INESSA'S JOURNAL

This morning, while I was working out, Holy Spirit taught me one of the lessons through something so simple that most people would have overlooked it.

One of the girls in our workout group was struggling to understand the instructor’s directions. The instructor demonstrated the movement several times, explained it in different ways, and patiently tried to help, yet she still couldn’t grasp what was being asked of her. She wasn’t lazy. She wasn’t unwilling. She simply couldn’t see what the instructor was seeing.

As I watched, the Holy Spirit quietly spoke to my heart, “Catch this in the spirit.”

At that moment, the workout disappeared, and all I could see was a picture of our spiritual lives.

How many times has God revealed something to you that seemed so clear? You heard His voice, obeyed His instruction, and watched Him move. Then, out of love, you tried to share that same revelation with someone else. You explained it from every angle because you wanted them to experience the same freedom, the same breakthrough, the same peace. Yet no matter how much you explained, they looked back at you with confusion.

For years I thought that meant I needed to explain better. Today I realized that wasn’t the problem.

Spiritual revelation cannot be transferred through explanation alone. It is born through relationship.

The Holy Spirit reminded me that every person is walking at a different pace with God. Some have learned to recognize His voice because they’ve spent time in His presence. Others are still learning to quiet the noise around them. Some are still carrying old mindsets, old habits, and old ways of thinking that make it difficult to recognize His leading. None of us arrive overnight. We all grow one step of obedience at a time.

Then God showed me something else.

The people who continue to obey His voice will always produce fruit. They may not become successful overnight, and they may not always understand where God is leading them, but obedience never returns empty. Every yes to God changes something inside of us before it changes anything around us.

I also thought about the people who try to imitate someone else’s spiritual growth. They watch someone else’s life and try to repeat what they do, hoping for the same results. They borrow their language, their routines, even their habits. But after a while they become discouraged because they are trying to reproduce something that was never meant to be copied.

You cannot imitate intimacy with God.

You cannot borrow someone else’s revelation.

You cannot fake surrender.

Those things are cultivated behind closed doors, in the quiet moments where no one is applauding, where no one is watching, where it’s just you and Jesus.

If you truly want spiritual growth, stop trying to become someone else. Seek an encounter with God for yourself. Open your Bible. Spend time in prayer. Sit in His presence. Learn to recognize His voice. Then obey whatever He places in front of you, even if it seems small. Those small acts of obedience become the foundation of a transformed life.

The Holy Spirit also reminded me that I am not responsible for carrying people into places only He can lead them. My responsibility is to love, to encourage, to pray, and to share what He has shown me. His responsibility is to open hearts. I cannot surrender for someone else. I cannot obey for someone else. I cannot force someone to see what only God can reveal.

That realization brought me so much peace.

Sometimes we become exhausted because we keep trying to pull people into a season they haven’t chosen yet. We mistake our compassion for our assignment. But growth has never been something that can be forced. It has always been the fruit of a willing heart.

Hebrews 5:14 says, “But solid food belongs to those who are mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern both good and evil.”

I love that word—practice.

Spiritual discernment doesn’t appear overnight. It is developed every time we choose obedience over comfort, surrender over control, and God’s voice over our own understanding.

Today, God reminded me that the goal isn’t to create followers of people. The goal is to become followers of Christ.

Because one genuine encounter with Jesus will accomplish what a thousand explanations never could.