Category: Interior Life

maturity

Do You Passionately Pursue Maturity?

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Jesus and his Apostles clearly taught us that we should pursue maturity. But why? In an earlier post we listed five reasons for pursuing holiness, which is essentially the same as maturity. In this post, we want to focus mostly on the motivation of becoming what God made us to be. If your teenage child stopped growing intellectually and emotionally would you not consider this a cause for great concern and make an exhaustive search for an answer to the problem? Wouldn’t you realize that unless your child resumes their development that they will not become what they should become? Wouldn’t you make every effort to help them achieve adulthood along with its benefits? Likewise, if we allow ourselves to become complacent about our growth just because we have reached “teenage” maturity then are we not choosing to fall far short of what we are meant to be? Are we Continue Reading →

heart love

An Exercise For Believing God’s Love For Us

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The foundation idea of our faith is that God loves us and wants to bless us. This conviction is something that expands throughout our lifetime, but it can also fade. This exercise helps us to keep ourselves abiding in God’s love and to highlight any areas where we might doubt his love. Read through this once as a prayer by replacing references to God with “You”. Then start over and read one line at a time without replacing references to God, as a declaration and acceptance of God’s love. After each line take at least 20 seconds for agreeing with and absorbing it. Choose to believe and be guided by it. This exercise should help you determine how much your heart truly believes in God’s love for you. If you notice resistance or lack of agreement as you read through this, then take some time to reflect on why that Continue Reading →

magnifying glass on motives

The Freedom That Comes From Examining Our Motives

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One of the more helpful practices for maturity is to examine our motives on a regular basis. This helps us to find attitudes and beliefs and weaknesses that are blocking our Christformation. It helps us to break free of the chains that are holding us back. If you are wondering why your daily life or ministry doesn’t seem to be primarily focused on God then it is possible that you are doing what you do for the wrong motives. It is easy to do the right thing for the wrong reason. It is also possible that you have created a false self out of destructive motives, hoping to gain approval. Some people lead worship or lead a congregation for years before realizing that their ministry was more about gratifying themselves and gaining approval than about honoring God. So we need to occasionally ask ourselves penetrating questions. “Is my motivation for Continue Reading →

triple power supply

Our Threefold Living Power Supply

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It is extremely helpful to get in the habit of daily checking ourselves to see if we are living from the new self, walking in the Spirit and focusing on Christ. I think this is one of the fundamental practices of a believer and if we pursue this divine threefold living power supply we will discover a transformation. We do not succeed in Christformation by focusing on our effort, but rather by focusing on our threefold power supply. We need to commit to pursuing Christformation, but we actually pursue it by abiding in our threefold power supply. We can also mention the Father’s parenting, though he appears to choose to provide his power through his Spirit and his Son. First, remember to live from your new self, which is created in the image of God. Your new self wants healthy loving relationships and especially a union of love with God. Continue Reading →

god's love

The Power Of Loving God

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Loving God is the supreme mark of maturity. When we love him we will desire to be like him. We will desire to see him someday. We will desire to please him. We will find ourselves just thinking about him. We will desire to study his words in Scripture. We will desire to talk to him. We will desire to purify everything ungodly from our life. We will desire to be with others who love him. All of these naturally flow from loving God, even if they might start small in our early Christian life. As we follow these desires they will grow and so will our Christformation. When we love God then this love will naturally manifest through us in many ways. It lifts our hearts, blooms into joy and gives us strength. In the words of the author of the Imitation of Christ: Love flies, runs and jumps Continue Reading →