"GROWTH SPURT"

Have you thanked Him?

Have you praised Him?

Have you made it your priority to agree and cooperate with Him today?

Have you taken that deep breath and listened for what He has for you today?

ARE YOU SEEKING?

1 Timothy 2:1 (The Message)

^1-3The first thing I want you to do is pray. Pray every way you know how, for everyone you know.

Stopped to say goodbye to a “2^nd”timer last night on her way out of FREEDOM and after the pleasantries and as I encouraged her to come back she said something interesting to me. She said she had picked our little fellowship hoping for a “growth spurt”. She said she was feeling like her recovery was stagnating a little and it needed a kick.

We all need that from time to time don’t we?

A little jolt. Our “passion buckets” refilled. Our flame to be fanned.

Truth is we do have seasons and lulls in our recovery and in our walk with Christ and sometimes our fire and our passion needs a little new kindling, or we need to go looking for a little “growth spurt”. I mean we all experience times and seasons where our growth stalls or our spirit cools a bit. It can and does happen to everyone.

Maybe we are overly distracted with the “stuff” of life. Maybe we have suffered an unexpected disappointment or a missed expectation. Or maybe we have let our discipline slip a little: spend a little less time in Scripture or perhaps start missing fellowship more frequently. Maybe we decide to volunteer less. Or we allow our prayer time to go stale and is leveraged only for emergencies.

Whatever the “cause”, we must be on guard for those stunted season or those cooling off periods.

Paul saw the potential for “cooling off” in Timothy and offered this admonition.

1 Timothy 1:6-7

⁶ That is why I want you to remember the gift God gave you. God gave you that gift when I laid my hands on you. Now I want you to use that gift and let it grow more and more, like a small flame grows into a fire. ⁷ The Spirit God gave us does not make us afraid. His Spirit is a source of power and love and self-control.

Drifting, stagnation, cooling off; however you characterize it, while not uncommon can be dangerous for the recovering.

So I want to encourage you. If you feel you are “cooling off” or if you feel your growth has temporarily peaked, fan that Spiritual flame again. If your fire needs stoking, ask the Holy Spirit to show you how.

Don’t let life or circumstances impede your progress or douse your enthusiasm!

Romans 13:11-14
But make sure that you don't get so absorbed and exhausted in taking care of all your day-by-day obligations that you lose track of the time and doze off, oblivious to God. The night is about over, dawn is about to break. Be up and awake to what God is doing! God is putting the finishing touches on the salvation work he began when we first believed. We can't afford to waste a minute...

Keep growing. Keep the fire burning!

Have a blessed day!

I love you all.

Freedom Church

Pastor GDelaney