Christian Spiritual Growth in Good Seasons
It is easy to pray hard when life is falling apart.
When the bills are due, the relationship is strained, the business is struggling, the kids are acting wild, or your heart feels heavy, most of us know how to cry out to God. We know how to get serious when the pressure is on.
But what happens when the pressure lifts?
What happens when the prayer gets answered?
What happens when the door opens?
What happens when the business starts growing?
What happens when the marriage feels healthier?
What happens when the kids are doing better?
What happens when life finally starts feeling peaceful again?
That is where many believers quietly begin to drift.
Not because they hate God.
Not because they no longer believe.
Not because they intentionally walk away.
They simply get comfortable.
And comfort, if we are not careful, can create distance.
In today’s Morning Charge podcast, Joshua talks about a simple but serious warning: do not get lazy in the good seasons.
The valley is not the only place where your faith is tested. Sometimes the mountain tests you too.
In Deuteronomy 8, God warned Israel about this very thing. He told them that when they had eaten and were full, when they had built houses, when their herds multiplied, when their silver and gold increased, they needed to be careful not to forget the Lord their God.
That warning still matters today.
The blessing is not the problem.
The breakthrough is not the problem.
The answered prayer is not the problem.
The problem begins when the gift causes us to forget the Giver.
God is not against increase. He is not against peace. He is not against your family doing well, your business growing, or your life becoming more stable. But He is deeply concerned with what happens in your heart when those things come.
Do you stay grateful?
Do you stay humble?
Do you keep praying?
Do you keep seeking His face?
Do you keep depending on Him?
Jesus said in John 15:4-5 that we must abide in Him because apart from Him we can do nothing. That does not only apply when life is painful. It applies when life is fruitful too.
A branch does not need the vine only when it is dry.
A branch needs the vine when it is bearing fruit.
That is a word for many of us.
Sometimes we think success means we can slow down spiritually. But the truth is, fruitful seasons require deep roots. When God begins to place more in your hands, your dependence on Him should increase, not decrease.
Jesus modeled this perfectly.
In Mark 1:35, we see Jesus rising early before daylight to go to a solitary place and pray. In Luke 5:16, we see that He often withdrew into the wilderness to pray, even while crowds were gathering and ministry was growing.
Jesus did not let fruitfulness replace intimacy.
That matters.
If Jesus withdrew to be with the Father, how much more do we need the secret place?
One of the most dangerous things we can do is only seek God when we are desperate. Prayer was never meant to be an emergency button. It is daily communion. It is relationship. It is the place where our hearts stay tender, our motives stay clean, and our fire keeps burning.
The fire God started in you has to be tended.
You do that through prayer.
You do that through the Word.
You do that through repentance.
You do that through worship.
You do that through remembering what God has already done.
Take time today to remember.
Remember when He provided.
Remember when He healed.
Remember when He carried you.
Remember when He opened the door.
Remember when He brought peace back into your home.
Remember when He gave you strength you did not have on your own.
And then say, “Lord, I still need You.”
Not because everything is falling apart.
But because everything belongs to Him.
Good seasons should not make us casual. They should make us grateful. They should make us humble. They should make us even more aware that every good thing in our lives came from the hand of God.
So if life is going well right now, thank God for it.
But do not drift.
Stay close.
Stay rooted.
Stay humble.
Stay in the Word.
Stay in prayer.
Stay connected to the vine.
The mountain is not a place to coast. It is a place to worship.
Want to go deeper? Inside the Branjo Circle you’ll find the complete teaching notes, discussion questions, scripture study, and practical application from today’s Morning Charge.
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