Emotional and spiritual growth is a path that takes you further into reality. One of the most important things God does for us in the growth process is to send to us His Spirit of truth. Truth is healing. The Holy Spirit is always showing us the truth about ourselves, our relationships, about God and His Word, and about our life and path. The Spirit teaches when and where we need growth, convicts us when we are wrong, and redirects and shows how to stay on the right path. The truth confronts what we are not ready to deal with. Sometimes the truth leads us to what is the source of our pain. Sometimes the truth leads us leads us to what our weaknesses or limitations are. Whatever the truth is, it is our friend and it is where God is. The Spirit is ultimate reality.
There are many misconceptions about growing in the Christian Community and Spirit filled living. God does not promise that we will always be happy or never again have difficulty. The truth is yielding to the Spirit and being filled by the Spirit as we go through struggles and pain, not instead of the struggles and pain. This common misconception is nowhere close to the real life experience of any human including Jesus. We know that Jesus was always connected and yielded to God. We know His power came from the Spirit of God, yet He felt pain and struggled a great deal. In the garden of Gethsemane, He had immeasurable distress and agony. Certainly no one would say that He had “lost his victory” or he was a “phony”. Yet, sometimes people struggling with growth issues are told that if they are hurting, or failing, they are not walking with God, or filled with the Spirit. Jesus and many other people in the Bible took their struggles and pain to God and leaned on the Spirit, the Helper, for strength. Experiencing struggles, difficulties, and pain is not the absence of a Spirit filled Christian walk.
Another common misconception is like the first but instead of pain it has to do with sin: if you are filled with the Spirit, you will never sin. The truth is everyone sins, and if any one says he does not, he is a “liar”. (See 1John 1:8, 10). No one is ever without sin, for even if our behavior is okay for the moment, unconscious, sinful, dark parts of the soul are not yet cleansed. The Spirit filled life is on-going. We are “cleaning up the inside of the cup” as well as the outside. Sanctification is a process. Paul said he didn’t have it yet (Phil. 3:12-13). Peter said the qualities of good character are built over time in increasing measure (2Peter 1:8). It takes time to grow. “All things have become new, but not complete” (2Corinthians 5:17).
As you continue down your growth path, do not let anyone discourage you and make you feel that you do not have it all together, or that you are not “in the Spirit”. Trust and lean on Him to the best of your ability accepting His grace. Ask Him for help as much as you know how to. Obey all that you know to do, and face reality and the truth.
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