This week we recognized that one of the major expressions revealed to humanity is the power of God. We came to know and understand that if we really encounter His power, our lives will be forever changed. This is why transformation has the ability to provide the evidence that God’s desire and capability to redeem, restore, and renew mankind is true.
If we believe that God sent His son to this earth with a convicting yet hopeful message accompanied by supernatural signs and miracles. We have to understand how that message sent Him to the cross, meant for us, not Him. It is also pivotal for us to comprehend the message God was delivering when He brought Him back from the dead. In reality, this series of monumental events were a demonstration of the power of God.
The actual work that beat sin and its fleshly nature was put on the cross and left in the grave. However, that same work overcame death and the nature of the Spirit was raised to live eternally. Dying to self and the crucifixion of our human nature in order to be born again is a necessity. Being born again is to be raised in power to live a life led by the Spirit of God. The verification of our rebirth is confirmed by the process of transformation being active in our lives.
To truly be transformed, all of what made up who we’ve been before we accepted Christ has to cease existing, Our thought patterns, beliefs, opinions, personality traits, and everything else that composed who we were must go. This is the old man dying and the new creation being raised to live a completely different life.
The way we deny ourselves and crucify our flesh is to stop living for personal pleasures and actually live for the purposes of God. We have to decide that the life we’ve lived is over and the life we will live is for God. To accomplish this we must develop a faith that is full of trust in the capabilities of God and not our own. At the same time, committing to do things His way from now on.
It is this decision that begins a true transformation. When we decide to actually follow Christ and live for Him the old person begins to wither away because our new desire is the opposite of our past nature which was to please ourselves. When we develop the desire to please God our intimacy with Him begins to deepen. It is this type of relationship that keeps us on track and less likely to veer off.
One thing that we will not be able to escape is the fact that there is a day where we will stand in His presence and He will make an eternal decision based on how we lived here on earth. God wants to change our circumstances and fix a lot of our situations in our lives. However more than that His desire is the transformation of the human soul which begins with us turning from the world and everything it promotes. Then turning to God for deliverance to bring obvious change.
The world’s influence has impacted all of us in some way. Its impact has forged the way we act, think, and believe. This is the reason we must turn from it and its ways. Turning to God frees us from false tainted beliefs, and corrupted thoughts which in turn changes how we behave and live. The only one who can change the heart and core of a human being is God who does so through Christ. This is why transformation is evidence of the power of God designed to prove to the world His will.
**Audio for this recap can be listened to here
https://open.spotify.com/show/1iq37J57b9iTt07y4KKayQ
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/thursday-night-zoom/id1740279389?i=1000666281278
Scriptures of the week
John 3:1-8
John 1:6-13
Ephesians 2:1-10
1 Corinthians 1:18-25
Romans 6:5-11
2 Corinthians 5:14-17
Galatians 2:20-21
Galatians 5:16-18
Romans 6:16-23
John 16:12-15
1 Peter 1:22-25
1 Peter 2:1-3
Colossians 1:19-23
Romans 8:1-7
Colossians 3:1-5
