The Power to Change

On October 21, 2014   /   Word of the Day   /   1 Comment

Romans 12: 2

And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.

I was driving today when this verse popped in my mind. The thought that came with it was that we are not to transform ourselves but rather to allow ourselves to be transformed. Look at this verse from the Good News Bible: “Do not conform yourselves to the standards of this world, but let God transform you inwardly by a complete change of your mind. Then you will be able to know the will of God—what is good and is pleasing to him and is perfect.” You see, we are not in charge of changing ourselves. We can’t. We haven’t the power to change but God can transform us into the beautiful image of us that He sees when He looks at us. 

Did you know that when God looks at you He sees the butterfly rather than the caterpillar? He sees you beautiful, glorious and when we spend time with Him His perception of us begins to rub off on us. Jesus is truth and God, our Father, has sent truth into the world to free us from every bondage, even the one of having to change ourselves into something worthy of love or of acceptance. You are already perfect. Jesus made you so. Okay, so sometimes the old man inhibits the full expression of that perfect creation within us but that outward expression does not change truth.

I tried for years and years to change myself and I was never successful but then the hand of Jesus touched me and through his love and acceptance I began to manifest the new person that he created within me. Okay, sure, I am far from the perfect expression of his love inside of me but if you knew the old me you would see the miracle of his grace at work. 

We can have the very best intentions and us the force of our will but the truth is that we just do not have the power to change ourselves. Without Jesus I can do no thing but with him all things are possible. That is why this verse does not tell us to transform ourselves or to change but rather to “be transformed.” This is the state of being rather than doing. In other words, allow yourself to be changed which is done through the renewing of your mind. Renew your mind with God’s thoughts, with His wisdom and that will transform you. Allow Him to shine the light of His love on you and you will change. God’s love, His truth are the forces which created the earth and everything in it. So, when we allow that love and the truth to touch our hearts and minds we, then, are just naturally and comfortably transformed into the lovely person we were created to be. It is a matter of allowing Him to be God, allowing Him to minister His love and acceptance to you.

The hard part of this is that you have to open your heart and allow God in. You also have to give your mind the food of renewal. What is that? It is the Word of God. The Word has transformative power in it because it is truth. The easy part is that God does all of the transformative work and it is painless because His transformation tool is love. When you really discover that you are not damaged goods, then you will no longer fear God seeing the real you. You won’t feel the need to hide anymore. He knows you better than you know yourself and He loves you. He even knows the person inside of you that you have not allowed to manifest yet. 

Won’t you let Jesus touch your heart and allow God to minister His great love to you? If you will open your heart and mind you will find that you never again need worry about changing. His touch will bring out the beautiful you that everyone else knows is in there. Allow yourself to “be” transformed. Renew your mind and allow love to have its perfect work.

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Grace, Love and Fellowship

On October 20, 2014   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

2 Corinthians 13: 14

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

This is Paul’s closing in his second letter to the Corinthians. He is sending his best wishes, hopes and prayers to them just as many of us do in the closings of our letters. The best that Paul can come up with is what he includes in his prayer for them. I find it interesting which gift he associates with each part of God. Paul would have known each part of God intimately and would have been very aware of the gifts of each of them. He would have known what flows from each of them and by and through this we can know what personifies each of them and what we can expect from each of them. 

God is love. We’ve heard it over and over again but so many times we fail to really appreciate that love is God’s substance; his very nature. He is made up; constructed of love and it overflows him. He has love in abundance to give each of us.

Grace flows from Jesus. His sacrifice has bathed us in grace. His grace covers us. His pardoning grace has saved us and made the way for us to bask in the love of the Father.

What of the Holy Spirit? What can we expect of him? We can expect to fellowship with him. We can hang out with him, talk with him, receive instruction and inspiration from him. Paul would not have prayed that the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with the church at Corinth unless it was attainable. We are living in a new age. We are living in the age of the Holy Spirit. He is here for us in ways that were not possible in any previous age. Because of the love of God and the sacrifice of Jesus, the Holy Spirit has been sent to us to make his abode with us. He has come to lead us, guide us, and teach us.

May the grace of the Lord, the love of the Father and the intimate presence of the Spirit of God fill your day and your life.

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Down but not Out

On October 17, 2014   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

2 Corinthians 4: 8 – 9

[W]e are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed.

No matter what hardships come against us, we are never defeated because of the love of the Father, and God who always picks us up and provides us all the tools and weapons for defense and victory. We never have to live even one day in despair because we have a Father who is loving and kind. Moreover, he is able to care for us. He is always there for us. Even if some event knocks you down, do not despair. Your Father will not allow you to be defeated. You may say with all confidence that although you have suffered a blow, you will be back in greater form than ever before. God is not willing that any of us should suffer defeat. Put your confidence in His faithfulness. We are never forsaken. Not even when it looks like we have been. 

There is a destroyer (John 10: 10). He doesn’t have any real power. He is just a renegade and a trickster. He will try to convince you that you are forsaken, that God has turned His face from you. This is the only weapon he really has, deception. This is what he did to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. He fooled them, tricked them into thinking things were one way when they were really another. So, don’t believe the lies of the devil. Don’t even believe your own eyes. Believe the Lord, our God. Jesus is the truth. Believe him. You cannot be destroyed as long as your eyes are fixed on Jesus and you deny the lies of the evil one. God bless you.

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Tuning In

On October 16, 2014   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Matthew 21: 22

And all things you ask in prayer, believing, you shall receive.

You might say that you have not received all that you have asked in prayer. I have a question then. How is your receiver? Or maybe your believer is broken. The scripture says that what we believe when we ask in prayer, we will receive. If that is true, then perhaps we have received exactly what we have believed. So, we need to work on our belief. The way to increase belief is to spend more time with the Father and his word. The more time you spend hearing, seeing and reading the word related to the subject of your prayer, the more your belief will grow. When you find a really key scripture, one that goes right to the heart of your prayer, you should meditate on that one. Meditate just means that you are thinking on it in a concentrated manner. Think about each word in the scripture. Why did the author use a particular word? Look up the key words in a dictionary. Look up synonyms for the word. Talk to your heavenly Father about the scripture. Ask him what the scripture means to him and ask him to shine even more light of meaning on it for you. As you do this, one day the faith will just jump in your heart. All of sudden you will know that you know. Then the facts won’t count. It will not matter what the situation around you looks like because you will have a revelation of the truth. Truth is above facts and the truth always trumps facts. Once you know the truth, you will truly be free.

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New Wine

On October 15, 2014   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Ephesians 5: 18

And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit.

Does this verse mean that we can get drunk on vodka or gin; anything but wine? I think we all know that drunkenness is not in the will of God for his kids. Synonyms for dissipation are debauchery and indulgence even wickedness, depravity and decadence. These are not words that any of us want to have associated with us. Does that mean we can never drink wine or other adult beverage? The verse does not indicate that Christians cannot have a drink but we should not allow ourselves to become intoxicated with strong drink. The only thing we are to be intoxicated with is the Holy Spirit. The way to protect yourself from getting drunk or any other kind of dissipation is to be filled with the Spirit. Pray to the Lord to fill you up to overflowing with the Holy Spirit of God. You can never over indulge in the Holy Spirit.

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Grieve Not

On October 14, 2014   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Ephesians 4: 30 – 31

30  And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
31  Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.

One thing I would never want to do is to grieve the Holy Spirit of God. That drums up a truly horrid image. Fortunately for me and everyone else, Paul proceeds to tell us how we can avoid doing so. We are to make bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, slander and malice completely foreign to our way of living. That means that we are to have no ill will (malice) toward anyone, nor speak of others in a way that will damage their reputation in the eyes of others (slander). We are to put anger away from us. That is no surprise but sometimes we allow ourselves the luxury of anger. If you do not want to grieve the Holy Spirit of God, then you should quickly put the anger away from you and move into forgiveness. Bitterness is defined as: sharp and disagreeable; harsh; severe; piercing. 2) Characterized by strong feelings of hatred, resentment, cynicism. You have known people who are sharp with others. That is not the attitude God wants us to show to others nor are we to be cynical. Taking verses 29 through 32 together, there is a picture revealed to us of the Christian walk.  If it were to be summarized we might say guard our mouths only letting those words come out that are edifying and uplifting and be kind to everyone in word and deed. In this way we will be pleasing to the Lord God and not grieve the Holy Spirit of God.

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Power Tools

On October 13, 2014   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Ephesians 4: 29

Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, that it may give grace to those who hear.

God is serious about our words and how we use them. We can use them to build up others or tear them down. The word edification means instruction or enlightenment, especially when it is morally or spiritually uplifting (Encarta Dictionary). So, therefore, we are supposed to use language with each other that is uplifting. If people feel better and/or encouraged after speaking with you, then you are fulfilling the direction and purpose of God. But if people feel frustrated, hurt or bad when they leave your presence, then you are not using your words in a way that God will approve. Language is a powerful tool that we have for good or for ill. It is so powerful and so important that it is the weapon that God gave us with which to battle our enemies. He didn’t give us lightning bolts or fire balls that shoot from our fingertips. He gave us his most powerful weapon; words. Each of us must make wise choices with this awesome power. 

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