The Goal of Maturity

In the beginning of our spiritual journey, most of us are not really interested in hearing what God has to say to us.  Actually, we are not listening.  Praying is not a spiritual discipline for hearing the voice of God, but one which enables God to hear our voice.  In the beginning our praying is one sided.  It is all about us telling God what He needs to hear from us.  It never occurs to us that He might have something to say to us.  If we are going to hear God speaking, it is going to be when some ray of sunshine shines on a verse in the Word opened before us, or in the midst of some Sunday sermon from the pulpit.   

When we start walking with Jesus, our praying is not about listening.  It is about talking.   There are numerous places where the Scripture contrasts the difference between those who are immature in their faith and those who are mature.  In I Corinthians 3:1-2 the Apostle Paul wrote, "...I could not speak to you as spiritual people, but rather as people of the flesh, as infant in Christ. I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for solid food."  If we keep turning the pages, we come to a word from Peter as he says, "Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, so that you may grow into salvation."  (I Peter 2:2) It is inevitable that we are immature in the beginning of our walk with Christ, but immaturity is not our goal.  Maturity, or perfection is our goal.     

It is easy to embrace those habits of spiritual immaturity as the norm. Such is what often happens in our praying.  The praying of the beginning is not so much about listening as it is talking.  There is nothing unusual about this, but it is not the place we want to stay.  Listening for the voice of God is something which involves a discipline not associated with the first prayers of telling and asking.  Listening requires first a belief that God speaks to us and, secondly, a spiritual discernment that comes only as our hearts are stilled enough to hear what is rising forth from the Holy Spirit who abides and dwells within us.