Moving on the Spiritual and Emotional Maturity

Because narcissists have never matured they remain emotional and spiritual infants into their elder years. Lets not become like this, if we keep seeking Christ, and confessing our flaws and failures we will not stagnate or regress, we will always be moving forward in wisdom and holiness.

The key to becoming a mature believer is to spend much time in self-reflection and Scripture reading so that the Holy Spirit will work in us. May the Lord expose everything in us that does not glorify Him. Confession often is the key to Spiritual and emotional maturity.

Ephesians 4:13-15

"13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. 14 As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of people, by craftiness [d]in deceitful scheming; 15 but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, that is, Christ,"

Mercy and Forgiveness are for the Repantant

Forgiveness is for those who are repentant.

Mercy is for those who have confessed.

Forgiveness and mercy were offered but they are conditional, no one who is stubborn and unrepentant will receive forgiveness or mercy.

Psychology has distorted what God said about these wonderful blessings God has offered to those who are repentant.

"Repentance" means to change our mind about ourselves and our actions allowing us to reform our character. There is no change in character when there is no authentic repentance.

Repentance is not just words one says, it is a change of mind that results in a change in the way we process information and subsequently how we act.

The way we act and the things we do come from within our heart they cannot be different from our inner heart. If we fail in some area then we know there is more work needed in our character.

We must want Christ to change us or we will remain spiritual and emotional infants.

We confess to be cleansed, not just to make things better in a relationship but to change us on the inside to no longer act the sinful way. The better our character, the more Christ-like we become the better our relationships will be even if others don't

1 John 1:9 "9 if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

God will not cleanse the heart of someone who is not sorry for their sinful attitude or actions. He never forced anyone and does not base His response to us on our words, they mean nothing to Him because anyone can say anything as a manipulation tactic.

God bases His responses to us on our heart condition.

1 Samuel 16:7

But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”

Psalm 51:10

"Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me."

Proverbs 4:23

"Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life."

Proverbs 21:2

"Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the heart."

Hebrews 4:12

"For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart."

Proverbs 3:5-6

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths."

When our heart is right our attitudes and actions will be right, we will not have to pretend to be of good character, it will flow naturally and without thought because it is a part of our very being.

Just as those who have wicked hearts can lie only so long before the real them escapes out of their mouth and into their actions, so too will the authentic heart of a born-again believer flow from them in their words and actions.

No one can pretend forever, old age makes us weary and without the strength to pretend, best be prayed up and walking with Christ when the time comes for our hearts to be a witness for Christ in our old age.

God Will Not Pardon a Rebel

“The idea that God will pardon a rebel who has not given up his rebellion is contrary both to the scriptures and to common sense. How horrible to contemplate a church full of persons who have been pardoned but who still love sin and hate the ways of righteousness. And how much more horrible to think of heaven as filled with sinners who had not repented nor changed their way of living.”
~A.W. Tozer

When We Believe Something We Follow It

If an unbeliever wanders into the gathering of believers without an invitation we ought to see it as God's providence that He sent us someone to evangelize.

However; We should not be inviting unbelievers into the gathering of worship toward our God. The gathering of believers is to equip the saints and to worship.

God told us to go into the world and make disciples and then bring them in as brothers and sisters.

When we bring in unbelievers they change the dynamic of the gathering reducing it to an evangelistic service instead of equipping the saints and worship.

It is a modern idea to invite unbelievers to a church service so that the "pastor" up front can do the evangelizing instead of every believer in the pew speaking the gospel in their own communities. It is just easier to let the "paid pastor" do the work God gave every born-again believer, perhaps it is cowardly for some people because they can remain friendly with their unsaved neighbors without the risk of them becoming angry at them personally for sharing the gospel boldly.

2 Corinthians 6:14 "

"Do not be mismatched with unbelievers; for what do righteousness and lawlessness share together, or what does light have in common with darkness?"

It is easy to ignore what the pastor is preaching from the pulpit when it is being addressed to a crowd. Many people have come to church services all their lives and ignored much of what the preacher is saying, left the buildings without conviction of sin and knew it would be a happy place as they were greeted by attendees without any mention of the need for repentance.

The churches have been full of "cultural Christians" for generations who enjoyed the better lifestyle of moral rules but never repented to trust in Christ. They remained mysteries in the community because they lived good lives but never spoke the name of Jesus Christ and had no desire to pray or know His Word.

We are now living in the results of this mentality that "going to church is the decent thing to do" when most gatherings of believers are apostate, falling into all kinds of false doctrine and fostering pride in their attendees for how good they think they are but never having been changed by Christ into a new creation. They wanted His lifestyle and the perks of feeling safe but they never wanted Him.

2 Timothy 3:5 "having a form of godliness but denying its power. Turn away from such as these!"

These people even have some god-talk but they have no desire to grow in holiness nor do they admit they are a sinner in need of a Savior. This is the state of the end times church gatherings. Very little that is taught in these places resembles the gatherings God describes in His Word, the Bible.

Many people are leaving these apostate gatherings to remain at home alone or to attend smaller gatherings that adhere to the scriptures. Those who want Christ more than anything else cannot attend gatherings that are acting like social clubs while rejecting the Bible, sadly repeating the mantra that they are "Bible-believing" when they really are not. When we believe something we follow it.

2 Thessalonians 3:6

"Now we command you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to keep away from any brother who leads an undisciplined life that is not in keeping with the tradition you received from us."

1 Timothy 4:7

"But reject irreverent, silly myths. Instead, train yourself for godliness."

The Ways of the World Destroys Those Who Walk in Them

Love-bombing to gain an advantage is flattery which is clearly condemned by God and even a form of witchcraft. This is what the devil did in the garden with Eve when he flattered her that she could be like God by disobeying Him. The devil wanted Eve to do what he did, that is to rebel against the Most High God. Evil always likes to have companions who follow them.

Proverbs 29:5

"A man who flatters his neighbor spreads a net for his feet."

Encouragement is far different from flattery. Encouragement does not praise for what we have done but supports someone in their endeavor when it is on the right path.

Encouragement cheers on and inspires one to keep going in the right direction or make the right choices.

Correction with the desire to help is encouragement that redirects someone who is open to changing their behavior.

Those who resist all correction resist encouragement. They have been trained by our culture to believe praise is encouragement but it is really the building up of pride, which God hates. Praise is for God alone!

God sees flattery and praise as deceitful because it tends to elevate the one praising and the one receiving the praise. If we cannot do the right thing without praise then we are manipulative ourselves.

Proverbs 26:24-28

"Whoever hates disguises himself with his lips and harbors deceit in his heart; when he speaks graciously, believe him not, for there are seven abominations in his heart; though his hatred be covered with deception, his wickedness will be exposed in the assembly. Whoever digs a pit will fall into it, and a stone will come back on him who starts it rolling. A lying tongue hates its victims, and a flattering mouth works ruin."

Praise is for God alone and when administered to people it becomes manipulation.

It is my belief that most people who "praise" others regularly are those who would like to be praised themselves.

I love encouragement in the form of agreement about what I believe and correction to learn more as I grow in wisdom. It is not useful or valuable for me to have my "feelings" messaged, just as the Bible says, flattery disarms a person taking them down the road of self-exaltation, this is not helpful to our Spiritual growth, all it does is cause us to focus on ourselves instead of God.

Those who need praise are still self-exalted and self-focused. Those who love God and do what they believe is right have no need for praise.

Romans 12:1-2 "Therefore I urge you, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.

2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect."

Phrases like: "I'm so glad you did that", or "I appreciate your help" or "You might want to change what you did because...." or "that way will harm you" or "can I help you accomplish this", or "keep going it is the right thing to do", are not phrases of praise, they are encouragement that motivates people to seek the right way.

Our culture likes anything that makes them personally look better than the next person, this is competitive and destructive to relationships. Competitiveness toward others should not be a part of the Christian walk. We compete with ourselves to become better but not against others to be higher than they.

Those who are competitive with others and need personal praise will never be able to suffer for Christ. Their pride would not allow them to be rebuffed without fighting back and destroying whatever influence for Christ they may have had if they had humbly accepted persecution.

1 Thessalonians 2:1-20

"For you yourselves know, brothers, that our coming to you was not in vain. But though we had already suffered and been shamefully treated at Philippi, as you know, we had boldness in our God to declare to you the gospel of God in the midst of much conflict. For our appeal does not spring from error or impurity or any attempt to deceive, but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not to please man, but to please God who tests our hearts. For we never came with words of flattery, as you know, nor with a pretext for greed—God is witness."

Those who are competitive are acting this way to be seen as superior by men. These people are addicted to the superiority in their own mind not in accordance with their accomplishments.

Here is what God calls these kinds of people:

Jude 1:16

"These are grumblers, malcontents, following their own sinful desires; they are loud-mouthed boasters, showing favoritism to gain advantage."

Competitive people always show favoritism, they only accept those who elevate them as special and are rude and mean to those who are confident, not bowing to their combative ways.

Proverbs 26:28

"A lying tongue hates its victims, and a flattering mouth works ruin."

Psalm 36:2

"For he flatters himself in his own eyes that his iniquity cannot be found out and hated."

Competitive people are boasters, if we find in ourselves any of these traits it is good to go to prayer asking the Lord to expunge them from our hearts so that the desire to be superior would be gone so that we can witness the gospel to the unsaved and teach good things to the brethren with a pure heart.

May we all learn more about what is in our own heart to grow and learn to walk as Christ walked. Hallelujah!