Organic Disciplemaking
Enemies of Spiritual Growth
By Jessica Lowery
There are three main enemies of spiritual growth which we should study
and understand – and share with young believers. Understanding
how to grow is essential, but understanding the factors that erode this
growth is important too.
A. Satan
Satan used to be a powerful angel, until He became proud and rebelled
against God. He thought that He should be followed instead of God. The
first humans were seduced by Satan into rebellion against God. That’s
the reason this world is the way it is. That is the reason for our sufferings
and imperfections. Humans have given Satan a place of authority in this
world that is very real (Col. 1:13, 21, 2 Cor. 4:4, 1 Jn. 5:19, Eph.
2:1-7). Once we begin a relationship with God, we cannot expect that
Satan will leave us alone. He will try to accuse us, divide us from others,
tempt us, scare us, distract us, and alienate us from God. Therefore,
we should:
- Be sober – realize that Satan is real and may try to attack
in some way. This includes staying way from drunkenness and drug abuse
- Forgive others, because Satan uses bitterness to penetrate Christ’s
body (2 Cor. 2:11).
- Pray against Satan (Eph. 6:18)
- Stay in fellowship with God and others.
- Learn the Bible so we can know the truth and use it to resist
Satan like Jesus did (Luke 4).
- Stay away from occult practices or witchcraft (Deut. 18)
B. The world system
The Bible teaches that we should not try to avoid the world or
our culture (Jn. 17:15-16, 1 Cor. 5:9-10, Phil. 2:15, Mt. 3:13-16, Jn.
16:33). We should be involved in our culture, and most importantly, in
the lives of people in our culture. However, many of the values in the
world stand in opposition to God, including pride and lust. (1 Jn. 2:15;
Jn. 12:31, Jn. 14:30, Jn. 16:11, 2 Cor. 4:4, Eph. 2:2, 1 Cor. 2:8, Eph.
6:12, 1 Jn. 5:19) If we want to grow spiritually, we should try to detect
and stand against these values (Jn. 18:36, Jn. 16:33, Jn. 12:31, Jas.
4:4, 1 Jn. 2:15-16, 1 Jn. 5:4).
C. Our sin nature
Just because we are no longer slaves to sin, does not mean that we will
not still struggle with sin. While we live in this world, we will still
have our sin nature inside – a nature that hates God and loves
self. We can struggle against our sin nature by deciding to have faith
in God’s way, and “feeding” our spirit with the Bible,
prayer, and serving love relationships. The chart below shows some of
the ways God has spiritually transformed us from people who are naturally
hateful and rebellious toward God to people who are renewed in mind,
will, and emotions.
The Old Mind |
The New Mind |
1 Cor. 1:18-31, Rm. 1:18ff, Eph.
4:17-18, Gen. 6:5, Rm. 8:6-7, 1 Cor. 2:14, Col. 2:18, Rm. 12:3,
Titus 1:15, 1 Tim. 6:5, Phil. 3:19, 2 Cor. 4:4.
Darkened, empty, evil, foolish, death, at enmity with God,
ignorance, blind, incapacity to receive the things of God,
depraved, carnal, fleshly, conceited, defiled, corrupt, earthly. |
1 Cor. 2:7-16, 2 Cor. 5:17, Rm. 12:1-2,
Titus 3:5, Jn. 14:26, Jn. 16:12-15, Rm. 8:5-8, Rm. 7:23 + 25,
Eph. 4:23, Col. 3:5-9, Phil. 2:5, Phil. 4:8, Phil. 3:10, 1 Pet.
2:2, Phil. 4:6-7, 2 Tim. 1:7, 2 Cor. 10:3-5.
We have the mind of Christ, renewed, spiritually discerning,
in harmony with God, spiritual, of God, renewed in knowledge,
humble, true, pure, guarded by the peace of God, sound, powerful
weapons. |
The Old Heart |
The New Heart |
2 Cor. 4:6, Ps. 14:1, Rm. 2:5, Heb.
3:10-12, Jas. 1:26, Rm 1:31, 2 Tim. 3:2, Jas. 4:4, 1 Jn. 2:14.
Dark, foolish, calloused and impenitent, blind, erring, evil
and unbelieving, deceived, love has grown cold, enmity with
God, dead. |
1 Cor. 2:9-11, 2 Thess. 3:5, 1 Jn.
4:7-21, 1 Jn. 2:9-11, 1 Thess. 4:3-7, Col. 3:2, Rm. 12:9, 1 Thess.
4:9-10, 1 Pet. 1:22,
knowledge of the glory of God, directed by God into the love
of God, love of God is shed abroad in our hearts, loving, in
the light, holiness, hidden with Christ, good, taught by God,
pure, living. |
The Old Will |
The New Will |
Jn. 6:35-45 + 60-65, Rm. 6:14 + 16-20,
Gal. 5:17-21, Rm. 7:15-18 + 23, Rm. 5: 12-21, Eph. 2:2
Enslaved by sin, death, contrary to the Spirit, captivity,
death reigning, lustful, children of wrath, unwilling to come
to God, no good thing, evil. |
Col. 3:1-15, 2 Cor.
5:17, Rm. 6:12-13 + 18 + 22, Rm. 8:2, Gal. 5:1, Eph. 4:22-24,
Col. 3:9-12,
Freedom, alive from the dead, righteous, holy, emancipated,
energized, fruits of the Spirit. |
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