By Evelyn Brooks

When a person accepts Jesus Christ as their Lord or becomes born-again, they are like newborn babies in the spirit realm. We must grow up spiritually . This does not happen by itself or simply by time, in the same way an infant doesn't grow without milk. A person can be born-again for 30 years and still be very spiritually immature. See Hebrews 5:12-14.

What makes us mature

1. A knowledge of Gods word. Learning the facts. Gods word is our food. As we eat, we grow, if we do not eat we do not grow. No matter how long we have been saved we remain spiritual babies. Gods word is our source for truth, if we do not know His word we do not know truth and like a child can be easily deceived.

2. An understanding of Gods word. This comes by prayer, meditation of Gods word, studying, spending time with our great teacher, the Holy Spirit. Also reading books and listening to sermons by Gods anointed teachers and preachers helps us to grow. Others that have been taught by Holy Spirit can teach us as well. The Holy Spirit and Gods word will bear witness that they speak truth or not.

3. Application of Gods word. Making up our mind that when we learn what pleases God according to His word, we will apply it to our life. Become a doer, not just a hearer of the word so that we can continue to stand when the storms of life come. Matthew 7:24-27

4. An intimate and ongoing relationship with Jesus. This comes by Bible study, prayer, worship and a decision that no matter what the cost, we want a close relationship with our God. It simply takes a decision and a commitment of some time and our obedience. I promise it will be the best time spent of your whole day, paying off more than you can imagine in every area of your life.

5. Sharing What God has given us. We are all called to be His witnesses. We can do this by sharing our testimony of what God has done for us. We can let our life be a testimony of Gods changing power. We can let our lights shine by showing the love of Jesus to people in our lives. We can also tell others how they can also be born into Gods Kingdom the way we were. A mark of a mature disciple is looking for ways to help others.

Each and every one of these are extremely important. If even one is omitted we will not become complete and mature in Christ. All of these takes time however. It comes one step at a time and one day at a time. As we are nurtured by eating and drinking Gods word we become stronger and stronger just as a new born becomes stronger and stronger with each passing day as they are nurtured with milk.

Why do we need to be spiritually mature

1. To please God. It is Gods will that we learn and apply His ways to our life for many reasons, most of them being for our own protection and for our own good.

2. To live a victorious Christian life. If we don't learn Gods ways and promises we will live defeated Christian lives. Not only will we not be able to walk in the abundant life God has provided for us but we will be open and susceptible to anything that Satan wants to put on us or that we put on ourselves by a lack of knowledge of Gods provisions. Hosea 4:6 (Think about this, you cannot become born-again if you don't know and understand that you can and how to. God has provided many things that will protect us from destruction. We must have knowledge and understanding of this protection and how to receive it in order to receive it.)

3. To teach others Gods ways. We are commanded by God to go into all the world preaching and teaching His word. We cannot preach or teach what we do not know. We all have to start somewhere in our training and progress steadily onward. Billy Graham started as a baby in Christ too.

4. To walk in Gods power like we are commanded to. Mark 16:15-18 This is just one scripture that commands us to go forth preaching and teaching, driving out demons and healing the sick. Jesus would not have commanded us to do something that we could not do. All it takes is knowledge, understanding, faith and obedience. We can all have these things. God doesn't play favorites, what he will do for one he will do for you too.

In review, every born-again believer is spiritually a baby when he is first born-again and is expected by God to mature in the things of God. Growth comes as we spend time learning Gods word, and building an intimate relationship with Him. Every single Christian is expected to be a disciple or student of Christ. Every Christian is expected by God to share his faith with others. Every Christian has a special place in the body of Christ and every Christian must press into God in order to learn his/her God given calling or job in the kingdom of God. Everyone is not called to the five fold ministry of Preacher, Teacher, Prophet, Apostle, Evangelist but still everyone has a vital role to play! Don't you want to know yours? Time is short, nothing is more important than being about the Fathers business.

PRACTICAL APPLICATION OF THIS LESSON:

Decide how much time at this point you are willing to spend in becoming the mature Christian you need to be in order to have a victorious life in Christ. Decide what time of the day is best for you to spend with God and commit to yourself and God that you will spend this time with Him. It can be 10 minutes or an hour or more. It depends on how much time you are willing to give and how fast you want to grow. Of course the more time you spend, the faster you will grow. The amount of time you are willing to give God is the amount of time He is willing to spend growing you. Pick a comfortable amount of time, you can always increase it as you begin to learn and grow. Divide this time between Bible reading and prayer at this point. It you are accustomed to spending time worshiping God, do this also now. In later lessons we will discuss prayer and worship. Talk with God about your new commitment, ask for His guidance and help.

Father, we thank you for salvation. We commit our lives to you now. We ask that you teach us how to become mature Christians. Teach us your Word, teach us how to please you.
In Jesus name we pray. Amen