5 Day Study On Spiritual GrowthSample

All of us know what it’s like to take a test in school. You get taught specific lessons throughout the semester. At a certain point, the teacher will administer a test to the students. The test is designed to reveal what the student knows. They are never designed by the teacher to hurt the student. Instead, the teacher desires and takes joy in the students’ ability to pass the test. However, when you fail a test, you won’t progress to the next grade. Some of us have experienced moving up a grade in school, while witnessing a friend having to repeat the grade. Why? Because they failed too many tests, meaning there was no retention of information, no growth and no development. So, they had to repeat the lessons.

God is the perfect teacher. He develops us spiritually through His Word and through trials. A trial is an adverse circumstance that comes into your life designed to develop you spiritually. They don’t come on our timing when we’re ready for them. Instead, they typically pop up when we least expect them to. Sometimes trials involve pain and suffering. Trials may be unpleasant, but they nevertheless teach and transform. God always has a purpose in permitting trials because through them, He moves the believer towards spiritual maturity. 

Tests are slightly different. A test is a situation that comes into your life and forces you to apply spiritual resources to determine the best course of action. In other words, a test evaluates if you know the right answer. God uses trials to develop us, but eventually, He will administer tests in our lives to reveal what we know about Him. Have we retained the information that we learned through our trials? Is there any real growth and development in our spiritual walk? And if we fail the test, we must repeat it. God will only allow us move forward when we pass the tests because in passing the tests, we become more like Christ.

What are some trials and test that you have experienced in your life that God used for your spiritual growth?