Growth and Maturity

By Stephen Wade Wesley

Spiritual growth and maturity is a process not for the faint of heart. Recognizing and understanding the processes one must go through will help strengthen and invigorate your heart for the journey. This four-month journey will equip, enrich and illuminate God's tools and wisdom to assist you grow and mature. In this devotional you will:

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• Language: English
• Publisher: Beyond Borders Ministries
• Release date: Oct 26, 2020
• ISBN: 9781777358112

Book preview

Copyright © 2020 Stephen Wade Wesley

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means – electronic, mechanical, photocopying, and recording or otherwise – without the prior written permission of the author, except for brief passages quoted by a reviewer in a newspaper or magazine and certain other non-commercial uses permitted by copyright law.

To perform any of the above is an infringement of copyright law. For permission requests write to the publisher at the address below.

Stephen Wade Wesley

408 East 24th. St.

Hamilton, On

L8V 4V3

Cover Design: Isaac Wesley

Unless otherwise indicated all scriptures are from the Holman Christian Standard Bible.

Copyright 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, Holman Bible Publishers

ISBN:978-177358-11-2

Acknowledgements

Special thanks to Anne Ames, Editor at Peninsula Freelance Editorial for your professionalism, expertise and commitment to this project.

With, deep appreciation to Ken and Amie Vandevrie for partnering with the vision of Beyond Borders Ministries and the completing of this book. Your friendship, trust and commitment to encouragement have been a continued blessing in my life.

To all those who having read my first devotional took the time to communicate how much it blessed, encouraged and inspired you.

To my son, Isaac Wesley who painstakingly worked with me to do the book cover design.

To my Savior and King, for whom I owe everything and to whom this book I dedicate for holy purposes beyond what I could ever fully comprehend.

Preface

The devotional you hold in your hands is the culmination of a dream that started many years ago.

Maybe somewhere in the back of my mind, as a young man, I imagined one day writing a book, but never really thought it would happen. Some eight years ago, on a Saturday morning, my wife turned to me and said why don’t you write a devotional for new believers and those who need help with their devotions. From there a dream became a vision, and the work to write a one year devotional that would encompass 12 foundational and necessary aspects of the Christian life. The first volume of that series is Cornerstone Truths for the Christian Life, and you hold in your hand the second Growth and Maturity. You can find Cornerstone Truths as an ebook on all the major sites and physical copies via IngramSpark.

I center my purpose for writing on the Love of God as revealed in the Cross of Christ and the walk that all Christians must take to know Christ and to reveal Him to a lost and dying world. My heart desire is that as you read the devotional, potentially lead a small group of disciples with the devotional, do the homework assigned, that you would encounter God in rich and significant ways.

God is alive, His word is alive, His Spirit is alive in us and as we hunger and thirst after knowing Him, He has promised to fill us.

This is a four-month journey to learn and understand, growing and maturing in your character and relationship with God. It is both practical and prophetic as you allow the Spirit of God to produce change in your life as you obey His leading. Growth and maturity are not for the faint of heart. And that is why spiritual maturity and physical age or years saved are not synonymous. Some grow quickly, while others take time, and then others make no steps forward.

God called Joshua to be strong and courageous and take the Promised Land. The exciting part was that God promised him that as He had been with Moses, He would also be with Joshua. The call to growth and maturity includes possessing a promised land, giants, walled cities and many enemies.

But, God has promised the victory the call is are you up for the task. I believe that you are and so with a level of excitement I encourage you to read on. If you would like more information about other aspects of our ministry you can find them at Beyond-Borders.ca

Introduction

I can remember walking the streets of Scarborough, Ontario in the 70s and imaging being married and having children. I prayed for the days of being a father and raising godly children who would know God and love God and make an impact in their generation. I had a dream and a vision for our relationship not just in their childhood but in their adulthood. We took the process of their growth and maturity seriously. We learned that from the weight of scripture and the bumps and bruises along the way in our maturing process. Scripture records for us that God will refine, purify, prune, sanctify and mould us into the image and likeness of His Son.

I break Growth and Maturity down into four separate biblical truths that are unavoidable in the journey. We will examine and navigate these truths, allowing Holy Spirit to cement them in our lives and in the lives we minister to.

Month One - The Believer’s Character - Oh that I could promise you that after our thirty-one-day study you will have arrived with Christlike character fully intact, but alas I cannot. But what I can promise is a gateway to apprehend God’s heart for the significance, relevance and opportunity placed before us to walk in His Holiness how He intended.

Month Two - The Believer’s Training -we can never divorce True Biblical Discipleship from its central theme in the ministry of Growth and Maturity in our lives. Whether you are discipling or wanting to disciple, the principles you will gain from our month long study will benefit and enrich you.

Month Three - The Believer’s Calling - Evangelism has a stigma that causes most of us to shy away from the very idea of talking or sharing our faith. We will hear the heartbeat of heaven as we examine the essence of the gospel and see how it radically changes every individual who believes it.

This is a very novel approach to this vital subject, so prepare your heart for transformation.

Month Four - The Believer’s Warfare - This month our overview of spiritual warfare will enable us to run the full gamut of scripture and look at the most significant aspects of living in victory. We will have a piece by piece examination of our spiritual weapons and the right attitude it takes to wield them successfully.

Each day the devotional ends with a prayer specifically on incorporating the insight into your life. I write each devotional with the perspective that change only occurs in life because of the choices we make. At the end of each week there is an opportunity for scripture memorization and questions to aid in the process of your transformation.

I have bathed this project in prayer. The heart behind writing this devotional is the love affair that God has called all of us into with Himself. That love affair that God has with you is what I desire you to experience afresh and anew as you set time aside to meet with Him. As the days flow by my prayer is that you will meet with God in life altering, life-changing ways that enable you to live in freedom and fulfill God’s will for your life.

Table of Contents

Month 1 – The Believer’s Character

Month 2 – The Believer’s Training

Month 3 – The Believer’s Calling

Month 4 – The Believer’s Battle

Study Guide Answers

The Believer’s Character

Day 1

Character Defined

Then God said, Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness" . Genesis 1:26

The Bible is a book of absolutes. It is not a book of situational ethics or of grey areas when it comes to the issues of life. The Bible is clear when it comes to what is right and what is wrong, and that is because it reveals the nature and character of God. What is Character? I have always had a very fertile imagination. Sometimes to the point of being caught daydreaming when I should have been working or studying. I found it so easy to just dream and imagine, so as time progressed I thought I would put it to good use and use it in a helpful fashion. Imagine with me for a second what it would have been like if we could have set up a video camera and watched the creation story unfold in front of us. Many Hollywood directors have tried their hand at it but to no avail, they have produced nothing spectacular or breath-taking. The Genesis story tells us that mankind was handcrafted by God, He is the Master Builder, and the Grand Artist that used His Human Crayola’s to create such a masterpiece called humanity. Turn to Ezekiel 37, here we see the great army of Israel being resurrected, but you can also see a picture of Creation as God forms bone, and sinew, muscle and tendon, internal organs, the brain and heart of man, covers them with skin and beholds His wondrous first fruits of the human race. But then He breathes into Adam the breath of lives: Physical, Emotional and Spiritual life were given from one breath of God. An eternal life that had never been came into existence. Is it coming into focus, can you begin to see the picture?

But there was a resemblance, there were two of a kind standing there, our camera shows that Adam resembles God and God resembles Adam, the animals note the resemblance between the two and note that there are numerous similarities. God is glorious and Adam in his sinless state is glorious as well (Rom 3:23). The Hebrew words for image is tsehlem (a), where we get our words for phantom, illusion, resemblance, idol, model and shape. If we take the word idol for a second, the golden calf was in the likeness and image of an actual calf, it was not the calf, could not do what a calf could do but it had its likeness and image and you could not look at the idol and not think of the actual and real thing that it was modeled after. When an imprint is left on the ground from a paw or hoof we note it as an imprint that tells us something about the creature that made it as well as giving us the ability to even reconstruct a model of the foot that left the imprint.

(a) H6754 (Strong) tseh’-lem From an unused root meaning to shade; a phantom, that is, (figuratively) illusion, resemblance; hence a representative figure, especially an idol: - image, vain shew.

What is character? Character is the divine imprint, and it is the mark that God made upon all of humanity that cries out to reveal His likeness and His image in us. To see character in us is to see God at work. We cannot love like He loved, give as He gave, die as He died, and live as He lived without His character operating in and through our lives. Character comes before everything else because God put it before everything else. The image and likeness that God was referring to was the eternal, the spiritual, the moral and the infinite. It was not the externals that we get caught up with.

Sin marred our character, we went from being holy to being sinful, and we went from mirroring

God’s light like the moon does the sun to having a heart of darkness imagining every kind of vile and abhorrent thing. In one generation from Adam, a murderer is born and man’s evil heart continued to grow so wicked that in his 10th generation on earth God could no longer stand our wickedness that He said I must cleanse the earth from man. (Gen. 9) Character is who you are when no one is looking; it is who you are when you are all by yourself.

Character is who you are when the going gets tough and the tough have left a long time ago. To possess Character is to have Christ’s character, image and likeness shining in you and through you.

Character is the imprint or mark that you leave on others’ lives, the legacy left behind when you are dead and gone yet still remembered for the good that you did as it continues to bear godly fruit.

True character fulfills the name of a Christian, as a Christian is a ‘little Christ", we look like Him, talk like Him, act like Him, respond like He would respond...

Daddy as we begin this month-long journey of releasing Your Character through me, help me each step of the way to trust in Your great Love, knowing that you do all things well and all that You are doing is for my good.

Day 2

Likeness

Then God said, Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness" . Genesis 1:26

When we look at creation, we see various species and subspecies that God has created. For six days God was unfolding creation. Solar systems flowed from His fingertips, Gaseous superstars and black holes, and galaxy after galaxy spread throughout the universe. Yet to date only one planet is housed with life teeming and glorious. Reptiles, amphibians, fish and mammals, birds and bugs all created by God for His glory and with distinct purpose. But not one of them is given a day to themselves to be created. None of them were breathed upon by God Himself, and none of them were declared to bear the image and likeness of God. God looked in a heavenly mirror and said I will make someone who resembles me. I am the model and the shape from which this crowning glory of my creation will come forth.

I don’t use a spoon to shovel snow and I don’t use a rake to create great works of art. Shoes don’t work well as gloves, and hairspray does not work well as toothpaste. Everything has a created purpose and when created things are doing what they were created for, it is good. Spoons work great as eating utensils and paint brushes create great works of art and mankind was made for righteousness and holiness and not for sin and carnality. Mankind’s greatest potential is when we live in the will and purpose of God for our lives. When we reject God and His ways we bring pain and despair upon ourselves.

I remember watching an Oprah show and was moved to the point of tears. I was never a regular watcher of the show and I was surfing and came upon this momentous event. A young man had set a house on fire and unbeknownst to him the occupant of the home was inside. It was a lady who was burned beyond recognition. There are a not a lot of things that make my knees itch, if you know what I mean, that feeling that comes upon you when your body says you’re going to be sick if you keep seeing what you’re seeing. For some it is the sight of blood, or surgery, or something that you have an aversion to. It was very difficult for me to look at this woman in her new found state. She had made peace with not only her new appearance but was on the show to face the young man who had changed her life forever. She forgave him, had no ill will toward him, she embraced him and he wept in her arms; I don’t believe there was a dry eye in America that day for all who watched that show. She modeled God’s love; she was beautiful beyond words. You could tell by her speech that she was a Christian and that her concern was more for the perpetrator than for herself. What a picture of the cross. We crucified Christ, and He offers us forgiveness, when we deserve judgement we get mercy and grace. When we live like this, giving mercy and grace instead of condemnation and judgement even though it is deserved we mirror the nature and character of God. God becomes seen in our actions and our deeds.

Great Creator, Loving God, Merciful King, Daddy, it makes sense that children would look like their parents and as You have Fathered me, my character should be a representation of who You are. I desire to be a reflection of You to this world. By Your grace I will reveal who You truly are.

Day 3

Looking Like Jesus

" We are pressured in every way but not crushed; we are perplexed but not in despair; 9 we are persecuted but not abandoned; we are struck down but not destroyed. 10 We always carry the death of Jesus in our body, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. 11

For we who live are always given over to death because of Jesus, so that Jesus’ life may also be revealed in our mortal flesh". 2 Corinthians 4:8-11

Christian Character starts with the deepest recognition that more than anything else we desire that Jesus Christ is revealed in us and through us to a lost and dying world. In accepting the good news of Jesus Christ I understand that there are people all around me going into a Christ-less eternity and I want them to receive Christ before that becomes a reality. The verse before us reveals a spiritual principle that Jesus is most greatly revealed when we are confronted with devastating setbacks but we keep moving forward, persecuted, pressured, perplexed but God strengthens, uplifts, revives and unlocks prison doors. Jesus was revealed fully as the Christ after the cross and through the resurrection. The same may be true for us when we are confronted with actual persecution (something very common around the world) rejection, mocking and intimidation. Do we silence our testimony, do we become politically correct or do we persevere in sharing our faith in wisdom and discernment? The setbacks and rejections may be real, but God promises that He will show up miraculously on our behalf as we selflessly love our fellow man.

We have preconceived ideas of what Jesus looked like; please note that I am not talking about the painted images and notions. The now famous statement of WWJD taken to its true intended meaning is closer to what I am thinking of and hopefully stirring your heart towards. New Testament Christianity turned the world to the right side because it was radical, revolutionary, martyred and powerful. It was not the status quo, its founders were rejected, meeting in catacombs and holding services underground, they were misunderstood and feared. But the message spread like wild fire and thousands were ushered into the kingdom of God through the preaching and lifestyle of the believers. The lifestyle of these believers was markedly different from the world around them because of the character they each exhibited. What set them apart was their eyes were on eternal realities and not just temporal issues and concerns. People were more important than things.

Obeying God outweighed every other concern. Their willingness to lay down their lives for the gospel marked all of them as true disciples of their Master. It was also the great tool that God used to bring in the harvest. To this day humanity still honors those who are willing to die for what they believe in. To hear Christians sing while being martyred had an earth shattering effect as those listening knew they could never do such a thing. Our attitude when the chips are down and everything is going against us can be one of the greatest tools God uses to show who He is to a lost and dying world. The promise of the scripture today is that Jesus would actually be seen in our mortal bodies as we die to self and live for God. When we choose Christlikeness over selfishness, the world sees Jesus. What more could we ask for?

King Jesus, Savior, help me choose Your attitude and heart in everything, my heart’s cry is that You would be revealed in my very life. Seen so clearly that those who do not know You would clearly see that it is not by my power, but by Yours that I live my life. Draw them to You.

Day 4

People of His Presence

I will meet with you there above the mercy seat, between the two cherubim that are over the ark of the testimony; I will speak with you from there about all that I command you regarding the Israelites. Exodus 25:22

We took some time in the first devotional Cornerstone Truths of the Christian Life to lay a framework of prayer. We looked at the term communion and how it so accurately describes the heart of God in prayer. In looking at the development of God’s character in our lives, we surely would want to know how we can participate with God to allow His character to be developed in our lives.

The number one place where transformation takes place is in the presence of the Lord. God tells the people of faith in the Old Testament ‘I will meet with you there above the mercy seat’. The mercy seat was the covering of the Ark of the Covenant. It held within it three primary items. The one we will look at is the law, or the Ten Commandments. The ark was a mini-representation of heaven and how God interacts with humanity. If God looks full faced at the law and sees our sinfulness then judgement must follow. Instead, the mercy seat was placed above the law, but that was not enough, the mercy seat was covered with the blood of the atonement lamb every year. So when God looked down on the law, He would see the blood and show mercy. This is the foundation of a relationship with God and the cornerstone to our change. Through Christ’s death and resurrection I am a new creation, created for godly character from before the foundation of the world. Because my sin nature was crucified with Christ and Christ lives in me, I can now access the fullness of Christ living in me.

The presence of God is promised to me ‘above the mercy seat’ or where the blood has been shed. I can come into my prayer closet with absolute assurance of meeting with God. He has covenanted to meet with us. The next great promise in this verse is that He, God, will speak with you from the mercy seat about all that I command you. So we are promised communion and revelation as we come and meet with God. God is our life source and He most definitely is our source of character transformation. I can remember a time early in my Christian experience where I was quite upset over injustice happening to people I really loved. My nature would be to take the bull by the horns and force change, but I was saved, so that was out of the question.