and see if we can locate ourselves and how we can grow out of that stage into the next stage.
BABYHOOD
1 Peter 2:2 NKJV
As new-born babes, desire the pure milk of the Word, that you may grow thereby.
Here the Bible talks about new-born babies. No one is born a full grown human naturally and physically. They are born babies and then they grow up.
Likewise, no one is born a full grown Christian. You are born a spiritual baby, and then you grow up.
We all understand that babies in the natural cannot do much for themselves. We know that someone else has to be there to help them along. We don’t expect too much out of babies.
But when it comes to spiritual babies, they get saved on Sunday and by Wednesday we are expecting them to make no mistakes and to live on a level that took us many years to get there.
It is very important that we follow up on new-born babies spiritually. We must pray with them, encourage them and guide them because they don’t know any better.
We are responsible for babies because babies don’t know and babies can’t do much for themselves. In the natural, they can’t walk yet and they can’t dress themselves. In fact, all they do is just eat and all they drink is milk.
So spiritual new-born babies, if they receive the pure milk of the Word of God, they will grow thereby.
Characteristics of Spiritual Babies
Innocence
The first thing that attracts us to babies is their innocence. People will say, “You sweet little innocent thing”. No one thinks of a baby as having a past. Why? Because, it doesn’t have one.
If you are a new born baby in Christ then you don’t have a past either.
You may have been as mean as the devil. You may have been the most unreasonable person that ever walked.
But no matter how you lived, when you received Jesus into your life and got born again, you instantly became a new person in Christ Jesus and you don’t have any past.
God now sees you as an innocent baby in Christ.
2 Corinthians 5:17 NKJV
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, old things have passed away, behold, all things have become new.
One translation says, “A new species of being that never existed before.”
Carl Bard
“Though no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending.”
Now this is very important. Even though innocence belongs to the babyhood stage of Christianity, it is one characteristic we should never outgrow.
You should always have that scripture in the forefront of your mind and maintain this state of innocence, because if you don’t, you will fall under the condemnation of the devil and be defeated in your spiritual life.
The devil is always reminding us of our past sins, mistakes and failures. And if we don’t put him in his place, he will run over us with guilt, shame, condemnation and try to ruin our walk with the Lord.
Romans 8:1 NKJV
There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.
If you are in Christ Jesus, then there is no condemnation for you.
Romans 8:1 MSG
With the arrival of Jesus, the Messiah, that fateful dilemma is resolved. Those who enter into Christ’s being-here-for-us no longer have to live under a continuous, low-lying black cloud.
What is that low-lying black cloud: It’s condemnation.
Daily Confession of Faith Against Condemnation
This is the day the Lord has made. I will rejoice and be glad in it! His mercies are new every morning.
I am saved, I am forgiven. No matter what I’ve done or what I’ve gone through, the blood of Jesus is more than enough to cleanse and wash away the past. I am a new creature in Christ Jesus, and He makes ALL things new in my life.
I refuse to live in the past. I take authority over my thoughts, and I rebuke the enemy right now in Jesus’ Name from bringing condemnation on me. I resist those thoughts. I will not give them any attention anymore. I have the mind of Christ.
I will not criticize or tear down others, nor will I think more highly of myself than I should. I will work to build others up, and to bless and encourage them. I will not judge or speak of the shortcomings of others, but instead I will pray for those who are working to become more Christlike, just as I am.
I choose today to forgive myself for anything and everything wrong I have ever done or ever been part of. I receive the forgiveness Christ died to give me. I do this out of honor and respect for what He has done and out of obedience to His Word. As I do this, I freely forgive those around me for any and every offense.
I choose today to say, “I am worthy” of everything Christ died to give me. I am worthy of receiving forgiveness. I am worthy of receiving healing. I am worthy of receiving financial prosperity. I am worthy of receiving a spouse and children. I am worthy—not because of what I’ve done or not done—but because Jesus has made me worthy to receive everything God has for me.
I am a child of God, and I freely receive all He has for me. I expect to live in the abundance of His riches and glory through Christ Jesus.
Scripture References: Lamentations 3:22-23; Psalm 118:24; Matthew 6:14; Acts 2:21; 1 Corinthians 2:16; Galatians 2:20; Ephesians 2:8; Philippians 3:13, 4:19; 1 Timothy 1:9; Revelation 21:5
Thank God we are in Christ Jesus. We are not taken out of Christ Jesus when we sin and mess up.
Our relationship stays intact.
But our fellowship with the Lord is affected when we sin or miss the mark.
We then apply 1 John 1:9, we acknowledge our sin and our fellowship with God is restored.
1 John 1:9 NKJV
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
God doesn’t find out about your sin when you confess it. He already knows about it. When you confess it, that’s when you get rid of it.
Don’t stay and live under that low-lying black cloud of condemnation.
Learn to repent quickly. Learn to forgive others quickly. Learn to believe the Word of God quickly.
Your sin is none of the devil’s business. It’s between you and Jesus and as far as Jesus is concerned, He has already put sin away by Himself.
When you confess your sin, God no longer remembers it.
Hebrews 10:17 NKJV
….Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.
If God no longer remembers your sins, then why should you.
Forget what God has forgotten.
Forgive yourself and don’t allow the enemy to keep bringing it up.
Don’t allow that past sin, mistake or failure to keep replaying over and over in your mind. Take authority over it and receive the cleansing blood of Jesus.
And don’t keep reminding God about it either. It is not good taste to keep bringing your sin up before God. Just start saying, “Thank you God for my forgiveness. I am forgiven. I am free from guilt and condemnation.”
You overcome the accuser and all his accusations against you by the blood of the Lamb.
Revelation 12:10-11 NKJV
…for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony…
When the devil reminds you of your past, remind him of his future.
So, maintain your innocent spirit before God.
Keep reminding and saying to yourself that “God finds no fault in me.”
A new believer is simple, full of faith, ready and willing to learn.
We should always maintain that teachable spirit.
Sometimes when we grow older we sort of come to the place where we have a “know it all” attitude; “You can’t tell me anything” attitude.
No one can help those type of people because they think they know it all. They think that they have arrived. “If you think you have arrived, then you are going nowhere.”
“If you are teachable, you are reachable.”
Keep an open and teachable spirit.
And keep an innocent spirit toward God and man.
Ignorance
A new born baby is always putting his hands in his mouth and as they grow a little older and learn to crawl, whatever they find on the floor tends to go into their mouths.
Babies are ignorant concerning what should go in their mouths and what shouldn’t and some babies have died as a result of not knowing that.
The same thing is true spiritually speaking.
We need to be careful what goes into our spiritual mouths and into our spiritual ears. We need to be careful about what we read, who and what we listen to.
There is a saying used in the area of man’s diet, “You are what you eat”. The same thing is true spiritually, “You are what you read.”, “You are what you listen to”.
Christians many times think nothing at all of gulping down some poisonous doctrine which will poison life spiritually, rob them of their spirituality, and ruin their testimony if they accept it.
Every now and then some person will rise up and claim that God is busy doing a different thing. They begin to draw other people away from the fundamental truths of God’s Word.
Don’t follow people just because they say “they are Christians” or they say “they are prophets”.
Check to see what kind of spiritual fruit they are producing in their lives. Jesus said, “You will know them by their fruit.”
And especially check your spirit. Do you have a witness in your spirit? Do you have a peace in your spirit about the person you are listening to?
There were times when I sat with someone or in a meeting place and I had no rest in my spirit. I had to get out. Even when I was very young in the Lord, the Holy Spirit would unction me to get out and leave quickly.
When you listen and obey, you are safe. When you ignore and disobey, you end up in trouble.
God will emphasize certain truths at certain times but God is still interested in saving people and seeing them grow in the basic fundamental doctrine of the Word of God.
But many times Christian people will feed on everything in the world except the right thing and become poisoned with feeding on the wrong thing.
Kenneth E. Hagin talks about a man who was a doctor of divinity. He had read so many books. One day he said, “Brother Hagin, I’ll be perfectly honest with you. There are some things I’ve read that I wish I’d never read. They bother me. They hinder me, even though I don’t read them anymore, it hinders my faith and it hinders me in believing God today”. And they were religious books.
It would have been better for him never to have built that into his inner consciousness.
I will say like Kenneth Hagin says, “When I start reading something or listening to something that takes faith out of me instead of putting faith in me, I have enough sense to lay it down right then”.
So be careful what you feed on. Be careful what you watch on TV. Be careful watch and listen to on social media.
Don’t put things in your spirit that will challenge the Word of God and cause confusion.