Gods path to Spiritual maturity
I am sure there are many Christians who are reading this are caught between the worldly desires and the biblical principles to live. We struggle to live the way Jesus wants us to live and drift to the worldly desires (desires that come from Satan), slowly we move from Jesus centered life to a life where our priorities are driven by worldly things. Sin grows, and we get into situations / troubles which cannot be saved by human being. At that point we seek God to help us as we are broken and look for some miraculous help to turn things around.
God is filled with compassion
“Then I called on the name of the Lord : “ Lord , save me!” The Lord is gracious and righteous; our God is full of compassion. The Lord protects the unwary; when I was brought low, he saved me.” (Psalms 116: 4-5).
He longs for our fellowship and calling, no matter what sin you have committed or how messed up your life is. Only one thing God asks us to do is repent of the sin’s deep from your heart and ask God for forgiveness and God will turn
things around and take you to the path of spiritual maturity
As you come back to God, if you are sincere in heart, long for him, he will lead you and transform you in your spiritual maturity.
There are two basic steps that God expects you in your spiritual maturity journey.
a. Dependence on God – You have to completely surrender yourself to God, humble yourself and ask forgiveness of sin and repent from your sinful behavior. Surrender your situation to God to turn the situation around.
b. Self-Discipline towards God – When you wake up ,the first thing to do is to spend time with God with a simple bible reading and prayer and when you wind down the day in night – Pray to God - thank him for the mercies he gave and how he led you today.
Self-discipline is key (only you can make it happen), there is no use if you do this one day and stop the next day. You need this self-discipline, it’s like how you brush your teeth every day. This is an important step to cleanse your spirit and directions from God on how to deal your situation.
As you start this, don’t look at your mobile or attend situations (unless it’s an emergency) and come and pray, keep in mind the devil is like a roaring lion, he will get the distractions of the world and divert from Word of God, come with an open mind to hear what he has to say and help you.
When you do this, you are telling God, you are more important than anything in the world, second your dependence on God will increase daily.
Let’s look at why Bible reading, and prayer are so important to improve spiritual maturity
Why Bible reading important?
God speaks to us thru the Word of God ~ The Bible. The Word
'For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. ' Hebrews 4:12
So how do you read bible? start with reading one chapter of the bible. Start with new testament. As you start to read them, you may not understand all that’s written. Still its ok to read them. God’s word says, “Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit”,
As you read ,the word’s written will speak to you on your situation / reveal your sins you are doing and lead you to repentance to God. All this speaking to your soul and connecting to God’s word is done thru “holy spirit”
After you read the bible ask the following question
Lord ,what is that you want me to learn from these words
Show me the areas in my life that’s not right in your eyes.
God ,what do you want me to do.
After you read the bible, meditate on them. ~ meditation is simple, pay attention to what you read, keep a notebook to write what God is teaching you from a passage. God will revel things you need to change, he will talk to you with your soul showing you the areas you need to change and how you will need to surrender to his will
Many times your soul will remind you of incidents you did wrong and lead you to repentance, God will also fill you with desires that you need to do, some time as you read the word your soul will fill with thankfulness for his mercies and grace.
Start reading / meditating the bible for minimum of 15 min, as you enjoy Gods spirit, time will become secondary. You will be reminded of the words that you read during the day or in situations as you go through, that’s how He talks to us as we encounter challenges / struggles of the world.
Don’t read the bible as a ritual or just for the sake of a routine activity, you need to show the eagerness to listen to the word, come with that attitude to hear him, bible is the ear for a Christian. Keep in mind Satan will bring distractions as you plan to read the bible, he will try harder to get you distracted, your mind will waver all around things, you will physically be present, mentally absent these are Satan’s ways of distracting you
Why Praying is important?
Praying is talking to God. it’s like getting oxygen for our soul. Always look at Jesus life as an example for prayer, he constantly prayed to his heavenly father throughout the day, Many of these incidents can be found in Matthew, Mark / Luke and other gospels. Jesus prayed early in the morning and night daily, irrespective of his physical tiredness.
If you don’t pray, the oxygen for our soul is deprived and you will rot, Satan will consume us with the worldly desires and make us rot. So, make a habit of prayer as first thing in morning.
So how should you pray? look at Jesus on how he prayed, Read Matthew 6:5-15
' “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. '
Pray in private, remember prayer is a private conversation between you and God, don’t ask your pastor to pray for you and you remain silent.
Pray earnestly – with sincere heart and with love to see how God will talk to you
Pray with a humble heart – Remember his grace when you were messed up in life in spite of your shortcoming.
Pray with a thankfulness – Thank God for all his wonderful leading and remember how he has led you in tough situations and how his mercies are renewed every single day.
Pray for your sins to be forgiven. Ask God to clothe you with his mercy and grace
Pray to God to give his Godly desires and show his will.
Pray for your personal needs and pray for others and all the nation’s needs.
When you pray, remember he is your friend / daddy and God, so you can show your emotions to sing, cry and talk to him freely. He enjoys fellowship. Pour out your heart, he knows all the things – all that’s in your heart, your mind, your anxiety, your needs, hidden motives etc... nothing can be hidden from him.
Remember the enemy, the Satan is strong – some time you may not be able to defeat the enemy only with your daily prayers during that time fast and pray – God hears and honors your prayers.
Remember God knows your past, present and future, surrender to him and ask for his guidance, there is no better person to guide you than him.
As you pray you will get a sense of calmness that’s the true form of prayer and many times you will hear his voice speaking to you. some time he speaks to you during the day thru some of your friends / elders as well, you will be reminded of his word and prayer when that happens. Some people are blessed by God’s sprit and talk in tongues. It’s his calling to give you this spirit, it cannot be acquired, so humble yourself to see if God will give you that blessing.
When you pray, God will cloth you with his mercy and grace, as we live in the world we humans tend to get attracted to many sins. and Satan wants us to indulge us in those sinful desires. God alone will give us the strength to fight that out. Satan will plan for many troubles as you pray, God will protect you as you’re his child. He will give you what you ask provided what we ask is according to his will.
'If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. ' John 15:7
Don’t come and pray only for your worldly needs to be met, yes, we have many needs that need to come from God, but that cannot be the sole motive to come and pray. Look at God’s word
' “Consider how the wild flowers grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you—you of little faith! And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it. For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them. But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well. ' Luke 12:27-31
You need to have faith in him and trust him no matter how your bad your situation is, some time you may not get what you ask, surrender to God and tell him if that’s his will its ok. Remember God has better things than what you desire. He always gives the best. Sometime best of the world may not be the best for God
Remember God works daily, he does not give everything to you one shot and asks you to go. You have to come to him daily and ask, you need to depend on him, he has plans for you, but he will reveal his plans at his own appointed time. So, prayer is not a one-time event, it’s a daily activity.
When you wind down the day, pray to God and thank him for his mercies in the day, if you are with family do a family prayer at night. Dedicate early morning for your personal prayers.
This is what the Lord’s word says how we should wait on him daily
'Blessed are those who listen to me, watching daily at my doors, waiting at my doorway. For those who find me find life and receive favor from the Lord . 'Proverbs 8:34-35
Fruits of Spiritual Changes
As you do these two steps, the holy spirit will bring changes in you which you will experience every single day to gain Lord’s wisdom and grow you more in his hands.
I. God’s touch in situation – As you do these two steps, God will touch and change your situation to bring close to him and the faith in God will change the situation and this will will make you come close to God.
II. Fear & Anxiety – As we live in the world, we are filled with Fear and anxiety of situations we encounter challenges / problems in life. Keep in mind Satan’s first armor is to instill fear and anxiety in you when you go thru a troubled situation, this is to make you depend on your own strength and not depend on God.
When you start living a Godly life and when you surrender to God, fear and anxiety will go away no matter what your situation is.
The dependence on God has to come from your heart, not from your head. There is a big difference between them, you say I trust and depend in God but you still panic and depend on your own strength. We as humans are bound to have these emotions / characters no matter how mature you are, when you go thru such situation, do a small prayer and say God, I don’t know what to do, help me God, he will surely help you. Remember God’s word
“Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you or forsake you” (Deuteronomy 31:6)
'Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. 1 Peter 5:7
God’s word is true. The act of trusting God and depending on God deep from your heart is Faith. Practice that, you will trip, but continue to practice so that God will strengthen and increase your faith.
III. God’s peace – When you go thru the situation of world, Fear and anxiety robs the peace in you, keep in mind this is another armor of Satan, he robs the peace in you and make you depend on the world to get into many sinful behaviors. As you trust in God, he will give you a peace in midst of troubled situation. Remember God’s promise
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. “ Philippians 4:6-7
IV. Godly Content – As we live in the world, we are filled with desires to get more and more, as you come close to God. Satan’s biggest armor is to get many desires and make us not be satisfied with what we get, he will push us to get more even after we have got what we need. But when we are with God, God will give you the desires that he wants us to enjoy but you will be contented, the Word of God says
'I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength. ' Philippians 4:11-13
V. Emotional changes – as you get close to God, there will be many emotional behaviors changes you will experience.
As you pray daily, you will start to cry in front of God, as God touches and make his grace come on the situation, sense of thankfulness will come to you. As you depend on him, you will long talk to him (like a newly wedded couple)
Self-transformation will happen in you, your own character’s like anger / your aggressive natures will change, people around you will see a difference in you. You will be reminded by Lord’s teaching when you drift away, by your conscience speaking to you. Always ask God what you should change?, he will reveal what’s wrong in you and will change you.
VI. Follow God’s word – We have to follow what we read in bible, get away from the sin and try imitating Christ’s character and get the Christlikeness in us. Yes, it’s very hard to practice, as we get into our daily lives, we will fall into sin. God knows this and he still will honor you as you try, because he knows the challenges we go thru, he will help you get better every day. The word of God says
'As for everyone who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice, I will show you what they are like. But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete.”' Luke 6:47,49
'We must pay the most careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away.' Hebrews 2:1
VII. Struggles will increase – As you come close to God, there will be troubles and temptations, Jesus in his own words describes this
“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” John 16:33 NIV
If you are a true child of God, you will have many troubles. Keep in mind, these troubles and temptations do not come from God and also God does not want us to face troubles. These are given by Satan, he does not like you to get closer to God, this is another armor he uses to separate us from God and move us to the worldly behaviors
These troubles make us to depend on God more. When you experience a situation of trouble, surrender that to God and ask God to help you in that situation. Remember his word, “take heart! I have overcome the world”, he will overcome them for you, you cannot imagine how he will do, trust me, he will do, simply trust God’s word. Remember his promises
“As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. Isaiah 55:9 NIV
As you start trusting God in these difficult situations, God will strengthen your faith more and more. Endurance leads to maturity in Christ.
VIII. Satan is watching you – Keep in mind as you go closer to God, Satan has deployed many of his angles (that’s right Satan also has his army) to watch over you. He will imitate like God, create distractions. The word of God says about Satan and how he will make us come strong
'Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings. And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make y’ou strong, firm and steadfast. ' 1 Peter 5:8-10
He also constantly complaints to God of your mistakes, he will mock to God saying, see your child is doing this sin, that sin. So we have to be watchful in ways we do, let’s not embarrass God in front of Satan. He should treat us like Job, see the word of God on Job
'Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.” Job 1:8
Once you are close to God, he will give you the wisdom and direction to overcome Satan’s schemes and let you know his plans. See his promise to us.
'For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight. As it is written: “He catches the wise in their craftiness” ; and again, “The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile.” ' 1 Corinthians 3:19-20
Conclusion
If you want to grow in spiritual maturity, it’s not a one-time event, it’s a marathon activity
Surrender to God’s will
Depend on him daily
Read the bible daily
Pray daily
Expect troubles and trials and temptations to come – God is in control, he will not let you down, he cares for righteous people / his children.
Stay blessed by following these in your daily life. I thank God for his leading to write me this blog based on his leading. All praise to God.
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