Spiritual Maturity Development Network

Feeling blessed by God's grace and love is a natural spin off of His love for us. But what is the actual purpose that He made us for? It has been a while since my last blog post was released and interestingly enough it has been a season of a paradigm shift and perspective change for me. I have seen it on so many occasions where people as God for direction on a personal matter and wait on the Holy Spirit for His divine guidance. Although this is a noble approach I do believe that it should be the exception rather than the rule for the average child of God. In our baby years as believers, we are so often taught that we should wait on the Lord so that we would have our strength renewed Isaiah 40v31. We are also taught to use phrases like “if it is your will” like we see Jesus use in the garden of Gethsemane when He asks His Father to let the Cup or burden of the crucifixion pass over Jesus. I do believe that Jesus was intensely aware of what he would be going through and His prayer is...

Over the last few days, the SMDN social media pages has been focusing on the concept of rehashing your day in the presence of Jesus. Rehash seems an unusual word and simply means to add things to a conversation while you are talking about something else. Or at least that is what it meant when I was trying to earn a living off of cold call sales as a younger man. So often God’s children spend substantial amounts of time doing Christian things like going to church, watching Christian movies or listening to gospel music while we are driving in our car. All the peripheral things that fill our day are actually important because they fill the bulk of our time and thinking space. As much as these peripheral things have value and add to our Christian walk and meditations there is something that is by far more important than anything else we can do in our daily lives. That is to invest dedicated and calculated time to separate ourselves from the world and sit at the feet of our Lord and Master ...

  When I listen to their responses it often becomes clear that their perspective on their faith in Jesus is strongly based on time spent with motivational teachers or speakers. They sound quite charismatic when they speak and are eager to share their testimony of encounters with Jesus. It is incredibly easy to be drawn in by their enthusiasm for Jesus. How important is it for a child of God to understand or grasp the meaning of scripture? Often I come across believers when I reach out to promote Spiritual Maturity in their hearts. So often I come across people that are hyped up and zealous for their faith. I love seeing people energised about their faith and when they share their experience it is often with joy passion and even with a spring in their step so to speak. In the presence of such energised people, it is very easy to feel they are in a good place and doing well spiritually.   Just recently I was in a store looking for a specific bible when I engaged with the s...

  How then do I know what season I am in? Should I push to grow or wait in the Lord till the winter is over? How does one know? Every person that I know strives to be validated as a person. We have these ideal and mental pictures of what it is that makes us successful. So we find ourself chasing after these goals and ideals in life hoping that it somehow will make us worthy of recognition. Even top executives like the monopoly giants in the world seem to be constantly pushing to have their latest idea voted in as the right thing to do. In my profession, I see perhaps more than my fair share of homeless or destitute people, and it has been my experience that even for these people striving for recognition or social acceptance is key to their survival on a daily basis. When I look at my own life it’s clear that I am also driven by this need to be seen and validated by an external source. I am constantly seeking approval from God, my wife and even on some levels my peers. This morning ...

We CAN claim to be victims like Adam did in the garden of Eden or we can take ownership of the personal space the Lord gave us to subdue and bring our life under His governance as obedient children that are eager to please our Heavenly Father. While it is true that we are very seldom able to chose the people that come over our path we DO have a say in who stays in our life. We also decide how long they stay. Some time back I heard a statement that went something like this. “People come into your life for a reason, season, or a lifetime.” I guess the challenge is trying to. Identify the purpose that someone serves when they come across our path In life. Some show up for a reason like changing our life direction or altering a mindset for us. Other may have more change to bring to our lives and so we may find that these people stay for a season. A very small portion of new friends stay or remain friends for the rest of our lives. How often are we reminded that we should only allow those w...