What Hinders Spiritual Growth

Let's get down to business! Most of us who were up in Christian homes don't/didn't understand what “Jesus is the Lord of my life” means. The truth is that the instant we acknowledged Jesus to be Lord of our life, we were giving Him complete control of our lives. Not only did we give Him the keys to the living room, but we also handed Him the keys to the rest of the house. Stop compartmentalizing your life. Living a life of half obedience will only stifle your spiritual growth.

b.IGNORANCE:

They claim that ignorance of the law is not a justification. People die because they don't know what they don't know (Hosea 4:6), thus ignorance isn't bliss. Spiritual illiteracy is quite harmful. We won't recognize the need to grow if we don't understand the purpose and importance of spiritual growth as youngsters. This puts us in a dangerous position since the devil has the ability to mislead and deceive us. You can't continue to ignore your spiritual well-being. Such a mindset can stifle your spiritual development.

LACK OF COMMITMENT&INCONSISTENCY:

Consistency has a lot of power, and sticking to a plan gets you fantastic results. It is not a virtue to be unconcerned about one's spiritual well-being. God is devoted to loving you, and He wakes you up every morning to remind you of it. That's a lot of good fortune! Spiritual growth does not happen on its own (it isn't something you just want); you must be devoted and show up on a regular basis.

I used to suffer with consistency, which was one of the things that kept me from pursuing a more intimate connection with God. Prior to this, I would get all worked up and make plans to read my bible, pray, and so on. Unfortunately, their intentions never came to fruition. why? Because I wasn't dedicated or constant in my efforts. I was able to discipline myself and learn how to be consistent with the guidance of the Holy Spirit (this is a whole blog post for another day lol)

INDIFFERENCE TO THE THINGS OF GOD:

I characterize indifference as a lack of awe or astonishment when it comes to God. It's a stoic demeanor characterized by a lack of passion. We can become so used to God's creations that we lose sight of their beauty. You may reach a point when you feel obligated to participate in all of these things because you are a Christian. This can stifle your progress because your drive or inspiration has vanished. God no longer astounds you, and you are just present (stagnant).

FEAR OF GROWTH:

It's no secret that growing up is difficult. To progress, one must step beyond of one's comfort zone, let go of old habits, and adapt. That is not something most of us want to do, but it is required. Some people are terrified of the responsibilities that come with maturing, and this perspective can stifle (if not completely stop) their development.

What are the spiritual challenges?

• Over the last 30 years, psychological study on a number of spiritual issues has been done. Spiritual problems are one spiritual issue that has garnered a lot of attention.
• People are affected not only psychologically, socially, and physically by major life challenges, but also spiritually.
• Natural disasters, accidents, sicknesses, and other stressful circumstances can put people's spiritual lives in jeopardy or cause them to struggle spiritually.
• Spiritual coping problems are attempts to protect or transform people's relationships with whatever they consider precious, such as their connection to God/Higher Power, spiritual identity, and religious community connections.
• Terminology. Many studies on spiritual difficulty use the phrase “negative religious coping,” but we and other researchers have started to use the term “spiritual/religious problems.” Why?
• Spiritual conflicts can be watershed moments in human development or “forks in the path.”
• According to several research, persons who are able to resolve spiritual conflicts over time gain and grow from them.
• Others may choose to temporarily or permanently withdraw from spiritual challenges.
• Others who are stuck in their troubles emotionally and physically deteriorate.
• Even atheists and non-religious people may deal with spiritual issues such as feeling distanced from, unhappy with, angry with, or abandoned by God.
• See Constructs/Our Measures for more broad background information on spiritual problems.
• Spiritual conflicts refer to disagreements with God/Higher Power, oneself, and others over spiritual topics. Distressing feelings and doubts about one's spiritual journey in life arise as a result of these tensions.
• Internal/intrapsychic spiritual conflicts—inner conflict about spirituality or religion
• Spiritual conflicts with other family members, friends, clergy, community members, or the greater culture concerning spirituality or religion are interpersonal/communal spiritual challenges.
• The 7-item Negative Religious Coping subscale from the Brief RCOPE is most typically used to assess spiritual problems (Pargament, Feuille, & Burdzy, 2011). For the entire Brief RCOPE and lengthier scales to more fully examine spiritual problems, go to Constructs/Our Measures.
• For additional information on how we define these two overlapping concepts, see Defining Religion & Spirituality.

What comprehensive empirical research on Spiritual Struggles in Coping with Marital Problems has been conducted?

• Despite substantial research on spiritual issues in other areas, there has been essentially no systematic research on spiritual struggles in marriage. Nonetheless, the Relational Spirituality Framework emphasizes that serious or persistent marital issues, such as infidelity, can lead to private or communal spiritual challenges with God.
• Prior research on spirituality and marital problems has relied on indirect indicators to determine if people feel spiritual struggles as a result of marital problems, such as frequency of religious attendance or overall value of religion in everyday life. We employ definitions and measurements of spiritual challenges established in past research on non-marital stressors to stimulate more in-depth study on spiritual struggles with marital problems (e.g., natural diasters, health problems).
• In practice, we have concentrated our research on Divine Spiritual Struggles rather than Internal or Interpersonal Spiritual Struggles in relation to marital issues.
• When it comes to interpreting and reacting to marital problems, we characterize Divine Spiritual Struggles with Marital Problems as having a confrontation with God. It's helpful to define conflict before delving into this definition. We define conflict as an individual's internal or external conflicts over his or her life goals and/or paths to achieving those goals. When troubles emerge, humans can be in conflict with God, just as they might have internal or interpersonal conflict. Problems in marriage can jeopardize life ambitions. An individual may have a disagreement with God about why marital difficulties have arisen and what should be done to resolve them. These conflicts with God might lead to negative feelings and thoughts regarding one's relationship with God.

For psychological research, how do we measure Divine Struggles in Coping with Marital Problems?

• We used the following three sub-scales (three items each) from Pargament's R-COPE to assess divine spiritual struggles with marital troubles in our transition to parenting study. These nine items were mixed in with R-COPE sub-scale items from other sub-scales. For additional information on the history and development of the R-COPE and Spiritual Struggles Sub-scales, see Constructs/Our Measures.
• Instructions for dealing with marital troubles include the following: The sentences that follow outline particular ways that people might manage with the inevitable marital problems that arise from time to time. When you think about the challenges you've had in your marriage, how much do you use each of the following to deal with them? When I'm having marital issues, I…

How might Divine Spiritual Struggles in Coping with Marital Problems benefit or hinder a marriage or couple relationship?

• To the best of our knowledge, our study on the transition to parenthood is the first attempt to investigate how much married couples experience spiritual struggles as a result of marital difficulties, and what impact these divine spiritual struggles have on the marriage and each spouse's psychological or spiritual well-being. We are presently doing analyses and will report back when we have more information.

What can hinder your blessings?

Fear, the kind you can feel in your gut and hinders you from doing what you need to do, oh, good old fear. When we are afraid, our bodies and minds respond in a way that keeps us safe. Safe from failure, heartbreak, and grief, but think about it: what are you protecting yourself from? You're trying to protect yourself from something that hasn't happened yet. Consider that for a moment. Doesn't that sound ridiculous? Because we are afraid of the unknown, fear will prohibit us from receiving benefits and will keep us in our current position. Some of us are so afraid of making a mistake that we choose to do nothing in order to avoid it! Recognize when fear rears its ugly head since this is a sign that it's time to continue on your trip! I assure you that everything will be fine.

What does spiritual growth require?

Tolerance, patience, tact, and consideration for others improve your character and broaden your understanding and consciousness beyond the ego.

Everyone has the right to spiritual development. It is the key to a happy and peaceful life, as well as the manifestation of the immense power of the spirit within you.

This spirit can be found in both the most material and the most spiritual individuals. The degree to which spirituality manifests is determined by how close the inner spirit is to the surface and how much it is buried by our thoughts, beliefs, and harmful behaviors.

What does the Bible say about hindrances to prayer?

The first is a lack of prayer. If we don't pray, it's pointless to pray. “God forbid that I should offend against the Lord by neglecting to pray for you,” says I Samuel 12:23. Stopping to pray, Samuel believed, was a sin against God.

“That situation in which one prays less than one ought, less than the Father desires, and less than one himself knows he should,” says Jack Taylor. Are you guilty of the sin of not praying?

The second reason is a lack of effort. Our prayer life is hampered by lazy praying. Persecution pushed the church to frequent, serious prayer, according to Acts 12:1-11. This text describes a miracle that occurred as a result of prayer. Are we slackers when it comes to prayer?

Finally, there are selfish motives (James 4:3). Despite the fact that the Bible instructs us to present our petitions to God, we must be careful not to make self-serving demands. Selfish praying, according to Hunt, jeopardizes the fulfillment of God's objectives. God-centered, kingdom-focused prayer is about wanting God's will to be done, not our own.

Fourth, there is a lack of faith (James 1:6-8). Strengthening your prayer life necessitates growing your faith. We don't believe because we feel God doesn't keep His promises.

God's character is the polar opposite of wavering, because God does not change. God expects us to believe not just that He is capable of answering our prayers, but also that He will. Never be concerned that what we're asking is too big or too difficult.

Not abiding in Christ is the fifth sin (John 15:7). Our prayer life is enriched by a constant, passionate contact with Christ. The vine and branches metaphor was used by Jesus to stress the need of maintaining a vital link that provides nourishment and indicates entire reliance. Are you a follower of Christ?

The sixth point is our sin and rebellion (Isaiah 59:2). Our selfish pride is the source of sin. “If I regard evil in my heart, the Lord will not hear,” says Psalm 66:18. The Psalmist highlights how our inner resistance prevents us from praying. Unconfessed and ignored sin was also a hindrance for Isaiah. Our prayers are hampered when we choose disobedience.

Seventh, a spirit that is unforgiving. Prayer is hampered when people refuse to follow biblical conflict resolution guidelines. What exactly did Jesus have to say? Matthew 5:23-24 is a good place to start. We must ask people for forgiveness and forgive those who have wronged us.

When we refuse to forgive, we are not only disobeying a precise instruction from Jesus, but we are also harming our prayer lives.

We also poison our lives. Living on this side of eternity undoubtedly brings us into contact with flawed individuals who occasionally hurt us, yet bitterness simmering in our hearts will ultimately destroy us. Forgiveness benefits both the forgiver and the forgiven.

The eighth reason is a lack of perseverance (Luke 11:5-13). Persistence was a lesson imparted by Jesus. God is always at work around us; He just doesn't seem to act as quickly as we would want. Don't give up easily. Continue to pray and persevere. Continue knocking.

God is waiting for you, number nine. God is patiently awaiting your response. “No good thing will He withhold from them who walk uprightly,” says Psalm 84:11. Do we live in a state of disobedience? It's possible that God is refusing to answer your prayers to bring you back into alignment with His plan and intentions.

ten, erroneous inquiry (James 4:3). God's definition of a good item may differ from ours. God's timing is superior to our own. “If you, who are bad, know how to give good gifts to your children,” Matthew 7:11 says, “how much more will your father in heaven give good things to those who ask Him?” We must trust God as our wonderfully good heavenly Father because He has our best interests at heart.

When our prayers go unanswered, what should we do? Begin by evaluating our hearts to see if there are any impediments that are acting against us. Remove all obstacles and never stop praying.

What is spiritual decline?

Then we looked to see if spiritual growth, spiritual decline, and meaning-making could moderate the link between religious difficulty, anxiety, and life satisfaction. People who try to understand their struggle and whose difficulty is a source of positive changes in their world view, relationships, and aspirations or sense of self are more satisfied with life and have less anxiety, according to the theory (spiritual growth). Anxiety rises and life satisfaction falls when struggle leads to unfavorable changes in an individual's world view, connections with others, or life goals (spiritual decline).

For four types of struggle, we discovered that the mediation impact was significant: demonic, moral, interpersonal, and theological doubt. Spiritual progress and spiritual decline were important mediators in demonic and moral conflict. As we expected, demonic and moral problems can lead to increased life satisfaction, but spiritual decline can lead to increased anxiety. Spiritual decline was found to be a key factor in the link between interpersonal conflict, anxiety, and life happiness.

We conclude that the impact of moral conflict on anxiety and life satisfaction is determined by how moral pressures are addressed. When people are confronted with moral defects and personality weaknesses (religious struggle), noticing good changes in self-perception, viewing the world, and perceiving others increases their contentment with life. Moral conflicts, on the other hand, cause anxiety since they lead to unfavorable alterations in self-image and view of the world. Some psychological theories (e.g., Erikson's Theory of Psychosocial Development or Kohlberg's Theory of Moral Development) emphasize the role of moral conflicts as a transitional stage that can lead to both regression and maturation, as well as a higher quality of life (e.g., Erikson 1968; Kohlberg 1976).

Strengths and Limitations of the Study

The study's primary flaw is its cross-sectional design, which precludes any inferences on cause–effect relationships. The interpretation strategy used in this work is based on theoretical assumptions. Longitudinal research are needed to determine the health and well-being effects of religious conflicts. Because the study relied on people's self-reports, there was no way to control for response bias. It's possible that the findings are influenced by social desirability. However, the fact that respondents completed the measures anonymously and were questioned about positive and negative results may mitigate this potential. They wouldn't have supported negative outcomes if they were aiming to present themselves in a favorable way, right? Regardless, studies in the future should include scales that assess social desirability, and if required, control for it. We also assumed that the survey instruments' performance characteristics were unaffected by their translation into Polish.

What is spiritual disturbance?

A person's belief system is disrupted by spiritual discomfort. Spiritual discomfort is described as “a disruption in the life principle that pervades a person's complete being and integrates and transcends one's biological and psychological nature,” according to an accepted nursing diagnosis.

What is negative spirituality?

“It makes obvious that the more religious or spiritual you are, the healthier you are,” said Brick Johnstone, a neuropsychologist and professor of health psychology at the University of Missouri School of Health Professions. “However, some people's health is worsened even if they have the tiniest amount of bad spirituality — basically, when people believe they're sick because they've done something wrong and God is punishing them.”

Johnstone and his colleagues looked at nearly 200 people to see how their spiritual beliefs influenced their health. Some of the participants in the study had cancer, severe brain damage, or chronic pain, while others were in good health. The participants were divided into two groups: those who reported feeling abandoned or punished by a higher power, and those who did not report feeling abandoned or punished by a higher power, according to the researchers. Participants were asked about their mental and physical well-being, as well as physical pain.

Negative spirituality was associated with much worse pain, as well as physical and mental health, whereas positive spirituality was associated with better mental health. The researchers discovered that having any level of negative spiritual belief contributed to lower health outcomes, even if people expressed favorable spiritual views.

“According to previous study, roughly 10% of people hold negative spiritual beliefs, such as believing that if they don't do something perfectly, God will abandon them,” Johnstone said. “It's a negative feature of religion when people believe that God is against them.' What type of hope am I holding out for?' People with a firm belief that God loves and forgives them despite their flaws, on the other hand, have much better mental health.”

People who have negative spiritual ideas are less likely to engage in religious practices and have lower degrees of positive spirituality and forgiveness. According to Johnstone, interventions that help battle negative spiritual ideas and encourage positive spiritual beliefs could help some people improve their pain and mental health.

The study was published in the Journal of Spirituality and Mental Health and was titled “Relationships Between Negative Spiritual Beliefs and Health Outcomes for Individuals With Heterogeneous Medical Conditions.”

Can God bless a sinner?

It depends on the definition of the term “Listen.” It can never be said that God cannot hear something in a literal sense. Nothing escapes God's notice, and He cannot be considered to be incapable of hearing a request in any way.

If, on the other hand, “It's a different matter if “hear” signifies that a request will be accepted positively by God.

Though there are certainly exceptions, it appears that God pays little attention to the prayers of unrepentant mortal sinners. For instance, we read in the Bible, “No, the Lord's hand is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear; rather, it is your sins that separate you from God, / and it is your sins that cause him to hide his face / so that he does not hear you” (Is 59:1-2). Alternatively, “Those who turn a deafening deafening deafening deafening deafening deafening deafening deafening deafening dea (Prv 21:13).

So it appears that there is a strong case to be made that unrepentant mortal sinners will have a difficult time getting their prayers answered as they wish.

However, even mortal sinners enjoy many of God's blessings, according to experience. Jesus confirms this in the Bible as well: “His sun rises on the just and the unjust, and rain falls on the just and the unjust” (Mt 5:45).

God's decision to give or withhold favors from the unjust is thus a mystery of His providence, rather than an all-or-nothing notion. Perhaps He knows that a person will repent one day; perhaps He knows that an answered prayer today would aid in subsequent repentance. Perhaps He also realizes that withholding a blessing is the preferable option. As a result, God retains sovereignty over the application of wisdom to each situation.

However, we must be realistic about the importance of praying in righteousness. Why should God trust us with more blessings if He can't trust us with the ones we already have?

The First Letter of John offers some suggestions for praying with and for individuals who are deeply in sin: “If someone observes his brother committing a sin that is not fatal, he should pray to God, who will grant him life. This is solely for individuals who do not have a fatal sin. There is such a thing as fatal sin, and I do not recommend that you pray about it. All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that is not deadly” (5:15-17). (5:15-17). While John's injunction is convoluted, he is effectively suggesting that if we are relatively certain that someone is in significant sin, we should forego praying for little things like a new job for them, and so on. Instead, the most important and only truly effective prayer for them is repentance. Because being dead in sins effectively blocks all other rewards.

So, while God can bless even the worst of sinners, we should not expect Him to do so and instead focus on praying for lifesaving repentance.