© Ayo Omolayo
“Children of God! Give the Lord a shout! As the woman of God mounts the pulpit. Come on celebrate Jesus!” The pastor ordered his congregation and screams filled the hall.
I followed the usher who lead me to the pulpit and took the mic from the pastor. I bent my knees slightly in greeting as I took it.
“I’m so glad we’re celebrating Jesus here and not a mere mortal! Please if it’s Jesus you’re celebrating, you can do better! Go ahead and celebrate this God!” I said and the noise in the hall was doubled.
“Can we sing a song to glorify this God?”
“Yes!” They all chorused.
“Holy words long preserved.
For our walk in this world.
They resound with God’s own heart.
Oh, let the ancient words impart.
Words of Life, words of Hope.
Give us strength, help us cope.
In this world, where e’er we roam.
Ancient words will guide us home.
Ancient words ever true.
Changing me and changing you.
We have come with open hearts.
Oh, let the ancient words impart.
Can you all sing that song with me?”
The congregation sang in unison and the choiristers backed us up. Soon, we were all worshipping God with this song and I told the congregation to resume their seat.
“I was given a topic to speak on and that is what we’ll be working with tonight. Spiritual growth! From infant to adulthood.
Seriously, this topic is so broad, so I’ll do my best to teach you the basics.
In order for us to learn about spiritual growth, we must start with the grassroot. The baby Christian. Who is a baby Christian? What makes a Christian a baby Christian? And why are there so many baby Christians in the body of Christ today?
I think that’s 3 questions we have there. I don’t know how many I may be taking tonight because of our time. But let’s see how the Holy Ghost will lead us in tonight’s class.
Number one, who is the baby Christian. A baby Christian is a new born child of the kingdom. That’s one definition. Two! A baby Christian is a spiritual infant. Three, a baby Christian is a reborn child of the kingdom.
Note the 3 definitions. I pray the Holy Ghost helps me to be brief in exploring the meaning of these two definitions.
When a man gives his or her life to Christ, something happens in the realm of the spirit. Your spirit man is reborn. A lot of us don’t understand the meaning of I am born again. Let me show you the mystery behind born again.
When you were born physically, your spirit was also born as well. As you grew, your spirit man grew in sin. If you’re 32 years old, your spirit man is also 32 years old in sin. I mean in total slavery to sin. So the man had already become an adult in sin and iniquity. He knows how to explore sin and rides on doing it. But the moment he asks Jesus to come into his life, this is what I’m born again means.
He becomes reborn. What that means is that the spirit within him his taken out and a baby spirit is placed within him”.
“My God!” A woman in the congregation exclaimed.
“Oh! Looks like I’m talking too much! Let’s open the bible then. You’ll see I am born again in the bible. Sometimes, we think mysteries are not found in scripture. Let’s open to Ezekiel 36:26”, I said and immediately, the scripture appeared on the church screen.
“A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.
A new heart and a new what, please? A new what?”
“Spirit! The congregation chorused.
“A new what?”
“Spirit!” They all said loudly.
“A baby spirit! An infant spirit. When Jesus entered the womb of Mary, he didn’t enter as a grown up man. He came as a babe! As an infant. He came into Mary’s womb as a baby. That’s the same thing that occurs here. The new spirit is a baby within you. Jesus doesn’t enter your life as a fully grown man. He enters a baby, just like he did with Mary. So he grows within you. The God life you have been received must grow.
Now open to the book of 1 Peter 2:2″ I said and immediately, the scripture appeared on the screen.
“As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby.
So the first recommendation the bible gave us for spiritual growth is not prayers. I’m not saying prayers is not important here. Infact, prayer is so important to you that you cannot go a single day without it. But according to scriptural prescription, the first thing the bible recommended for spiritual growth is what?”
“The word of God!” The congregation chorused.
“Can I here it again?”
“The word of God”, they repeated.
“It went further to explain to us that the bible is our spiritual milk. The same way babies have to suck their mother’s milk and grow, that’s the same way your spirit man had to suck the milk of God’s word everyday and grow.
Now let me ask you all a question. How many times does a baby eat in a day? Come on, 3 square meals! Am I correct?”
“No!”
“Are you sure? What about once in a day?”
“No!”
How about babies who eat only in church on Sundays? Once a week”.
“No!”
“Are you sure? Sometimes babies need to eat once in a month to grow. Am I correct?”
“No!” They all chorused.
“So if babies do not eat once in a day, what makes you think your spirit man will grow when all you do is eating spiritually once in a day? Are you sure you want to grow?”
“My God!” The pastor exclaimed and stood up to listen.
“Listen to me. Let me tell you the mystery behind spiritual malnutrition. But before I talk about spiritual malnutrition, let me tell you how so many of you have killed your spirit man countless times.
If babies do not eat 3 times a day, then that means one thing. The eat 6 or more than that daily. So if you feed the baby in the morning, before 9am, the baby is already crying out of hunger. But you wait till afternoon to feed the baby.
But a lot of Christians feed their spirit man once in a day. So when they eat in the morning by 5am, it’s hunger till the next day. Kai! The spirit man will cry and cry for food throughout the day, but nobody will answer him. And when the baby is allowed to starve, it won’t take long before the baby dies.
Now remember, what is spiritual death? Sin! Sin is spiritual death. So if the baby starves for the whole day and dies in the night, that night, you’ll fall into sin. That’s the reason why a lot of Christians keep rising and falling. Because after the baby dies, this is what happens.
The moment you ask God to forgive you after you finish commiting sin, the baby is brought back to life. But remember, the baby was starving before he died, so what he first thing baby would need is still that spiritual food you denied him.
So those of you who are in habit of skipping your quiet time, forget about spiritual growth. Spiritual growth is not for you. How can you feed your baby once in a day and the next time you’re feeding him is two days later. No wonder you’re not growing. You have been in the church for over seven years now, yet no growth.
You have not even started considering spiritual growth. See what you’re doing. You’re at the stage of DEATH & RESURRECTION. Your spirit man will die today and resurrect tomorrow. You starve to death and come back to life tomorrow. So your spirit is only at the stage of dying and resurrecting.
That’s the reason why you are not growing. You read bible once in two days. Today you read it, tomorrow you miss it. Your spirit man will get weak and die, which is fall into sin. And when you come back to God and ask for his forgiveness, your spirit is brought back to life. But after that restoration, what do you do?
You go back to that life of skipping your quiet time and die spiritually again. And after you notice you had fallen into sin, you cry to God for mercy and your spirit man is brought back to life. Then you starve him to death again and fall into sin. And the circle continues. Inconsistency is a dangerous lifestyle. You’re not growing. You’re just hovering around a particular spot. No spiritual progress.
You’re just up and down. Life and death every single day. Your spirit man will starve to bed. Starve to work. Starve to death. The circle continues! If you know you have never been consistent with your walk with God, you better look for a good place to cry tonight. You have been wasting serious time. You’re going to cry to God for that staying grace. Grace to stay with God forever and ever. Grace to always remain disciplined and observe your quiet time consistently.
So what’s the bible prescription for feeding your spirit man? How many times a day should I feed my spirit with God’s word?”
Open to the book of Joshua 1:8″, I said and immediately, it was projected on the screen.
“This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success”.
“Jesus is Lord!” A lady screamed.
“How many times did the bible prescribe?”
“Two times!” They answered.
“When and when?” I asked.
“In the morning and in the night”, they chorused”, they replied.
“That’s the spiritual balance diet. 2 meals a day. That’s how it works. Meditate in the word day and night. So that you would be able to observe and do all that is written in the book. Because, if you only read it once in a day, you’ll do some, not all. The bible says that you will be able to do according to all that is written in the book if you study it day and night. But if you study it only in the day, you’ll end up doing only a little.
Two times a day is the spiritual growth feeding timetable. Read the word in the morning and in the evening, every single day. That’s the spiritual eating timetable.
The body of Christ is so full of dead men on the pulpit. Dead choristers singing. They finish singing powerfully and the next minute, we are gathering around to settle quarrel for them.
Dead workers among the church of God today. They are so used to living in death and darkness. They rise and fall every single day. Why? They don’t have time to read the word of God. They’re very busy people.
I preached this message one day and a woman asked a question. What if you close late from work and come back home tired? You open the bible and sleep is the only thing that comes to your mind. What do you do? Will it be possible for such a Christian to read the bible twice a day?
I asked her a simple question. Perhaps you came back late from work and meet your baby boy crying. I mean, you know he has not eaten and that’s why he’s crying. Do you tell him to manage and sleep till the next day and starve him to bed?
If you cannot watch your infant starve till the next day. What would motivate you to starve your baby spirit till the next day? Spiritual life, spiritual growth is not an important topic to many of us. We are not interested in paying the price to grow spiritually. We love our comfort. We love our mattress. We love our food and soft drinks. We don’t want anything pain. Just make sure everything is easy. Once it’s not easy, I’m out!
I wake up to pray when it’s easy for me. I study my bible when it’s easy. I fast, only when it’s easy. What is happening to your spirit is not only spiritual stagnancy. It’s death and resurrection. You have not even started considering growth ooo. You have only been dying and resurrecting for the past 8 years of getting born again.
Spend time with the word, you said there’s no time. I am always busy. No wonder you’re still like this.
There are so many things I would really love to teach you, but I want us to cry out to God this morning. Many of us do not have this particular spiritual ability called THE STAYING POWER. The staying power is the dimension of grace that activates consistency in our spirit. The staying power is what gives us the ability to pray every single day for 20 years. The staying power is what makes you a bible addict.
Can we go on our knees and give God the biggest cry of our lives. I have wasted so many years. My spirit man had been starving to death every day. No word of God! No prayers! Flesh has been enjoying himself. He has been watching TikTok videos. Watching season films. Eating 4 to 6 times a day. Fasting, we break by 9am. Dead men walking.
Dead and empty men. Little provocation, you will almost think he never knew God. Your anger has graduated from anger to rage. Can you cry to God this evening?”
The congregation went on their knees. Some stood and prayed aggressively.
“Lord! I need the staying power! Give me the staying power! The power that kept Moses in the presence of God for 40 days without feeling it. I am tired of this on and off quiet time. One day on one day off spiritual life must end in my life. A part-time Christian cannot defeat a full time devil.
The devil works full time. Why should you pray part-time? The demons are into full time assignment over your destiny. Why should you study your Bible part-time? Go ahead and cry to God!”
To be continued…….
Can we all go ahead and pray that prayer? Enough is enough!
Holy Ghost! Give me the staying power! I want to be consistent with my spiritual life. I want to grow spiritually! Enough is enough to dying in sin
If you fail in the day of adversity, your strength is small. When you don’t feed your spirit, how will he have the strength to withstand temptation when it comes?
How will a starving man have the power to fight his enemies. No wonder Satan doesn’t want you to read your Bible. No wonder Satan doesn’t want you to pray. He knows what he’s doing. He’s not stupid when he was telling you that you’re too tired to pray, go back to bed.
He knows what he was doing. As long as he can keep you weak, he can defeat you at any time he wants. Stop them from eating! Stop them from praying! They’ll remain weak for life. And when they’re too weak, they’ll fall into sin and die. Spiritual death! Even when they get restored, as long as they keep sleeping when they’re supposed to pray and study the bible, they’ll still fall back into sin.
Remember the keys. Study the bible twice a day. In the morning and in the evening.
