Probably one of the most profound signs of a mature believer can be found in what happens in his everyday prayer life. There are many people who just go into prayer. They pray whatever is on their emergency list, whatever is on their need list.

They find themselves in deep prayer and intercession only when there is a crisis in their life. This is just part of an average ho-hum Christian life. But a mature believer is somebody who finds great joy in prayer.

He finds himself escaping like Jesus did in Mark 1:35, "Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed."

When no one else is looking he tries to sneak away to spend more time with God. He sits down on the middle of the day, maybe in-between projects, just to go and hang with God for a little while.

He doesn't bring a bunch of lists in, but he prays over his list and he knows God will do it. But the most exciting part of prayer is just spending time with his Father getting to know Him better.

A mature believer realizes that his prayer life is where everything else comes from: his success, his wholeness, the blessings for the day, the wisdom for the day, the ideas from God all come in prayer.

In fact, the center of his intimacy with Christ revolves around the time he meets with Him. He can't wait to get back with Him. He perceives his prayer time as meeting a long-lost lover at the end of the day. He runs into the arms of his Father and grabs hold of Him as tight as he can. He shares his heart with Him and listens carefully to hear God's heart as He shares it with him.

The Father can't wait for prayer time with a mature believer because He has secrets He longs to share and He's waiting for somebody who's really listening and really cares about what He is saying.

Jesus often said, He who has ears to hear, let him hear in His parables. He was saying, you can sit here and listen to this, but the only people who are going to get it are the people who really want to listen, people who really have ears to hear.

In other words, you might sit through this, but you might not get it because you don't really want to hear it.

Mature believers don't habitually forget their quiet time. They would be dead. It would be like saying, "Oh, I forgot to eat for a week. I forgot to drink water for a week." It would be like saying, "Oh, I forgot to breathe for a week." To a mature believer it is unthinkable.

Source: Mature Christians Are Boring People...And Other Myths About Maturity In Christ by Ron Luce.
Excerpt permission granted by Albury Publishing