A man who owned a vineyard noticed that one of the plants was not doing well. It was sickly for two years, and it had never produced grapes of any significance. He wondered why all of those around it were quite filled with fruit, and so he decided to dig down around it and see if there was some problem in the soil. He dug down about six inches and ran into boards underneath the plant covering an old abandoned well. When he took away the boards he noticed that the roots of the plant had gone down between the cracks and were dangling in the empty well, trying desperately to get nourishment. The plant could not grow. What a picture that is of many Christians. They do not grow and they do not produce fruit because their roots are not into the Word of God.

I would ask you this: Are the roots of your faith reaching down into the Word of God? If they are not, you will not be growing. If the true principle of grace is in your life, it will be giving you a hunger for the Word of God.

If you are growing in faith, you will be growing in repentance, too. Are you growing in that area in your Christian life? Our whole life is a continuation of repentance. Failure to repent is one of the sure ways to stop spiritual growth. Is there some sin in your life that is keeping you from growing? Ask God to show you.