Grace and peace to you.
Last week, I told you we would confront why many believers remain stagnant. Today, we must not evade the truth.
The Question You Can’t Answer
You’ve been a believer for years now. You know the scriptures. You attend services. You even pray, sometimes.
But if someone asked you to name one way you’ve become more like Christ in the past six months, could you answer them?
The silence in that pause is louder than any confession.
I couldn’t answer it either. Even while teaching Scripture, leading worship, and prophesying over others, I was completely numb to God’s voice in my own life.
Most believers are not backslidden. They’re simply stationary. And stagnation, unlike rebellion, doesn’t announce itself with drama. It creeps in quietly, disguised as “settling in” or “being established.”
But here’s what we refuse to see: spiritual stagnation is not accidental. It is cultivated, unconsciously, yes, but cultivated nonetheless.
What God Actually Said
“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.” — Hosea 4:6
Notice what God doesn’t say.
Not destroyed for lack of miracles. Not for lack of church attendance. Not even for lack of prophecy or spiritual gifts.
Destruction comes when light is resisted.
And then there’s this mirror Scripture refuses to let us avoid:
“For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again… and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat.” — Hebrews 5:12
Time passed. Years rolled by. Seasons changed.
But depth never came.
Why?
Let Me Name What You Won’t
Because exposure to truth without obedience doesn’t leave you neutral, it hardens your heart.
Every sermon you heard and didn’t apply became scar tissue. Every conviction you felt and dismissed became numbness. Every moment you said “later” to God became a brick in the wall between you and breakthrough.
I’m going to say what no one else will say to you:
You’re stagnant because you’re still watching that show after God told you it was poisoning your mind.
You’re stagnant because you’re still in that relationship that requires you to dim your light to keep the peace.
You’re stagnant because you scroll social media for 90 minutes a day but say you “don’t have time” for Scripture.
You’re stagnant because you surround yourself with Christians who never challenge you, never call you higher, never make you uncomfortable.
You’re stagnant because you want breakthrough without the break, you want transformation without the tearing down.
Jesus said something that should terrify us:
“If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!” — Matthew 6:23
The most dangerous person in the Kingdom is not the one who never heard the truth. It’s the one who heard it so many times they became immune to it.
You know this is true because you can sit through a sermon that once would have wrecked you and now you simply nod. You can read Scripture that used to set you on fire and now you just turn the page.
This is not maturity. This is calcification.
The Danger of Quenching the Spirit
I quenched the Spirit for a long time. I heard God clearly about a pattern I needed to break, a friendship that was pulling me away from Him. And every week I said “next month.”
Do you know what happens when you do that? The voice gets quieter. Not because God stops speaking but because you stop being able to hear.
Scripture warns us directly:
“Quench not the Spirit.” — 1 Thessalonians 5:19
You quench the Spirit when you hear and delay. When you know and postpone. When conviction knocks and you silence it with activity, with distraction, with the false comfort of “I’m doing fine.”
The tragedy of many believers is not that they sinned yesterday, but that they made peace with remaining the same today.
God does not walk with the casual. He reveals Himself to those who tremble at His word.
“Thus saith the LORD… to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.” — Isaiah 66:1–2
When was the last time God’s word made you tremble?
What Staying Here Will Cost You
If you continue as you are right now—same prayer life, same media diet, same friendships, same secret compromises—here’s where you’ll be in five years or even before this year ends:
You’ll be that person in the church who’s been saved 15 years but still can’t articulate the gospel clearly.
You’ll be the one who prophecies over others but has no personal word from God for yourself.
You’ll be the leader who quotes Scripture but has no testimony of the power of it.
You’ll be one who lives in fear and defeat.
You’ll be the spouse whose partner feels lonely in your presence.
And the most tragic part? You won’t even realize it’s happened. Spiritual death is a slow fade.
Make the cost visceral now, or you’ll pay it in silence later.
The 7-Day Spiritual Reset Workbook
This is not devotional fluff or gentle encouragement. This is a diagnostic tool and a recovery plan for believers who know they’ve drifted but don’t know how to course-correct.
I have created this as someone who knows that your breakthrough is on the other side of honesty.
Inside, you will:
- Identify the exact moment your growth stalled
- Confront the specific obedience you’ve been avoiding
- Rebuild the disciplines that restore spiritual sensitivity
- Sign a covenant committing to specific changes
- And more
You cannot afford to delay this.
This workbook is not for everyone. It’s only for the ones who are sick of spiritual mediocrity.
If that’s you, download it. Open it on your device (I recommend printing it). Do it this week. Let God meet you in the margins.
I wholeheartedly recommend downloading it to strengthen and transform your relationship with God.
Download: 7-Day Spiritual Reset Workbook
What’s Coming Next Week
Next week, Breakthrough Bread will get hotter. We will begin to break open practical spiritual disciplines that restore sensitivity to the Spirit and reignite growth. You are about to become spiritually unrecognizable.
May this year bring you spiritual fulfillment and material abundance. Until next week!
Christ is our standard.
Until we become like Him, we are not to cease growing in grace…
“It is sufficient for a disciple that he be as his master.” — Luke 6:40
With grace and fire,
Paulinus Joel
Evergrowing Christians
