Quotes about Growth

It is not in the still calm of life, or the repose of a pacific station, that great characters are formed. The habits of a vigorous mind are formed in contending with difficulties. Great necessities call out great virtues. When a mind is raised, and animated by scenes that engage the heart, then those qualities which would otherwise lay dormant, wake into life and form the character of the hero and the statesman.

Trees endure the hot sun and rainstorms by sending their roots down deeper. The adversity they face is eventually the source of great stability. The harshness of the elements surrounding them causes them to seek another source of life. They will one day come to the place that even the greatest of windstorms cannot affect their ability to produce fruit.

Jesus learned obedience by the things He suffered. Peter learned obedience by the things he suffered. Paul learned obedience by the things he suffered. What about you? Have you learned? Or are you hard, calloused, cold, bitter, and resentful? Then you did not learn obedience.

Father, I want to continue to always grow into a more intimate relationship with You. Expose the areas of my life that hinder me from being Christlike, and cause my life to reflect the character of my precious Savior and Lord.

Be ye perfect is not... a command to do the impossible. [God] is going to make us into creatures that can obey that command.

Here is the reality: to be changed, we need His presence!

When the plan of God for my life causes me to face my hurts and wrongful attitudes, I will not run from these things but will find healing and restoration from dealing with my hurts through the power of the Holy Spirit.

We must return to the teachable nature of our first love.

If you search for an escape route before understanding why God has you in a particularly dry situation, you unwittingly will prolong your wilderness time.

We have much to say…since you have become dull of hearing. 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; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. …But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. (Hebrews 5:11—12, 14) It's

As you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to follow him. Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. (Colossians 2:6—7 NLT)

In their Christian walk, many believers have bought into maintaining rather than multiplying—just barely getting by instead of experiencing abundance.