Date: January 29, 2024

Greetings in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and to Him be the Glory, Power, and Dominion forever and ever and to the Holy Ghost yet abiding in the body. The 2024 Proclamation is “God is Taking Us Higher.”  This month’s phrase is “Going Higher in God.” This week’s message discusses The Journey Towards Spiritual Maturity.

Saints, there are signs when you are reaching a higher level in God. To begin, You Take Care of Your Body.  In spiritual terms, your body is a temple. You must love and respect your body because it is the carrier of your soul on this earthly plane. You need to take care of your body to honor the gift of life and struggle to reach spiritual maturity. Next, You Accept and Love Yourself. Our inner critic can prevent us from reaching spiritual maturity. That little inner voice can block us from hearing from the Holy Spirit. Additionally, our inner voice can make it hard to stay loving, positive, and aware. The stresses and strains of everyday life can cause you to be in a pit of negativity.  

We must also Accept Others. As you become spiritually mature, you realize everyone is on their own journey. We should not judge others but tell them about the love of Jesus Christ. However, our job is to support, encourage, and love others as they grow spiritually on their own path. We must become less critical and judgmental of others.  We will become Less Interested in Material Things as we go higher in Jesus Christ.  Having money and material possessions is neither good nor bad. It is not an indicator of how spiritually you have developed. You cannot be judged by what you own. However, you Become More Cooperative and Less Competitive. Our current society is based on competition. The mindset is that “I must do more to have more.” Spiritually mature individuals understand that we can achieve more when we work together. When we collaborate, everyone benefits. We should lift our fellow man.

In conclusion, we must Let Go of the Need to Be Right in every situation. Once we begin to move towards spiritual maturity, we realize that we need a complete understanding of the world. We can relax and live more peaceably when we let go of the need to be correct. This does not mean we allow others to mistreat us. We disengage from this behavior and follow our spiritual truth to the best of our ability. 

Until next week, let us remember, “…with God, all things are possible” Matthew 19:26.

In His Service,

Bishop Dr. Calvin Worthem

General Chief Overseer/Senior Bishop