From The Pastor’s Desk
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Bishop Randy Barnett, Oklahoma
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HIGHER AND HIGHER
The
other day I was being entertained by one of my grandsons. Lucas is about to
turn one year old. Did I 
mention
the fact that little Lucas really loves his Pawpaw? These past twelve months
for him have been all about learning and growing and maturing. Each day for him
is an adventure in learning new stuff. Throughout his process of growth I have
sensed the Holy Spirit (who is our Teacher) comparing what I was seeing in
little Lucas with the spiritual maturation of a believer. The one word that
seems to be surfacing in my spirit is the word increase.
One of the most fundamental spiritual laws
is the law of increase. Simply stated the law increase is the force of
God moving whatever is alive to grow and reproduce. The idea is that which is
alive is always going to a higher place of existence than it had previously
experienced. When little Lucas began to crawl his horizons expanded greatly; he
literally went to a higher plane. As he elevates again into walking, we all
better look out! He is ever moving higher and higher in his development as a
human being. So it must be with each of us who are alive in Christ Jesus.
We
begin our life in Christ Jesus through the new birth. (John 3:3) At that point
in time we start the process of spiritual maturation because that is when the
law of increase is released within us by the Holy Spirit. God’s grand design
for each of us is that from the very first day we are forever increasing,
increasing in knowledge, increasing in faith, increasing in love, etc. In fact,
every facet of our spiritual life is meant to be increasing continually. The
Scriptures are filled with dozens and dozens of passages that speak about this
law of increase – you can study Ephesians 4:12-16, I Thessalonians 3:12, I
Peter 2:1, II Peter 1:5-11, to list only a few; these will help to develop your
understanding of the law of increase.
The thing to grasp here is that everything
in your spiritual life should be increasing continually. This year you should
be doing things that you could not do last year. This week’s level of knowledge
of the Word of God should be greater than it was last week. Your love walk
should be more pronounced now than it ever has been. Are you getting the
picture? With the help of your Helper (He is the Spirit of God within you) your
capabilities will always be growing. As you feed on the good Word of God and
daily commune with the Lord in prayer, wonderful things will happen – you will
increase!
Far too many Christians fail to mature
spiritually. This can happen for a number of reasons. It may be that they are
in a church environment that does not understand that the new birth is just the
doorway into salvation and not the final destination. It may be that the
emphasis of the church is on being “seeker friendly” or on evangelism rather
than on disciplining believers. Or, the failure may lie within the individual.
For example, if a person is backward-looking, (Luke 9:62) all spiritual
progress comes to a complete stop until he deals with the issue according to
the Word of God. The writer of Hebrews portrays this problem like this, “For though by this time you ought to be
teachers, you need someone to
teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God” (Hebrews
5:12-14) Do not allow this spiritual paralysis to happen to you. It is your
choice. When you cooperate with the law of increase, you will start to increase
and will continue to do so for as long as you desire.
I encourage you to expect increase in
every area of your life, both spiritually, materially and physically. That is
the will of God for you. Plant seeds in each of these areas so the law of
increase can work for you. Give and it will be given back to you. Love and you
will be loved. Be diligent and your efforts will be rewarded with promotion and
raises. Laugh much and joy will envelope you. Declare each day, “Today I am increasing
in every area of my life!” And I say, “Amen.”
