Unpredictable circumstances part 2 in what makes you grow

As we look at the five things needed for spiritual growth it is very important to understand that you need all five in order to grow. I believe that the central issue of people not growing today is that we are not understanding the need for all five. For many Christians the thought is that growth comes from knowledge. That is one of the five, but only one. So today churches offer more Bible Study at every conceivable time. We do have so much more Bible knowledge than the disciples, but do you sense that our faith is stronger than those guys? I don't. Knowledge is important, but the mere acquisition of information does not produce real, sustained growth. I will talk more on that later.

One of the five is Unpredictable Circumstances. This is the part of your growth that you really can not be proactive in. God will bring circumstances into your life (easy ones, difficult ones, confusing ones, enlightening ones) that will challenge and force your to decided to trust yourself or to trust God. You will find that you will not be able to control or manipulate the situation, all you can do is trust him...or not.

This is like the weightlifting part of fitness. For muscles to grow there has to be resistance, and that is pain sometimes. For you to internally grow there has to be resistance to what you believe. These are not usually fun times, but needed to grow you. God understands this and he will allow and sometimes even orchestrate these type of circumstances. He will take you there or let your walk there on your own, but either way he never lets us walk into painful, growing circumstances alone.