What is spiritual maturity?

Is it a state where you walk on the earth with your head up in

heaven being conscious of YHVH? Spiritual maturity is similar to physical maturity and it
is seen through peoples characters also known as their fruit. To be spiritual mature is
when you take up more responsibility in the Body of Messiah as you did in your family
after you have grown up and got married. As father you are mature if you look after and
provide the basic needs of your family and as a mother you take the responsibility to
have and raise children and support your husband. This is similar to what needs to
happen in the Body (Family) of Messiah; we need to grow up and take up responsibility
for one anothers needs and see to it that new believers in the faith get the right food and
counseling to grow up as true followers and disciples of Messiah.

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We see that a Spiritual immature person is unskilled in the Word of Righteousness and
is like an infant, a baby. What is the Word of Righteousness? It is the Truth regarding
Righteousness and how I am declared righteous in the eyes of YHVH.
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Righteousness starts with faith OF Yshua the Messiah and is sustained by this faith
resulting into actions or works.
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Paul explains hat righteousness is through faith OF Yshua and not faith IN Yshua. Is
there a difference? Faith in Yshua is a passive theological faith that only admits to the
fact the Yshua is the Son of YHVH and that He died for us. Faith OF Yshua is to have
the same faith Yshua had when He walked the earth and His faith or faithfulness led up
to His death for humanity. Do you have faith where you are willing to die for, faith that
cause you to walk as Yshua walked and do what Yshua did?
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The church made this concept cheap by only having the knowledge of Jesus that does
not translate into works (Mitsvots) as James taught. Your faith must be evident and must
be seen through your works, how you conduct yourself and through your words, what
you say. If the fruit of Messiah is not in your life then you are a babe and you are still
struggling with the Word of Righteousness and you are still on milk.
The writer of Hebrews describes someone with spiritual maturity as someone who feed
on solid food and someone that can discern between good and evil, having that faith that
reflects on and in their lives, knowing what good works and what evil works are and not
allowing evil works in their lives. Examples of evil works are things contrary to the faith of
Messiah and things that He would never do that will lead to your destruction:
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These works described here are evil and lead to destruction and are apposed to the faith
of Yshua and He came to show the way of life we should walk in and we should abstain
from these things that can cause us to loose our salvation. You should not be deceived
to think that you can continue in your old ways and claim that you are a follower of
Messiah; then you are a liar and you gamble with your salvation.
Fornication someone that have sexual relations outside of marriage. [Deut
22:13-14] The 7th Commandment.
o Idolaters worshipping idols or acclaiming anything higher that YHVH. The 2nd
Commandment.
o Adulterers - Being married and having a sexual relationship with someone else
desiring another woman while marries pornography. The 7th Commandment.
o Abusers Abusing people physically, treating someone bad or verbally
swearing at people calling them names (even calling someone an idiot or a fool).
[Matt 5:22]
o Homosexuals Having sexual relations with the same sex or approving of it
watching XXX movies or pictures of homosexual deeds. [Rom 1:32]
o Thieves Taking things from someone that is not yours. The 8th Commandment.
o Covetous desiring the material things of someone else. The 10th
Commandment.

Drunkards Drinking without limiting yourself that leads to sin. No self-control.

[Eph 5:18] One of the fruit of the Spirit is self-control.
o Revilers Abusing people physically and verbally, showing no respect to others
or elderly people.
o Extortioners - Making a threat of violence which refers to a requirement of a payment
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of money to hold someone at ransom.

Maliciousness Cruelty to people or animals spiteful, mean or unkind to

someone.
o Envy A feeling of discontent and resentment aroused by the desire for the
possessions or qualities of another.
o Murder Killing someone physically hating or being angry at someone without
a cause - slandering killing someones reputation. The 6th Commandment.
o Haters of YHVH and His things Living Godless lives rejecting the truth and
YHVH. The 1st Commandment.
o Insolent - Presumptuous and insulting in manner or speech; arrogant, rude or
disrespectful.
o Quarrels to cause a dispute or an argument or to engage in an argument.
o Deceit - The act or practice of deceiving; deception. To deceive people through
lies.
o Whisperers Talking behind someones back to break that person down or to
plot against him or her.
o Backbiters - To speak spitefully or slanderously about a person.
o Proud This is the sin that caused Lucifer to be cast out of the presence of
YHVH. To think more highly of yourself than others Filled with or showing
excessive self-esteem. Elevating your self above others.
o Braggarts If you think that you or your children or anything you have are the
best and you voice it. Breaking other people or their possessions down to elevate
yours. Always being or having the best and talking about it.
o Disobedient to parents Children need to take note not listening to your
parents can cost you your eternal life. Always respect and obey your parents
without arguing or talking back disrespectfully. The 5th Commandment.
o Perfidious disloyal, deceitful and tending to betray someone; friends, family.
You should be especially loyal to your fellow believers those who are part of the
Body of Messiah.
o Unforgiving Holding a grudge against someone. The Father will not forgive
you if you do not forgive others. [Mat 6:14-15]
o Unmerciful Not to show mercy when someone wronged you and say they are
sorry. Not receiving an apology.
o Evil habits To do anything contrary to the Word continually so that it formed a
habit. One of the fruits of the Spirit is self-control and you have the power to
overcome every evil and bad habit. Willingly not repenting.
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These are signs of the old unchanged man that we have left behind when we made the
choice to follow Yshua. If you are still struggling with some of these issuers, than you
are still on milk and have not yet reached spiritual maturity. You might fall occasionally
and repent, but if you are in a habit of doing these things that you should repent and ask
YHVH to help you to overcome the old man of sin. If you have any of these things in
your life REPENT for these lead to the destruction of your soul and will let you loose
your salvation.

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Can you be friends with people in the world that practice these things? No, Paul even
instructs us not to have fellowship with someone that if someone calls himself or herself
a believer in Messiah but does these things, how much more avoiding those who freely
practice these things without remorse. You will become like the people you mix with and
it is better to find someone more spiritual than you to be friends with so that they can pull
you up rather than down. We are all human and it is easier to fall than to help someone
up.

Spiritual maturity is a subject that is not dealt with nearly

enough. We as Yshuas disciples need to know what a
spiritually mature disciple looks and acts like. This way we
have something to aim for, and also something to guide us,
so that we are not ignorant by thinking we are mature but
are not. To accomplish this we need good solid food, and as
we know by now, our spiritual food is the Word of YHVH.
Solid food will sharpen our senses so that we will be better
able to know what is good and what is evil and will help us
to avoid those evil things we have looked at previously.
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We need to be straightforward and very clear regarding the requirements for spiritual
maturity and know the line not to cross that will lead to eternal destruction. You can cling
to your Grace Doctrine but the realities are stipulated in Scripture and if we take these
things likely, we will not have the knowledge that will help us not to go astray and be
destroyed. We need to clearly understand what sin is and whet to avoid and how to act
within the Body of Messiah. We will now look at a few pointers that deal with the
responsibilities of a mature believer and what we all need to aspire to.

Your spiritual maturity is tested when you have interaction within a

fellowship of believers with diverse personalities and different levels of
maturity. Just like in a family, YHVH has placed people in a group to
grow and to mature into His character. You will not grow if you do not
have interaction with fellow believers because that is where you live out
your faith and get molded into the image of the Messiah. Some people
believe to be on their own but then they are outside of the Body of
Messiah and they do not form part of the environment where they can
grow and mature.
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YHVH gave us His Spirit for that reason so that He can equip us with different Gifts so
the every member will have a contribution in the overall growth of the Body of Messiah.
Character is build through tests and trials and within any Fellowship; you will find enough
dynamics to stretch every one outside of their comfort zones. There will also be tests
where younger members will cause issues due to their old nature and that has to be
dealt with before it destroys the unity and damage the relationships. Yshua gave us
guidelines on how to deal with these issues:
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Where there are people, there you will find issues that will cause disputes that will test if
the members are spiritual mature. In the process that we are currently undergoing,
YHWH is calling out His people; it is important that we know, understand and practice
the above very diligently. What we cannot afford, is for individuals to go off gossiping
and slandering or libeling others every time they get their feelings hurt or they do not get
their own way. We need to practice maturity, spiritual maturity. Even when we do not
feel like doing so, and perhaps, especially when we do not feel like it, we need to do
right in this area, without making excuses as to why we dont have to do this. If we
cannot live together now (outside the Land), what makes us think that we can live
together inside the Land? YHVH wants us to live in unity, love and peace together and
we need to face the music when it threatens the Body of Messiah. Just like parents look
after the well being of their family, so must spiritual mature members look after the
spiritual well being of the fellowship or assembly.
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We need to be working towards being in one accord being in unity with one another,
having the same foundational belief, doctrines and vision so that we can be effective in
the Kingdom of YHVH. How can we do this if we are not willing to put aside our own
pettiness? (Selfishness) How can we do this if we do not focus upon Him and His
Kingdom? How can we be in one accord and work towards building His Kingdom rather
than our own self-centered kingdoms?
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Did we catch that? There is ONE body! There is one faith, one baptism, one Elohim!
The oneness of the Body (assembly/fellowship) is emphasized by having a common
foundation in faith and in doctrine. You cannot be one in faith if you do not share the
same beliefs regarding the Sabbath, the Festivals est.

There will be grey areas where the Scripture is not 100% clear but we need to have
room for one another regarding these areas but be solid in our faith regarding the basic
fundamentals.
We who have descended from the ten tribes of the Northern Kingdom have inherited a
rebellious spirit that dates back almost three millennia. Thats not a very good track
record! Each and every one of us is going to have to choose consciously to put away
this spirit of rebellion against YHWH and His Torah. This is not going to be an easy task
for any of us to do this and this will test if you are spiritually mature or not. But it is going
to have to start inside each one of us. We are going to have to stop being in rebellion
towards Him first and foremost, then towards one another as Scripture states that we are
to be subject one to another.
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This is the only way to have true unity and love amongst the brethren; see your brother
or sister higher than yourself and serve one another in love filling the gaps and
supporting their weaknesses and building one another up do grow into the full stature of
Messiah.

Unforgiveness is a sign of spiritual immaturity so we

should strive towards maturity in forgiving one another.
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This is so very important for each of us to grasp and hang

on to that to miss this one thing in Scripture is to miss out
on eternal life. This is a very serious matter and yet so
many believers have the luxury of keeping something against their fellow believers. We
have to forgive each and every person who hurts us and does us wrong. If we do not,
well, according to what Yshua taught here, we will not have eternal life.
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Is there anyone among us today who has not sinned? Of course not! So why is it that
we spend so much time throwing stones at each other within view of the public? If a
brother sins, are we not supposed to go to that brother and make a genuine effort at
turning him back to Torah? And this is to be done in private, not in public. And if we do
not do this, do we not share in his sin? Yes we do!
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We have a responsibility towards one another to keep an eye open and to help your
brother who falls into sin to turn back to Torah. If you see your brother sin and do
nothing about it, if that sin causes him to go astray, his blood will be on your hands. If
you warn him and he do not want to listen, then it is all on his own head and you are
free. This is one of the most difficult things to do because we do not want to confront
people or offend them so we rather back off and leave it be. If you do not act, then you
carry the same sin. [Rom 1:32].
This is where spiritual maturity really comes in, to take responsibility for your fellow
believers and in love correct them so that you would not make yourself guilty of their sin
being passive. If we do not forgive or take the proper steps to restore our brother when
he commits a grievous sin, is the same as to see a man drowning while we had a rope in
our hand and we refused to throw it to him to rescue him, looking at him drowning.

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The opposite of sin is faith. This passage of Scripture seems

pretty simple. Yet, how many of us truly understand its
implications? If we do something and we dont do it with and by
faith, basically, it is sin. We need to first define faith before you
will understand his passage. Faith in Hebrew is the word
amunah and means faithfulness. To be faithful is to attain truth and live by it faithfully,
without wavering or turning from that truth. YHVH gave us a lot of truth regarding
different areas in our lives. You need to know them before you can be faithful in them.
This faith only comes through knowing the Word. That is why Paul said in Rom 10:17:

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apart from the Word of YHVH that is the Truth you need to direct your lives by. Applying
these Scriptural truths (Commandments) faithfully, you avoid sinning. The Torah
contains these Commandments and the knowledge of these Commandments spell out
to us what sin is and what to avoid. So by knowing the Word, YHVHs Commandments,
and doing them, you live a life or faith (faithfulness) and without sin.
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This is another concept of faith that relates to trust and hope. Faith in this context is the
hope of the promises YHVH gave in His Word. If He said that He will heal the sick, then
we believe it, even if we do not see it at first. Holding on to His promises, standing in
faith and hope will bring YHVHs Word into fruition in your life.
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This faith or hope is one of the Gifts of YHVHs Spirit by which He will bless en edify His
Body. Believers who are spiritually mature will ask and pray for YHVHs Gifts so that
they can serve the Body within the assembly.
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YHVH will only give gifts to those who are willing to serve His people with it. It is not for
self-edification or to be more spiritual than your brother or sister in faith; it is to serve
one another in love. The fellowship of believers will reach spiritual maturity if they allow
YHVH to bless and empower them with His Gifts so that the Body will be healthy and
without need. I encourage everybody to desire a gift from YHVH so that He can build up
His people in every fellowship of believers.
We are called to serve each other. If we are truly looking out for the interests of our
fellow believers as Torah commands us to do, then we cannot be walking after the
selfish desires of our own flesh. However, the opposite is also true. If we are seeking to
elevate ourselves and do primarily what is pleasing to ourselves, then we cannot be truly
looking out for our brethren. Let us serve one another in love.
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To save your life is to seek your will regarding survival and material things to allow you
to live. If you seek the things to keep you alive physically, you will loose your life
spiritually. Are you seeking your own will? Are you seeking to do what seems right in
your own eyes? If this is so, then ultimately you will lose your life. Let us lose our life for
His sake, give it to Him totally. Let us give our lives in service to Him and our fellow
man.

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We must be careful to meet those needs that are genuine, especially those needs that
are in the body, wherever we see a need. Also, in an effort to reach out to those not yet
in the body of Messiah, we need to reach out in an effort to bring them into the body of
Messiah. This should be done as YHVH leads us.
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If you treat one of the least of the believers bad or reject them in any way, you have
treated Yshua bad and have rejected Him and if you reject Him, then you are subject to
eternal punishment. Treat people with care and love them as you will love Yshua. If you
say you love Him and reject or hate your brother, then you are a liar and actually reject
and hate Yshua. Think about it!

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Spiritual maturity is about using the things YHVH gave you for
His advantage and His Kingdom. Your life is no longer your
own, He has bought you with His Blood and you belong to Him,
you and all your abilities and all that you have.
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Some people think that this parable is only about money, it is actually about gifts and
abilities we receive from YHVH as well. When YHWH blesses us with gifts, talents,
abilities, material goods, or whatever, He expects and desires for us to choose to bless
others with those things. If we selfishly keep these gifts to ourselves, we will not have
eternal life. It sounds harsh but if you think about it, when you live a selfish life only for
yourself, you ignore the fact that you belong to Him, he bought you with a price.
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If you deliberately or ignorantly avoid His will for your life and then you miss the purpose
of why He created you in the first place. Have you ever asked YHVH what He wants you
to do for Him and where and when He can use you? Have you ever placed His will
above your own and serve Him for His benefit and not your own? If you seek only your
will and you want YHVH to support your dreams and your desires, then you are missing
the point and will be like this foolish cowardly servant that will be cast into the outer
darkness. Scary isnt it?
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Please note in the above passage who it is that is listed first that will be cast into the lake
of fire: it is the cowardly, those who fear and fear is not faith and is a sin. Do you fear
man or do you fear YHVH who can cast your soul into the eternal flame of judgment?
YHVH does not want cowards and people who are afraid to stand up for Him, no, He has
called you to be in His might army and to be part of the force that fights against sin and
evils in this world.

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This is an interesting question. The answer is, that no one can stop you
from obeying Torah. If you or I stop obeying Torah, it is because we have
made a personal choice to do so. If there is a particular commandment
that we do not desire to keep, then if we do not keep it, that is the choice
that we make, and nobody forces us to make this choice.
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We should strive to walk in a manner worthy of the calling and this will be visible through
the fruit we carry; humble, gentle, patient, tolerance for one another, unity and peace.
These are the visible signs of a mature believer in Messiah we all need to aspire to. It is
only possible to do this if we walk in the Spirit, expressing the fruit of the Spirit. The word
walk is the Hebrew word halekah and represents your total behavior. So if we walk in
the Spirit of YHVH we should act like the Spirit of YHVH, which is found in His fruit.
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The tolerance that we are called to show to one another is not a tolerance of sin; rather it
is in understanding that we are all at different levels of maturity. As such, we need to
show tolerance to those who are not as mature as others. And this maturity can be seen
in different areas of our walk as well. One might be more mature in one area and not so
mature in another area. We need to understand these differences for what they are and
to give leeway where it is due. This way we can stop condemning our fellow servants of
YHWH and be encouraging in our words and deeds towards one another. This does not
mean that you can turn a blind eye to sin but within reason help your brother to
overcome their weaknesses.

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It is natural for those who are spiritual mature to lead and it is

YHVHs will that we should all be leaders one day that lead and
disciple new young believers. With leadership comes a great
responsibility:
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Being in a leadership position carries with it a load of responsibility. And that

responsibility is answerable directly to YHWH for how one cares for those who we are to
be feeding and helping to grow.
However, there is also a responsibility of those who are cared for, to be cared for in such
a way as not to cause grief to those over them. It should be with great joy that those in
authority over us pray and feed us.

We do not take YHVHs word serious and have a very casual outlook on salvation due to
grace. What we have seen here is the importance to get rid of the sinful habits as a new
believers and as we grow spiritually, we need to take up our responsibilities as mature
believers and dedicate our lives 100% unto YHVH. There is no sitting back, being
passive or through the fear of man acting cowardly, no, if you say you follow YHVH, you
are to be dedicated and have a great responsibility towards the Body of Messiah. You
cannot stay on milk and each one of us needs to be spiritually mature. When we are
spiritually mature, we will be productive members of His Kingdom.
What this means is that we will know what sin is and avoid it so that it does not become
habits in our lives. We also need to actively work at improving our interpersonal
relationships within the Body of Messiah within the fellowship you are part of. It means
that when we are hurt or wronged we will forgive according to Scripture.

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Our walk will be one of faith in all things, living out the faithfulness of our Master Yshua,
representing His character to the world through allowing His Gifts and Fruit in our lives.
We will exhibit good stewardship in every area of our lives and express whatever gifts
He has given us for the benefit of His Kingdom. We will follow His will and put aside our
own desires and selfishness. We will be involved in true ministry through the Gifts of His
Spirit and take up the responsibilities He has given us within the part of His Body He has
placed us currently.
And above all, we will take His Word serious and live according to His will and walk in
the Spirit as He is in the Spirit. Salvation is a process and it is not to be taken lightly.
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