“God sent his Son who was born of a woman and lived under the law. God did this so…we could become his children.”
Galatians 4:4-5 NCV
God could have chosen any number of ways to show up in the world to redeem it.
But He chose to make His entrance as a baby born of a mother.
Mother’s hold a special place in God’s heart—and in His plan of redemption.
Through our 4 Points Broadcast, we’ve been teaching on the 8 Stages of Spiritual Maturation, beginning with the 1st Stage that starts in the womb.
Just as Jesus was formed in the womb before being born into the earth, so you and I must undergo the same maturation process.
In honor of mother’s everywhere, I want to help you grow up and mature into your full potential!
Growing up spiritually is so important.
And that’s why the enemy is going to fight you in this area—because your spiritual maturity is the anchor for every other area you live in.
If you can mature spiritually, every other area of your life will fall into place.
And as a result, God will be glorified.
This is why Peter urged us to “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:18).
Why grace?
Because you don’t have to do it by yourself.
All you have to do is cooperate with the power of God working in you.
The Scripture says, “It is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure” (Phillipians 2:13).
This cannot be done in the flesh; it is done through the grace—and to the glory of—God.
“Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord…to Him be glory both now and forever. Amen.”
2 Peter 3;18
God wants to be glorified through you.
The way you glorify God is if you not only embrace the maturation process, but allow Him to bring you from behind the veil of obscurity into a place of prominence…
…a place where you can begin to make a difference not only in your family and your community, but also in your nation, and ultimately the world.
Growing up requires you to mature in all areas.
This grace does not only enable you to grow and mature spiritually, but also emotionally, intellectually, socially, professionally, financially, politically, as well as culturally.
But growth requires a connection with a life-sustaining source.
When a baby is born, it has to bond with its mother; if it doesn’t bond and fails to gain sustenance from its mother, the baby will die.
The 2nd Stage of Spiritual Maturation is the stage of bonding.
This stage is called tikto, a Greek word meaning, “to bring forth, bear, produce—as of a woman giving birth or the earth bringing forth its fruits.”
Remember, the first stage is gester—when you’re incubated and growing in the womb. When the womb gets too small and cannot accommodate your growth any longer, it rejects you and you are “delivered.”
You’re birthed from a realm of limited possibilities into a realm of unlimited possibilities.
Growth is not just what happens to the fetus inside of the womb, it’s what happens to the fully formed baby once it is delivered.
Once you’re outside of the womb and maturing, this is the stage of bonding—or what we might better understand by the concept of “covenant.”
How you conduct yourself within the context of your covenant relationships is a test of your maturity.
“When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things.”
1 Corinthians 13:11
Most behaviors and habits don’t require that you pray it aside, but that you lay it aside! (See Hebrews 12:1.)
When you begin to mature in the things of the Lord, God is going to help you exchange your childish scripts for adult life strategies.
You’re going to speak like an adult.
You’re going to understand like an adult.
You’re going to think like an adult.
Paul said the sign that he was immature showed up in his speech, his understanding, and his thinking.
How you speak, understand, and think is a telltale sign of your maturity.
You must understand that actions cause outcomes!
There comes a time when you need to stop blaming your circumstances on the devil (although he doesn’t mind taking the glory), and take ownership of your own life.
At some point, you’ve got to be able to separate a demonic attack from poor life strategies.
“You desire truth in the inward parts.”
Psalm 51:6
This is where God is taking us—He’s taking us to the realm of truth, because if you can find your place of truth, you can find your place of maturity and liberty.
God wants to liberate you, and He wants to liberate you as you are matured.
In this second stage of spiritual maturation, where we undergo a bonding process, God is going to test your covenant relationships.
The tikto stage is when you recognize your destiny is attached to the covenants you’ve been assigned to.
Allow God to strategically position you by honoring those individuals to whom you’ve been assigned.
When you reach the second stage of spiritual maturation, this means that heaven has birthed you out.
It means that someone has prayed you into a new realm…and once you get there, you must submit to someone—or, in other words, you must be bonded to someone.
The tikto period comes when the fully formed fetus is thrust into a new realm of possibility…
…when a woman is transitioned into motherhood.
This also means that whenever God is getting ready to bring you into your next stage—whether spiritually, socially, economically, etc.—you must be ready to reinforce your covenant with Him.
You must be able to say, “God, I may not understand everything, but I’m not going to walk away from my assignment—I’m not going to walk away from my relationship—I’m going to reinforce my contract because I want to thrive in this period.”
Tikto is the shortest period in the spiritual maturation process.
This stage simply indicates that you are recognized as being able to thrive outside of the womb—that you are able to honor your bond and covenant.
God told Isaiah that those who hold fast to His covenant would prosper and be blessed for generations.
“Blessed is the one who does this…and hold[s] fast to my covenant.”
Isaiah 56: 2,4 NIV
This week, let’s honor that first life-giving bond we experience by celebrating our mothers!