Spiritual Growth, Part 1

This morning I pulled out an article that was given to us at the last ladies' meeting for the PC wives. The title of the article is "10 Questions to Ask to Make Sure You're Still Growing" by Donald Whitney. I thought I would take the next several days and put one question per day on here, as I found these very thought provoking. He prefaces the article with this:

"It's often hard to recognize spiritual advance over a week's time or maybe even a month's time. Trying to determine the progress of a soul is like looking at the growth of an oak- you can't actually see it growing at the moment, but you can compare it to where it was some time ago and see that there has indeed been growth. The following 10 questions can help you discern whether you are maturing spiritually. Use them to evaluate the past six to 12 months."

1. Are you more thirsty for God than ever before?

"The writer of Ps. 42:1 said, "As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God." Have you been thirsting for God like that? Is He your passion? If so, your soul-thirst is a sign of soul-growth. Do you yearn to know Jesus Christ more and more intimately? In spite of all of his maturity in Christ, in spite of all he had seen and experienced, the Apostle Paul declared late in life, "I want to know Christ" (Phil. 3:10). What was he talking about? Didn't he alredy know Jesus better than most of us ever will? Of course he did. But the more he knew Jesus, the more he wanted to know Him. The more Paul progressed in spiritual strength, the more thirsty for God he became. Is your soul thirsty for the Lord? Do you long to see Him face to face? Like a deer thirsting for water are you thirsting to be filled and saturated with God? That's a sign of someone who's growing as a Christian."

to be continued...