The Third Stage of Spiritual Development

We now come to a crucial stage in spiritual development: the birth of God's spirit in us. This is crucial because without this stage we cannot say that spiritual development has practically begun. Everything before this has been a preparation for the birth of the spirit in us. Without this birth we cannot talk of any growth in the spirit.

The birth of the spirit in us or spiritual birth happens after a period of conception of the seed of the spirit in us. This seed is the Word of God.

Thus, it is not true to say that after a person believes in Jesus he/she is born again as a spirit. The process takes time, just like in human birth.

Not a Matter of Just Believing in Jesus

There are many Christians who say that they believe in Jesus. They also sincerely think that they believe in Jesus. But their lives show plainly that they have not actually, personally experienced spiritual birth. If they have truly experienced spiritual birth, they would be spiritual beings and they would behave like their Father Spirit. But they plainly show by their thoughts, words and actions that they are still only mere human beings, not yet divine beings, children of the divine Being, God. So a person can sincerely say that he/she believes in Jesus but he/she has not experienced spiritual birth.

Outline of the Process of Spiritual Conception and Birth

The seed or Word of God is planted in the human heart by preaching. This Word of God grows in that heart over a period of time by silence, meditating on it, obeying it. When the Word of God is fully developed in the human heart, it is born as a spirit of God. This is the spiritual or divine birth. This birth is not the direct result of an act of decision for Christ, to follow him. It is the end of a long process.

The process is that after a while the person is convinced of the complete trustworthiness of the Word of God and a word from that Word penetrates his/her heart and he/she surrenders himself/herself completely to Jesus without any reservation. It is like the infant surrendered completely into this world at the mercy of his/her parents, and thus being born physically.

How do we know that we have been born spiritually? Or how do we know that we have been born as a spirit?

Principal Signs of Spiritual Birth

There are three principal signs by which we know that we have been born as a spirit. There are also three secondary or corroborating signs that this has happened in our life.

The first principal sign is an intense desire to read God's Word. It is like a thirst for God's Word. The newborn human baby immediately longs for his/her mother's milk. So also the newborn spirit longs for the Spirit's milk, the Word of God. Sometimes the person finds himself/herself unable to put down the Bible. He/she keeps on reading the Bible, even through the whole night. This is the normal, usual experience of a newborn spirit. He/she wants to read more and more of the Bible because for the first time he/she thinks he/she is able to understand it in a new light, as if the words are personally addressed to him/her. If he/she is not literate she intensely longs to listen to the reading of God's word.

The second principal sign is that he/she seeks companionship with other spirits. The newborn human baby seeks the comfort of his/her mother or other human beings. The same is true with the newborn spirit. He/she seeks other spirits to seek comfort and encouragement from them.

The third principal sign is that there is a change in the attitudes of the person who has undergone spiritual birth. This change in attitudes is not something studied or determined or willed by the person. The change happens naturally without any effort on his/her part. He/she just gets into these new attitudes, sometimes to his/her surprise. He/she has now a forgiving attitude where before he/she was vengeful. He/she is now considerate of others where before he/she was only self-seeking. And there are many other good attitudes which to his/her surprise she has now.

Secondary Signs of Spiritual Birth

Besides these three principal signs, there are three secondary signs. But these are mostly subjective. It is only the person who is born as spirit who knows these. These are corroborating evidences which prove that indeed a spiritual or divine birth has taken place.

The first secondary sign is that the world of creation seems new to him/her. He/she feels that it is springtime, even if it is the height of summer or the coolest of winter. There is a newness in all he/she sees. This is caused by the experience of a new life within him/her, the life of the spirit.

The second secondary sign is that the person has a feeling that something which has been lacking in his/her life is now fulfilled. He/she now feels that there was something he/she was seeking in his/her life which he/she could not even describe before, but how he/she feels that he/she has found this now. That is why in one evangelistic campaign the rallying words were "I found it."

The third secondary sign is that there is a lingering sickness that is now cured. The person may have suffered from a skin disease or ulcer or tuberculosis or other sickness for quite some time. Now the sickness is gone forever. The person may have been an alcoholic for several years. Now, suddenly the taste for alcohol is gone. Or he/she may have been a chain smoker for decades. Now the pull of the nicotine is gone forever. A person may have been attracted to the same sex for a number of years. Now he/she finds himself/herself normally attracted to the opposite sex.

If a person has not experienced these three principal signs and some of the secondary signs, then it is safe to say that he/she has not actually experienced spiritual birth. He/she might have experienced mystical or juridical spiritual birth through some ceremonies, but he/she has not personally, actually appropriated the experience of spiritual birth.

Conception in One Church, Birth in Another Church

It has happened very often that a person hears the Word of God for the first time in the religion he was born into, whether this religion is Christian or not. Then he/she nurtures this Word in another religion or church, through Bible study, for example. And while being nurtured in this other religion or church he/she is born spiritually. The tendency is to depart from his/her native religion and switch to the religion or church where he/she was nurtured in the Word of God.

Thus we have countless cases of Roman Catholics who first heard the Word of God in the Roman Catholic Church through principally the reading of the Bible during the Mass. They later nurtured this Word in another church, through Bible study groups and fellowships. They are born spiritually there. They leave the Roman Catholic Church and despise this Church. They do not realize that without their listening to the gospel readings in the Catholic Church they would have difficulty nurturing the Word of God in the church to which they now belong. The conception of the Word of God has been made easier by this first nurturing in the Catholic Church.

Only the Beginning

But this birth is only a beginning. The newborn spirit has to grow in order to develop spiritually.

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Here are your links to download the e-books for FREE. To download a copy of A NEW CHRIST by Wallace D. Wattles click this website http://bit.ly/anewchrist. To download a free copy of A NEW EARTH by Eckhart Tolle click this website http://bit.ly/ebookanewearth. I hope that you enjoy reading these free e-books and profit much from them, as I have also profited greatly from them.

The Second Stage of Spiritual Development

The second stage in spiritual development or the development of spirits in us is the germination or conception stage when the seed of the spirit is being conceived in us, grows within us after it has fertilized the image of God in us.

Again we take comparisons from the physical world. After the seed or sperm cell fertilizes the egg cell in the womb of a woman, conception follows with the production of the zygote and the fetus. In the world of the spirit a similar process occurs. The word of God enters the heart of the person and this word grows in that heart until it is born a spiritual being.

Difference in the Duration of Conception

But there are differences. While physical human conception normally takes around 9 months, spiritual conception can take a longer or shorter time than this.

Just like in the animal world there are different durations of conception so also in the spiritual world the period of conception differs from person to person.

For example, rabbits take only a little more than a month before they give birth to their young after fertilization, cats and dogs take a little more than 2 months. One of the longest is that of the elephant which takes about 22 months before birth.

Three Factors for a Successful Conception

The duration of spiritual conception depends on three things, just as in human conception three things make it successful.

In physical human conception there are three things the woman has to take care of so that the baby conceived in her womb would be successfully born. These three are proper nutrition, proper rest and exercise, and proper mental disposition.

So also in spiritual conception or the conception of the spirit in us three things are necessary to ensure success in the birth of the spirit. The first is proper nutrition also. The word of God in us needs proper food. The word of God in us is nourished by the word outside of us, the reading of God's word. And just as eating contraceptive substances may cause human abortion, so also reading materials that are contrary to God's word may result in spiritual abortion. The word of God is not developed but rejected by the person.

In Matthew 4:4 and Deuteronomy 8:3 the word of God is food for us. Thus, to take the word of God as food means that we read it and think of it as often as possible.

Secondly, the conceiving woman needs proper rest and exercise. So also the person conceiving the spirit of God needs proper rest and exercise. He or she needs to devote time to prayer. When we pray we rest from our work. And prayer is the best exercise for the spirit, because in prayer we converse with God who is the source of all strength.

Thirdly, the conceiving woman needs to have a proper mental disposition. If she always worries or is constantly plagued with problems, the child in her womb will be affected. So also the person conceiving the spirit needs a disposition of trust in God. He/she does not worry or have so many problems. He/she surrenders these to God.

How many months does it take before the spiritual birth occurs? It depends on the person carrying the seed of the spirit. It also depends on the Father of the spirit and on his ministers. He takes care of this spirit conceived in human persons through his ministers.

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http://bit.ly/spiritworld for knowing more about spirituality or spiritual realities

http://bit.ly/alterhealthcare for your health

http://bit.ly/novotrends for learning about the new trends around us

http://bit.ly/bepaidonline for earning some income from the Internet

Here are your links to download the e-books for FREE. To download a copy of A NEW CHRIST by Wallace D. Wattles click this website http://bit.ly/anewchrist. To download a free copy of A NEW EARTH by Eckhart Tolle click this website http://bit.ly/ebookanewearth. I hope that you enjoy reading these free e-books and profit much from them, as I have also profited greatly from them.

The First Stage of Spiritual Development

Like in other living organisms spiritual development or the development of spirits in us has a first stage, a beginning. We now go to the first stage in the process of spiritual development.

How Life Begins After Creation

After creation the life of complex molecular organisms begins as a seed. While simple molecular organisms such as the amoeba multiply by mere mitosis or division of cells, complex molecular organisms such as big plants, animals and human beings multiply by the process of seed breeding or fertilization of egg cells.

Plants produce seeds which when planted germinate into seedlings, reproducing their parent plants. Female animals have eggs or ova which when fertilized by the seed or sperm of male animals become zygotes, developing into embryos, then into fetuses to be born later as young animals. A similar process takes place with human beings. The egg cell of a woman is fertilized by the seed or sperm cell of a man. This fertilized egg cell becomes a zygote, developing into an embryo, then a fetus, and is born as a baby human being.

A Similar Process in Beginning the Life of the Spirit

Surprisingly a similar process takes place among spirits in us. Although we cannot observe this process by our eyes because spirits by nature are invisible, we can still deduce that this is the process because of the effects which we can perceive by our minds and from our own experience.

Furthermore we have a book which describes this process and this book is credible and has influenced for good the lives of countless people. This is the Christian Bible. Through this book we can learn about the first stage of spiritual development.

We know that the process of the beginning of the spirit is similar to that of the human being because the spirit begins also, so to speak, as a spiritual egg and is fertilized by a spiritual sperm.

The Spiritual Egg or Ovum

The spiritual egg in us is the image of God. God as we know is a spirit. When he created us he created us in his image (Genesis 1:26-27). He put his egg, as it were, in us.

The image of a thing is a copy of that thing. The difference between the thing and its image or copy is that the thing is real but the image is only a figure or picture of it. Let us clarify by reference to a man's image.

A man produces a picture of himself through a camera, traditional or digital. He develops and prints this picture or image of himself. That image looks like himself but he is different from that image. He is a living being while his image is only a picture. He breathes, walks, talks, eats and works. His image cannot breathe, walk, talk, eat or work. It is lifeless.

In a similar way that is what happened when we say that God created the human being in his image. A picture of himself, of God, was put in us. But it is only a picture, an image. Like the picture of man it is lifeless. God moves, talks, but his image is lifeless.

The human egg in the womb of a woman is useless unless it is fertilized. In fact if it is already in her womb and is not fertilized within a set period of days, it is flushed out by the body as a waste. This is part of the woman's menstrual cycle.

The image of God in us is like the human egg. Unless fertilized within the lifetime of a human person, it becomes useless and the human person has not attained his/her full potential, becoming a spirit like God.

This image of God in us is the egg of the spirit in us. This is where the first stage of spiritual development occurs. This egg needs to be fertilized by a sperm or seed of the spirit. This seed is the Word of God (Luke 8:11).

The Action of the Spiritual Seed or Sperm

The Word of God is in the Bible but the Word of God there needs to be activated or brought to life by an announcer. He/she takes the Word of God, announces this in the hearing of the human person and this Word of God penetrates the image of God within that person (Hebrews 4:12). When a person believes in the Word of God this image of God which is his egg is fertilized and spiritual development or the development of the spirit begins.

This is the first stage in spiritual development, the fertilization of the egg or image of God in us by the Word of God as proclaimed by an announcer. Those of us who have gone through the experience of conversion know that this is what happened to us. And we confirm that this is so.

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Here are my other blogs which may be of help to you:

http://bit.ly/spiritworld for knowing more about spirituality or spiritual realities

http://bit.ly/alterhealthcare for your health

http://bit.ly/novotrends for learning about the new trends around us

http://bit.ly/bepaidonline for earning some income from the Internet

Here are your links to download the e-books for FREE. To download a copy of A NEW CHRIST by Wallace D. Wattles click this website http://bit.ly/anewchrist. To download a free copy of A NEW EARTH by Eckhart Tolle click this website http://bit.ly/ebookanewearth. I hope that you enjoy reading these free e-books and profit much from them, as I have also profited greatly from them.

Stages of Spiritual Development

Spiritual development or the development of the spirit in us goes through stages, just like the development of other living organisms.

Stage 1: Planting the Seed of the Spirit in Us
The first stage is the planting of the spirit’s seed in us. As we saw in our Primer, Part 4, this seed is the Word of God. The responsibility of doing this planting in us does not lie with us but with the ministers of the Word of God who have been commissioned to do this. In the Catholic Church this responsibility lies eminently with the bishops. “Among the principal duties of bishops the preaching of the Gospel occupies an eminent place” (Vatican II's Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Number 25). In the other churches their ministers or pastors are primarily responsible for this. But all church leaders and members have the duty also of helping in the planting of the seed in those who have not yet heard the Word of God.

Stage 2: Germination of the Seed of the Spirit in Us
A seed may be planted but it may not germinate. In the Parable of the Sower (Matthew 13:1-23) the main reason why the seed does not germinate is because an enemy takes it away from the soil or heart of the hearer.

Germination is equivalent to the conception of the fertilized egg in the woman.

Stage 3: The Birth of the Spirit in Us
After a period of germination or conception the seed of the spirit now becomes fully developed, like a sapling or foetus, and is soon born of the person. In the plants the seed now comes out as a blade, then a stalk. In the animals it comes out as an offspring. In the humans it is born as a baby. In the world of spirits the spirit comes out as a new-born babe in the spirit (1 Peter 2:2).

Stage 4: The Growth of the Spirit in Us
Again, like other living organisms, the spirit grows in us. As it grows it needs the proper nutrients. We saw in our Primer, Part 11, these nutrients are: spiritual milk or the first principles of God’s word, solid food or the whole counsel of God, especially in the Gospels, doing the things that its family or the Church does, solitude, discipline, communicating with its parent God and its spirit brothers and sisters.

Stage 5: The Maturation of the Spirit in Us
The spirit grows and matures in us. It becomes victorious through trials and temptations.

Stage 6: The Spirit Bears Fruit in Us
As we same in our Primer, Part 12, there are three ways by which the spirit in us bears fruit. The third of these is also the way by which the spirit multiplies among us.

The spirit bears fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Then it also bears fruit in good works. Thirdly it bears fruit by planting the seed of God’s word in others so that they too are born as spirits. In this way more and more spirits are born on this earth.

Stage 7: The Repetition of the Cycle in the Lives of Persons
As the seed of God’s word continues to be sown in the hearts and minds of other persons, more and more spirits are conceived and born into this world. This is now the quantitative development of spirits.

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Here are my other blogs which may be of help to you:

http://bit.ly/spiritworld for knowing more about spirituality or spiritual realities

http://bit.ly/alterhealthcare for your health

http://bit.ly/novotrends for learning about the new trends around us

http://bit.ly/bepaidonline for earning some income from the Internet

Here are your links to download the e-books for FREE. To download a copy of A NEW CHRIST by Wallace D. Wattles click this website http://bit.ly/anewchrist. To download a free copy of A NEW EARTH by Eckhart Tolle click this website http://bit.ly/ebookanewearth. I hope that you enjoy reading these free e-books and profit much from them, as I have also profited greatly from them.