Maturity : The Fathers Intention for His Body
Part of my mission in life is to equip the body and speak into the Father’s kind intention of raising up a mature people. I believe maturity is one of the highest aims of the Father. Many times in Scripture, Paul spoke into this reality (Ephesians 4:13-15; Colossians 2:6-7; 1 Corinthians 14:20). He used the terminology, “in Christ” or “union with Christ,” and although maturity manifests differently, it always includes the dynamic of the head and the body walking in unison - it is the crowning reality of redemption. Bill Johnson puts it best when he says, “The Lord is returning for a body who’s in direct proportion to her head.” In other words, the Lord is returning for a body who is mature and walk in unison with Him. It’s not that we called to be perfect, just prepared. He wants a bride whose movements are in accordance with her mind.
Back in 2015, I had a dream where I was standing on the side of highway 27, a major road that runs through my home town of Somerset. I was in close proximity to the house of prayer, just a few hundred feet away. As I stood there on the side of the road, a woman on a motorcycle goes flying by at a tremendously high speed - I was amazed at how fast she was going. All of a sudden, she loses control of the motorcycle, flying over the handlebars and onto the highway. I knew immediately that she was hurt badly. When I ran upon the scene of the accident, it was quite graphic. The worst part of the accident however was, the woman’s head was severed from her body. I stood in shock with many emotions running through me. However, in my panic I pick up the dismembered body and begin praying. I notice there are several wounds on her body, so I start by calling on the Lord when all of a sudden, the wounds begin to close up and heal. Slowly but surely, faith is building in this dream. However, there’s still one issue in this dream - the healing of the body is no good if the head isn’t placed back on the shoulders. So, I begin to pray for the head to be merged back onto the healed body. At first, the front part of her shoulders begin to form back together with the head, and then it stops. The fusion is only going so far, but in my zeal and holy stubbornness, I am unwilling to settle for a partial healing - I want to see full restoration of the head and body. So, under what seems to be the leading of Holy Spirit in the dream, I start praying in tongues and within seconds the rest of the neck begins to merge with the shoulders. At this point of the dream, faith is exploding as we’re experiencing a full healing. Within seconds, the woman is fully restored to her original condition and as you would expect, we begin to rejoice and have a Holy Ghost party!
I tell you this dream to say, the Lord (through the working of His sons and daughters) is placing the head back onto the body. For too long, the church has been in a high-speed pace (of busyness), thus losing control of her destiny in God. This sort of distraction has caused a dire disconnect to take place, where the life of the body has been forfeited. In our human strength, we’ve tried to bring healing to the body - we’ve counseled and cried with one another, and even prayed that all the schemes of the enemy would flee. These things are good and are rightly needed, however all that was needed (to see full restoration), was for the body to be reunited with the head.
However, I have good news! Just as in this dream, there is a people arising who are taking (apostolic) authority over the chaos. In simple devotion to Christ, this apostolic and prophetic company of sons and daughters are becoming the hands that bring the body back into alignment with the head, Christ Jesus. In other words, there is a people alive in the earth today who are fostering maturity and fullness!
Another way we can view maturity is, being conformed into the image of Christ. This is one of the reasons why the Lord dispersed various gifts and callings to the body - He wanted a full and mature picture of Himself in the earth. He wasn’t satisfied with a one-sided (Moses, the man on the mountain) picture of who He was. Rather, He wanted to be fully re-presented, and still desired the same today. Paul says in Ephesians 4:13-14, “These grace ministries will function until we all attain oneness in the faith, until we all experience the fullness of what it means to know the Son of God, and finally we become one perfect man with the full dimensions of spiritual maturity and fully developed in the abundance of Christ. And then our immaturity will end!” (TPT)
Interestingly, the Lord needed a place to rest His head, so He raised up a body. This company of sons and daughters, He is now calling to step into the level of maturity and (new covenant) grace that He has so willingly supplied. In order to do this, we must “expel the son of the slave woman” and give way to the “son of the free woman.” The slave mentality keeps us bound and childish, while the freedom of sonship brings us into wisdom and maturity. Galatians 4:28-31 The Lord of hosts is calling His people out of the enemies’ control and manipulation by inviting us into the glorious freedom (and fullness) of following Christ. This freedom, as vast as it is, includes exploring the amazing inheritance that He says we have. It doesn’t require a flashy resume, just a willing heart to run free and on fire! Who will dive deep to discover the treasures of following the Lamb?
-RA
