TODAY’S DEVOTIONAL (Wednesday 17th June 2026)
“For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”
“Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end, upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, to order it and establish it with judgment and justice from that time forward, even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.” Isaiah 9:6-7 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 168TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF STRATEGIC VICTORIES!
Today we want to look at the curse of not growing up spiritually. This is a curse that present day Christians do not take as a curse. However, it is the mother of all curses, because you will never come into any significant blessing in GOD’s kingdom and stay there for long except you are mature spiritually.
Spiritual maturity also helps us overcome the pitfalls of living in the sin age, and that is very important because no one starts the salvation journey and continues with the LORD without falling very badly into sin at some point. For some it happens at advance stages. But if they are mature in spirit, they can rise, get back to the LORD and recover quickly. That was why Peter recovered but Judas did not. He seems more mature than Judas.
This tells us that spiritual maturity is an insurance of faith. Apart from helping us to recover after a fall, it also helps us to overcome trials, temptations and endure persecutions. That is why the mature are the only ones that can help you come out of a fall, or overcome temptations, endure persecutions or trials of faith.
Let me say this; some preachers of holiness, purity and righteousness have not been helpful in the church, especially to those still struggling with sin. They shout about sin and tell us the consequences, but their messages cannot impart one to live right. It only make them afraid to sin, and when they finally fall, they feel like killing themselves.
But there are preachers of holiness, purity and righteousness whose messages have been very helpful in the body of Christ because of their own experiences with sin. Yes, they help you understand the sorrows of sin but also help you break from its grip and come out of its pitfall.
THEY DO THAT EFFECTIVELY BECAUSE THEY ALSO HAVE HAD TERRIBLE EXPERIENCES WITH SIN AND CAN NOW HELP THOSE STRUGGLING WITH IT.
These are the preachers that have helped so many to break from a life of sin, iniquity and trespass, and propelled multitudes who follow their teachings to successfully return to God when they either backslide or fall into sin.
Now, understand this; if you find such a preacher, you have found a Christian who is not a holiness watchdog. But someone who has fallen into sin, iniquity and trespass, even worse than you have fallen, but God helped the person to rise and gave the person the power to help others. If you find a preacher very helpful in matters of holiness, purity, and righteousness, you have found a Christians greatly helped by the LORD.
It is the help the LORD gives us that we extend to others. That is the truth. No such preacher will ever present themselves as plastic saints.
Christians who have fallen but are now standing in uprightness, purity and righteous are the most effective in helping us stand in purity, righteousness and uprightness. They can help because they also fell, and sometime very badly but came out.
From their wealth of experience, they can become very lethal in God’s helping hands as His Spirit use them to strengthen the weak and help those who have fallen. Paul was helpful because he was, in his own words, a chief sinner. His final victory over the practice of sin and subsequent maturity helped him so much and gave him the lethality to help others.
You may never fall in your walk with God, but if you do, just find those preachers who had also fallen and are now standing and seek counsel from them. Do not seek counsel from those who have never fallen. They will shoot you down and make you feel like the worst that happened to Jesus Christ.
Now, let’s get back to our flow of truth on spiritual maturity. Spiritual maturity is not just a product of teachings, studying the word, prayer and fasting and worshiping in the right church.
WHILE ALL THAT CAN BE HELPFUL IN HELPING US MATURE IN CHRIST, SPIRITUAL MATURITY IS A PRODUCT OF MANY THINGS.
It is a product of a mix of seasons of standing strong in faith and standing strong in doubt and unbelief and then overcoming it and returning back to faith. Yes, it is a product of the challenges of standing strong in righteousness then finding yourself down in sin and then waking up and returning to righteousness, sometimes after much struggle.
You do not grow up spiritually just by spiritual feeding and exercise, you also grow up by coming out of things that want to dump you into the pits of hell in the next life. You grow up spiritually when you exercise your faith and fight the good fight of faith to come out of a fall, a season of doubt and unbelief, a season of moral failure and spiritual weakness, etc.
The Bible wants children to become sons; it wants us to use whatever unpleasant situation that we may be facing to grow up. Yes, there is a growing up that is facilitated by challenges and the fight we put up to deal with them. A major portion of our devotional text says;
“For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”
God wants children that are born to grow up and become sons that are given. But they cannot grow if they do not press into maturity. So many have remained stunted in their walk with the LORD because of that. They are still infants in spirit and cannot enter into blessings.
Let us conclude this with few thoughts on pressing into maturity, then we continue from there tomorrow.
We press into maturity by using what we may be going through to grow our faith, our fight, our fire in Christ and our spiritual lives. We press into spiritual maturity when we do not sit down to condemn or justify ourselves after falling into sin, but rise and meet Jesus for cleansing, restoration and return to strength.
We press into spiritual maturity when we hold on to the horns of the prayer altars in heaven and seek the LORD for help until we find it. A generation that does not press into spiritual maturity may not find itself in Heaven at the end. It is therefore important that we talk about spiritual maturity and always do so. We will pick up from here tomorrow.
LET THIS SCRIPTURE BE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY!!
“Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.” 1 Timothy 6:12 NKJV
