
Before we discuss how to reach spiritual maturity (our discussion), you need to find out how to receive Jesus as savior because this is a fundamental step in the life of a believer. In one of my articles, I dealt with the question, is salvation by faith or works? Through His unconditional love, God hates sin and not the sinner, that’s why He gave His only Son to die for our sins (John 3:16).
After you give your live to Christ and before you start winning spiritual battles, you must undergo a process of spiritual growth which leads to spiritual maturity. Unfortunately, this is not one time event or an instant activity, instead it’s a long process which calls for deliberate effort, sacrifice and total surrender.
In this article therefore, I will be bringing about important steps to help you reach spiritual maturity. It’s my prayer that you are going to follow and practically use them as you attain spiritual maturity.
5 KEY ELEMENTS TOWARDS SPIRITUAL MATURITY
When I gave my life to Jesus Christ, all I thought was important was going to church. Even though my pastor tried to explain many things to me, they didn’t make sense to me at that time. I guess I was extremely full of my ego!
Again, I came to realize that in spiritual matters, the Holy Spirit helps in giving a believer spiritual eyes and ears to understand the things of the Spirit (Ephesians 1:18-19). In the same way, like Paul I pray that your spiritual eyes and ears will be enlightened in order to understand the following points am going to discuss below: –
How to reach spiritual maturity
1. Be Filled with The Holy Spirit
After you invite the Lord as your Savior, there may not be any physical proof, but a lot is accomplished in the spiritual realm. The bible tells us that there is rejoicing in the presence of God and angels when one sinner turns back to God (Luke 15:7-10). So the first reaction is witnessed in the presence of God immediately you receive Jesus.
The thing that takes place when you receive Jesus is that you become a child of God (John 1:12) and also the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Jesus said that when you love and obey Him, He and the Father will come and make a home in you (John 15-23). That means that the Triune God will turn your body into a temple or a dwelling place (1Corinthians 6:18-19)
Jesus also instructed the disciples to remain in Jerusalem until the Holy Spirit comes upon them, because once He comes upon them, He will be their power, their teacher, advocate, guide and everything (Acts 1:8; John 14:26; 15:26)
The Holy Spirit is the custodian of everything about the things of the Spirit and He is the one with the roadmap of your life. You desperately need Him for guidance and wisdom in your pilgrimage here on earth. He knows the mind of God concerning your life and knows everything written about you in the books of heaven (1Corinthians 2:10-13).
2. You Must Read and Meditate upon God’s Word
The second important element to help a new believer to grow spiritually is to read, meditate and live the Word of God. First, it’s important to note that Jesus Christ is the Word of God (John 1:1-3; Revelation 19:13). The bible says that the Word of God is sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to the bone and marrow, it judges the attitudes and motives of every man (Hebrews 4:12)
Human life cannot be transformed by anything apart from the Word of God. Transformation begins from the renewal of mind (Romans 12:1-2). As we discussed in my previous article, man is a spiritual being living in physical body. Man is three: body, soul and spirit (1Thessalonians 5:23). The soul is what is referred to as the heart of man which is the seat of man’s decisions, will and feelings. This is where the mind is found (Proverbs 4:23).
The words Jesus speaks are life and Spirit (John 6:63) and have power to transfer the Life of God to you. That is why you must intently read and live the Word of God. The bible is the only book that has power to transform lives and we have countless testimonies about this.
Before we continue watch the video below
3. Be Prayerful
Another important element for spiritual growth is prayer. We have heard it many times that prayer is communication with God but I’d like to add that prayer is also learning to listen to God (Ecclesiastes 5:1-2). We can effectively pray if we do five important things described in this abbreviation: LACTS
Five Aspects of Prayer
1. Listening to God.
2. Adoration
3. Confession
4. Thanksgiving
5. Supplication
From the life of David, we will learn FIVE ASPECTS OF PRAYER: –
LISTENING
Most believers do not understand that they need to listen and hear God before they act. In Ecclesiastes 5:1-2, Solomon said that when we go in the presence of God, we should be more careful to listen than to make sacrifices of fools. This means that many times we may pray a miss because we don’t know how we ought to pray.
David, a man after God’s heart exceled in enquiring from God before he went for battle (1Samuel 23:1-6; 30:8; 2Samuel 5:19). David always acted when he was sure of God’s perfect will, and this brought big victory against his enemies.
In our case, Romans 8:26-27, the Holy Spirit helps us to pray in grown that even words cannot express. When you surrender to the Spirit of God, He will reveal to you the perfect will of God concerning your life such that when you pray you are not like throwing blows in the air (1Corinthians 9:26-27).
ADORATION
From an Online Dictionary, adoration is to show deep love and respect. It can still mean to treat someone with reverence and honor. Adoration is one of important aspects of prayer whereby a worshipper will praise, honor and uplift the Lord for who He is.
Adoration does not happen as a reciprocation of anything that God has done rather it’s a result of upholding God in His rightful position of a supernatural God, Father, Creator, Maker, Sustainer of life, etc (Isaiah 42:8). When you take time to focus on God’s uncommunicable attributes, you will definitely find enough reason to adore God.
In the scriptures, there are many references on adoration which can be used by the worshipper like, Psalm 18:1-2; 95:1-5; 96:1-4; 99:1. David was a real worshipper and had mastered the art of praising and adoring the Lord (1Chronicles 29:9-13).
CONFESSION
Confession is another word for repentance, meaning that as we go to God in prayer, we must acknowledge our sins and ask for forgiveness. Why is repentance important in prayer? Though many people just do it for formality, but I’d like to put it clear right here that repentance is very important.
Do you have some prayer items you have presented to God for a long time, and have not been answered? I’d like to tell you why, one of the reasons may be that there is unconfessed sin which Satan (our accuser) uses to accuse you before God (Revelation 12:7). Our adversary uses legal grounds to hinder our prayer from being answered. You may wonder how would God allow this? Because He is a just and righteous Judge (Psalm 7:11) so if any legal case is presented to Him by Satan He will judge justly. This is why you need to take a serious moment with the Lord for deep repentance.
Psalm 51 is an example of David earnestly repenting before God after he sinned with Bathsheba (2Samuel 12:7-15), after he was confronted by Nathan. David realized that he could not hide his sin anymore.
THANKSGIVING
Another aspect of prayer is giving thanks. Paul said that do not be anxious about anything but by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God (Philippians 4:6-7). Thanksgiving is in two dimensions: –
(a) Thanksgiving after receiving: – This is the common way whereby we go back to God to appreciate what He has already done to us. In Psalm 50:14-15, God challenged the people to offer a thanksgiving sacrifice to God and fulfil their vows to God, then call upon Him during their day of trouble and He will answer them.
According to the Psalmist, it seems that the person addressed here has already made vows like the ones we make when we are praying for something. When the prayer is answered, we need to fulfil our vows of thanksgiving to God – thanksgiving after receiving.
(b) Thanksgiving before receiving: – This is the format that our Lord Jesus used, thanking God before the miracle happened. A good example is when Jesus was rising Lazarus from the dead in the book of John 11:37-42, Jesus after telling the people to remove the stone, he looked up and thanked God because He heard Him, then called Lazarus to come out – which he did!
Thanksgiving before receiving shows that you have total faith that God is going to do it. We know faith is being certain of the things unseen (Hebrews 11:1). You must be confident in God as well as being certain that whatever God has promised to do He will certainly do it.
SUPPLICATION
The last aspect of prayer is supplication which means asking/pleading or begging for something. In Philippians 4:6-7 says that, do not be anxious about anything but by prayer and petition/supplication, with thanksgiving, present your needs/requests to God.
Notice that in this formular, the aspect of Supplication comes last after you have praised, repented, and thanked God. This teaches us that God as a Father, is more interested with establishing a true relationship with us more than just meeting with our needs.
Just take for example, as a parent, a father for that matter, would you prefer a child who cultivates relationship with you or the one who only comes to you when he/she is in need of something? That’s why we should make our relationship with God a reality.
5. Fellowship With Other Believers
Once one becomes a believer, on top of the above steps to spiritual maturity, he still needs to establish a relationship between him and other born-again believers – should attend fellowships. I’ve heard people say that the church is in the heart of someone, which is true.
In 1Corinthians 6:19, we read that our bodies are the temples of the Holy Spirit, however, we need also to connect ourselves with other believers because we are parts of the body of Christ – the Church (1Corinthins 12:12-31). In this passage we learn about the unity and diversity in the body of Christ.
In Hebrews 10:26, we should not avoid meeting together as some are in the habit of doing. Considering the passage spoken by Paul in 1Corinthians 12:7-11, we realize that we are gifted differently by the same Spirit so that we may all work together for the unity of the church.
In this regard therefore, no one should feel important than the other or inferior, instead we should be willing to come together, with our gifts, to work together towards the growth of the entire body. Paul elaborates this point by showing how the physical body organs all work together for smooth functionality of the entire body.
5. Witness To Unbelievers
The final element of the spiritual growth is reaching out to the lost. After you have taken the above four steps, you need to be aware that you are responsible before God to reach out to the unbelievers. Jesus after resurrection, before he ascended to heaven he called out and commissioned the disciples to go and make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:18-20)
Once you have come the knowledge of the Lord Jesus, you are not called to stay idle, there is enough work to do in the vineyard (Ephesians 2:10) – that was prepared in advance for you to do. Many believers however think the work to witness is for pastors, evangelists or to the full time ministers, however it’s for every believer.
To witness is to share a testimony of what you have seen or heard. If it’s about Jesus, it’s sharing about what the Lord has done for you. There is no one in the bible whose life was transformed and remained quiet. Every time Jesus healed someone or drove demons out, the person never remained the same again, he shared about it with people. A good example is of the demon possessed man who used to live in the tombs, when he was delivered he witnessed to Decapolis (ten cities) (Mark 5).
Conclusion
As we conclude this article about how to reach spiritual maturity I believe that you have learned important elements that will guide you in your spiritual walk towards transformation.
To attain spiritual maturity, you need spiritual nourishment which helps in strengthening the inner man. 1Peter 2:2, like newborn babies, you must crave on spiritual milk to achieve growth. Regular reading of the Word of God will give you spiritual stamina to counteract the spiritual forces of the dark world.
We’ve seen that prayer is an important element which helps in building the vertical relationship with God. Paul in 1Thessalonians 5:16-17, one of the major things one must do is to pray continuously. We have discussed five aspects of prayer which when followed will make a difference in your prayer life.
In order to grow in all dimensions, a believer needs to relate with fellow believers in fellowship. When you light fire, you require more firewood to keep the fire burning (Leviticus 6:12-13). The fire in the altar was to be kept burning all the time the same way we must keep our spiritual fire burning.
Finally, we have discussed about the importance of a believer reaching out to the unbelievers – we call this The Great Commission. This is a call to all believers, not only to pastors. Witnessing is a sign of spiritual maturity.
Fellowship With Other Believers

Powerful article. The ultimate goal for growth is for us to be equipped for His kingdom.
Ephesians 4:12-14 He did this to prepare all God’s people for the work of Christian service, in order to build up the body of Christ. And so we shall all come together to that oneness in our faith and in our knowledge of the Son of God; we shall become mature people, reaching to the very height of Christ’s full stature. Then we shall no longer be children, carried by the waves and blown about by every shifting wind of the teaching of deceitful people, who lead others into error by the tricks they invent.
You are absolutely right brother Peter. Growth is not a one time act, it’s a process that takes time. Every believer must be responsible for their own spiritual growth towards maturity.
The five ingredients are all important in ensuring growth takes place. The Holy Spirit uses the Word of God to nourish the believer as well as prayer. At the same time Hebrews 10:25 teaches us not to neglect meeting together for fellowship. Maturity is however demonstrated by our life of obedience as well as reaching out to the lost (Matthew 28:19).
Thank you pst for the Verses indeed I have learned great truth on how to achieve Spiritual maturity. May God continue blessings you..I’m so blessed
Dear Joseph,
Thank you so much for your comment. Indeed as indicated in the post, spiritual growth is a life long process which involves deliberate decisions to pursue righteous in Christ. All the mentioned elements are as a result of commitment and sacrifice.
Wow very educative piece there pastor and very helpful to any person who is tired of their stagnant spiritual life very simple and practical ways to a willing soul as far as their spiritual life is concern its a sacrifice worth your time and energy God bless you Pastor Paul more wisdom in Jesus name
Thank you so much. Indeed as you say, spiritual growth is a deliberate sacrifice which calls for consistence, dedication discipline. All these calls for a willing heart.
If you are to grow towards transformation to become what God designed you to be, then you must be willing to pay the cost.