Conversion -- to become spiritual you first must be truly converted. If you're living in disobedience to God (Eph 5:6) in any area in your life you need to be saved from disobedience (Joh 14:24; 1Joh 2:3-4). You experience true conversion by having godly sorrow (2Cor 7:10), repentance (Luke 13:3), forsaking of all sin (Joh 5:14), by faith believing on Jesus in your heart (Rom 5:1), confess with your mouth Jesus as your Savior (Rom 10:9-10), confession of sins to God in Jesus name (1Joh 1:9; Act 4:12) and then go in the power of the Holy Spirit (1Cor 10:13; 2Pet 1:10; Jud 1:24) and sin no more (1Joh 5:18).
Relationships -- work to develop a personal relationship with God that is based on love (Joh 14:21); love God with all your heart and love your neighbor as yourself (Mar 12:30, 21), and do to others as you would want them to do to you (Luk 6:31); maintain a healthy fear of displeasing God (Mat 10:28).
Faith -- you build faith by hearing the Word of God (Rom 10:17) and by praying in the Holy Spirit (Jud 1:20); it is by faith that you stand (2Cor 1:24), by faith that you have victory over the world (1Joh 5:4), by faith that you quench all the fiery darts of the wicked (Eph 6:16), and you are kept by the power of God from sin thought faith (1Pet 1:5); by faith through prayer you have boldness and access with confidence (Eph 3:12) to the throne of God where you will find grace to help in time of need (Heb 4:16); the more time you spend in scriptures and prayer the more spiritual victory you will have.
Devotions -- retire early and rise early (Luk 22:46); pray then read (1Tim 4:13), study (2Tim 2:15) and memorize scriptures; have a time of meditate, praise, singing of hymns, read from a devotional book, and review meeting notes for the past week; start with 30 minutes daily and advance to 1 or 2 hours. practice this day after day and you will be renewed and not faint (2Cor 4:16); the main spiritual lack most have is their devotional life, if you don't fix this lack you will never go anywhere but up and down in your spiritual experience. If you find yourself short of time for devotions in the morning then start retiring earlier and getting up earlier. To be spiritual you must start your day with proper devotions. Reading the scriptures and prayer will increase your faith (Rom 10:17, Jud 1:20); renew your spiritual life day by day (2Cor 4:16).
Prayer -- pray first thing in the morning (Luk 22:46); as soon as you awake in the morning go to prayer and don't let the flesh and devil get you distracted doing other things; the devil will be happy if you spend lots of time reading the Bible as long as he can keep you off your knees in prayer; pray in the Spirit (Eph 6:18); when possible pray out loud so your mind will not wander; pray as you go through your day (1The 5:17); prayer will empower you to resist temptation (Mar 14:28); fast and pray to gain victory in strong trials and temptations (Mat 17:21); pray for a holy hatred of all sin; when in pray give time to listen to the voice of God; at the end of each day pray asking the Lord to examine your walk that day and give time to listen to him and make any lacks he reveals a matter of prayer; prayer will increase your faith (Rom 10:17).
Meditation -- mediate daily on the following. In the morning that this may be your last day; in the evening you may not awake up to a new day; that Christ may come today and call the world into judgment; that the unsaved you have been sharing Christ with may die today; that others will be watching your conduct today; on your need to live a life worthy of professing the name of Christ; on the areas in your life where you need the most spiritual help; on the love of God for your soul; on the price Christ paid to redeem you; on the sufferings of Christ on the cross; of the debt you owe God for saving your soul; of your love for the Savior; that all material blessings will be left here when you die; on the stewardship that you must give on that last day; on how to please the Savior; on where you would be without Christ; on the all the victories God has given you; on the pains of hell; that you have a enemy that is trying to draw you back into the world.
Watching -- watch and pray you don't enter into temptation (Mat 26:41); be careful with your interaction with those of the opposite gender (2Tim 2:22); watch daily for Christ's coming (1Joh 3:3); resist seeing, hearing, reading things, being in places, or being with people that lead you into temptation; examine your walk at the end of each day and make any lacks revealed a matter of prayer.
Spiritual Fruit -- memorize the following scriptures that list the fruit of the Spirit and mediate on them (Mat 5:3-9, 1Cor 13:4-7, 2Cor 7:11, Gal 5:22-23, Eph 4:2-3, Eph 5:9, Phil 4:8, Col 3:12-15, 1Tim 6:11-12, 2Tim 2:22, 2Pet 1:5-7); God has ordained that you bring forth fruit and that your fruit would remain (Jon 15:6); you can not bear fruit by yourself but only by abiding in Christ (Joh 15:4, 5); you are given a measure of each spiritual fruit at conversion (Rom 12:3); you must be diligent to increase in the fruits of the Spirit (1Pet 1:5); list the fruits you lack the most and make a prayerful effort daily to increase by the grace of God; bringing forth good fruit will take spiritual work and patience (Luk 8:15); you must die to yourself to bring forth much fruit (Joh 12:24); God is glorified when you bring forth much fruit (Joh 15:8); if you are not increasing in fruit you have become spiritually blind (1Pet 1:9).
Temperance -- in eating, sleeping, working, talking, and things you enjoy (Phil 4:5); mind the things of the Spirit not the pleasures of this world and your flesh (Rom 8:5); your spirit must rule over the flesh; they that live after self and the flesh will die spiritually (Rom 8:13).
Humility -- have a proper attitude toward the weaknesses and failings you see in others and discuss them with God only; don;t be proud about any abilities or understanding you have (Jam 4:6); if discussing your spiritual victories with others temper them with your needs and a request for prayer; shun the praise of men, love to be unknown, unseen, and seek God's favor not man's (Joh 5:44); love to be instructed (Pro 12:1); don't dress to be noticed; remember God will judge you the way you judge others (Mat 7:2); don't think more highly of your self that you should (Rom 12:3); you should profess you are a unprofitable servant and you have only done that which was your duty (Luk 17:10); the more spiritual you become the less spiritual you will realize you are; the wisest people are those that know they know very little; when you realize you are weak then you are strong (2Cor 12:10); you are not capable of doing anything, any capacity you have comes from God (2Cor 3:5).
Stewardship -- be a good steward of your body, time, money, material goods, desires, & thoughts (Rom 12:1); you are not your own and all you have is Gods and is to be used for His glory (1Cor 6:19, 20).
Meetings -- pray before meeting; read your Bible or a spiritual book or meditate on a hymn prayerfully while you are waiting for meeting to start; don't let your mind wander in meeting; record the scriptures and thoughts brought out in testimonies, exhortations, and preaching; review these scriptures daily in the following week; seek out those that are spiritual after meeting and have spiritual conversations.
Speech -- don't speak corrupt words but words that will edify (Eph 4:29); be careful not to talk to much (Pro 17:28); put away all evil speaking (Eph 4:31); try not to be the center of all conversations but encourage others to be part of the conversation; realize that there are always two sides to every story you are told (Pro 18:13, 17); don't believe or repeat all that you are told (Pro 14:15); refuse to listen to or repeat gossip; don't discuss the failings and faults of others; try to steer conversations toward spiritual things; walk away from sinful conversations (Mat 12:37).
Self Examination -- list personality and spiritual weaknesses or lacks and seek grace to become strong in those areas (Mat 5:6; 2Cor 7:1; Phil 2:12); pray for understanding on which areas you should be working on and how to increase in those areas; you should know what your greatest need is and the top five areas that you need help in; routinely put your daily devotions to the top of your spiritual needs list and focus on getting up earlier, spending more time and using your devotional time more productive -- an increase in your devotion life will empower you to deal more efficiently with your other spiritual needs; you should examine your spiritual progress in prayer at the end of each day (2Cor 13:5).
Witnessing -- sharing the good news of Christ is part of your spiritual armor that you must have on to be able to stand (Eph 6:13, 15); point people to Christ not to yourself (2Cor 4:5); keep a supply of tracts and booklets for both unsaved and saved and have your Bible with you where ever you go; for the most part brothers should work with men and sisters should deal with women thus avoiding any traps the devil may try to set; take the name and address of those you have profitable discussions with and follow up with literature, visits if they are open having you visit, and put them on your prayer list.
Good works -- be careful to maintain works (Tit 3:8); works are to be motivated by the love of God (1Cor 13:3); don't seek the praise or approval of man; do works as to the Lord and not to man (Eph 6:7).
Heart Experience -- you must be careful that your practical living or heart experience is much further ahead that your knowledge or head experience. If you have more in your head that in your heart the head knowledge will tend to puff you up. If you are to be accused of forwarding or making any teaching a hobby then it must be heart holiness -- loving God with all your heart, and a soul burden for others -- loving your neighbor as your self. The scriptures you memorize, the books you read, and the experience you testify of must be primary one of heart holiness and a soul burden for others.
Judging -- you are to judge false preachers (Mat 7:15-17) and false professors by their fruit (Mar 4:7,18,19); the spiritual person judges all things (1Cor 2:15); hypocrites with a beam in their eye are not to judge those with a mote in their eye (Mat 7:5); God will judge you with the same measure as you judge others (Mat 7:2); when you see errors and faults in others and are inclined to judge them examine yourself to see if you have this same or similar error in your life and put the judgment on yourself; keep a mental list of your greatest spiritual blunders and mistakes and when you see errors in others consider how much worse your errors have been; remember it is easier to see errors in others than it is to see errors in yourself; there is little profit in judging others but great profit in judging yourself (1Cor 11:31); keep a mental list of the greatest sins you have committed and when you are tempted to judge the sins of others with contempt consider how wicked you were yourself before conversion (Tit 3:3); realize that things are not always as they seem and don't judge things before you know both sides of the what happened (Pro 18:13, 17); don't believe every report you hear and make wrong judgments (Pro 14:15); don't judge according to appearance (Joh 7:24); don't judge the motives of others as only God can see their heart; don't judge others by the light you have but by the light they have (Pro 17:15).
Spiritual Marks -- victory over all sinning (1Joh 5:18); pure in heart (Mat 5:8, Act 15:8,9); loving God with all your heart and your neighbor as yourself (Mar 12:30,21); doing to others as you would have them do to you (Luk 6:31); strong prayer life and devotional life (Luk 18:1); carefulness in conduct (2Cor 7:11); humble in mind (Act 20:19), meek in spirit (1Cor 4:21); lowly in attitude (Eph 4:2); kind one to another (Eph 4:32); having sound speech (Tit 2:8); holy hatred of sin (Rom 12:9); not braggarts or boasters (2Tim 3:2); patient with the faults of others (1Cor 13:7); submissive one to another (1Pet 5:5); meek when correcting others (2Tim 2:25); spiritually minded (Rom 8:5,6); hungering and thirsting after more of God (Mat 5:6); increasing in the fruit of the Spirit (2Pet 1:8); not conformed to this world (Rom 12:2); victory over unlawful desires of the flesh, eyes, and mind (1Joh 2:16); prayerful through out the day (Eph 6:18); forgiving towards one another (Eph 4:32); true love towards fellow believers (1Pet 1:22); serving others (Gal 6:10); do all things with love (1Cor 16:14); study the scriptures (2Tim 2:15); carry a burden for the lost; modesty in dress (1Tim 2:9); not critical but search for the good in others; watching for and earnestly desiring the return of Christ (2Pet 3:11).
Pride -- all that commit sin have a proud and haughty spirit (Pro 16:18); those that are proud are an abomination to God (Pro 16:5); those that are proud in heart will cause strife (Pro 28:25); the proud love the praise of men (Joh 12:43); where there is contention there is pride (Pro 13:10); God resists the proud but to the humble gives grace to help live holy (1Pet 5:5, Heb 4:16); you are commanded to humble yourself (Jam 4:10); the beginning of wisdom is to hate pride (Pro 8:13).
Thoughts -- the mind is the battle ground (2Cor 10:3); Jesus knows your thoughts so be careful what you think (Luk 6:8); fix your thoughts on the things of God and not on earthly things (Phi 3:19); don't think of yourself highly (Rom 12:3); love God with all your mind (Mat 22:37); be careful to not speak what ever thoughts come to your mind (Pro 29:11); be transformed by the renewing of your mind (Rom 12:2); don't give your mind to think about the pleasure of the flesh (Rom 8:5); think on things that are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, of good report, virtuous, and worthy of praise (Phi 4:8); you can through the power of God cast down imaginations and bring every thought into control (2Cor 10:4-5); memorize scriptures and meditate on them when you are presented with impure thoughts; evil thoughts are not sin they are temptations (Heb 4:15); quote the Word of God to fight temptation of the mind (Mat 4:4).
Trials -- don't think is strange that you will have trials (1Pet 4:12); trials will work patience in you (Jam 1:3); the day of trial and testing will reveal what your spiritual building is made of, when your spiritual building still abides after the trial or test you will be rewarded, when trials show you were building wrong rejoice and start building right (1Cor 3:12); trials don't bring out the worst in you, they show what was there all along.
Grace -- pledge daily to be spiritually violent (Mat 11:12); pray for power to resist temptations of the flesh, eyes and mind (1Cor 10:13, 2Pet 1:10); go often to prayer for grace to help in time of need (Heb 4:16).
Conduct -- you must stamp holiness unto God on all actions, attitudes, words spoken, thoughts, desires, clothing, and things you possess (Col 3:17).
Family -- love your wife as yourself (Eph 5:28), submissive to your husband as is fit in the Lord (Col 3:18), obey your parents in the Lord (Eph 6:1), nurturing your children (Eph 6:4); submit one to another (1Pet 5:50); rejoice with each other in victories and console those that are going those difficulties (Rom 12:15); have family devotions in the morning and at the end of each day; bring your children up in the way they should go (Pro 22:6).
Fasting -- the disciples of John fasted often and Christ's disciples are instructed to fast also (Mat 9:15); the primary reason to fast is self denial (Mar 8:34); fast and pray when in strong trials or temptations (Mat 17:21);
Temptations -- temptations are not sin as Christ was tempted but with out sin (Heb 4:15); resist seeing, hearing, reading things, being in places, or being with people that lead you into temptation; God will not allow you to be tempted above what you can bear and will make a way to escape for you (1Cor 10:13); if you are spiritually diligence you will never fall back into sin (2Pet 1:10).
Disputes -- as the children of God you are called to be a peacemaker (Mat 5:9); do unto others as you would have them do unto you (Luk 6:31); if you have a quarrel against any forgive them even if they don't apologize for Christ forgave you and don't hold a grudge (Eph 4:32, Col 3:13); if you don't forgive neither will God forgive you (Mar 11:26); be ready to forgive your brother seven times seventy (Mat 18:21,22); never render railing for railing (1Pet 3:9); follow after the things that make for peace (Rom 14:19); love bears, believes, hopes and endures all things (1Cor 4:7); you are to endeavor to keep unity and peace (Eph 4:3); try to defuse a dispute before it starts; never feel like you have to win a dispute; pray and remain claim and never raise your voice; give room for each other to talk and don't be interruptive; when trying to solve a dispute take as much blame as you honestly can; don't make personal attacks or inflammatory statements; if the others conduct is below the scriptures standards state that and if your conduct was below the scriptures standards admit it and apologize; apologize even if you feel like you did nothing wrong; if the other person is unreasonable and gets upset walk away from the dispute and go and pray; if your feelings were hurt go and pray Christ will give you help; some disputes will not be able to be resolved and you can do is your best and leave the rest to Jesus; those that are proud in heart will cause strife (Pro 28:25); whenever there is strife and contentious disputes there is carnality and pride with at least one of the people (Pro 13:10, 1Cor 3:3); fools and sinners enjoy strife and quarrels (Pro 17:19, Pro 20:3).
Honesty -- all unrepentant liars will be cast in the lake of fire (Rev 21:8); those that say they know God and don't keep his commandments are liars (1Joh 1:6, 2:4); those that claim to be free from sin any other way than through Christ are liars (1Jon 1:3,8); there are no small or white lies a lie is a lie; no one that lies will be in the holy Jerusalem (Rev 21:27).
False Teachings -- here is a list of a few of the more dangerous false teachings that are accepted in many denominations. Sin-you-must -- teaches you will continue to sin after be saved -- this false teaching makes people easy prey to temptations; Easy-Believism -- teaches that godly sorrow, repentance, and obedience to Christ are not necessary but all you must do is believe -- this false teaching will have people that are only under conviction thinking they are saved; Eternal Security -- teaches once saved if you go back to old life and live in sin, you will still go to heaven -- this false teaching will give a false sense of security and will work a carelessness in your spiritual experience; Unconditional Election -- teaches God preordained before the world who would be saved and those that are not preordained have no chance to be saved -- this false teaching gives the saved a false sense of security and the unsaved no hope that they can do anything about there unsaved state; Pentecostalism -- teaches that a prayer language called tongues is evidence of salvation and a higher spiritual life -- this false teaching is a spurious experience based on emotionalism that holds an external manifestation as proof of salvation instead of holiness of heart; Baptismal Regeneration -- teaches you are saved when you are baptized and you can't be saved with out water baptism -- this false teaching causes people to trust in baptism as proof of salvation and tries to deceive those that are truly saved but have not been baptized that they are not saved.
Devotional Books -- those that don't read devotional books on practical Christian living are at a disadvantage. Here is a list of quality books you should obtain and read regularly. Food for Lambs, The More Abundant Life, Heavenly Life for Earthly Living, How to Live a Holy Life, Helps to Holy Living
Charles E Orr;
Imitation of Christ by Thomas a Kempis;
A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life by William Law;
Dying Testimonies of Saved and Unsaved by S.B. Shaw; Maxims of the Saints, Christian Counsel, Spiritual Letters by
Bishop Fenelon;
Plain Account of Christian Perfection by John Wesley;
Perfect Love by J.A. Wood.
