Please open the Word of Truth to Proverbs 4:1-13.
In Proverbs chapter four, God has established the importance of Wisdom — for our benefit. Everything that God does for mankind is for the benefit of mankind, especially the Believer.
SPIRITUAL SELF-ESTEEM — MATURITY
Sharing the Gospel of Christ in action and speech, living the Christian Life in obedience, and becoming spiritual adults (mature believers) are not only goals, they are mandates of our Savior who gave us every necessary example before He asks us to follow Him. Christ has been where we are going.
Now, we are to walk His Walk, and talk His Talk as He leads us through our own fields of Grace.
Every believer should strive for and pursue spiritual self-esteem (maturity IN Christ). God has a “protocol” for each believer. Spiritual self-esteem is the result of experiencing God with us. Learning and applying Bible Truths and Principles to the details of our own life. The advancing (to maturity) believer loves God. The believer’s Personal Love experience of ‘walking with the LORD’ gives the believer a deeper appreciation (thankfulness) and should be the highest motivation in the believer’s life. With this in mind, obedience should be a priority for the maturing believer.
The mature believer constantly and consistently (with humility) persists in the praise and pursuit of God’s wisdom. A mature believer pursues God without needing flattery, recognition and fanfare, “leaning on the Everlasting Arms.” The mature believer draws upon Bible Doctrine stored in their own soul. He/she learns that affirmation and praise/recognition/attention from others is not as important as striving to please the Lord. The Lord is pleased with Bible study AND APPLICATION TO YOUR PERSONAL DETAILS OF LIFE (2 Timothy 2:15).
Spiritual self-esteem causes the believer to be a good listener and a student of instruction ‘rightly dividing the Word of Truth.’ A mature believer recognizes and truly appreciates not only the graciousness of other people, but the legitimate authority of the Bible study leader as well as that of the Pastor — even more he/she learns to recognize and appreciate the leading control of the Holy Spirit and desires to follow the Lord as a natural response to God’s Grace.
The Plan of God
There are three phases to God’s Plan for the believer:
Phase One: SALVATION.
Salvation (forgiveness through faith in Christ — His death on the cross in our place for the forgiveness of our sins). Christ earned our redemption, our restoration, the forgiveness of our sin. Knowing we are saved from God’s Wrath, gives the new believer capacity for inner peace and happiness. The reality of forgiveness is a fantastic revelation.
Phase Two: THE CHRISTIAN LIFE AFTER SALVATION.
“Be filled with the Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18) — when we are filled, we are led by the Holy Spirit. The believer’s submission to the Holy Spirit is a learning process. The believers willingness to be led by the Holy Spirit through life, and especially into the study of God’s Truths is necessary for application to the details of life. To know God is to love God. To love God is to know God.
Phase Three: For the believer, it is ETERNITY (John 14:2).
The Bible has much to say about eternity. It is where God is. It is the Kingdom of God. The believer is predestined to be with God (Roman 8:29).
THE HOLY SPIRIT IN US PERFORMS THE CHRISTIAN WAY OF LIFE IN US AND THROUGH US BY EXPERIENTIAL TRANSFORMATION, CONFORMATION, RENEWAL.
Before we move on, please read this a few times and meditate on the potential results): At some point in your Christian walk, you will come to understand that God the Father has a Plan, the Son of God executes the Plan, and the Holy Spirit Reveals the Plan. We, the believer are the beneficiaries of God’s Plan. The maturing believer has:
A PERSONAL SENSE OF DESTINY: The Holy Spirit develops in the maturing believer a personal sense of his destiny. The more the Holy Spirit controls the life of the believer, the more each new experience in our lives demonstrates the presents of our Lord in us. Each step reinforces our personal destiny as we learn to trust and obey. We learn there is no other way and that way leads home (Romans 1:17, 1 Corinthians 6:20; Galatians 4:19; 5:1; Philippians 1:20-21).
SPIRITUAL HUMILITY — ORIENTATION TO REALITY: Composure marked by self-assurance with humility. Composure and humility walk hand in hand and result in a stabilized mentality with Divine Viewpoint dominating the soul as the believer walks by faith in adversity and in prosperity (Philippians 4:12-13). The mature believer demonstrates spiritual common sense, spiritual independence, and a good sense of humor (Romans 12:3; Philippians 2:3-4).
GLORIFYING CHRIST IN OUR BODY: Ephesians 3:16-17, Christ is at home in our hearts. Christ is being formed in in us by the conforming ministry of the Holy Spirit so that we no longer walk after the flesh, but after the Spirit, which give the mature believer meaning, purpose and definition. The believer is reconnected to God at salvation. The mature believer actually becomes a guiding light in a lost and dying world — a light that lives by faith and obedience before men and before God.
GOD’S GRACE IS MORE THAN EFFICIENT: In suffering, trials and adversity, the mature believer does not lose his/her poise, but instead draws on the metabolized Words of God — Scripture stored in his/her soul. The believer’s natural desire for relief from suffering and pressure become a matter of confident trust in God. God will terminate the test in His own perfect time (1 Corinthians 10:13). We do not need to plead for miracles because God has a plan.
THE MATURE BELIEVER HABITUALLY, DAILY WALKS IN THE SPIRIT, NOT IN THE FLESH: Spiritual self-esteem is the result of “standing fast” in our liberty in Christ (Galatians 5:1,13). The mature believer knows the difference between the leadership of the flesh and the leadership of the Holy Spirit. The mature believers walks in the Spirit and does not habitually fulfill the lust of the flesh, for the flesh and the Spirit are contrary to one another, therefore we must be led through our Christian Life by God the Holy Spirit. (Galatians 5:16-18). The mature believer distinguishes between the “Works of the flesh” (Galatians 5:19-21) and the “Fruits of the Spirit” (Galatians 5:22-25). Are you producing the ‘Fruits of the Spirit’ or ‘The works of the flesh?’
A study of this nature is never ending in this life. We will add more and more to this study as God leads. Suffice to say that: never before in human history has mankind had so many resources and so much Bible teaching available from God as the ‘end of days’ approaches and we watch excitedly for the return of Christ.
Your personal goal should be to stop judging others and start objectively to judge yourself. Ask God to develop in you the Love of Christ and the spiritual self-esteem necessary to live in God’s grace and peace. You must master the details of living the Christian Life through the details of God’s Word. Grow up. Be all that God wants you to be — in Christ. Study, learn, love, and apply God’s Truths through the power of fellowship with the Holy Spirit.
In closing this initial study of spiritual self-esteem, be inspired by God’s Holy Word — STUDY.
Hebrews 4:12: “The Word of God is alive and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of the soul and the spirit, and of the joints and marrow; and is a critic of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”
2 Timothy 3:16: “All Scripture is God-breathed and is profitable for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God might be mature, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.”
Proverbs 25:2: “It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honor of kings is to search out a matter.”
Isaiah 28:23: “Give ye ear, and hear my voice, hearken, and hear my speech.
2 Timothy 2:15: “Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of Truth.”
Happy Studying!