Benefits of Spirit-Filled Life

We're going to go back and play video games with the rest of you. If you have your Bible this morning, turn to Acts chapter 1 once again. The second part of this brief two-week focus on the Holy Spirit prior to Pentecost. If you don't have your Bible, you should. I mean, it's part of your entry ticket here. Let's read together Acts chapter 1 in just an abbreviation of last week's reading. Jesus is speaking, and let's read verse 4, Acts 1. On one occasion, while He was eating with them, He gave them this command, Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift My Father promised, which you have heard Me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit. And so when they met together, they asked Him, Lord, are You at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel? And He said to them, It is not for you to know the times or dates, the Father has said by His own authority, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. Last week, following this service, Karen and David Rose came out with their four-day-old baby, so little that they still have that little kind of crusty stuff on them and the little hat that they put on them now. I hadn't seen a baby quite that small in a long time. They're incredible, you know, they really are. Then, the next morning I walked over with Carol to the McCabe's barn next to us where some folks are keeping their horses, and a colt had just been born, also four days old. There's a major developmental difference. And this little colt was bucking around and having fun and getting ready to go out in the fields and stuff. But, folks, there's a miracle about life that touches us all. And we all have this yearning not just to live life, but to be able to give it. In a rather ironic exchange I had last Sunday morning after the second service, a dear young woman in our church shared with me here how her older brother had just committed suicide a couple of weeks before that. It's another state, another part of the country. And she said what was really unbelievable was before he died he donated seven of his organs. He didn't want to live, but he still wanted to be able to help give life to someone else. What is it about us that is so inclined to want to give life? Well, I think it has something to do with this whole series we've been looking at, which is the nature and the character of God. In studying the character of God, we need to know His heart. God wants us to know His heart. Let's look at Isaiah 40. I want you to get a feel this morning. In fact, we just have it over here. Let's make it a little quicker here. Read it out loud with me. This is the heart of God. Read it with me. See, the sovereign Lord comes with power, and His arm rules for Him. See, His reward is with Him, and His recompense accompanies Him. He tends His flock like a shepherd. He gathers the lambs in His arms and carries them close to His heart. He gently leads those that have young. You see the contrast? The first sentence talks about the sovereign Lord and His ruling power, but the last sentence, the last line, talks about the Lord saying, but I want you to be close to my heart. The heart of God, church, is to give life and love. Say that with me. The heart of God is to give life and love. Life and love. When you want to know God, that's what God is all about, giving life and giving love. The measure of the life that God wants to give, what's the measure of His life? The best we know, it's just all of creation. And how big is creation? How big is the universe? That's how much life God wants to give, so great that even our most brilliant scientists cannot really figure out how big it is. I mean, when they're honest, they just don't know. It keeps on going. And what is the measure of His love? Come on. The cross. He loved us so much that He gave His only Son, that whoever believed in Him would not perish. So that's how much life God wants to give. That's how much love God has given. And that's what God wants us to share and to see. Many, many people out there that you'll walk out of here today and encounter don't understand that heart of God. They see God as some kind of a strange, distant, even cold ruler, the sovereign Lord. That's the part they see. They don't see the one that wants to gently carry them close to His heart. We had a little Bible study in our home this last week with some of the high schoolers. It was the first time the group had met in our home during the week. They'd meet in other homes. And, you know, it's kind of tough for me. I mean, I so much want to be there, but I said to David, but I won't say anything. He said, Dad, we've got it under control. Go wash your car, let us alone. So I went out and I was busy. I said, well, I really want to say something. I just want to be there because I like to hear the kids. So finally I messed around for a while and I was kind of walking through the kitchen, kind of looking. And one of the kids said, Pastor Jay, do you have anything to say? Boom, I was in there. No, no, no, no, not really. But I asked a couple of questions. Really, I said, what are your friends? Most of these young people are Christians. A couple of them are kind of seekers. I said, what do your friends say about God? They said, well, basically two questions came to the surface. Number one, a lot of our friends ask, well, why if God is good and all powerful, is there so much disease and evil and hurt and pain and wars? Ever heard that question before? The God who wants to give life. The perception of people is God wants to take it away. And their other question was, well, if God is love, why is He so insistent that everyone come to Him in one way, through Jesus alone? I mean, why don't always all the paths lead up the mountain to God? I mean, if He's love, it shouldn't matter to Him how we get there. Do you see how many people I've heard ask that question? Why are you right and all the people over there are wrong? Interesting. The perception of young people today is not life and love. It's pain and war and disease and evil and a God who's like keeping them away instead of embracing them. And we had a chance to talk about some very reasonable answers to those questions in the Scripture. The common response of many people I talk to when I ask them what is God like is, well, they blame Him for their problems and they wonder why He didn't come through for them when they really needed Him. But I don't know that I've ever met one who's really stopped to thank God for everything else in their life that was right and everything that they enjoyed up to that point and all that had been given to them. And when in fact many of the problems that they've been suffering with were brought on by their own disobedience to the laws of God, which He's given us not to confine us and make us miserable. I know the Ten Commandments weren't given so you'd be a miserable person, but rather that you might have life and have it more abundantly as Jesus said. Now, when it comes to the Holy Spirit, when it comes to this outpouring of the Spirit at Pentecost, I believe God wants us to make a major transition from receiving an understanding of His life and His love to becoming a giver of that life and a giver of that love. Let's just look at three specific declarations of that truth here in these scriptures today. The first thing, this is number one in your outline, the inception of when the Holy Spirit was poured out. Jesus made it very clear that it wasn't for them alone. It wasn't so they could be more blessed. You see, beyond personal salvation and forgiveness of sins and the hope of heaven, Jesus was very clearly teaching that He wanted every believer to be anointed with an empowerment to be a giver of life and a giver of love. Why? Because that's who He is. And He made it very clear, Hey guys, don't try to do this on your own. He said, wait. How many of you find that's the worst word in your vocabulary? I do. Wait. Why? Because if you try to give life and love on your own, the word will tap you out in a moment's time. Jesus said, the only way you're going to be able to do this is by an outpouring of the Holy Spirit in your life. The very nature of God through you will give life and love. Jesus said it this way. If you reflect to John 14, 12. This scripture says it very powerfully and as clear as anything we could say. I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these because I'm going to the Father. When Jesus went to the Father, what we see outpoured is the Holy Spirit. Ever read that verse and say, well, why don't I see it in my life? One of the young people asked that question. Why don't we see more of the miracles that we read about in the Bible? My answer to them, they were everywhere happening. It's just so rare that we tend to see them here because we have come at this with such a rationalistic, humanistic mindset. And yet I still see God doing great miracles. Jesus said, disciples, you've got to wait because I'm going to fill you with power. And you'll be able to be like I am, a giver of life. And he called it the baptism of the Holy Spirit. That word baptism, look down in verse 4, you will be baptized, verse 5, with the Holy Spirit. It's a very descriptive word and I'm going to use a little bit of a teaching aid this morning to help me clearly communicate this. Alright, so you can't possibly miss it. Alright. Dana, come on up here please. Would you take that bowl? Now this tumbler, this clear glass, represents our human heart. I don't know if you can see in the back, but it's maybe 40% or so full of water. The Holy Spirit, the Bible says, comes to live in our hearts when we open to Jesus Christ. There's no doubt about it. Romans 8 and 9 says, if you don't have the Holy Spirit, you're none of His. Romans 8 and 16 says, that if the Holy Spirit lives in you, He bears witness that you are a son or daughter of God. Every one of you who know Christ have the Holy Spirit in you. But there comes a time in every believer's life when God wants to baptize you. It may happen at your time of conversion, but what we find is there's usually not enough teaching and instruction and so people kind of wander along not quite full of the Holy Spirit. Step up here, please, Dana. Now, this is a little difficult because... Hold a second, Jordan. I need to switch hands to do this, right? The word baptize literally means to dip into. It was used of dye being put down into a big vat. And so really, this is accurate to do it this way. Stick your arms way out. There you go. It's like God says, I'm going to immerse you in who I am. And did you see the water cascading over the side? So that you are full, full of the Holy Spirit, baptized. Now, that happens once initially, but then God says, but keep coming to me and I'll keep overflowing you. There'll be a river, John 7.37 says, of living water flowing out of you. You want to know my humble personal assessment of many of our lives, including mine. Far too often, I got a leak coming out of the Holy Spirit and I'm less than full. And when someone comes and they need a drink, I don't have that living water flowing out of me. God says, when you got to come back, you got to get filled once again and I want to overflow you once again and I want it to keep happening in your life. Now, there's two points I want to make. Dana, you've been wonderful. Thank you very much. How can we do this? I'll just keep this just to remind me. You can walk it right back there. It'll be fine. Thanks, George. Two points. Number one, you have the blessing of not having to wait for God to pour out the Spirit. Pentecost happened one time, then the Spirit was given. Can I tell you for two years, I wondered if God was kind of waiting to pour out the Spirit on me? Because no one really taught me that. You don't have to wait for God to do it. Now, you may have to wait on God to get your heart right for Him to open up some things, but God's anxious to pour out and you just have to get before Him. And then number two, and here's the tough question, honestly this morning, is the Holy Spirit overflowing in your life? You say, well, no. I mean, you have no idea. I'm not worthy. You don't know what my life's like, Jay. Can I tell you something? You won't be any more worthy than Jesus makes you by His blood. And all it takes is the humility to confess before Him your desire, give God the sin that keeps you from Him, and say, Holy Spirit, fill me afresh. And I want to say to every dry and thirsty cup out there, come into this Pentecost week and get filled once again with the Holy Spirit. You come up afterwards today, let the elders pray with you. Come to the meeting on Tuesday night. We're going to pray and lay hands on people from time to time for a fresh infilling of the Holy Spirit. From its inception, Jesus said, if you want to be a giver of life and love, you've got to be overflowing. You can't be a half-full cup. Got it? Very, very important. And number two, there's a deception out there about why we're filled. The disciples said it this way. You've heard this before, but let me just reiterate verse six. Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel? You see what happened? They linked the Holy Spirit in His fullness with Jesus coming in and taking over the Roman White House. They wanted the Roman government to be thrown out. They wanted Jesus to be sitting in there, kind of controlling things. Now, how many of you know that wasn't God's plan? Jesus never said that. In fact, He said, Guys, my kingdom is not of this world. My kingdom is of the heart. It's a heart of love, and it's a heart of love. That's where my kingdom rules, not in the seats of government. And although, even today, some Christians still have political agendas for God. I mean, there's still some Christians who think that the answer to all America's problems is to have a Christian in the White House. That isn't the answer. That's not where the rule is going to come. It's wonderful to have Christians who are congressmen and Supreme Court, but that's not the rule of God. The rule of God is in the heart. And I don't think there's a whole lot of us that are concerned about that, but there are some. But there are many of us here today who want the Holy Spirit to be filling in our lives so we can have our problems solved. And we have a bit of an agenda for the Holy Spirit. Amen? You know, what about, you know, God? Fill me with the Spirit and, Lord, then use me to clean up this neighborhood. Lord, that stereo, that guy across the street, in the name of Jesus, I bind everything that comes out of that stereo. Blasted all afternoon yesterday when I was trying to be... Lord, that dog, four doors down that barks all night, I bind that dog and I rebuke it. I want the Holy Spirit's power so I can take over my neighborhood. Or, maybe more realistically, Lord, I want to be filled with the Spirit so my husband can finally see that I'm right. I want to be filled with the Spirit, Lord, so that my wife can really understand how much pressure I'm under. God cares about the details. He cares about those dynamics. But that is not the primary reason. Our agendas are not why we're filled with the Spirit. It's for the purpose that we might be givers of life and givers of love. Just a little comment here for those of you who are affected personally by the charismatic movement of the 70s and 80s. My own little commentary on why the charismatic movement died is because I believe many Christians began to look at the Holy Spirit as a way that they could get blessed and they started going to meetings looking for a blessing. And when they didn't get it, they went to another meeting or another church. I believe we'd still be walking in the rain of that outpouring if we'd somehow channeled the power that was being poured out to the community, to the nation, to the world at large. That's why God was doing that. But when we start to absorb the Spirit and start to measure our blessing, God said that's not why. That's a deception. That's not why I poured out the Spirit upon you. God cares about the needs of our lives to be sure. But the power of the Holy Spirit is given for ministry to a needy world, much of whom is far more needy than any of us could imagine. The promise of the Spirit isn't for charismatic excitement or some kind of Pentecostal doctrine that we can all share and experience. The power of the Spirit, so the heart of God can flow through us in praise and in worship and in ministry and in liberality and in words from the Lord. Jesus said this, The Holy Spirit has anointed me. Could we put that up please, Luke chapter 4? The Holy Spirit's anointed me because He's anointed me to preach the good news to the poor. He sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed and to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. Now look at that scripture. That's Luke 4, 18 and 19. How many times they say the Spirit of the Lord is on me so I could be blessed more and have more and get my agenda done. Every reference is for someone else. Church, please hear this. God loves to bless you. He loves to provide for you. But that's not the reason why the Spirit was given. The Spirit was given so you could be a vessel of the life and love of God to a needy world around you. Number three, in order to do that, you've got to receive the Holy Spirit. The reception of the Spirit is the beginning point of this flow. All this begins when you receive the fullness of God's provision. Look at verse 8. You will receive power. Not maybe, not possibly. You will receive it. The reception of God's empowerment needs to be established in your heart. Let me ask you candidly. Do you know that you've been filled with the Holy Spirit? Well, I think I have. Maybe. It doesn't necessarily have to be dramatic or even with a particular sign, you know, that you think is right. But you need to know that you know that God's life is flowing through you. That you're more than a receiver. That you're a giver. And here's how you can know it. But let me conclude with four illustrations, four marks of a Spirit-filled life. See how many of these may be applied to you. And then ask God which ones you desire to see the Spirit flow through you. Here's the first one. A Spirit-filled person is a person who extends comfort. The word in the Greek for Holy Spirit is sometimes comforter. How many have heard that? He's the comforter. John 14 talks about that. Now that doesn't necessarily just mean when you have a bad day, you come along and sort of prop someone up. The word in the Greek, and I think we have that overhead, perikaleo means to come alongside and help. To help in a task. To ease the load. To remove distress. One of the marks of a Spirit-filled person is the ability to come alongside and ease a task. This past Thursday, we had the men's breakfast, which was great and exciting. Following that breakfast, I had another breakfast with one of the folks in the church. I'm talking about the building and the development. Then I had some other things to get done. I was trying in the midst of all this to get the message ready for the weekend. Pastor Jeff Small saw me up in the office. Jeff kind of at an opportune moment said, Jay, you seem a little uptight today. The fact was, I wasn't anywhere near where I needed to be or wanted to be in this message. I said, you know Jeff, and back of my mind, I knew that I had committed myself to intervene in a very difficult situation with someone here in the church that needed help. I knew that was going to take a few hours. Then I had an evening meeting for Billy Graham. The whole day was gone. Jeff said, well, can I pray? I said, boy, please do. I came down to my office. Next thing I know, Jeff walks in the door. Jeff said, is everything really okay? I said, well, it is, but you're right. I'm kind of uptight here. I guess it's because he saw me yelling at the microwave a couple minutes before that. Hurry up. He said, this one statement, he said, is there anything I can do? I usually say no. I'm going to usually say no. I can do it. I clearly, clearly felt impressed to say, you know Jeff, if you could do that visit for me, that would so help me. So he and Pastor John took several hours of their day and went and intervened. And I understand God used them powerfully. But you know what happened in my life? There was a major turnaround at that moment. There had been an extension of comfort and easing of my burden. And I was able to change my whole perspective about the day. And believe it or not, that encounter is what was the key that opened this whole message up to me. Because you see, it was a spirit-filled act that opened the door in my life. I received comfort from someone who was open to the Spirit of God. It was a powerful thing. The second characteristic is compassion. I did a whole message on this less than two years ago. But compassion is a vanishing quality in this culture, isn't it? Fast-paced living is the arch enemy of compassion, I said in that message, and I believe that's true. Many of us are living in a crisis mode. Some of you come to church and sleep because it's the only time that you stop long enough to do it. It's true. You're going so fast that you may not realize it, but your heart is shrinking up right inside of you even as you go through your week. A few weeks ago, I was driving along Route 19 out to Cranberry, and I saw a young man, a big guy, walking along in a kind of brightly colored warm-up suit. And I had one of those rare urges from the Lord, I felt, to stop and pick him up, and I don't usually do that. I don't usually get that urge. But I ignored it. I got all the way out to Warrendale, and then how many know when the Holy Spirit just does not get off your case? I am not advocating this particularly for the ladies, but I had to go back, and I pulled alongside, and he's walking right in front of our property at this time, by the way. That's how far he'd gotten. And I said, Hi, I'm going in to Wexford. Do you need a ride? And he said, Yeah, I'm going to the ground route. Gets in the car. Talked for just a couple minutes. He's kind of new. His mom and he just moved up from Maryland and so, and yeah, he's trying to get a job, and he's trying to get into community college, and we talked a little bit. You know, I didn't get him out of the car and say, Well, I'm Pastor Jay, and if you'll please just come to church, you know, in the name of God. I didn't say that. I just said, Hey, well, God bless you. Have a great day. Do you know what happened in my heart when about ten days later, I saw him sitting out here in the service. Same guy. And then last night, he was sitting right where you are, Jack, right there. I didn't know. I had no idea. I never, I have to admit, I never invited him. I mean, he didn't know who I was. He said, I didn't know you were the pastor here. And I said, That was the idea. But you see, if we're in such a hurry, and I am so often, and so are you, that we don't take the time to have compassion and let it be expressed to people. A spirit-filled person exudes compassion for the needs of others. And I give you so many other illustrations of that. The third quality or characteristic is confidence. Now, I know this may not seem real dramatic to you, but dear ones, there is no doubt in my mind that one reason why spirit-filled people are effective is because they're confident in God. They are not asking the question all the time, Am I saved? Someone came up to me about four weeks ago after his service, and he said, Pastor, can I talk to you? I said, Okay, sure. He said, The week before, when I asked people to turn and pray together, a person in that prayer group, and he said, I don't like those prayer groups very much anyhow. He said, A person asked me if I knew the Lord. And I said, Well, I think so. And he said, Well, tell me when you got saved. And he said, Well, you know, I don't really know when it was exactly. I kind of grew up in a Christian... He said, Well, do you know that you know that you belong to God? He said, Well, I think I do. And he said, Well, if you don't know the time and the day, then you're not saved. Now, I hope that person isn't still walking in that kind of understanding. And I said to this young fellow, I said, You know what? Talk to him for a few minutes. Tell me what is the driving, compelling commitment of your life. And he said, Well, I love the Lord, and I want to follow Him. And I turned and showed him Romans 8,16, and I talked about the Spirit of God, bearing witness to His Spirit that He belongs to Him. And over the next five minutes, I had an opportunity just to confirm in him that He belonged to the Lord, and he knew it. And he didn't need to question it just because someone... And I said, You know what you really need is to be filled with the Spirit, so you'll have that deep confidence, and you won't be buffeted when everyone comes along and maybe just sort of tests you a little bit and accuses you. You'll know that you know that you belong to Him. It's a confidence that God gives. And there's a final way. I see the Spirit exhibiting fullness in our lives, and it's in the word courage. Spirit-filled people have learned that God in them is able to stand in faith regardless of what's going on in the outside. I'm talking about spiritual courage, when the world's value system is absolutely going bonkers. Courage to obey God and not me. I'm talking about moral courage to resist peer pressure. I'm talking about relational courage to hang in there in difficult marriages, wayward kids, and struggling home groups. I'm talking about the kind of courage that doesn't focus on your own problems, but is willing to look beyond and give life and love to another. I close with this excerpt from a brief letter. This person writes, As you know, I was in bondage with satisfying myself with drugs and alcohol and serving the wrong gods. With much patience, He entered my life at the best possible time. I love that. Galatians 4 says, At the fullness of time, Christ came. He says, I continue my walk daily, sometimes not being all I can be. Listen to this now. Listen to this person. When I tell you who it is, you'll know why it's important. But He meets us where we are and pours His grace over us. Someone recently asked me, If God is so powerful, here's that question, why is there so much sickness in the world and why doesn't He cure it? I sank back for a second and the Holy Spirit spoke to me. And I said, Because we live in a corrupt and evil world where bad things occur. And that's true. But they occur. And even in that, God may be glorified. No one knows exactly why things happen, but all I know is that His sovereignty is all in all. He goes on and writes, I went on a singles retreat and I was truly blessed. God met me in such a powerful way. He showed me, listen now, that my problems are so minute and that there are other things far more important. And then He concludes, says a few more things and He says, I've been talking to people and I'm ready to begin a leadership group for single men. As you know, my burden is to disciple people, to give life and to encourage them to exhibit a more godly character, to give love. Now coming from some folks, this may not be all that dramatic, but coming from someone who's living his life in a wheelchair, someone who has to struggle to breathe every moment of his life, this letter knocked my socks off. And I just say, Chuck Coon is a young man of courage, living for God. You know, Chuck Coon last night came to the service and brought an unsaved friend. Didn't know I was going to be mentioning this. He's given me permission to always quote him even if the Lord prompts me to. And I say to you, he's a spirit-filled man. He's received the baptism of the Spirit. Church, God wants to pour His life through us today. He wants life and He wants love and it comes through the baptism of the Spirit. Jesus made it clear from the inception we're to be givers of life and not just receivers. Let's not be deceived to think it's just for us. It's for the world out there. So let's receive and let's move together in the grace of God. Let's stand, shall we? That's my key. I want to take all the mystery out of this right now, church. Listen carefully. Let's just take the spiritualized language out of it and just say this. What is the thing that you do very well right now? Think about it. What are you really good at? Every one of you, you're really good at something. What is it? Could your key be taking whatever that is that you do well and using it for the glory of God? Ever think about that? You say, what do you mean? There's someone in our church who's really good at gardening and landscaping. He loves to do it. He's good at it. He's not that great, you know, he doesn't want to speak in the platform. He doesn't want to go out and door-to-door evangelize but he's wonderful and he is going to use his key to beautify what's left of this building and he's going to plant flowers and he's going to plant, make it as pretty as we can. We thought about making the top of this a big flower box. Wouldn't it be great? You know, and just fill it with dirt. You could see it from Route 19 and big trees coming. Never mind. But he's taking his simple key. There are others. Most of you know Mimi Lodek. Just loves to sew and create things and she's using her simple talent to make these beautiful banners that we see all around the place. You're saying, well, I mean, I'm good at cooking or I'm good at, you know, I like to be with people. Well, then let God use that as your key. Don't make it some mystery. You know, people say, well, unless I have the prophetic gift or the healing gift, it doesn't really count. Baloney! God has given you a key. What is it? Is it creative writing? Is it salesmanship? Is it compassion? Is it the ability to kind of sort things out that are complicated? Is it, like one person told me years ago, I pressed them on this and they were really flustered. They said, well, I don't know what I can do. And I said, well, just what do you do now? She said, I can make babies laugh. No, I didn't say this, but I was thinking, oh, man, that is really a tough, I mean, I don't know. Well, you know what? This person, literally last night, one of the folks in the service knows where this person is. Fifteen years later, this person is an elementary school teacher, is also serving her local church in Sunday school, and has started ministries to children. Why? Because that's what she liked to do. And I want to submit to you that your key isn't something that you've got to go out and, you know, get this, just find what you do well and ask God how you can do it to His glory. How many of you are getting this? All right. What is it? You're a salesman. What can a salesman do? Oh, a salesman, Pastor Scott would love you to stop and see him. He'll give you some things to do as a salesman that you wouldn't believe to the glory of God. The second thing that keys do is protect us. Now listen carefully, church, I'm concerned that we underestimate the enemy. We need to be secure in the body of Christ and we need to use our keys. We need to be together. I only had one grief about my trip. When I called Scott, I said, well, how did the community night go? And he said, well, it went great, but did you know that we had 2,500 people here on Easter Sunday and one-tenth of them came back on Tuesday night. I said, wait a minute, what about all those keys? You know, many of the other nine-tenths that didn't come back and I couldn't help but think about the parable that Jesus told about the lepers. What might have happened if a thousand of them had come back to praise God and thank Him and celebrate? You think maybe some gifts might have flowed and some things might have happened and God might have done something fresh? I want to just exhort you, church, don't make any mistake about it. We all need to be exercising our keys. When your local small group meets, you need to be there. When the community gathers, you need to be there because we need the keys of authority. And let me end with this. What action steps can you take? What can you do to grow in your