Can You Fix Your SPIRITUAL FOUNDATION If It’s Faulty?

Growing believers might come to realize that some of the things they were taught or experienced at a particular ministry/sect are erroneous or unhealthy. This concerns the spiritual foundation that was built in their early years as believers. What do you do if you discern your foundation is flawed in some serious ways. Are you “damaged goods” for life or can you go back and fix your foundation? Absolutely you can fix it! The purpose of this article is to show you how.

As a prerequisite, please brush up on the Four Stages of Spiritual Growth so you’ll understand what I’m referring to by STAGE TWO, STAGE THREE and so on.

STAGE TWO refers to the stage when the believer sets a spiritual foundation as he or she learns from fivefold ministers at one ministry or another, such as pastors and teachers. This stage of Christian development is absolutely strategic to a healthy spiritual journey. It’s the stage where believers set a foundation for their lifelong spiritual walk and develop discipline with the service & supervision of more mature believers. It’s where they learn the ropes of basic Christianity and cultivate the character necessary to progress to maturity.

Consider this example from the Bible:

If you point these things out to the brothers and sisters, you will be a good minister of Christ Jesus, nourished on the truths of the faith and of the good teaching that you have followed.

1 Timothy 4:6

Paul is talking to young pastor Timothy and he says “If you point these things out to the brothers and sisters, you will be a good minister of Christ Jesus.” Point what things out? The doctrinal truths he shared up to this point in his epistle, as well as warnings of various false teachings, like forbidding believers to marry and making them abstain from certain foods (see verses 3-5).

Look again at the phrase “If you point these things out to the brothers and sisters…” The key Greek word here is hupotithémi (hoop-ot-ITH-ay-mee), which is a compound word. Hupo means “underneath” and tithémi means “to place, position or lay a foundation.” So Paul’s instructing Timothy to lay a foundation for the believers under his care based on the Word of God he just gave him. If Timothy does this he will be a “good minister of Christ Jesus.” The point is that good ministers lay a quality foundation for believers in STAGE TWO because they know the rest of their spiritual walk depends upon it.

Paul goes on to describe Timothy as “nourished on the truths of the faith and of the good teaching that you have followed.” This is why Timothy was such an effective minister and why Paul entrusted him with missions of great importance, including the governing of churches. What was the foundation of this success?

Timothy was “nourished on the truths of the faith and… good teaching.” This refers to the spiritual foundation that was set in Timothy’s life. Who laid this strong foundation? Certainly Timothy’s grandmother and mother, Lois and Eunice when Timothy was a kid (2 Timothy 1:5), but also Paul himself as he later became Paul’s disciple and co-worker. Paul was sure to lay a solid understructure for Timothy and that’s why he was now being used so greatly in the LORD’s service.

Don’t Skip Out on STAGE TWO!

As pointed out in the prerequisite article, believers can get stuck in STAGE TWO, which isn’t good, but even worse are those who try to skip STAGE TWO and jump ahead to STAGE THREE. This includes prematurely leaving STAGE TWO. Believers who do this make a huge mistake. Why? Because they fail to set a solid foundation and without a good foundation you can’t build properly. Christ talked about this:

24“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. 26But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 27The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”

Matthew 7:24-27

Who is the Lord speaking of when he says “everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock”? He’s talking about those in STAGE TWO because that’s the stage where believers are taught the Word of God and learn to put it into practice with the help of more mature believers. Those who cultivate the discipline necessary to regularly practice the word of truth—even in the face of temptation or trial—develop character. All this occurs in STAGE TWO. Believers who do this are “wise,” as Jesus said, because they “build [their] house on the rock,” meaning they lay a firm foundation for their spiritual journey, which the oncoming storms cannot destroy.

Foolish believers, by contrast, fail to develop the discipline and character necessary to put God’s Word into practice. So, as the Lord elsewhere said, “in the time of testing they fall away” (Luke 8:13). Please understand that trouble or persecution will automatically come to the believer after they’ve received the Word. This includes the salvation message of Christ (Matthew 13:21). Believers who fail to develop discipline with the feeding, supervision and example of ministers during STAGE TWO will not be able to stand in the time of testing. Doing so is like building a structure on sand. When the storms come the structure can’t handle it and therefore falls. This is what happens to believers who try to skip STAGE TWO or leave it prematurely.

So it’s vital to develop discipline and character in STAGE TWO in order to handle the independence, temptations and risk of STAGE THREE, as well as the hardships and increased persecution of STAGE FOUR. Those who try to skip STAGE TWO will either fall back to STAGE ONE completely or have one foot perpetually manacled to STAGE ONE, which of course will severely limit their walk with the Lord. Let me give two examples:

One young guy I knew for a number of months was a genuine believer with wide-eyed potential. I was able to spend some quality time with him on numerous occasions, discussing God and biblical topics at length, but then he left the area and I didn’t see him for over a decade. When I finally got back in touch with him I discovered that he had been struggling with drunkard-ness & pill-popping and, worse, was in trouble with the law. He explained to me that he never settled down with a church/ministry because he believed all churchgoers were “hypocrites,” which I found incredibly ironic in light of the fact that he had been engaging in substance abuse and criminal activity and yet he was a confessing believer.

The truth was that he used the “all Christians are hypocrites” lie as an excuse to avoid the time & effort requisite to STAGE TWO and instead waddle in the mud of STAGE ONE. The good news is that his serious problems were a wake-up call and, the last I talked with him, he was diligently studying the Bible and seeking the LORD. He was back to the beginning level of STAGE TWO where he’ll (hopefully) establish the necessary foundation and develop the character he’ll need to move on to STAGE THREE and FOUR.

Another example: A minister I knew was thoroughly in STAGE THREE with a finger in STAGE FOUR. Sometimes it was fascinating talking to him and hearing his spiritual insights, but other times it was like hanging out with a slab of flesh. I’m not being mean here; just honest. His constant bloviating, boasting and gossip were so nauseating I had to cut ties with him. Although he was very independent and self-motivated—signs of STAGE THREE—with leadership qualities and sometimes amazing insights from God’s Word—signs of STAGE FOUR (or, at least, higher level STAGE THREE)—it was clear that he didn’t work out some fleshly kinks on his Christian sojourn.

He told me of a ministry where his spiritual foundation was set but he obviously didn’t spend enough time in this stage. If he did he wouldn’t have been displaying the fleshly problems I witnessed. The good news is that I heard from him recently and he was hooked up with an assembly where he was fixing his foundation through some great ministry of the Word (Acts 6:1-4). Moreover, the LORD had severely disciplined him and so he was humbled and dedicated to producing fruit. Praise God!

While these two examples reveal the folly of skipping STAGE TWO or prematurely leaving it, they also show that 1. just because someone unwisely tries to skip STAGE TWO it doesn’t mean s/he can’t go back and do it right; and 2. just because someone prematurely leaves STAGE TWO it doesn’t mean s/he can’t go back and finish their foundation.

What About Those With a Flawed Foundation?

What about those who go through STAGE TWO and develop a flawed spiritual foundation due to false doctrine,* legalistic leaders, bad examples or some combination of these? The good news is that you can always go back and fix your foundation. This is awesome, of course, but there are a number of things to consider.

* “False doctrine” includes teachings/beliefs that are only partially true and therefore are partially false or, at best, inadequate.

While it’s understandable and common that believers regard the church/sect they hook up with in STAGE TWO as the “one true church” in that they feel their group is right about everything and does everything perfectly pleasing to the Lord, this is never the case no matter how excellent the ministry is. As such, it’s always necessary for believers to go back and fix their foundation after moving on to STAGE THREE and FOUR when they acquire more accurate information. In the natural we repair the foundations to structures all the time and it’s no different in the realm of the spirit. Remember, each of us is a temple of God (1 Corinthians 3:16) and together we also form the “house of God” (1 Peter 4:17, 1 Timothy 3:15, Hebrews 3:6 & 1 Peter 2:5).

Some people go through STAGE TWO and the foundation that’s laid is so flawed it needs extensive repairs; or it’s severely incomplete and needs finishing. Sometimes their foundation is so amiss it nigh needs redone altogether and it’s amazing in such cases when the believer’s faith isn’t utterly destroyed by the lousy groundwork. This shows the importance of setting a quality foundation in STAGE TWO and why God holds ministers accountable to the job they do, as shown in 1 Corinthians 3:5-17. Make no mistake, ministers who harm or destroy believers with faulty “ministry” and false teaching will have to answer to the Almighty, which that passage makes abundantly clear.

One of the reasons it’s necessary to build a quality foundation in STAGE TWO is that it influences you for years to come and often the rest of your life. I know people who won’t change their view on an important doctrine even though there’s strong scriptural support disproving it because it goes against what they were (wrongly) taught in STAGE TWO. This indicates immaturity. While they may be in STAGE THREE or FOUR to some degree, such an immature mindset shows that they still have a foot in STAGE TWO.

The awesome news I want to drive home here is that a bad spiritual foundation doesn’t mean a believer is condemned to being “damaged goods” for life. This is a lie and don’t you believe it! You can always go back and repair flawed groundwork or even redo the foundation altogether, as necessary. We all have to do this to some degree no matter what church/sect from which we spring.

Laying a Good Foundation (STAGE TWO) and Inspecting It (STAGE THREE)

When I became a believer and consequently entered into STAGE TWO I visited several churches looking to establish the groundwork for the rest of my spiritual walk. I didn’t stay overly long in assemblies that had weak feeding (sermons/teachings) or were just plain sterile for one reason or another. I kept looking until I found a ministry that I knew would help lay a quality foundation and stayed there for a whole decade.

To this day I’m exceedingly grateful for this particular ministry (which is still going strong), but after ten years a solid biblical understructure was established in my life and the LORD moved me onward. Some people will stay in their foundational group/sect, depending on the Holy Spirit’s leading, but I was led to move on.

As awesome as the foundation was that I received in that ministry, it wasn’t perfect and I had to go back in the ensuing years to make some repairs. This is an important part of STAGE THREE—inspecting the legitimacy of the foundation set in STAGE TWO and making the necessary repairs or adjustments in light of what the Bible clearly and consistently teaches (keeping in mind that we’re under the New Covenant and not the Old one). This of course carries on into STAGE FOUR.

Any time you spot an error in your understructure you’ll need to go back and fix it to effectively move on. In fact, this is the very reason the Holy Spirit, the “Spirit of Truth” (John 16:13), will reveal error to you, not so you stubbornly go on your way naively believing that everything taught you in STAGE TWO was exemplary and is never to be questioned. Anyone who thinks like this will be stuck in STAGE TWO the rest of their lives, at least to some degree. Speaking of which…

Living and Dying in STAGE TWO

Too many believers live and die in STAGE TWO, sometimes because their pastors encourage it. In other words, their elders groom the congregants to be dependent on the organization. Why would they possibly do this? It’s their way of “holding on” to their current fold by intentionally keeping them in the dependent phase of STAGE TWO.

Pastors who do this are usually STAGE TWO themselves, albeit at a higher level than their congregants. You might wonder how a pastor or any other fivefold minister could be STAGE TWO, but they’re all over. Since these ministers are further along in STAGE TWO than their congregants they can certainly lead them, but because they themselves are primarily in STAGE TWO they can’t lead their disciples into STAGE THREE or FOUR.

What characterizes pastors and other ministers who are mainly in STAGE TWO? They’re typically “yes” men or women with a rigid sectarian spirit, regardless of the camp/sect, including Evangelical, Pentecostal, Charismatic and “non-denominational” ones. They may know the Bible, as far as their camp interprets it, and sometimes expertly so, but 1. because they’re not STAGE THREE they haven’t learned to think outside of the box of their sect, and 2. they don’t know the Writer of the Word they preach, at least not in an actual relational sense. This doesn’t mean they can’t have an anointing to some degree—and by anointing I mean God’s blessing and empowerment—but, if so, it’s a limited STAGE TWO anointing and marred by the inherent errors of their camp/sect.

Nor does it mean that STAGE THREE and FOUR believers can’t receive from ministers in STAGE TWO; that is, learn something from them. If you’re humble and have a teachable spirit you can learn from any number of people, which is simply part of being a wise disciple of Christ, however old you are in the Lord. I once received revelation from a 12 year-old girl in a fellowship, not to mention the LORD used a donkey to rebuke Balaam (Numbers 22:26-34).

However, just because STAGE THREE or FOUR believers can learn from a minster in STAGE TWO, it doesn’t mean they should hook up with their ministry and be subordinate to them. Such a scenario is a recipe for frustration simply because the STAGE THREE or FOUR believer is further along than the STAGE TWO minister. As such, the minister can’t lead this believer. How can a minister at a lower spiritual level lead believers at a higher level? STAGE THREE or FOUR believers should hook up with ministries that have pastors and elders in STAGE FOUR. Remember this: Ministers can only take you as far as they are; they can’t give what they don’t have. This is an axiom.

Returning to the main point, believers live and die in STAGE TWO all the time. It’s unfortunate, but it’s just the way it is. And it’s not always their pastor’s fault. Some precious souls won’t leave STAGE TWO even when pastors and elders do everything they can to inspire them to grow up spiritually. These believers simply don’t want to move on to the increasing independence of STAGE THREE and the inherent risks thereof or, even more harrowing (to them), Christ-led autonomy of STAGE FOUR.

These higher stages represent the unknown and people are naturally wary of the unknown. So they just stay within the comforts and limitations of STAGE TWO. There isn’t much you can do for them because they’re staying in STAGE TWO by their own choice. We all have the God-given power of volition and we have to respect it, even when we know the person is making a mistake and limiting his or her life. Just love ’em, pray for ’em and continue to encourage them through the Word and leading of the Spirit.

Also, always remember this wise and humbling instruction:

Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To their own master, servants stand or fall. And they will stand, for the Lord is able to make them stand.

Romans 14:4

Where to Begin in Examining or Fixing Your Spiritual Foundation

I encourage believers to regularly examine their spiritual foundation in light of the rightly-divided word of God and leading of the Holy Spirit. The Scriptures actually encourage us to do this (2 Corinthians 13:5). I suggest starting by looking at the nine basics of biblical Christianity covered in this article and mastering them. Then proceed from there with the suggested topics listed below.

God Bless You as You Seek & Serve!

This article was edited from Chapter Three of…