I want to start this session with another question; were you aware of God’s presence today?
It what ways and in what circumstances were you aware of Him?
One of the most important aspects of spiritual growth is a deepening relationship with God and people around us. For this to happen we must become more aware; more of the time. If you are not aware of someone, how can you have a personal relationship with him, you can’t.
Relationship is very important in spiritual growth. I find that I am in control of how deep a relationship I want to have with God or with people, of course the other party is also involved, they may want a very shallow relationship and you can’t do anything about that. I believe God wants a very deep relationship with all of us, so how deep we want to go is up to us. I don’t believe you can force a relationship on anyone that doesn’t want it.
There are also blocks we put in the way that hinder a relationship from going very far. For example you invite someone into your home and close of part of your house that you don’t want them to see. We keep things hidden for all kinds of reasons, and all these hidden things are hindrances which keep our relationships from going any farther.
There are certain things in our lives that are private, untouchable, hidden; we don’t even want God to touch them.
I think if we really realized how secrets affected our relationships with people close to us, we would stop having secrets. I think one of the works of the Holy Spirit is to free us from the fear of being exposed. Do you realize that fear is like a guard in a prison; it keeps you from escaping and guards you so that you cannot be a free person. In other words, secrets keep you in jail and truth sets you free, we don’t have to hide anymore.
Secrets are fig leaves and we hide from God; and one another. You want spiritual growth? Get rid of the secrets and the fig leaves and then a close relationship happens. Then spiritual growth happens with God and with people around you.