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CLICK HERE TO VIEW AND SUBSCRIBE TO THE NEW MANTURITY.COM

Manturity is Moving to Wordpress

First off, I just want to thank all of the people that have decided to follow the Manturity blog on Blogger for the last two years. I have enjoyed your company, your comments and your overall interest in the Blog.

For the last two years the Manturity Blog has been broken up into two websites, the Blogger site and the .com website. All of the material on the Manturity.com site would just be a link to my manturity.blogspot.com site. With the Blog continuing to grow, I felt I needed to change both sites over to one site. Here are some of the reasons I decided to make the switch.

-Easier for readers to navigate
-No more jumping from site to site
-Easier to track data and views
-Better overall SEO
-The power to make a more user friendly and better looking website

As a final choice for my new site, I decided to use Wordpress and build my site off the Studio Press/ Genesis Platform, using the Metro Theme as my child theme. This process took me months to make a final decision on and another couple months to build the site. I really think the new site came out looking great and would love for you to continue to follow and support.

Please feel free to visit the new site HERE and subscribe via email at the bottom of the Home Page.

Please let me know if there are any questions or concerns.

I look forward to connecting with you all in the future on the new Manturity.com.

Thank you and God Bless!

Bryan

Manturity Spiritual Maturity Quotes Vol. 3

What is spiritual maturity and what are some ways to find it in our everyday life? One of the best ways to learn or teach yourself about something is to break it down into quotes. Volume 3 of original Manturity quotes is all about the topic of spiritual maturity. Take a few minutes to review them all and share one of your own in the comments at the end!

"The man climbing the ranks of spiritual maturity is the man who has realized he can't do life on his own. He needs God."

"Spiritual maturity is first a lifestyle and last a destination." 

"The spiritually mature man has an obvious deep respect and solid relationship with his father, our King!" 

"Spiritual maturity can be recognized when the man you are on Sunday morning is the same man Saturday night."

"Growing in spiritual maturity is accomplished by continued growth in the Spirit of God!"

"Spiritual maturity is not a race or a marathon. It is a journey that will take us to our final and eternal destination."

"Spiritual maturity starts with the demolition of old habits and the construction of new ones."

"Spiritual maturity teaches a man to never justify his decisions based on other peoples actions, instead he should test all things before God."

"Struggles will always be a part a part of life and a good test of our spiritual maturity. It is in those times that we must earnestly seek and trust God, not blame Him."

"The spiritually immature man is inconsistent in what and why he believes. Maturity will establish the spirit of consistency, the desire to gain knowledge and a real relationship with Christ!"

Share your own quote in the comments or which one was your favorite. Share on your social media and check out Volume 1 and 2!

Wake Up and LIVE!

This is a feature Guest Post by Bob Evenhouse. If you are interested in writing a guest post for the Manturity Blog, please visit the Manturity Contact page.

I am thirty, but I am much older. In fact, I am older than God per a quote by GK Chesterton that I will share in a moment. My life consists of much of the same day in and day out. I am married, have wonderful children, a stable job, a house that is not falling apart, lots of friends, and I just finished a novel. I am blessed but I find at times that spiritual progress is lacking. Life, if not lived, can grow stale, unexciting, and make me feel, well old. Wonder and joy have been sapped and replaced by the weighty fatigue that can accompany being a responsible adult. I need to renew and I know it. I need to pray and believe that God can wake me up, raise me from my drowsiness, and bring me life; a rich full life.

Have you ever felt this way? Have you experienced the weight of life, the desire for wonder and excitement again? It comes and goes for me. I believe, like many things, admitting this desire aloud and especially in prayer can bring about an inner revival that can change the course of your day, week, month, year, and life. But do you believe it? Do you believe that God can change you? That he can call you from the self imposed slumber and do something amazing for His Kingdom?

Let’ have a look at the nation of Israel. Please open the scriptures to the book of Malachi chapter 3 verse 10.

If you’ve read the Old Testament you know how much promise came with Israel. They were given everything and yet did not live to the potential God called them. Even the great kings like Solomon, the wisest man in the history of the world and David, the man after God’s own heart, did not listen to prophets and committed horrendous acts.

These horrendous acts may have been moments of passion. But my guess is they happened slowly. David was supposed to be at war with his men, not at home spying on women. For him, it started as any other day and ended with adultery and later the murder of the woman’s husband, an honorable man.

In Malachi chapter 3, Israel has turned away yet again, either through conscious decisions or lackadaisical faith. God asks them to be a giving people once more and says:

“Test me in this,” says the LORD Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have enough room for it” (Malachi 3:10b, NIV translation). In this context God says do not worry about the food that you horde! Don’t keep it to yourselves because I will provide for you. In fact he says he will throw open the floodgates of Heaven to do so!

If you believe what the scriptures say of Heaven, stop and imagine that. Imagine cleaning up the area of your life that needs attention. Live life with purpose and obedience and He will pour open the floodgates of Heaven? If you believe this, pray it. Open your lips right now.

My response – “Really Lord? I’m in.”

Now does not mean God will let you win the lottery, find a spouse, stop you from sinning again and again, land that job, or make that sale? Maybe, but probably not. This is a call to wake up and live. To live every moment with purpose and obedience because this is what we have been asked. The Author of life has made life simple: to obey.

Now, obedience may seem plain, dull or boring, but consider this. Obedience might mean moving across the country or to another one. It might mean starting that ministry you’ve considered for some time or leaving your high paying job so that you can spend more time raising your kids. It might mean volunteering or speaking or simply having that conversation you have rehearsed a thousand times with that person you need to share your faith with.

If you find waking up hard and still struggle with the monotony of life, consider this quote by GK Chesterton who was a spiritual father to C.S. Lewis:

“…perhaps God is strong enough to exult in monotony. It is possible that God says every morning, “Do it again” to the sun; and every evening, “Do it again” to the moon. It may not be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never got tired of making them. It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we are. The repetition in Nature may not be a mere reoccurrence; it may be a theatrical ENCORE.” (Chesterton, Orthodoxy, 44-45).

So reader, where does this find you? Where are you today? Are you living every moment of the day as fully as you can? Have you struggled with obedience or the monotony of the every day? 

Kneel down. Stop what you are doing and pray. Pray for direction and stop to listen. It may not come right away, but God is speaking to you. God is seeking you. Listen to what He is saying and believe He will move you.

If you feel led or inspired please share below. Both stories of coming alive in Him or how you know you need to do so.

Thank you for reading and live well today.

God Bless.

 ______________________________

About the author:

Bob Evenhouse is a freelance writer in Grand Rapids MI. He is married to Cindy and has two beautiful daughters and a son due any day. You can follow him and read posts about writing at http://parttimenovel.wordpress.com. He is currently shopping a manuscript for a young adult novel.

Manturity Marriage Quotes Vol. 2

I love being married and God has blessed me with a beautiful wife. Through this union, I have now been blessed with strong son. So what do you like or enjoy about marriage? What are some ways your life has benefited from your marriage? Feel free to share some of your thoughts in the comments at the end. In the meantime, here are 10 original Manturity Quotes on the topic of marriage. Read them, share them and live them.

"Base your marriage of a God who designed it; rather than a world who corrupts it."

"The immature husband will convince himself that a life separated from his wife and kids will be more beneficial than his God given role to lead them." 

"The strong Christian husband stands apart from other men because he is leading his family with honesty and is also being led by God faithfully and daily."

"If your communication with your wife is struggling, better check your communication with God too."

"A man that decides to get married is a man that chooses, better yet VOWS, to be the protector, the provider and the spiritual leader."

"A strong, mature marriage will communicate in a way that is genuine, loving and Christ like."

"A common failure I see in married men is that they treat people they hardly know with more respect then they give their own wife. This is absolutely wrong, DO NOT be this man."

"You do not gain respect by demanding it from your wife; you gain respect by serving your wife."

"You can tell how much a husband loves his wife by the way he talks about her when she's not around."

"Whether a man be dating or married or neither, his first priority relationship must be of his and Christ."

"A husbands love for his wife should not be based on how much his wife loves him; rather he should love her diligently each day, love her through any situation or conflict and love her as Christ loves the Church."


Be sure to share your thoughts or your favorite. Also, check out Manturity Quotes Volume 1.

Every Man Sets His Own Standards

Are you in control of your choices each day or is somebody else?

Over the years I have ran into many men who quote something like the following, "I don't believe in Christianity because my father never believed" or "I don't believe in that kind of stuff because of what 'they' say." Who are 'they' and why are they saying these things, I ask? I tend to get frustrated when I hear these type of responses, because quite frankly, they are not responses they are excuses. This is a man who is not in control of his beliefs and he has allowed the influence of others who may have not known the truth to set the standard for his life.

How long will a man choose to live according to these lies or excuses before he decides to take matters into his own hands? 

How much longer till he matures and decides to search out the real truth himself?

Before the days of Manturity, I lived my life according to the standards of others. I chose to base my beliefs off of things I had simply heard and grew up learning. I used the excuses I mentioned above every time I was approached by someone who actually knew the truth and was essentially trying to help me. I found a strange comfort in this lie I was living when I was in the moment, but I also felt empty afterwards. I didn't know what to do until my life started to fall apart piece by piece.

I was quick to anger, I was quick to use sarcasm as a means of protection and I was quick to defend my "standards" even though I knew I had none at all. I was irritable in my marriage, I was unloving to my wife and went down a destructive personal path that almost destroyed my marriage. A good Christian friend of mine finally got a hold of me and challenged my standards. He could see though my false protection measures and told me to step up and find out the truth myself. It was time.

Even a man without standards should be smart enough to recognize a man that has standards and his life is living proof of it. As shallow as it sounds, this played a major role in choosing to stop living according to the standards of "them" or "they" and find out the truth for myself. Note that this should be an example for all of us men that the way we act and are seen by others can be enough to cause another man to change his life. This was over two years ago now and I am still learning, growing and striving to be the best man of God I can possibly be each and every day. Let's choose to let Jesus be our standard!

So who is setting the standards in your life?

Are you living to please others or are you living to please God?

SHARE some of your personal experiences in the comments below.

Manturity Original Quotes Vol. 1

If you have read my recent post "5 Daily Challenges for Men", you will know that one of my daily challenges is to write an original quote. I have found this process to be a very powerful way to keep myself thinking about positive things and on Christ. Since these quotes are mainly shared on my social media sites, I thought I would start publishing them in volumes of 10. Quotes from famous people are great, but they take no effort. Step it up men and challenge yourself by coming up with your own original quotes!


"Maturity is the ability to act and speak with self control"

"Men, true spiritual maturity is more than just the Sunday service head nod and the occasional men's breakfast. Instead it is striving daily to set HIS example, it is seeking communication with HIM daily and it is being thankful for HIS daily blessings."

"When building, the right tools can make all the difference. God has provided us with many tools like prayer and His Word. We must use these often!"

"Always remain a man that is teachable and willing to learn."

"For some men, the process of spiritual maturity begins when they realize their physical strength is not as important as their spiritual strength."

"You can't pick and choose which parts of Christ you'll accept; you have to be ALL in!"

"The immature actions of men are direct insights into their weaknesses. On the opposite hand, the mature actions of men show their strengths and adherence to discipline."

"No one ever said the journey would be easy and sometimes it may not seem worth it, but it is in those times that we MUST learn to lean and depend on the power of Jesus!"

"Spiritual maturity will teach a young man that the broken relationship with his earthly father can be healed by his heavenly Father."

"Spiritual maturity is not an overnight occurrence; it must be diligently sought after in your DAILY thoughts, actions and prayers."


I would love to hear your thoughts on these quotes. Be sure to get involved in the comments below and feel free to share these quotes on your own social media sites!