The Road Less Travelled

"Two roads diverged in a wood and I..... I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference." - Robert Frost

Spiritual maturity is the road less traveled. Many fear a deeper walk with Christ because 1) It's hard 2) It's scary 3) It takes over your life. Fortunately, I love a challenge, I think of myself as courageous, and the rewards of a mature faith walk manifest in every aspect of my life in a positive way. Most importantly, since we are abiding in Christ's love and covered by grace, He sees the true condition of our heart and answers our prayers to grow us up in Him. We are NOT doing spiritual maturity alone! The joy and peace we experience transforms us.

Pastor Kevin Meyer's message on spiritual maturity, with a beautiful follow-up blogfrom Pastor Dan Reiland Is Spiritual Maturity an Impossible Road?, will become essential tools in my own quest for spiritual maturity. In fact, I came home from church and immediately journaled my own action plan, which I'd like to share. I encourage you to think about the ways you can mature in Christ.

Pastor Kevin's definition of spiritual maturity is as follows (as inspired by Dan's blog):

1.Spiritual Intimacy = HEART This is the EMOTIONAL connection and experience we have with have with God.

2.Biblical Knowledge = MIND This is the INTELLECTUAL understanding of His truth through His word.

3.Holy Obedience = WILL This is SURRENDER of our actions to live in
the ways of God so that we might have the experience of joy and
peace.

Kevin went on to point out that as we get more mature, our capacity for love increases. If you are a Christ follower, you know that our number one calling is to make Christ known to the world. This involves not only winning people to make a decision for Christ, but then helping to mature them by pouring into them so that they, in turn, can win and pour into others. A BIG WAY we do this is by modeling the peace and joy that mature faith gives us in our own lives, even when facing profound challenges.

I took each of the three areas above and journaled about my own PERSONAL action plan to become even more mature. Here is what I'm committing to:

• Intimacy – I have been growing my prayer life significantly. But I want to spend even more time in prayer and continued time at IHOP (House of Praise, not pancakes), more praise music, and listening to God in the quiet moments of my life. I would like to get a prayer partner to join with me in building this intimacy.
• Bible knowledge – Streaming messages from a number of sources, and diving deep into the topics that the holy spirit puts on my heart. My friend Cindy and I are going to Florida for a weekend getaway, and our theme is an End Times study. She just attended a workshop that she is sharing with me, and I'm bringing materials as well.
• Holy Life – Study biblical attributes like fruits of the spirit, sermon on the mount, and the Proverbs 31 woman. I want to be (more) like that. I want an accountability partner or group to help me with this. One area I've grown tremendously in is self-control, particularly in regard to my health. I'm humbly asking God to show me those areas of my life that need work.

Your Action Steps

Do you have specific action steps you can take in each of the areas above? Here's an example. Last year, God showed me that taking care of my health was an act of worship. So I elevated its importance to a spiritual issue, and it has made all the difference! It helped me to go deep in an area of my life that was out of control. As a result, I had the opportunity to work on the fruit of self-control, and seek biblical guidance on food and exercise. I partnered with other believers who also wanted to elevate the importance of health in their lives.

Currently, I have been working on trusting God with all the aspects of my life, and having patience to allow Him to bring things to me in HIS time and not mine. This applies to finances, career successes, relationships, ministry opportunities - God is teaching me to wait expectantly for Him to deliver on His promises! Boy, am I excited about what lies ahead. I am fighting to trust Him and seek His peace in unforeseen circumstances.

Now, I get to apply my new spiritual maturity guidelines to the things God is working on in my life to make me more like Him. So in the weeks ahead, I will be building intimacy and increasing my trust in God's providence for my life through frequent and intense prayer. I'm going to ask for the changes I seek. I will be seeking the truth of trusting Him in his word. I will be making choices that show I trust Him, and don't rely on my own strength. That means I need to let go of some things, and it is painful.

In short, I will take the road less traveled by. I'm ready to experience a new level of spiritual maturity. I'm not intimidated, fearful or apprehensive about where that might take me. I'm completely dependent on Him to guide me down this road. And God never fails us. I will abide in Christ's love and I know there will be grace along the way.

I hope to see you on that less traveled road! Until then, Praise Crazy!