Balanced Life Ministry

Home of the "Special Delivery" Book by James A. Harrison

  • Home
    • Prayer For America
    • About Us
    • Calendar
    • BLM – Directory
    • Testimonials
    • Feeds
  • Blog
  • Devotionals
    • Recent Messages
    • Daily Growth
    • BLM Archives
  • World Outreach
    • America
    • JGOM – India
    • Rwanda Congo
    • Ministry Membership
  • Spiritual Growth
    • Revelations
  • Categories
    • Daily Growth
    • Leadership Forum
    • Church Assistance
    • Spiritual Growth
    • Marriage
    • Raising Children
    • Divorce & Broken Homes
    • Economics & Finance
  • Contact
    • Contact & Request Form
    • Special Delivery Book
    • Donations
You are here: Home / Balanced Life Ministry / Discipleship & Spiritual Recognition…

Discipleship & Spiritual Recognition…

August 14, 2012 by admin 8 Comments

Here recently the Lord has been leading me to write out for further clarity the importance of discipleship  and the vitality of recognizing the spiritual maturity of others before we speak.  As we look upon the disciples we can recognize that not only did they go out to share the Good News but they also took responsibility for the new births. They did not just care about the “numbers” of who came to Christ but they understood their responsibility of continuing to teach Gods Word in order for each new child to develop a relationship with Jesus Christ.

There were times of (encouragement) and there were times of (rebuke) individually and corporately in order to help develop and maintain the direction of God. They understood what it meant to be a disciple and taught the importance of working within the body. There is a very interesting scripture that comes to mind in Matthew 7:24 where Jesus says,”And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.” This scripture teaches us again the importance of sharing the Good News for Gods glory and not our own.

Jesus taught us the proper Way to serve in Matthew 6 as He also spoke against public display. When we don’t take the time to teach God’s Word to His children then we can be setting them up for a hard fall or for a future division within the body.This often occurs from individuals trying to quench the Spirit of God due to their own lack of understanding. Here are some prime examples that directly relate with this message of Truth.

Recently there was a young man that attended a charismatic service and this same young man received the Holy Spirit with evidence to the congregation as they proclaimed. This same young man was in the presence of the Holy Spirit but lacked a relationship with the Lord due to his own immaturity in the Word. It was just a couple of weeks later that this same young man placed a rope around his neck and committed suicide.

On another occasion there was a spiritual movement taking place within a Baptist church and within this movement the youth were ignited after attending an outside service in Florence, Alabama. This same youth group that was ignited was quickly quenched due to the lack of understanding within the leadership of the church and the lack of communication between all parties involved. This has now led to some of the youth falling away and others not knowing how to handle the wounds that were inflicted due to the quenching of the Spirit and lack of communication.

One other instance that relates directly with this message took place between a an prophetic evangelist that spoke into someones life. This individual was like a teenager in God’s Word and as  many of us they thought that they were ready before they actually were. By the evangelist speaking into their life this caused someone to jump before they were ready. Recognizing the maturity levels of others and within our own self as well is wise to understand in order to be ready for the side affects to follow. Unfortunately, due to the lack of discipleship and teaching in Gods Word Satan has been infecting the body and causing a spirit of distrust to take many further out to sea.

The point of the message is this: It is very wise to understand our responsibilities under God and to recognize the maturity levels before we speak. Paul teaches us this 1 Corinthians by saying,”I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it.” What Paul spoke as Jesus taught was displayed in the life of Joseph when he spoke to his brothers. Do you think that maybe Joseph learned this lesson as well when he sat in prison reflecting back to why his brothers became jealous?

I wonder if he looked back and said,”If I just would have kept my mouth shut and not shared those dreams with my brothers.” By sharing those revelations and dreams with his brothers before they were ready to receive this opened the door for Satan due to their own spiritual immaturity. Let’s praise God for now having the history to now look upon in order to break the repetitive patterns that hold us back in life. For Jesus has made the Way and the object is to seek the Truth everyday….amen

 

James A. Harrison

http://balancedlifeministry.org

http://specialdeliverybook.com

 

Filed Under: Balanced Life Ministry, Church Assistance, Leadership Forum, Spiritual Growth, The Church Voice Tagged With: baptist, discipleship, God, James Harrison, jesus, life, love, pentacostal, the ramp, the ramp hamilton alabama, truth

Comments

  1. Jason@Inductive Bible Studies says

    November 13, 2012 at 6:27 AM

    Sometimes we tend to think that maturity is how much someone knows. How many times have they read the Bible? How much doctrine do they understand? Etc. I tend to think maturity is obedience based. Does the person obey what they know they should do or just file it away in a virtual memory bank.

    By expecting people we disciple to obey ALL that Christ commanded (Matthew 28:18-20), we can input the right DNA into them from the very start.

    Reply
    • james says

      November 14, 2012 at 7:35 AM

      Agreed

      Reply
    • admin says

      March 11, 2013 at 4:14 PM

      Job 32:8 “But it is the spirit in a person, the breath of the Almighty, that gives them understanding.”

      Reply
  2. Debora@humor says

    November 11, 2012 at 7:02 AM

    You are so cool! I do not believe I’ve truly read through a single thing like that before. So good to find someone with genuine thoughts on this subject matter. Really.. many thanks for starting this up. This website is one thing that is required on the web, someone with a little originality!

    Reply
    • james says

      November 12, 2012 at 7:44 AM

      everything comes straight from the source and it is all to God’s glory…There are many copycats in this world but when we seek God He will us the Way…

      Reply
    • admin says

      March 11, 2013 at 4:09 PM

      This article only breaks the ice. There is so much more that needs to be addressed in this area that can assist in uniting the body instead of it being divided.

      Reply
  3. admin says

    August 30, 2012 at 2:12 PM

    What are you looking to expand upon? Give me a specific area and we can address.

    Reply
  4. Kelby says

    July 15, 2012 at 9:21 PM

    Aww man! Thats it right there! Spiritual maturity. Its funny in the church when someone begins to grow and they soon surpass the leaders of the chrch, the church puts that person on lockdown. The reason to that is we have let the lukewarm and the backsliddin determine the standards. They so oh you can be on fire just stay inside this line. People set up lines for our faith..but you know whas funny..the moment our christianity becomes confrontational in actuality becomes christianity..

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Search

Direction_for_America

Letter to America

August 20, 2017 By admin Leave a Comment

Where are the men of God?! [Read More…]

spiritual_movie_reviews

Beth Hamilton ‘Soul Surfer’

April 24, 2011 By admin Leave a Comment

Marriage is like riding a wave. Some individuals become anxious and fail to wait on the right one.

[Read More…]

Be Inspired!

  • America’s Prayer…
  • Letter to America
  • Original or Reproduction???
  • Discipleship & Spiritual Recognition…
  • Moving Forward At The Outpost…
  • Daily Bread…

Share Your Opinion!

  • Jeff on Are You In A Spiritual Prison
  • Pamela on Are You In A Spiritual Prison
  • michele on Are You In A Spiritual Prison
  • Joshua Tilghman@Biblical interpretation on Dwelling In The Presence Of God…
  • admin on Discipleship & Spiritual Recognition…

Topics of Discussion

  • Abuse (60)
  • Balanced Life Ministry (643)
  • Church Assistance (386)
  • Daily Growth (577)
  • Divorce & Broken Homes (109)
  • Economics & Finance (91)
  • Featured (4)
  • Health & Nutrition (44)
  • India-JGOM (2)
  • Leadership Forum (425)
  • Marriage (172)
  • Poems (5)
  • Prison Support (69)
  • Prophecy & Dreams (30)
  • Raising Children (171)
  • Rwanda Congo (6)
  • Scriptures (80)
  • Spiritual Growth (283)
  • Spiritual Movie Reviews (16)
  • The Church Voice (96)

Spiritual Revelations

Don’t be like Eli in 1st Samuel and miss something that has been given by God. If you recall with Eli he did not listen because the Word of God was rare in those days and he did not recognize what was taking place until he saw the persistence of Samuel…

Read More ▸

Be Inspired!

  • America’s Prayer…
  • Letter to America
  • Original or Reproduction???
  • Discipleship & Spiritual Recognition…
  • Moving Forward At The Outpost…

Voice Your Opinion!

  • Jeff on Are You In A Spiritual Prison
  • Pamela on Are You In A Spiritual Prison
  • michele on Are You In A Spiritual Prison
  • Joshua Tilghman@Biblical interpretation on Dwelling In The Presence Of God…

Connect with Us!

FacebookButton

Search

Privacy Policy · Terms · Comment Policy

Un - Copyright © 2009–2023 · All Rights Reserved · Balanced Life Publications, LLC