Fall 1998
Principles of Spiritual Growth
Wade E Taylor

"For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus
unto good works, which God hath before ordained that
we should walk in them Eph 2:10.

The Lord is telling us that we are to relate to Him as being a "Master Workman" who is constantly working to accomplish His purpose. This purpose is not only to bring us to spiritual maturity, but to prepare us for all that He intends to accomplish in and through us.

These "good works" are the things, both people and circumstances, which the Lord places in our path to be used as "tools" to expose all that is not like Him, in order to conform us to the image of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

"Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of
the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man,
unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of
Christ" Eph 4:13.

This "measure" means that we are to be brought to the place where we relate proportionately to the Head, the Lord Jesus Christ. It also means that we have been made ready to fulfill the word of the Lord when He said,

"Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believes on Me,
the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works
than these shall he do; because I go to My Father" John 14:12.

Our attitude toward, and our response to, these "good works" greatly affects our progress toward our being made ready for His higher calling. Thus, we can either hasten or hinder our spiritual growth.

Therefore, it is crucial that we greatly value and develop a sensitivity to the desire of the Lord to initiate and become actively involved in a personal relationship with us, that He might better accomplish all He intends.

"Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man
hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to
him, and will sup with him, and he with Me" Rev 3:20.

The spiritual hunger that we have is created within us by the Lord. But we have a part in this, as we must make room to receive, increase, and maintain the spiritual desire that we have.

For us to become so spiritually hungry, that our desire for the Lord and things spiritual will override all other desires, and cause us to seek and respond to an active personal relationship with the Lord, involves two things,

(1) Giving expression to the most important prayer that
we could ever pray - "Draw me."

This two word prayer is a request for the Lord to literally create within us such a spiritual hunger that we will have no choice but to seek after Him.

(2) Making a commitment to respond to the hunger which
the Lord gives us in response to this prayer - "We
will run after Thee."

Once the Lord creates within us the spiritual hunger that we desire, we must respond to Him in every aspect of our being - all that we are, and all that we have.

This will result in a relationship with the Lord in which the initiative changes from our seeking after the Lord, to one in which the Lord takes the initiative, and we respond and follow Him in obedient anticipation.

(3) "The King hath brought me into His
chambers" Song of Solomon 1:4a.

In the natural realm of life, intense hunger drives a person to desperation. So also in the spiritual. Only when we are spiritually hungry will we seek after the Lord in order to receive satisfaction to the deep inner void that we feel, which in the past we filled with ever so many things that left us even worse off.

This intense "spiritual desire" will cause us to put the Lord first in all things, and to continually look to Him in every circumstance.

Few of us ever come to the level of spiritual desperation that will cause us to cry out, "we will run after Thee." This cry relates to every aspect of our being responding to the Lord. Only in this attitude of intense spiritual desire will we be able to fully yield every aspect of our being to the Lord for his purposes, rather than seeking the Lord to bless our agenda.

This hunger will lead us to the "table" - the place where we come apart and invite the Lord to sup with us, that in turn we might sup with Him.

"Come, my beloved, let us go forth into the field;
let us lodge in the villages. Let us get up early
to the vineyards; let us see if the vine flourish,
whether the tender grape appear, and the pomegranates
bud forth: there will I give thee my loves" Song of
Solomon 7:11-12.

As we partake in communion with the Lord, we will come to recognize that He alone is able to satisfy this hunger. As a result, the initiative will change from our seeking after the Lord to our responding to His seeking after us, and our responding and following Him.

"The King hath brought me into His chamber" Song of Solomon 1:4b.

All too few ever come into this place of divine activity, where while we are in communion with the Lord within His chambers, His purpose is being accomplished.

Here we can express our inner heart desire to Him,

"Tell me, O thou whom my soul loveth, where You feed,
where You make Your flock to rest at noon: for why
should I be as one that turneth aside by the flocks
of Your companions?" Song of Solomon 1:7.

Now we are asking the Lord that we might hear from Him, rather than hearing about Him from others. In the natural, few of us are good listeners. We develop a prayer life which consists of telling the Lord what He should do, and all the wonderful things that would happen if the Lord so did.

Now that we have come into His presence, we must become quiet and patiently listen to His voice and desire.

The Lord longs for those who will sit at His feet and listen, as Mary of old sat and listened. He will come and sit at the table with those who so do.