The Training for Spiritual Maturity

Hebrews 5:12-14 - "In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil."

Believers are on a continual growth track that ascends higher and higher.  This side of heaven none f us ever "arrive."  But we each have a responsibility to press on to maturity.  Though many people thin those who know a lot about the Bible are the spiritually mature ones, Hebrews 5:14 adds the element of 'training' to the growth equation.  This word means a custom or habit.  Christian growth requires the discipline of godly habits carried out daily.

It is my strong believe that the most important training to cultivate is a personal devotional time.  Since God is the source of all spiritual development, you can't neglect Him and expect to become mature.  Transformation begins with time in His Word and prayer.

Obedience is another essential element for advancement.  When our desire to obey the Lord is stronger than our attraction to sin, we'll know we are making progress in our spiritual life.

In terms of physical development, the goal is to become more independent and self-sufficient as we age.  But in the spiritual realm, the opposite is true.  Those who are mature in Christ recognize their own inadequacy and rely on the Holy Spirit within them.  It's only through Him that we are able to transform our character.  It is only through Him that we are empowered to accomplish everything the Lord calls us to do.

Getting older doesn't mean maturity in God's eyes.  By digging into Scripture and developing righteous habits, we can use our years to grow stronger in the Lord instead of wasting time with passivity.  No one accidentally becomes mature.  Spiritual growth requires a diligent pursuit of God.

Be Blessed!. 

A Barometer for Spiritual Growth

1 Corinthians 13:11-13 "When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.  And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love."

     Since our Father wants us to mature in the faith, we should stop from time to time and examine our lives to see if we're making progress in this area.  Physical growth is fairly easy to evaluate - all you need is a tape measure.  But I've been asked on several occasions, "Pastor Donna, how can you tell if you're growing spiritually?"   I thought I'd give it my best to reply.  Let's begin by considering how children develop.
     DESIRES:  Have you noticed that our childhood toys no longer interest us?  The maturing process changes our desires in the spiritual realm as well.  When we're growing, the world's pleasures lose their appeal, while our hunger for God and His Word increases.  We are eager to be with Him and share with others how He's working in our lives.
     UNDERSTANDING:  When we were young, our perception of the world was very limited.  In the same way, we lack spiritual understanding when we're new believers.  But, in time, we begin to see life from God's perspective.  Trials and temptations become opportunities for growth, and service for the Lord becomes an honor instead of a burden.
     SELFLESSNESS:   The most obvious sign of a toddler's immaturity is his selfishness.  He wants his way, and he wants it NOW!  Hopefully that is no longer characteristic of us.  A mature believer is submissive to the Lord, willing to wait, and more concerned about others than himself.


I think it is wise to check and see how we are doing in these areas of growth.  Maybe it's time to let go of a few childish ways in order to grow into a mature believer.  The greatest evidence of maturity is love.  When the Lord and other people have first place in our hearts, it's then that we're most like Jesus.

Why can't life be simple?

Life is not simple. It never has been simple. No period in my life has been simple. Nothing simplifies life. Money does not. Success does not. Status does not. Accomplishment does not. Pleasure does not. "Dropping out" does not. Being irresponsible does not. There are only two types of people who affirm that life is simple: those who live in denial and those who live in self-manufactured pretense.

Why can't life be simple? An endless list of things complicate life. Just one item on that list forever occurs. The unexpected always happens, and it is never predictable. The only thing predictable about the unexpected is that it will happen.

Spiritual existence is not simple. Serving God is not simple. Being godly is not simple. Accepting responsibility is not simple. Living in relationships is not simple. Accepting forgiveness is not simple. Living in forgiveness is not simple.

Why can't we make life simple? Because there is a war going on. God and Satan are at war. They are at war in our world. They are at war in our society. They are at war in our city. They are at war in our families. They are at war in our individual lives. War complicates every aspect of life.

Then what are we to do? Never take our eyes off of God and His work in our lives. Never take our eyes off of Jesus Christ and his work in our lives.

Ephesians 3:14-21, "For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God. Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen. 

 
The better we understand and trust the purposes of God, the more certainly the chaos of life is transformed into the purpose of life.

Be blessed!

For "Mine" is the Kingdom!

Wedding days bring visions of flowers, romance, joy, and hopes.  But weddings have a way of turning into marriages.  This is certainly not an attack on the institution of marriage, but when a marriage becomes an institution, the flowers, romance, joy, trust, and hope die.  Emotional distance, with decreased trust and decreased communication become the norm.  It is a centuries old fashion to blame the institution of marriage itself for the problem, but as is so often the case with man as judge, the judge is the guilty party.  It is not the rule of marriage that is the problem, but it is rather ruling the marriage by the individual parties.  Self-centeredness and lust for power are the unseen giants which destroy relationship.  Self-centeredness and lust for power are the giants which negate the second greatest commandment - "Love thy neighbor as thyself."  And lust for power and self-centeredness permeate all of mankind, for man's fallen nature comes from a fallen god - not Creator God, but creature god - Satan.  And the goal of creature god and his giants is to destroy relationship, not just with man to man but with God to man and to negate the greatest commandment, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind."

How can I love God with all my heart, soul, and mind when my mind is set on me and my desires?  Jesus defined adultery, not just as a physical act, but a heart meditating on another person for personal, selfish use.  It is no different with my relationship with God.  When the meditation of my heart is on me, and my love for me, and my lust for me, another god is before me, and I have created for myself an idol.

It has become fashionable to state, "My God is a God of love."  Interpreted, this means, "The god I have created does not judge my selfishness and ignores any wrong doing on my part."  But mankind does not have the right or ability to state, "Let us make God in our image."  A god made by man does not raise man up, but pulls him down - whether the god be stone, wood, or flesh or an imagined friend.  The sentiment of a "God of love" is often used in response to a mention of God's Law.  The belief has become that Jesus' purpose is not to save me from my sin, but save me from the Law.  Yet, this same Jesus, when speaking of love stated in John 15:9-10, "Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love.  If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love."  Paul stated in Romans 13:10 that love is the fulfillment of the law, because love does no wrong to a neighbor.  If my heart is filled with me, my behaviors will be about me, and must result in wrong to my neighbor.  When I keep God's commandments, I abide in His love - not when I think He loves me of I "feel" love toward another person.  Biblically defined love involves God's Law and commandments - they can not be separated.  Man cannot love apart from God because God is love.  Man cannot love apart from God's Law, because man is man - and will act accordingly.  If man is a law unto himself, tyranny will result - not just political tyranny, but personal tyranny.  When "I" am king, all will suffer under my kingship.  When I as an individual make the laws that I and others are to live by, those laws will benefit me.  The resulting strife is what most of us know simply as life - and is NOT "abundant".  "Mine is the kingdom" will be the mind set and behaviors I have when I do not keep God's commandments.  My law is not love.  But the laws of God are.  Meditation is simply applying the law of the king to my heart.  It is listening to the commands of the king.  It is the action I take to give God the rightful place of King in the Kingdom of God.  So when we pray, let us use the words "THINE is the kingdom" and not "MINE is the kingdom."

Be blessed.

Lead by emotions

Years ago I was in a meeting of elders of a church when the subject of emotions was brought up.  One very wise elder said, "Emotions tell you everything."  Another very wise elder stated, "Emotions tell you nothing."  Both were correct.  The first elder was the congregation's counselor and he was speaking of the benefit of seeing a person's belief system through his emotions.  The latter elder, a very practical administrator with a doctoral degree in chemistry, was speaking of the place that emotions have in giving us direction or the making of decisions.  The fact is that emotions and feelings have their place, but that place is not to lead in decisions.

Unfortunately, many, if not most, individuals are lead by their emotions.  Some of the most critical decisions in our lives are overly influenced by emotional leading.  Voting, marriage, promiscuity, diets, and drug and alcohol use are all influenced heavily by emotions.  The outcry of plays, movies, and books is "follow your heart."  Phrases.such as "if it feels good, do it" or "it can't be wrong if it feels so right" have been around for decades and helps add to the confusion.  Psychological philosophy is in a constant search for justification of one's aberrant behaviors and for someone on whom to blame those behaviors and relieve emotional pain.  We allow artists, musicians, film directors, and news media using emotionally driven phrases and images to manipulate us into decisions and opinions which have nothing to do with righteousness or truth.  Words and actions of true substance.  And mankind continues the downward evolution into anarchy, created in the primordeal soup of self-serving emotionalism.

At times we all may need counsel or encouragement.  But what is that counsel?  Is it man centered?  Is it focused on curing the emotional pain that someone may be going through?  So its goal freedom from pain for the person or is the goal first first the increase of His government in the individual's life, thereby bringing true and lasting freedom?  Worse yet, (and I am afraid we have all seen it but hoped it was not true) is the goal the ego of the counselor in helping others or having an entourage of grateful hangers on.  At a recent meeting where a counselor was the speaker, I was sickened as I heard him say time after time how "he" had brought someone to freedom.

True freedom, lasting freedom comes, not from man's counseling, not from blame, not from reliance on counselors or psychological fads and theories, but from continuing, abiding in the word of God.  That abiding makes me know truth.  It makes me discern error in the midst of emotional turmoil, because the word of God changes the belief system that has caused the emotional turmoil.

Those who counsel need to focus on the fact that a relationship with Christ, not the counselor, will bring about emotional stability and freedom into a life.

Be blessed!

I'm still on the Freedom Trail...

I think true freedom is the absence of fear.  Fear is the main driving force behind most of the goals in human life.  I walk in fear of pain, fear of love, fear of abandonment, fear of hunger, thirst, death, injury, the future, the past, today, lack, missing out, wrong decisions, and even fear itself.  I recently heard a person, who frequently participates in daredevil stunts just for the thrill of doing so, say repeatedly, "I will not let fear keep me from doing the things I dream of doing."  I must salute his spirit and his desire to look fear in the face.  On the other hand he missed something - his driving force of the fear of missing out on not doing something he desires to do.  Just as it is true that truth sets us free, it is non-truth (lies) that brings us bondage.  Hebrews 2:14-15 states, "Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives."  True freedom is the absence of fear; and the absence of fear is peace.  Freedom and peace are two of the mail goals in human life.  And when we lack these we will naturally try to move toward the fulfillment of them in our lives, and that fulfillment is often by seeking guidance through counselors.

While I'm on a roll...let me discuss counseling.  Counsel is often needed from time to time.  But what often is being passed off as counsel is more often in line with 2 Timothy 4:3-4, "For the time will come wen they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths."  Counsel is often not based on the truths of God's word ("sound doctrine"), but rather the tenets of secular, pragmatic psychological principles which may "work" in accordance with the goals of the parties involved.  The goals and means of counsel for the believer must be in accordance with the Kingdom of God - not the interests of man. .

Be Blessed!

Freedom - Do we really know what that is?

Freedom is something of which the world dreams but rarely defines and, even more, rarely experiences.  It is most often mentioned in the political realm with the desire for a people, race, or nation to be free.  But freedom of any type always involves responsibility.  True freedom is never freedom to do all of one's wishes.  True freedom must always be restricted by law.  Mankind, in his current state will not govern himself.  Total freedom results in total depravity.  Man, without law to restrict his behavior, becomes the measure of behavior on an individual level - which is the problem.  Man is not God and never will be.  My personal selfishness and lusts (defined by myself as "freedom") will inevitably overrule another's personal selfishness and lusts, thereby restricting that person's freedom.  The oft repeated question, "Why can't we all just get along?" is worth answering.  But the answer does not come on the societal level.  Nor is the answer a statement.  The most accurate answer to that question is another question, "Why can't I get along?"  For the answer to man's wars, slaveries, murders, and holocausts are not plural - it is the problem in the individual.  My individual desires drive me to use others for my good, which must clash with their good.  Without restrictions to his freedom, man has consistently displayed the wild, uncivilized, savage beast that he is.  The evolutionary rules of "survival of the fittest" and "the ascent of mankind" must involve judgement of who is fit and who has or has not ascended, which begs the question, "who is fit to judge fittest for survival?"  And, when that judgment is made, the response is not freedom, but murder, war, and genocide - the history of mankind.

The history of mankind and our inability to rule ourselves will be repeated continually until the history of man, the individual, is changed by man, the individual, receiving the ability to rule self.  True salvation is not just salvation from sin - it is salvation from self.  And, if I have been saved from myself, mankind has been saved from me.  The personhood of Jesus, the Truth, offers me freedom as I know Him;  as I have relationship with Him He gives me freedom from self.  Only Truth personified, living in the individual man, can bring personal freedom.  And only personal freedom for man, the individual, can produce freedom for man, the species.

Be blessed.

Another point of view

I believe one of the greatest follies of mankind is using our imagination combined with our arrogance to create a "third choice" which exists, not in reality, but only in personal fantasy.  Time after time after time God gives only two choices - we choose a third.  God offers light or darkness - we choose gray.  God offers hot or cold - we choose lukewarm.  God offers good or evil - we choose compromise.  Will mankind ever get it right? 

Simply Noticing...

     Amazing how so many Christians who sow to the flesh actually think they will not be disciplined simply because they call themselves "Christian".  That because they call themselves "Christian" they will only reap the benefits.  God's ways become more apparently non-optional when we are desperate.  God, like a life preserver on a ship, is not given any particular place of honor or attention until one is sinking in the waters of life.  Until we are most desperate.

And away we go!!!

     I've spent many hours reading the opinions of so many other bloggers that I decided to give it a try.  I do, after all, have many thoughts, opinions, rantings, and ravings running through my head and decided that I'd like to share some of them to see if anyone is on the same page.  If my opinions, rants, or raves offend of insult anyone in any way, that is NOT my intent.  As I have said, these are merely MY own opinions and not necessarily the opinions of anyone associated to me.  So, with that said, I will begin.

     It saddens me to think there are people sitting in churches each Sunday who have no personal relationship with our Lord.  They actually believe God is excited for them to sit and listen to their priest or pastor talk about Him.  When one wants God's promises without any responsibility on their part; when one wants a relationship that costs absolutely nothing; when one wants God's blessings on their life without His holiness in their life, then they are wasting their time practicing "religion" and definitely not "faith."

     Have a good day and be blessed!