Can You Grow Righteous?

You can grow in faith and love. But can you grow in righteousness? No. Righteousness (right standing with God) is a gift you received when you were born again and washed in the blood of Jesus. You can grow in the knowledge of your gift of righteousness, but you can never be more or less righteous (in right standing with God) than when you accepted Jesus as you Lord and Savior! Please notice I said 'more or less'. In other words, you do things right and good in your eyes doesn't make you 'righteous'. Neither are you less righteous when you mess up!

From BibleGateway.com. Romans 5:17  For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man,(talking about Adam here), how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ!

Grace means 'unmerited favor'. So God provides us with abundant grace. God provides us with abundant unmerited favor. Righteousness means 'right standing with God'.  Then through Jesus we got a gift. The gift of being in 'right standing with God'! So we have abundant unmerited favor and we will always be in right standing with God! Now how awesome is that? 

How Can You Get More Faith?

How can you have more faith? Your heart is your spirit. By feeding your spirit (heart) with the Word of God! Lack of God's Word in your heart makes you lack faith. So you say, "How do I feed my spirit?

Romans 10:17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. (NKJV from www.Biblegateway.com)

By coming before God and truly listening to what He is saying in His Word, you are feeding your spirit. Which can be hard in this world of chaos sometimes. You can start by confessing God's Word which is basically agreeing with it.  Start with the verse above, repeating it out loud, asking God to give you 'revelation' on it. Pick it apart. Faith comes by hearing. Ok. To get faith, I have to hear. Hear what? The Word of God. Where do I get the Word of God? Of course, the Bible would be it. But don't stop there. There's lots of good inspiring books and videos out there that will help bring out truths and revelations found in the Bible. Read them. Hear them. And you will be hearing God's Word and then faith comes! Ever notice how full of faith you come out with from church sometimes because of what was preached? You were being fed the 'Word of God'. Now don't starve yourself waiting till next Sunday to be fed again!

Where do you keep God's Word?

 Is God's Word coming from your heart (your spirit)? Or is it coming from the soul (mind,will, and emotions)? That's what it means to speak 'spirit filled words' or to have 'God speak through you'. Ask yourself this question. When I quote scripture or speak God's Word to someone, am I doing it in love or judgment? Or just boasting of my head knowledge? God is love, speaks love, so if it's a 'word from God', shouldn't it be spoken 'with love'? So before you speak out in the name of the Lord, ask Him "Is this what You want me to say?"
¹⁴ May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart
    be pleasing in your sight,
    Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer (NIV from Biblegateway.com)

"Let my words be acceptable in your sight, oh Lord, my rock and my redeemer!"