A couple of other helpful perspectives. Daily reading of the word often leads to wrestling with the word until you gain new insights.
Next thinks of yourself transitioning from a rowboat to a sailboat. In the rowboat one usually sets a direct course to the goal and often struggles against wind and waves while in the sailboat one goes where the wind takes you often times seemingly off-course yet usually into new adventures where you help friend, foe or simply strangers in your quest.
And even if you don’t reach your original destination you’ll notice inner peace and joy abound.
I have found that if I stay in the Word daily, it makes a huge difference in the amount of peace I have and how I am able to deal with things that come up.
I miss more than one day and I can tell.
Selah ... pause here to hear what the spirit is saying!
Enjoyed reading your profile page.
~ Gerald W. Grumet
Thanks!
We'll no doubt see BOTH in this thread!
That's a nice thought, one not to be discarded. But--not to belittle your challenge--trying to grow spiritually mature (=progressively becoming more Spirit-conrtolled in behavior) by a self-improvement path; that is, by "bootstrapping oneself," is not a very effective approach. Neither is congregating in large groups for preaching/teaching that has no accountability nor intimate personal instruction.
The approved method for growing in Christ as fast as God whants you to, is by personal involvement with a discipler, a mentor, who him/herself has likewise subjected himself to learning through having been personally discipled. Sadly, that is not the typical way offered (or even only available upon request) by most church programs. But having a local, personal teaching companion is what the thread author, paladinkc, needs.
Stepping back a little, there are some distance-learning material available to him/her. Here are a few links to very usedul discipleship resources: "The Basic Stage of Discipleship" byPaul J. Bucknell (click here) I believe this ongoing course is not free, but reasonale to pay for the materials.
The Navigators (click here) The Navigators is a globally-known and respected llively group of disciplers whose theme comes from 2 Timothy 2:1-2, the pasage I previously cited. If you could find a Navigator in your area, that would be great!
How To Mature In Christ" from Happy Heralds, Inc. (click here). I personally use the materials from this site. They are absolutely free, and mailed to you upon request. Some of them are downloadable as PDF files.