{"id":14892,"date":"2026-06-27T03:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-27T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/?p=14892"},"modified":"2026-04-27T05:27:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-27T10:27:10","slug":"joy-in-spiritual-growth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/2026\/06\/27\/joy-in-spiritual-growth\/","title":{"rendered":"Joy in Spiritual Growth"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Two-minute read.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Charles Finney, a Presbyterian minister and leader of the Second Great Awakening, preached revival during the 1820s and 30s. He preached salvation more than discipleship, leading to a shift in the church. Prior to the Second Great Awakening, pastors preached more on discipleship than salvation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, we need both salvation and discipleship. Once people give their lives to Christ, discipleship helps them learn how to live for Him. Like the disciples, who had the privilege of learning directly from Jesus, they walked with the Lord. Every day, they learned lessons on forgiveness, grace, mercy, and the miraculous power of God. When Jesus called people to Him, He simply said, \u201cFollow me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paul, in his letter to the Colossians, reminds them that following Jesus doesn\u2019t mean graduating from faith, but rather deepening it. Submitting our lives to Jesus takes the first step of faith. After that, we take many more, following in baptism, as Jesus taught, then learning daily the lessons He has to teach us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If we tune into the Holy Spirit\u2019s prompting, we\u2019ll grow every day. Rooted in Christ, our faith draws nourishment and stability from a close relationship with the Savior. The deeper our connection, the stronger we will stand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Faith grows through truth. The lessons Jesus taught matter, anchoring our belief and guarding against confusion. Spiritual strength doesn\u2019t come from feeling alone, but from grounding ourselves in the Savior’s truth. As we do, we will overflow with thankfulness, unable to contain it; our gratefulness spills over into our attitudes, words, and perspectives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Salvation begins the journey, discipleship defines it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Day after day, as we choose Christ again, we will grow. God never stops teaching us, but we must remain teachable. The more time we spend with the Savior, the more lessons we will learn, and the more spiritual growth we will experience. And as we grow, we will discover the divine joy that comes from a heart connected to Jesus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reflection:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Are you trying to grow in your faith through effort alone, or are you still walking in the same trust you had when you first believed?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joy Thought:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Rooted in Christ, growth comes naturally.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Two-minute read. Charles Finney, a Presbyterian minister and leader of the Second Great Awakening, preached revival during the 1820s and 30s. He preached salvation more than discipleship, leading to a shift in the church. Prior to the Second Great Awakening, pastors preached more on discipleship than salvation. Of course, we need both salvation and discipleship.… Continue reading Joy in Spiritual Growth<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14892","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","without-featured-image"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14892","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14892"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14892\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14896,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14892\/revisions\/14896"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14892"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14892"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14892"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}