Fall 2001
Spiritual Progression
John W Follette

All spiritual truth is purely a progressive revelation, ever evolving in order to reveal deeper layers of spiritual reality.

Because truth is progressive in its unfolding, we must be continually conditioned for its reception. Those who stood in the presence of Jesus had a certain reception of life and light. Then a year or two later, there was a deeper response in them. This was because they were being continually trained and disciplined by the power of the Spirit of God so when they came again to the same revelation, it blossomed like a rose.

Many of us are making new discoveries in the realm of Spiritual life. This results in growing pains, and sometimes distress, because we are being pressed out of our past spiritual understandings and experiences. The eternal “urge” of God is to make Himself more fully known to us - ever desiring to break through the narrow confines of our limited understanding, and create fresh new openings of light and truth. This seeming distress that we feel at times is a sign that we are coming into that for which we were designed and made.

Our spirit must be continually conditioned to receive these fuller revelations. No experience in itself, no matter how moving, profound, or revolutionizing - that experience will never mature us. We should never belittle, or settle into any one of them as being a final word from the Lord. Our spirits tend to become bound in certain religious habits that we have cultivated through the years. Because these will hinder us from receiving further truth, the Holy Spirit works to dislodge and remove them. Although we feel a deep inner desire to receive more, we must rest in the Lord, until all agitation within us settles. “In quietness and in confidence shall be your strength.” (Isaiah 30:15).

Because the “truth” for which we hunger is progressive in its unfolding, the Lord cannot give it to us in a moment, but He can give us an “experience” with great emotional resurgence. But to find the significance of the spiritual principle behind this blessing requires time, until our inner being is conditioned to develop the capacity to grasp and understand .

The Spirit of God within us is like an eternal “urge” which is pushing its way back again to the heart of God. The Holy Spirit has been given to abide within us, but He does not belong here, but back in the God-head. He has been encased within us, and we may be holding Him like a prisoner, not allowing Him to transform and change us into the image of Jesus - giving us illumination and establishing within us a corrective objective for our lives.

The disciples moved through circles of spiritual growth. At the end of the first year, there was a certain amount of spiritual reaction within them, which gradually increased during the second and third years. Finally the Lord said, “Who do you think I am?” Phillip responded, “Lord, show us the Father and we will be satisfied.” In effect, Jesus said, "Have I been with you all this time and you still do not know anything about Me?”

No one of us would want the Lord to say to us, “You have never made any inner contact, or responded to the deeper unfoldings of the Word, which were set before you to prepare you to enter into the age to come.”

Each of us has received eternal life. We are not going to heaven just to play on a harp for millions of years. This is a picturesque symbol, but our Lord’s life cannot be confined to the strings on a harp. Rather, this new creature that you and I have become, is to be wrought upon by the power of His Spirit, until the revelation of our Lord’s eternal intention becomes progressively clearer and clearer to us.

This progressive unfolding is pictured in the Old Testament as “A lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.” (Psalm 119:105). According to the custom of that day, when it became dark, a strap with an attached lamp, was buckled on a foot. This would provide guidance along the way, one step at a time. Beyond this was a distant light that gave direction toward the goal.

When “truth” comes into those who have been prepared to receive, it will dislodge all religious notions that hinder the Lord’s greater purpose. When I was a child, I had a card collection with Scriptures on each card. I remember one card which said, “Thou oh God seest me.” The result of this imparted fear into my life. It was many years later when the verse “Perfect love casts out fear” became a reality that set me free.

I had been afraid to approach God, but I gradually came to understand that the Lord knows all things. Many of us spend much time in prayer, explaining our circumstances to the Lord. He is very patient and listens, but it will get us nowhere, except that we may feel a little better. I have come to experience His love and I rest in this. I respond in obedience, not out of the motive of fear, but rather because I do not want to grieve or disappoint the Lord.

In this realm of spiritual reality, there are certain laws and principles that are just as real as the laws and principles in the natural world in which we live. The Lord has surrounded us with these natural laws with action, reaction, and consequences, which are established for our well-being. If we accept and rightly respond to these, we will live a comfortable life. But, if we disregard them, we will always have trouble.

In the realm of our spirit, there are laws and principles that are just as real. Because they are abstract, we may not pay attention to them, and as a result, our spiritual life will become disconnected and haphazard. If we detect the spiritual principles and laws with which the Lord works, our rate of spiritual growth will greatly increase.

When we are first brought into the realm of “spiritual living,” we come as a little baby. Here, there is a progression in our spiritual diet from milk to strong meat. The milk is essential to prepare us to later receive more. We can be saved, filled with the Spirit, and have gifts in operation, and still live on a milk diet. This is because a milk diet contains all the elementary features that are essential to our Christian faith.

We must be patient as the Lord builds into us the capacity to partake of more than “milk.” This progression results from our being continually conditioned through the laws of discipline, testings, and provings. These are organized, well-arranged spiritual laws. “For whom the Lord loves, He chastens (milk), and scourges every son whom He receives” (strong meat). Heb 12:5.

We cannot arrive at spiritual maturity in a minute, nor through any one experience. These revelations are open vistas, or doorways which will lead us into fresh lovely places of spiritual reality and revelation. Only the Holy Spirit is able to lead us into this realm of a cooperative relationship with our Lord.

And, as the door opens and we respond, "Welcome, Lord!" He will take us by the hand and lead us in.