Tag Archives: happen

How does change happen?

 

If I am going to be transformed, I have to transform certain parts of me. If I am going to fail or be defeated in my walk with God it will be because I have failed to attend to the parts of me that need attended to.

I appeal to you therefore, brothers,[a] by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. – Romans 12:1  ESV

Here is a call for me to be doing something with my body. As a disciple, I am called to live a fully surrendered and transformed life to Christ.

If I remember the mercies of God, I can approach Him with a genuine thirst to follow Him. For it is when I look into the mirror, I find that the Lord of my life is usually myself.

Do not be conformed to this world,[c] but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. – Romans 12:2  ESV

If I do not want to be conformed to the world, one of the main things I have to do is transform my mind. When my mind is transformed, it will transform the rest of me.

It is one of the most significant parts of spiritual growth – the renewal of the mind. It is the place where the Holy Spirit changes my thoughts and perspectives. The transformation allows me to discern the will of God and stop conforming to this world.

Whenever I ask God to search my heart and know my deepest thoughts so that I can submit my sins to Him, I find myself face to face with deception. I see myself living a self-serving life. Most of my life has to do with putting myself and my desires first. Unfortunately, a “personal relationship with Jesus” might even go so far as to redefine Jesus into my own image.

Hence, the process of mind-renewal can take a lifetime. As a disciple, I will be growing throughout my life, beginning each day learning to think with the mind of Christ. There comes the place where I can more clearly discern the will of God.

 

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Vision

 

Patrick Love – The Vision

 

A vision is this way.

The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. – Matthew 13:44  ESV

When it is working right, my mind cannot let go of it. I keep coming back to it because it is so good.

It is in my offering of myself to God that I will see miracles start to happen in my life. I am reminded of this through the miracle of the five loaves and two fish. What the child offered was nothing compared to the need, but Jesus did a miracle from these offerings simply because they were offered. I have also been noting that I am thinking that there are others whom God has called. In my prayer time, I am avoiding myself. Maybe it is time I pray about me and start offering myself – pray that God would revive me, pray that I commit myself to God and participate actively in the expansion of His kingdom.

If a parable is meant to be simple and plain and intended to be understood, then it would seem that each parable generally reveals one primary principle. I am not too sure that they are to be dissected for hidden meanings.  In this case, the hidden treasure is the kingdom of heaven. Is that not what happened to the twelve disciples? Were they not overjoyed when they encountered Jesus and did they not leave everything to follow Him and pursue the kingdom of God?

One thing is for certain – there was a selling of all they had/owned to secure the one thing that mattered to them. The choice was decisive. My vision, in following Jesus, needs to be the same.

 

 

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