1. The Holy Spirit helps us grow in our trust of the Lord’s reliability instead of doubting God’s ability to care for our every need. David wrote, “Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him and he will do this.” (Psalm 37:5) Just as a child implicitly trusts his or her mother, so a growing Christian relies on the Lord for every problem. Resist the temptation to give into your worries, fears or doubts about the Lord’s ability to care for your best interests. Ask the Lord to give you greater trust in the absolute reliability of the Lord to meet your needs and Godly concerns.
2. The Holy Spirit helps us grow in our confidence in the Lord’s promises. David wrote, “Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.” (Psalm 37:3) One develops a firm reliance on the certainty of God’s grace, counsel and enabling power with the help of the Holy Spirit. Resist the temptation to give into suspicions that the Lord’s inability to protect you from all kinds of people, problems or dangerous situations. Ask the Lord to help you grow in confidence in His promises, power, and present help.
3. The Holy Spirit helps us grow with our abilities to innovate changes. David wrote, “Sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvelous things.” (Psalm 98:1) When a person knows the creative genius of the Spirit, they are given greater creative desires to innovate positive changes for the Lord. Inhibited people lack a mature enough faith to risk any innovations. Resist the temptation to give into the spirit of fear that hinders people from creating the kinds of changes that the Lord wants in your personal, family and ministry lifestyles. Ask the Lord to help you use your Spirit led creativity to innovate worthwhile improvement in all aspects of your realities.
4. The Holy Spirit helps us grow in greater productivity instead of living with a gnawing sense of mediocrity. Paul wrote, “I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” (Phil. 3:14) The deeper one’s faith, the greater capacity an individual has to generate the spiritual fruits of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control. The Holy Spirit also gives a growing Christian greater quantitative fruit in terms of their converts, disciples and churches that they are planting and helping to grow. Resist the temptation to settle for mediocrity or that which is second best. Ask the Lord to help you overcome any feelings of frustration, emptiness or selflessness. Beseech the Lord to help you avoid any tendency to compensate for feelings of mediocrity with mere maintenance projects that are not directed toward God’s priority harvest ministries.
5. The Holy Spirit helps us grow in our ability to integrate our faith into all aspects our lives and relationships. Paul wrote, “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.” (Phil. 1:21) When a person grows in faith one is able to integrate his or her beliefs in truth with all of their realities. Resist the temptation to feel frustrated and confused by new ways that your faith is changing your realities. Failure to integrate your faith into all of your relationships, work and personal life leads to a deepening sense of confusion, disappointment and frustration. Ask the Lord for help in integrating all truth into every private and public aspect of your lifestyle.
6. The Holy Spirit helps us grow in our ability to relate to a wide range of people and socio-cultural groups. Paul wrote, “I have become all things to all men that by all means I might save some.” (I Cor. 9:19-27) When a person grows in faith they become more enabled to identify, associate and relate to people from a wide range of backgrounds. Mature Christians have the faith that facilitates quality friendships with people from diverse cultures. Resist the temptation to become estranged from other believers become of bitterness, jealousy or a judgmental spirit. The Spirit of God has way of giving you relationships that are deeply satisfying drawing from a broad spectrum of socio-economic classes. Ask the Lord to help you grow in your ability to relate with a friendly intimacy with people who you love in Christ.
7. The Holy Spirit gives one a dynamic sense of progress in all facets of your personal and ministry lifestyles. A growing Christian that reaches this level of faith development is consistently inventing better ways to grow in all aspects into Christ. Resist the temptation to become static. Ask the Lord to help you overcome any tendency toward growing complacent in your personal, family or ministry experiences.
8. The Holy Spirit gives you a great Christlike perspective, attitude and skills as you grow in faith. A fully mature Christian is increasingly become more like the Master in their thought, speech, values and actions. Resist the temptation to sink into the depths of self-pity, anger, or a sense of remorse at all of your missed opportunities. Ask the Lord to help you grow to be more like Christ in His obedience, righteousness, faith, love, hope, teaching, conduct, and fruitfulness.
