The Transformed Life
Over the years in ministry, I have seen many who were “saved”, but not transformed. I mean, they said a prayer which said that they had received Christ as savior, but they behave like they did before Christ. So the world, I’m sure is saying, “why accept Christ if I’m going to be the same person I am now, without Him”.
Galatians 2:20 “I am crucified with Christ, never the less, I live, and the life I now live, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me”. Every place in our lives as believers that we insist on holding onto the old unredeemed lifestyle and it’s type of behavior is the place we stop living the abundant life Christ died to give us. The message today is for the purpose of looking at the contrast between living the transformedlife of abundance in Christ, and living a life of refusing to enter in because we’re holding out and holding on....We must deal with the “hold out zones” in order to fulfill our purpose.
What do I mean when I say “hold out zones”?....Those are areas where we refuse to let go and let God. A man entered a restaurant, bought a glass of coke and then immediately threw it on the waiter. Quickly grabbing a napkin, he helped the waiter dry her face while he apologized with great remorse. "I’m so sorry," he said. "I have this compulsion to do this. I fight it, but I don’t know what to do about it." "You had better do something about your problem," the waiter replied. "You can be sure I’ll remember you and will never serve you another drink until you get help." It was months before the man came into the restaurant again. When he asked for a drink, the waiter refused to wait on him. Then the man explained that he had been seeing a psychiatrist and that his problem was solved. Convinced it was now okay to serve him, the waiter gothim a coke. The man took the glass and splashed the coke on thewaiter once again. "I thought you were cured," the shocked waiterscreamed. "I am," said the man. "I still do it, but I don’t feel guilty about it anymore." Well, that’s definitely not the transformed life Paul is talking about.
Here's a quote by Ann Landers, who said “Some people believe holding on and hanging in there are signs of great strength. However, there are times when it takes much more strength to know when to let go and then do something positive about it.”
I believe the word “Praise” is an appropriate illustration for letting go. The Hebrew word for praise is “Hallal”, which means to give exuberant praise with arms lifted and with open palms. And when you add the Hebrew name “Jah” to it, it becomes “Hallelujah” ... To praise God with exuberant praise, by leaping and jumping and spinning with arms lifted and palms extended....If you ever watch the Jewish people dance, then this pretty much describes it!
In other words, you can’t truly praise God without letting go!There is a time to hold on and a time to let go, but you can’t do both at the same time because that’s just schizophrenic!
When you let go of what holds you back, you release yourself fromthe limits you have placed on your own life. Mark 3:25 Jesus said that “A house divided against itself cannot stand”.
The old joke goes like this: A man falls off a cliff and part way down grabs a piece of bush hanging there and he looks down and there is a 300 foot drop. He looks up and yells, “God, help me, I’ll do anything you ask of me, I’ll serve you faithfully and I’ll tell everyone about you. Just get me out of this mess I’m in!” God replies, “let go and I’ll catch you!” The man thinks about it for a minute and then yells, “Is anybody else up there?”
What is the bush you’re hanging onto instead of just letting go and trust that God will do what He says He’ll do?
Is your bush you’re hanging on to about needing to be in control, about needing to manipulate by using your misfortune to get others to feel sorry for you, is it about denial, or insecurity, or fear of getting outside of your safety zones, or fear of what God may ask of you, just to name a few. God is saying let go and see what I can do! That’s part of the crucified life!
Romans 6:3-4"Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His death? Therefore we are buried with Him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life". Paul considered himself truly crucified with Christ, and now raised together with Christ, so this obligated Paul to live a whole new kind of life. As believers in Christ, we are on a journey that is totally unbelievable except by the miracle of God’s Spirit — I’m talking about realities that you cannot know from any other source than the Bible — realities that are so astounding that if you see them for what they really are, you will be radically, pervasively different from people who have not seen and do not believe in this reality. Paul saw that this new reality in Christ was made available to him in His rebirth experience.
Max Lucado in one of his books, tells of a lady who had a small house on the seashore of Ireland at the turn of the century she was quite wealthy but also very frugal. People were surprised, then, when she decided to be among the first to have electricity in her home. Several weeks after the installation, a meter reader appeared at her door. He asked if her electricity was working well, and she assured him it was. "I’m wondering if you can explain something to me," he said. "Your meter shows hardly any usage. Are you using your power?" "Oh, I Certainly am," she answered. "Each evening when the sun sets, I turn on my lights just long enough so I can see to light all my candles; then I turn the electric lights off." You see, She tapped into the power but didn’t know how to use it. She was connected but she was not transformed."Connected but not transformed!
Paul says in Romans 12:2 “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God”. Most of us have probably witnessed one of the TV shows where a person consents to a complete make-over. Often times the results appear to be dramatic in the transformation of the individual’s appearance, but seldom produces long term changes in their character. Their appearance is different, but their thinking was not changed. Hey, the Prodigal Son, is having a blast while the money lasts. But he ate with the pigs at the end of the gig!
When the famous missionary, David Livingstone, started his missionary journey across Africa he had 7 crates of books and 3 packs, weighing 180 pounds. After the party had gone 300 miles, Livingstone was forced to throw away some of the books because of the weariness and discomfort of those carrying his baggageand supplies. As he continued on his journey his library grew less and less, as they discarded more books, until he had but one book left—that book was his Bible. You can’t let go and hold on too!
Tim the tool man Taylor was always trying to install things and operate things without reading the instructions, and he just made a mess....We don’t want to get through life with a big OOOPS at the end! We have been given the operation manual for a transformed life, if we will only follow it. We need to turn to the bible for the supernatural, transforming force that it can be in our lives, if we will dedicate ourselves to its values and life principles. It is the only book which will blaze a path for us into the center of God’s will and plan for our lives.
“Be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” Is a mandate, not a suggestion. This is about placing the Word of God between you and everything else. It can’t get to you without going through the Word. God knows that nothing short of transformation will allow us to enter into the supernatural life He has designed for us. It indicates that our lives, our character, our very nature cannot be changed without it.
I’ve said it before, but the language of heaven is the word of God. Jesus said “My word shall not return void” so, you can’t do better than speak, think, and live out the word of God, in every situation of life.
Our minds are the real battleground where Satan tries to get a foot hold. If we transform our thoughts, then we transform our lives.
What we sow we will reap. Sow a thought, reap an action, sow and action, reap a habit, sow a habit, reap a character, sow a character, reap a destiny. Our mind is like a field that we are sowing seed into, so that we can have a harvest. What we sow, determines the harvest we will reap. Only God’s word seed, will produce the kind of harvest we truly desire, of freedom and power and victory!
If we’re watching TV and something inappropriate comes on, we change the station. If we’re on the internet and something contrary to the harvest we want pops up, we can click it off. When it comes to our inner thoughts, we can do the same thing and click on the word in it’s place.
I can’t live on Twinkies and snickers bars, (or whatever your poison) and be healthy, and I can’t fill my mind with garbage and have a transformed life!
Matthew 4:4 “People need more than bread (physical food) for their life; they must feed on every Word of God.”
Psalm 119:147, David says, “I rise before dawn and cry for help; I put my hope in Your words. Lord, how I love Your Word. It fills my thoughts all day long.”
Psalm 16:7 David says “Even in the darkest of night your teachings fill my mind.”
God’s word is truth, and truth reveals and destroys every lie, and empowers God’s will in all areas of our lives. Colossians 3:1–4 “If you then have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory”.
Look at it again... “Seek the things that are above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.” We locate things in heaven and bring them into the earth where the supply matches the need.
Another thing here, How can all the things that used to bother you, have any effect on you, if you are dead, and now have entered into a new life. It’s the “GOOD” IN “GOODBY”.... Goodby fear, Goodby sickness, Goodby defeat, Goodby lack and insufficiency! Grab on to the good in goodby!
Notice also, it says “Your life is hidden with Christ in God”.....You’re in God’s witness protection program, you have been relocated, You are His witness, you have been hidden in Christ, you have a new identity! Oscar Cervantes began to get in trouble as a child. Then as he got older, he was jailed 17 times for brutal crimes. Prison psychiatrists said he was beyond help. But, during a brief time of freedom, Oscar met an elderly man who told him about Jesus. He placed his trust in the Lord and was changed into a kind, caring man. Shortly afterward turning his life over to Christ, he started a prison ministry. Chaplain H. C. Warwick describes it this way: "The third Saturday night of each month is ’Oscar Night’ at the Soledad prison. Inmates come to hear Oscar and they sing gospel songs with passion and fervor. They sit intently for over 2 hours as he preaches the gospel, and every night, they come freely to the chapel altar.... What professionals had failed to do for Oscar in years of counseling, and rehab, Christ did in a moment of conversion. But it was up to Oscar to immerse himself in the word of God... GOD SAID: Let us FORM man in our image. THE DEVIL SAYS: I will DEFORM man by sin. THE WORLD SAYS: We must CONFORM man in our image.EDUCATION SAYS: Let us INFORM man by our knowledge.SOCIETY SAYS: We will REFORM man by our culture. BUT ONLY CHRIST SAYS: I will TRANSFORM man by MY WORD AND MY SPIRIT.
2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore if anyone (put your name in there) is in Christ, he (put your name there) is a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold, all things have become new”!
Stop looking in the mirror and seeing yourself the way you used to be... That’s not you anymore, and you don’t live there any more. Either the bible is a lie, or you are a new creature in Christ. You need to look at yourself and picture what that looks like! Stop looking at the limitations you used to have and see yourself with all those limits gone and now you’re free to be what He says you are.... Redeemed, delivered, set free to be, peace giver, healer, anointed, highly favored, leader, full of creativity, filled with purpose, vision and ability!
What you were, you are not that anymore! The things that used to dominate and oppress you are now under your feet, The powers that once overwhelmed you, you are now able to overwhelm. The anointing in your life is breaking every yoke of bondage that has hindered and blocked you.
You’re free from unforgiveness! Free from Poverty! You’re free from, sickness and disease, free from the curse of the law! You’re free from strife and division! Free from chaos and other people’s toxic attitudes!
You’re free to operate in peace.... body, soul and spirit....FREE TO LOVE!
When you’re renovating a house, it can look pretty terrible before it starts looking great! Rotten wood has to be ripped out. Rust and corrosion have to be removed. Walls are knocked out, flooring is ripped out, and part of the gutting process is replacing wiring and plumbing. Oh my, it’s a mess, but if you can get ahold of the plans and you can see what it’s going to be like when all is done and finished, you begin to get excited and filled with anticipation... GOD IS NOT CONCERNED ABOUT WHO YOU WERE, BUT WHO YOU NOW ARE IN CHRIST!
So what if God has to rip out some things, like false expectations, unscriptural belief systems, assumptions that aren’t based on truth, and things that are unprofitable in our new walk with the King. He’s giving us a NEW SET OF VALUES, and NEW MOTIVATION AND NEW POSESSIONS.
"IF ANYONE IS IN CHRIST, HE IS A NEW CREATION, OLD THINGS HAVE PASSED AWAY, ALL THINGS HAVE BECOME NEW”. In the same manner that Elijah dropped his mantle to Elisha, Christ has dropped His mantle upon us to go forth in His power. PUT YOUR NEW HOLY SPIRIT WARDROBE ON...
A RENEWED SPIRIT, A RENEWED MIND, A RENEWED HEART, A NEW LEASE ON LIFE, LIFE EVERLASTING, AND BLESSINGS WITH NO END IN SIGHT!
Romans 12: 2 “. . . And be not conformed to this world: but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. . .” The word “transformed” means to change from one form to another.” We get our word “metamorphosis” from this. The change is so radical, that the butterfly that emerges from the cocoon cannot even be recognized as the caterpillar that went in!
2 Corinthians 3:18: “But we all, with open face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.”
We have a mind with God’s word embedded in it. It’s also referred to as “having the mind of Christ”.
I want everyone say, “If it’s in the New covenant of Christ, I’m for it”
1 PETER 1:3 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to His great mercy, He has caused us to be born again (transformed) to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” Amen.
Jesus said that to the spiritual all things are spiritual. We deal with the cause behind everything, and that is spiritual. That’s where our authority springs from, our anointing, and our power over this physical world. So, get up, get dressed up, and show up for some supernatural action!
Our Prayer today.....”I pray Lord Jesus, that You would take Yourrightful place of authority and reign supreme over my mind. Lord, I want to fix my mind on You and Your love, knowing that this will surely bring me to the place of Your peace. I know that I need to be bound tightly to You so that my flesh has no control. By Your word, dominate, and quiet all voices except Your own. I transition into the perfect peace that only You can give as I surrender my will to yours.
Guard my heart and mind Holy Spirit, and Lord, make my mind Your strong place in this battle for souls. I breathe out a deep sigh from within my spirit and open up to the new creation which Your grace and favor have formed in me. I pray now that You would lead and guide me deeper and deeper into this new creation nature that Your resurrection has made possible.
Lord, empower me by the Holy Spirit to see people as You do and help me to take people to a higher level in their work, their attitudes, and their lives. I desire to have the mind of Christ in every situation. I believe and receive everything I have prayed and I give You glory in advance that this prayer is already answered”!
In Jesus’ name, Amen
