By Pastor Chinedu Emmanuel

For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them. Matthew 13:15.

Do you know it is possible to be a believer for years and still not fully understand the things of God? When the word is lacking, you will be far from spiritual fruitfulness. To get results in our prayer lives, we need to give active attention to God’s word. We must understand the word with our hearts and not with our heads. You can’t have an intellectual discourse of the bible and expect to grow spiritually. You can have a mental accent and quote scriptures but that would amount to nothing until it gets to your heart; your spirit. The word gets into your heart, then understanding it gives you revelation, and that is how your life is changed.

God often speaks to us, giving us rules and roles, but many believers struggle to understand because not much attention is given to the word of God. You cannot grow in your walk with Him without the word. Hebrews 5:11-12, “There is so much more we would like to say about this but it is difficult to explain, especially since you are spiritually dull and don’t seem to listen. You have been believers so long now that you ought to be teaching others. Instead, you need someone to teach you again the basic things about God’s word. You are like babies who need milk and cannot eat solid food.” NLT

Apostle Paul said that many believers have been in church for a long time and are expected to be teachers, but they still need someone to teach them. They don’t hear God, so they can’t carry out His instructions. They go from place to place looking for special prayers. Instead of listening to God, they look for who will prophesy and tell them what to do. They are afraid of everything and are unstable in all their ways because they don’t rely on the only stable thing: God. God is unchangeable. These indicate that such a person is not growing spiritually; they do not study the word.

A growing believer must cultivate the habit of hearing through God’s word and obeying Him promptly. Not dragged out unwillingly, but promptly. This is the only way He can trust you to be faithful with what you are asking Him for. “Luke 16:10, “The one who faithfully manages the little he has been given will be promoted and trusted with greater responsibilities but those who cheat with the little they have been given will not be considered trustworthy to receive more.” Pray for God to show you the areas where you are not faithful; areas where He cannot trust you so that you can make the adjustments by the help of His Holy Spirit.

A baby Christian is also, one who may have been in church for many years but is ruled by his emotions, feelings, hearsay, and is very touchy and easily irritated. He does not honor God with his givings; needs to be reminded to be generous to the poor. Babies are very self-focused naturally. A baby believer will not share with another Christian brother who is in need. Even when they do, they have an entitlement mentality and want to be recognized. They think about themselves only. All their prayers are about them and nothing else matters. He will not trust eternal treasures or spiritual responsibilities to a baby.

Remember that God considers integrity before He commits more to you and God knows the heart of every man and will not commit Kingdom finance to those who will use it for something else. If you desire for God to put you in charge of kingdom commitment, then focus on growing spiritually by giving attention to the word of God.

Pastor Chinedu Emmanuel is the Senior Pastor Of the Fountain Of The Living Word Church, New Jersey