Growing as a new creation in Christ

"The believer has become possessed of an entirely new set of spiritual faculties and is a new spiritual entity - a different species of being, an entirely distinct creature. These spiritual faculties, by which alone the things of God can be known and entered into, have to be developed - have to grow - have to come to a place of spiritual efficiency... just as in the natural child, who has its faculties at birth but has to have a steady development of those natural faculties. The believer is born from above with an entirely new and different set of faculties from that with which he came into this world and which he has by nature, and it is those spiritual faculties and senses which have to be developed in order to make him full grown - spiritually efficient - in the Lord...

"My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord..."

"No chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous but grievous; nevertheless, afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby."

By what? By the chastening ("chastening" - a poor English word; better, "child-training," or "discipline") which God takes up with them...

The right attitude to take toward every trial which the Lord allows to come upon us - every fresh and difficult thing - is: What is it that the Lord has in view for us to attain to by this experience? It is not to destroy, but to build up; not to take from, but to increase; not to restrict, but to enlarge. Down in the deep place is some treasure of the Lord to be discovered...

This faculty of spiritual intelligence, spiritual knowledge - the inwardness of everything - has to be developed so that we know the Lord within. Every experience deeper than the last means that we are out of our depth - we have not the resource in ourselves to meet the situation. Therefore, in the deep experience we come - by the sheer necessity of the situation - to lay hold of the something more that is in Christ for us; and, by having received that something more, we have grown that much."

- T. Austin Sparks

I believe this to be really true in so much as we have to learn how the Christian life inside us is outlived.
I find that whether receiving God's life source through grace or whether entering into true repentance.
Both of these ways are unnatural ways of living to the Christian.

Also, most Christians unfortunately dont enter into both of these ways or either of them in their entire lifetime. But we rather accept the status quo of ambling along and accepting teachings not aimed at our spiritual change or a real heart conversion that is pleasing to God.

GRACE : The act of allowing ourselves to fall and rest in the finshed work of our saviour, and to empty one self of all self effort not asked for by God. Believing He is there holding our forgiveness in His hand. We are born only knowing to survive by our efforts, it is unnatural to surrender.

Repentance : the act of dying to ourselves our old fleshly ways through disciplining ourelves to overcome and walk away from our sin and to take every thought captive in vanquishing our sin. It can also involve subduing emotions.

Both are unnatural ways but when a person begins to head to the mountain top of God we have to learn and practice them.