What is Spiritual Growth and Maturity?

When a person grows spiritually, there is a process he goes thru that will bring him closer to God. During that process there is a change in the nature of the believer where the believer will end up sharing the nature of God. Also, thru the spiritual connection, the believer will receive a great wisdom which will bring him into a place where he will actually think like God. God wants all of us to be like him - What good and loving Father would not want that? That can only be accomplished thru spiritual growth. Theological growth is knowledge. Spiritual growth is the manifestation of that knowledge into a new nature. A spiritually mature person is a person who has reached the pinnacle of the perfect relationship.

SELF GIVING

There are two aspects of self giving: 1. To God.  2. To all humanity.

 Virtually all Christians, at some time, will give themselves to God.  But, what do they do afterwards?  Giving oneself to God must be love-based, or it will mean nothing to God.  It can be for no other reason.  However, most Christians say it and then do nothing. They will say it and then wait for God to call them. 

 Anytime you make a commitment that is love based, it requires action.  Otherwise, it is only words.  If you tell God that you are giving yourself to him, and then sit and wait for him to either change you or call you, nothing is going to happen. It is wasted seed on wasted soil.  If you make a verbal commitment to God it is only verbal.  God needs and deserves a spiritual commitment.

 How do you give yourself to God?  It takes focus and total commitment on a daily, even hourly, basis.   You have to make his purpose, your purpose.  You have to make giving him joy and delight, your purpose in life.  You do that by looking for ways to bless him every day.  If you come upon a way to bless God, you don’t pass it up. So, what blesses God?  Loving him, trusting him, and loving each other. 

 How can we love God? Praise and worship him in word and song.  Every time you think about him, tell him that you love him.  Share your daily life with him by talking to him often throughout each day. I don’t mean praying.  God wants to be your father and best friend. You can talk to him as you would your best friend. When it isn’t convenient to talk to him verbally, you can talk to him mentally.  Whenever you can, tell people about your friend and father. You don’t need to quote scripture. Just tell about his love and kindness.  Tell about what he has done for you.  Never neglect him.  Just knowing he is there isn’t enough.  Make him feel loved and welcome.

 How do we trust God?  First, know this:  If you love God with all your heart and are really living your life for him and, living a life of kindness, God will take care of everything for you.  That is, he will take care of all your problems.  He will deal with anything that is causing turmoil or pain in your life, weather it be financial, health or family.  So, the way you trust God is you go on with your daily lives of self giving without worrying about anything.  You don’t fret, you don’t worry, you don’t have anxieties because you absolutely know that God is there in the background, dealing with all your challenges and problems, and finding solutions.

 How do we love each other?  Self giving to others is a required aspect of spiritual growth.  This is what I have been trying to get across to people – living a life of kindness with a love-filled heart.  It isn’t just something you can simply turn on.  Filling your heart with love can only be accomplished thru a spiritual closeness to God.   The reason filling your heart with love is so important is because once you do that, the love remains and is always there.  There is no way to turn it off because it has become part of you.  I use the term “heart”, which is metaphorical. Literally you are filling your soul with love, your soul being a mass of energy in the core of your body.

 The question, the challenge is how to do that.  How does a person actually fill his heart with love?  It is something that happens naturally for some people.  But, for others, it will have to be done “manually”.  I couldn’t think of a better term.

 Filling your heart with love is a mental/spiritual process. It may require a change in outlook, a change in how you perceive other people. It will definitely require a process of forgiving if there are people you need to forgive.  All traces of anger must go.  A milligram of anger will block love from entering.   The person, or persons, who wronged you, were likely made the way they are thru no fault of their own.

 You must realize and accept that the way people are, or what they have become may not be their fault.  People, their brains, are highly programmable. And the problem is that there is no filter.  The brain accepts everything.  Abuse and neglect, especially during childhood will affect a person’s adult life many years later.  Anger builds up. Hate builds up. Sorrow and regret build up. These memories are stored in the subconscious.  They will always be there somewhere and will have an affect on a person’s behavior, on a person’s nature.  IT IS NOT THAT PERSON’S FAULT.  Somebody else made him or her that way.

 These people with behavioral and personality disorders need love, perhaps more than a normal person.  And the incredible possibility is that love can change such a person’s life, behavior and direction in a positive way.

 That is part of the process of filling your heart with love – acceptance of people the way they are.  Understand that it could have been you.  You could have been the one who is messed up from a turmoil and abuse filled youth. Or maybe you are.  If you are, then the forgiving process is a big part of your growth.

  Now, in order to start the process of filling your heart with love, find a quiet place where you can be alone.  Go thru the forgiving and acceptance process as described above.  Think deeply and don’t try to hurry. Then open your heart and say this prayer:  Sweet Lord, I am ready to be filled. My desire is to be like Jesus – filled with love. I pray and ask for your daily help in reminding me to forgive and accept. Please fill my soul with your love now.  Please fill me to overflow as my desire is to share it with everybody. Let me feel your love and your joy, that it will remain in my memory forever. Thank you for helping me to walk a path of love.  I pray this in the name of Jesus, Amen!

 Now, How do we live a life of kindness?  Smiling at everybody.  Being friendly and joyful. Comforting those who need comforting.  Encouraging those who need encouraging. Helping those who need help, whenever we can.

 The wonderful effect of a love-filled heart is that once your heart is filled, those deeds of kindness will come naturally as part of your nature.  You will not need to consciously go out of your way be kind, because it has become your nature.

FOCUS & DEDICATION

I’ve already covered part of this, but there are some additional aspects I want to cover here.

 Three years ago, I was talking to a friend of mine.  We were talking about God and the nature of Jesus.  He made a statement that at the time, didn’t make sense to me.  He stated:  “Jim, I wish I was more generous”.  The reason it didn’t make sense to me is that my thoughts were that if he wanted to be more generous, why didn’t he just become more generous?

 Today, as I delve deeper into spirituality I now understand why his mind wasn’t following his heart.  Generosity is one aspect of kindness, and even though his heart was wanting to be more generous, it wasn’t in his mind to do so.  That is the problems with so many Christians, that their godly nature is only on the outside.  They act like Jesus, but are not like him inside.  This goes back to the first article that explains how to fill your heart with love.  If you don’t fill your heart with love, then your love will be something that you will have to consciously turn on when you want or need it.

 The same was true with my friend’s generosity.  It was something that he would have to turn on.  So, he would only turn it on if and when certain conditions were met.

 Dedication and focus are requirements of Spiritual Growth. But, If a person has to consciously turn on their love, kindness or generosity, then there is no real dedication or focus. It is merely play-acting to appear as something other then he really is.  In other words, they are doing it because it is the Christian thing to do, not because love and kindness is the essence of their nature. 

 Dedication and focus to God must be constant – every hour of every day.  If you have to turn it on, that is not good enough.  It must be embedded in your soul.  You must wake up every day, thinking about what you can do for God that day. That is focus, dedication and purpose. 

 Having that level of dedication and focus requires great love, faith and trust in the Lord.  You must be willing to turn everything over to him – not just in word as many do, but by turning your attention from your own problems and challenges to being an everyday, constant blessing.  In order to do that, you may need to assert and re-assert that love, trust and faith every day in the morning during a time of meditation.

 When you are able to do that, God attention will be on you.  When you can do that, you have become a child whom he not only loves, but is proud of.

 Spiritual Growth is about becoming like God – possessing his nature and wisdom.  When you reach that place in your growth, doors will open for you.  People you don’t even know will be showing you favor. Miracles and blessings will become a part of your everyday lives.  What good Father does not want his child to be like him?  You can do it.  It is his will for you.

HUMILITY

The progression of spiritual growth requires a spirit of total humility. One of the predominant hindrances to spiritual growth is scriptural knowledge based arrogance - an attitude of “know it all”.

 You must understand and accept that mastery of the Bible only means that you have accumulated that much knowledge.  You must understand and accept that the Bible doesn’t tell us everything about God, his kingdom, Jesus, and the history of man.  If you think you know it all, then the lid has been put on, and your learning and growth ability has ended.

OPEN HEART/OPEN MIND

 Another requirement of spiritual growth is an open heart and open mind.  There is a problem with many believers whose growth has stopped with theology.  Their belief is that all revelation must relate directly to scripture.

If you can’t verify it, validate it, or find it in scripture they will not accept it, regardless of what it is.  This attitude completely blocks any spiritual growth.

 There are many things pertaining to God, his nature, his kingdom, Jesus, and the history of man that are not addressed in the Bible.  One belief among Christians is that if something isn’t in the Bible, then God didn’t believe we needed to know.  That is true – at the time, God didn’t think we needed to know.  But, it wasn’t because he didn’t want us to know.

 I believe that the information about God that is available in the written word is only about 10% of what he is.  The other 90% can only be learned directly from God thru a spiritual relationship.  Yes, maybe you don’t need to know this information, BUT there is information concerning these topics that will enhance your understanding and relationship with God.

 I believe that thru most of the OT, God was a frustrated and angry god.  There are aspects of his wonderful nature that were never revealed, never described in writing.  My belief is that it is imperative that all Christians have the deepest possible understanding of their Father in Heaven.  This understanding can only come thru personal revelation beyond that which is written.  There must be no theology based barrier.

So, open your hearts and open your minds.  God has something incredible to tell you.