A person who seeks to change himself spiritually is a person who believes that if he can just do more good deeds, learn more about God, or accomplish more for God's kingdom, he will be a “better” person. This approach inevitably results in anxiety, frustration, discouragement, feelings of failure, and perhaps even depression.
The encouraging news of the Bible is that you cannot change yourself spiritually, but God is in the process of changing you! The Bible tells us that we are being transformed in two ways:
1. We are being transformed by the renewal of our minds.
2. We are being conformed into the image of Christ.
In each case, the Holy Spirit is the “agent of the change” that occurs within us. We have a part to play, but the Holy Spirit is the One who causes the change to take place within us.
You will not be the person in the future that you are today if you submit yourself to God's transformation process. You are going to be more like Jesus. And that's good news!
The Changing of your mind is a Change from the way the world thinks to the way God thinks.
The two points of view—God's and man's—are nearly always opposite.
Let me give you just a few examples:
1. The world tells you to get even with your enemies. God says to leave vengeance up to him and to love your enemies, do good to them, and pray for them (Matt. 5:43–44, Rom. 12:19–21).
2. The world tells you to fight for your rights and defend yourself at all costs. God says to turn the other cheek (Matt. 5:38–39).
3. The world tells you that hard work and education will result in success. God says that faith and learning to listen to His voice and obey Him are what bring a person to success (Heb. 11).
As Christians, we are called to think like God thinks, and then, with of our renewed minds, to act as Jesus would act if He walked in our shoes on the earth today. A difference in thinking results in a difference in living.
B. The Word Renews Our Thinking
1. We get a renewed mind through a habit of reading God's Word frequently and regularly. Ephesians 5:26 refers to a cleansing by the “washing of water by the word.” The more we read God's Word and trust the Holy Spirit to quicken what we read to our spirits, the more the Word acts to cleanse our thoughts so that we think the pure thoughts of Christ.
2. The more we read God's Word, the more we are confronted with God's truth. The Word of God convicts us of error and points out to us the need for change. It presents to us the truth and compels us to act on the truth.
3. The more we read God's Word, the more we become familiar with “God's opinion” and the more the Holy Spirit makes His opinion our opinion. The Word of God becomes the way we think. And when that happens, we experience a genuine change. We begin to speak differently, act differently, make wiser choices, and adopt new priorities. Our lives take on a new nature that flows from our new mind.
You are a new creation if you are in Christ. A new Species in fact! We might still live in the old body but our Spiritual man is brand new!
Jesus crucified the old man he doesn’t exist any more, So why do we spend so much time on self improvement programs for the Old man?
We need to establish right now that the old man is dead and therefore can’t change!
When was the last time you went down to the cemetery and saw a whole lot of reformed dead people!
It just doesn’t happen
Last year I can remember the fuss in the scientific world about the discovery of some new species in the highland jungles of New Guinea. The thing about new species is that they are NEW and different from the old!
So we are a new creation! But in an old body!
In other words we now bridge the gap between that which is natural and that which is Spiritual
Our old bodies now have the ability to see and partake of the Spiritual realm.
Seeing and Living in the Spirit should now be a normal part of our new life!
And our hearts cry should be to see the inheritance that God has for us in Christ. That our eyes would be enlightened!
The encouraging news of the Bible is that you cannot change yourself spiritually, but God is in the process of changing you! The Bible tells us that we are being transformed in two ways:
1. We are being transformed by the renewal of our minds.
2. We are being conformed into the image of Christ.
In each case, the Holy Spirit is the “agent of the change” that occurs within us. We have a part to play, but the Holy Spirit is the One who causes the change to take place within us.
You will not be the person in the future that you are today if you submit yourself to God's transformation process. You are going to be more like Jesus. And that's good news!
The Changing of your mind is a Change from the way the world thinks to the way God thinks.
The two points of view—God's and man's—are nearly always opposite.
Let me give you just a few examples:
1. The world tells you to get even with your enemies. God says to leave vengeance up to him and to love your enemies, do good to them, and pray for them (Matt. 5:43–44, Rom. 12:19–21).
2. The world tells you to fight for your rights and defend yourself at all costs. God says to turn the other cheek (Matt. 5:38–39).
3. The world tells you that hard work and education will result in success. God says that faith and learning to listen to His voice and obey Him are what bring a person to success (Heb. 11).
As Christians, we are called to think like God thinks, and then, with of our renewed minds, to act as Jesus would act if He walked in our shoes on the earth today. A difference in thinking results in a difference in living.
B. The Word Renews Our Thinking
1. We get a renewed mind through a habit of reading God's Word frequently and regularly. Ephesians 5:26 refers to a cleansing by the “washing of water by the word.” The more we read God's Word and trust the Holy Spirit to quicken what we read to our spirits, the more the Word acts to cleanse our thoughts so that we think the pure thoughts of Christ.
2. The more we read God's Word, the more we are confronted with God's truth. The Word of God convicts us of error and points out to us the need for change. It presents to us the truth and compels us to act on the truth.
3. The more we read God's Word, the more we become familiar with “God's opinion” and the more the Holy Spirit makes His opinion our opinion. The Word of God becomes the way we think. And when that happens, we experience a genuine change. We begin to speak differently, act differently, make wiser choices, and adopt new priorities. Our lives take on a new nature that flows from our new mind.
You are a new creation if you are in Christ. A new Species in fact! We might still live in the old body but our Spiritual man is brand new!
Jesus crucified the old man he doesn’t exist any more, So why do we spend so much time on self improvement programs for the Old man?
We need to establish right now that the old man is dead and therefore can’t change!
When was the last time you went down to the cemetery and saw a whole lot of reformed dead people!
It just doesn’t happen
Last year I can remember the fuss in the scientific world about the discovery of some new species in the highland jungles of New Guinea. The thing about new species is that they are NEW and different from the old!
So we are a new creation! But in an old body!
In other words we now bridge the gap between that which is natural and that which is Spiritual
Our old bodies now have the ability to see and partake of the Spiritual realm.
Seeing and Living in the Spirit should now be a normal part of our new life!
And our hearts cry should be to see the inheritance that God has for us in Christ. That our eyes would be enlightened!
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