For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.” Matthew 7:8 NKJV

As we continue our meditation on prayer, I want to highlight the second important aspect of prayer: praying for personal spiritual progress.

According to Scripture, we have been given everything that pertains to life and godliness in Christ Jesus. Our calling is to grow into the fullness of the measure of the stature of Christ. In another passage, it says we have been given fullness in Christ. And in 2 Corinthians 3:18, we read:

“We all, with unveiled faces, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.”

Our spiritual transformation is enabled by two key practices:

1. Our ability to see—through Scripture—who we truly are and what we’ve been given in Christ.
   Seeing is one thing, but becoming thoroughly convinced of what we’ve seen is another. That leads to the second point:
2. Meditative prayer and prayers of petition based on the picture we’ve captured from Scripture. This is the seeking and knocking aspect of our theme verse. This spiritual ground must be cultivated with consistency and intentionality over months and years.

If you desire to grow in spiritual gifts, graces, or ability, you must labor in this area—for the purpose of becoming like Christ in the things that have been revealed to you.

There is also the aspect of stepping out in faith, which I assume you already understand.

One must first see, and then determine to become what they have seen. That determination is expressed through repetitive meditation and prayer, until everything within you aligns with the vision. That’s where transformation happens.

I pray you will invest the time and discipline to truly practice this.