Bible For Foreigners

Spiritual Maturity

There are many “babies” in Christ and many in various other

stages but sadly enough, there are few mature Christians. God’s

ultimate intention is for us to grow into fatherhood, even as Paul

and other saints of the New Testament did. We are not to remain

babes. The picture of Jesus in Isaiah 9:6 ends with His taking the

government on His shoulder.

How we need saints that will shoulder responsibility in the

Kingdom. We have so many “babies” crying to God, “Give me,

give me,” and “I want, I need,” and so few saying, “God, what

can I do to help?” We need Christians who will say, “What can I

do for you? Lord, do you need me to pray, fast, or endure hardship

to get the job done? Do with me as you will!”

In reading Isaiah 9:6 about Jesus having the government on

his shoulder, I have always pictured Jesus as the Good Shepherd

with a little injured lamb thrown over his shoulder, carrying it

back to the field. One of the functions of His government is to

take care of His children.

God is yearning for mature sons to help Him with the lambs.

He is looking for those willing to take the burden in prayer and

help bind up the wounds of those who are injured. It doesn’t matter

whether that injury came as a result of someone straying away,

or if they were innocently ravished by a wolf. The Lord is looking

for mature sons to care for them, not cast them away leaving

them in the brambles to die unattended because they have been

rebellious. What a beautiful picture of our Lord, the Good Shepherd,

who is always concerned about the lost sheep! Matthew

18:11-12 says, For the Son of man is come to save that which

was lost. How think ye? if a man have an hundred sheep, and

one of them be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and

nine, and goeth into the mountains, and seeketh that which is

gone astray?

We need to have the Good Shepherd’s heart also, but so

many times we push the straying lamb over the brink of the cliff.

We unkindly say, “Lord, they are just causing problems; they should

straighten up or get out.” We should not be guilty of this. But the

reason we are is that we fail to realize the battle is in the Spirit.

We are still trying to battle in the flesh, while the way to get the

victory for our brothers and sisters is in the prayer closet, battling

in the Spirit (Ephesians 6:10-18). We have been given some powerful

weapons: prayer, faith, fasting, and many more. The Word

of God is our greatest and most powerful weapon and we need to

utilize it to overcome the enemy.