only the believer who knows, grows

understanding the difference between position and condition is absolutely necessary for every believer to live in the victory that Jesus provided for us. being ignorant of this concept has not only limited our understanding of the Scriptures, but has also directly impacted our spiritual growth and success at overcoming sins and weaknesses in our lives. the idea that once we are established in the faith, we no longer need to concentrate on position but we should move on and focus on our progress in our Christian life or our condition, is the trap that the enemy sets before us to actually keep us from living empowered in our position bearing the fruit of the Spirit.  from what I’ve seen in the lives of the average believer, as well as my own life, focusing on the condition of our lives has not resulted in progress, but defeat.

our position in Christ is the result of the completed work of Christ. Christ’s work is finished and cannot change, therefore our position in Christ cannot change. it is perfect and complete, and is ours from the moment we believed in Christ as Savior. there is no difference positionally between the weakest believer and the strongest saint, the new convert and the mature, or the carnal Christian and the spiritual.  our condition, on the other hand, is usually very different from our position. our condition is where we are at in our Christian walk, the degree to which our life reflects our position in Christ or does not.  it is our holiness of character, level of maturity, and degree of obedience at any given time.

according to the author, miles stanford, "all spiritual growth is based upon the principle of position. our position, the source of our Christian life, is perfect. it is eternally established in the Father’s presence. the Holy Spirit created us in the position that was established through His work at Calvary. the Christian who comes to see his position in the Lord Jesus begins to experience the benefit of all that he is in Him. although our position remains immutable, our condition is variable. through the exercise of faith in our position because of His finished work, our eternal position affects our daily condition, but in no way does our condition affect that heavenly position.

when we concentrate on our condition, we are not living by faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ but by our circumstances, feelings and appearances. the inevitable result is that we become increasingly self-conscious and self-centered and we fail to live in the power of our position "in Christ."  our only responsibility is to pay attention to the Lord Jesus, to rest in Him as our position. we will then see spiritual growth and experience the  power and victory over sin that our position entitles us. “so we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. for what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” (2 Cor 4:18)

in most cases, we are more aware of our condition rather than our position. this is the reason for so much failure and stagnation in our lives. if we are to grow and become fruitful, our faith must be anchored in the finished work of our position in Christ. there is no basis for faith in our changeable, unfinished condition (1 Cor. 2:5). if we do not know of our position in the Lord Jesus, and how to abide in Him as our very life, there will be but one result. we will struggle in our un-Christlike condition rather than rest in our Christ-centered position.

every Christian has been positioned forever in Christ at our spiritual birth.  it is faith in the truth of our position that empowers us and gives us the daily benefits of change and growth in our condition. if we are not clearly aware of the specific truths of the Word, we will not exercise the necessary faith for growth and service. we will only seek our resources for changing our condition within the realm of our own selves.  Scriptural, fact-centered faith in the Lord Jesus as our position before the Father is the one and only means of experiencing that finished work in our daily condition, which is why it is absolutely vital that we know our position before God."

"only the believer who knows, grows!!"

"my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge...." (hosea 4:6)

(Miles Stanford, "Foundations of Spiritual Growth", in the larger book "The Complete Green Letters")