Category: TRANSFORMATION

The work of the Holy Spirit is to perfect each member of the body of Christ. Individually and as His church on earth all the transformed ones are to be built together in love so that they may display Him and become increasingly in His likeness.

OBEDIENCE

Prepared as a Bride adorned for Her Husband

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Prepared as a Bride adorned for her Husband

God’s mission in creation: a Bride for His Son.  Even before creation and in that context, The Father’s heart and over-reaching plan was and is, a Bride for his most beloved Son.  A Bride, so clean, so gloriously fitting, so holy, so submitted in Her equality to Jesus.  So pure, so complete in Her ability to love and be loved by the one who gave His life for Her and who lays down Her life for Him.  So much more than just redemption, we see Jesus as the absolute centre of this story; gifted in the Father’s love with a more beautiful Bride that can be imagined by the human heart.

The Godhead made man in His own image.  I suggest here that Jesus was the pattern to which the human race was created.  This can be seen as the first step by the Father to create a bride completely fitting for His Holy, Almighty, Eternal beloved Son. read more

DIVINE REVELATION

A Fresh Look at Genesis 1

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Verses 1-5. First of all we must understand that this account of the creation process, in God’s own words through Moses, is not open to be analyzed, questioned or speculated about by the human mind. We are given as much detail as God wishes to give us and we must rely wholly upon the Holy Spirit to unveil its mysteries.

In the beginning God (‘elohim’, plural) created the heavens and the earth. Exactly when the Father, Son and Holy Spirit performed this immense creative project we are not informed. What we do know from John 1:1-3 is that ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made’. NKJV All that was created was created through the Son of God.

In verse 2 we are informed that ‘the earth was formless and void (empty)*. This begs the question as to why God would start His creative work with a formless and empty object. By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible. Hebrews 11:3. This formless and empty object is visible. It is the focus of the work during the first three days of creation. Are we being shown that this was not the original earth but had been part of a massive calamity? N.B. On the fourth day the galaxies were brought into being by a spoken command. read more

BODY RELATEDNESS

When You Meet Together

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1 Corinthians 14:26. Well, my brothers and sisters, let’s summarize what I am saying. When you meet, one will sing, another will teach, another will tell some special revelation God has given, one will speak in an unknown language, while another will interpret what is said. But everything that is done must be useful to all and build them up in the Lord. NLT
Colossians 3:16. Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
1 Corinthians 14:31-32. For you can all prophesy one by one, so that all may learn and all may be exhorted….

If these Scriptures don’t describe typical meetings that you or I are attending today it should come as no surprise. Central within almost all church communities today is a leader or leaders to whom others must defer and submit.  This seems to be an essential feature even of meetings conducted in private homes.

The Corinthian believers to whom Paul was writing included many who had come from very loose and unruly backgrounds; see 1 Corinthians 6:9-11. Yet Paul could describe their meetings as permitting and enjoying great freedom in the Spirit. At first sight does that not seem to have been risky? Where was the safeguard against those who were not speaking under the anointing of the Holy Spirit? read more

LOVE

The Veil is Taken Away

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2 Corinthians 3:15-18. But to this day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their heart; but whenever a person turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.

….but whenever….turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.  In this statement of the apostle Paul, there is nothing to indicate who or what turns to the Lord. Some translations insert ‘it’, meaning the heart; some say ‘a person’. We do know that only beings made in the image of God can realize the person of God so it is quite legitimate to state ‘….but whenever a believer in the Lord or a community of believers turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away’.

This is in fact implied by what Paul writes next. It is the divine Person of the Holy Spirit who removes the veil that lies over our heart and sets us free to behold the glory of God and thereby to be transformed into the image of the Lord Jesus. We who believe need to remain in a constant state of surrender to the will of God so that the Holy Spirit may take the veil away, that we may behold the beauty of Jesus and live continually in His presence. The well-known chorus of a hymn puts it so well. read more

ENDURANCE

That I May Know Him

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Jeremiah 29:13. You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.
John 1:40-41. One of the two who heard John speak and followed Him, was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. He found first his own brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which translated means Christ).
Philippians 3:7-10. But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death;

Countless numbers over the many centuries since the Lord Jesus lived, died and was resurrected have found salvation by grace through faith in Him. For many it has been a truly amazing and life changing experience that they are always ready to recount to others. Many times their testimony to the saving power of Jesus is expressed to others so that these too may be brought to the same glorious state of forgiveness from sin and connection with our Father in heaven. However, sadly, the evidence appears to be that comparatively few press on to find an ongoing deep and intimate relationship with Jesus.

‘You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart’. God in the person of Jesus may become a real living person to us yet, have we discovered who He really is and experienced Him as the resurrected and ascended victorious Lord Jesus Christ? If we have indeed found Him, will not the evidence of it be that we live daily, moment by moment, in His presence? If we have really encountered Jesus shall we not consistently seek to please Him rather than to please ourselves? His Lordship over our life will be the evidence of our discipleship. read more

ENDURANCE

Work Out Your Salvation

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Romans 5:1-2. Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God.
Philippians 2:12-13. So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.
John 16:13-14. “But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. “He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you.”

Believers in the Lord Jesus look back with great joy and appreciation to the date or the time when they first encountered the resurrected Christ as their real and personal Saviour. Many will affirm that it was the greatest day of their life and no wonder. The verses in Romans 5 capture the essence of this life transforming experience so aptly, ‘having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ….and we exult in hope of the glory of God.

Yet so many, through lack of understanding, have camped out on those two verses without comprehending the words ‘we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand’ which informs us  that our life transforming event was the entry point into a lifelong journey of faith. read more

ENDURANCE

It is God Who is at Work in You

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Philippians 2:12-13. So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.

James 2:18-20. But someone may well say, “You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works.” You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder. But are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless?

2 Corinthians 5:9-10. Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. read more

TESTIMONY

Antiphonal Hymn – Our Father’s Plan

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Galatians 3:26-28. For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

Our Father’s Plan

Son of God made Son of Man,
Jesus Christ, Thou art “I am”;
Took on You our great disgrace;
Safe in You, our resting place. read more

BODY RELATEDNESS

Partakers of the Divine Nature

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2 Peter 1:2-4. Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust. These verses describe unique blessings bestowed by Almighty God upon those who have come to Jesus in repentance and faith. Yet the high point of ‘His precious and magnificent promises’ is surely ‘that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature’. Jesus partook of human flesh for us so that He might procure for us the right to become sons of God. He as Son of God made Son of man that we as sons of men might be made sons of God.

John 14:16-17. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever – the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. NKJV. We partook of the divine nature when the Holy Spirit came into us at our new birth. The Spirit, who is one and co-equal with the Father and the Son, will abide with us forever.

Genesis 1:26-27. Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Adam was far more than just another creature. He bore the image of God’s one and only Son Jesus. When God created man on the sixth day He ‘saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good’. After that God rested, read more

DIVINE REVELATION

Into the Same Image

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Ephesians 4:22-24. …. that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old  self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.
2 Corinthians 3:18. But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.
Galatians 2:20. “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.”

How easy it is for a new believer to embrace with great joy the glorious experience of being brought out of darkness into the glorious light of Jesus, yet thereafter to neglect being brought into the fullness of the kingdom of our Father’s beloved Son. How easy it is to rest in the knowledge of what Jesus has done for us and to overlook what we are privileged to do and to be for Him. How easy it is to satisfy the desires of the old self at the expense of bringing joy to our Father in heaven by putting on the new self ‘which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth’.

Satan is not done with those who are brought out of his impenetrable darkness but rather he concentrates on keeping as much of this darkness in the human consciousness. He convinces many a new believer that holiness can be overdone. It is not what we gladly renounce when we come to Jesus it is what we allow to remain. In fact the biggest barrier to transformation into the likeness of Jesus is our self-life which now desires to do good things and eliminate or reduce the bad things. Symphonies may take the place of rock concerts, yet both may offer competing satisfaction with Jesus. The real question remains, is attendance at the symphony (or indeed the rock concert) within God’s plan for our life? The new self chooses only to do the will of God. read more

ENDURANCE

The Bread of Life

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Matthew 4:3-4. And the tempter came and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.” But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.'”
Exodus 16:13-14. So it came about at evening that the quails came up and covered the camp, and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp. When the layer of dew evaporated, behold, on the surface of the wilderness there was a fine flake-like thing, fine as the frost on the ground.
John 6:31-33. “Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread out of heaven to eat.'” Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread out of heaven, but it is My Father who gives you the true bread out of heaven. “For the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven, and gives life to the world.”
Psalms 23:5. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You have anointed my head with oil; My cup overflows.
John 12:24. “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.”

From ancient times bread has been identified as the basic food to preserve life. It is certainly considered as such in the Scriptures. When Jesus told His disciples, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger….”, surely He was stating that He was and He is the complete spiritual source of nourishment. Jesus had informed Satan early in His earthly ministry, “It is written, ‘man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.'” Matthew 4:4. It is God’s command that man depend not only on the physical bread but on the heavenly spiritual bread of God’s ‘every word’.

‘The house of Israel named it manna, and it was like coriander seed, white, and its taste was like wafers with honey’. Exodus 16:31. The first mention of divinely supplied food in the Scriptures is provided in Exodus. The Israelites had been led by God miraculously out of Egypt where they had been enslaved, into the great wilderness. Each household gathered manna every morning except on the Sabbath. On the morning before the Sabbath they gathered enough for two days. This was God’s provision for His people for forty years until they were able to eat the produce of Canaan. read more

ENDURANCE

Made Perfect Forever

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Hebrews 5:8-9. Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered. And having been made perfect, He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation.
Hebrews 2:10. For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to perfect the author of their salvation through sufferings.
1 Corinthians 15:45. So also it is written, “The first man, Adam, became a living soul”; the last Adam became a life-giving Spirit. Recovery Version.
Revelation 4:5. And from the throne proceed flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder. And there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God.
Exodus 31:2-5. “See, I have called by name Bezalel , the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah. “I have filled him with the Spirit of God in wisdom, in understanding, in knowledge, and in all kinds of craftsmanship, to make artistic designs for work in gold, in silver, and in bronze, and in the cutting of stones for settings, and in the carving of wood, that he may work in all kinds of craftsmanship.”
Exodus 37:17,22-23. Then he made the lampstand of pure gold. He made the lampstand of hammered work, its base and its shaft; its cups, its bulbs and its flowers were of one piece with it….Their bulbs and their branches were of one piece with it; the whole of it was a single hammered work of pure gold. He made its seven lamps with its snuffers and its trays of pure gold.
1 Peter 5:10-11. After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself  perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you. To Him be dominion forever and ever. Amen.
Ephesians 5:8-10. ….for you were formerly darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord; walk as children of Light (for the fruit of the Light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth), trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord.
Matthew 5:14-15. “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.”

‘Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered’. Was not Jesus found to be perfect in all His words, deeds and conduct during His life on earth? Why then would He need to learn ‘obedience from the things which He suffered’?

Jesus was the Son of God and He was also the Son of Man. His mother was Mary, choice indeed. Yes! But Mary was conceived in sin as David, her forefather before her, was obliged to confess. As a son of man, just like one of us, Jesus was ‘tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin’. Hebrews 4:15. read more

DIVINE REVELATION

With Unveiled Face

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2 Corinthians 3:18. But we all, with unveiled face , beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.

During my latest period of seven weeks in India there were several noteworthy events and happenings. Most significant among these were disclosures of the Divine Being. For instance, one Friday morning session with a Christian Leadership Student group will remain in my memory always. I was discoursing from the chapter in my book, ‘To Him Who Overcomes’. Towards the end of our time together it was as though Jesus in the midst of us put His arms around our small company and embraced us into Himself. I felt a shaking inside me but not at all of fear. It was the purest, calmest sense of love I have ever imagined. All in the room confessed a similar experience. I noted that many of them were lying forward over their desks in an apparent state of awe.

The veil that hid the face of Jesus seemed so fine that it felt almost possible to penetrate our gaze through it and behold Him. read more

FELLOWSHIP

A Fragrance of Christ

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1 Corinthians 2:7-10. ….but we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory; the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood; for if they had understood it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory; but just as it is written, “things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, and which have not entered the heart of man, all that God has prepared for those who love Him.” For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God.
1 Peter 2:4-5. And coming to Him as to a living stone which has been rejected by men, but is choice and precious in the sight of God, you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
Ephesians 4:11-13. And He Himself gave some as apostles and some as prophets and some as evangelists and some as shepherds and teachers, For the perfecting of the saints unto the work of the ministry, unto the building up of the body of Christ; Until we all arrive at the oneness of the faith and of the full knowledge of the Son of God, at a full-grown man, at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. Recovery Version.
1 Corinthians 14:26-33. What is the outcome then, brethren? When you assemble, each one has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for edification.
2 Corinthians 3:16-18. ….but whenever a person turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.
2 Corinthians 2:14-15. But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place. For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing;

As the times of the Gentiles draw inexorably towards their close, the Lord is revealing many secrets to His own which have remained hidden until now; ‘the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory’. He is unveiling more and more concerning the things ‘that God has prepared for those who love Him’….through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God.

Central within the purpose and plan of the Godhead is that there is to be a bride for Christ. Although it may seem incomprehensible to us, who perhaps cannot imagine that the Godhead could lack or need anything, a desire was created in Jesus for a counterpart, one who will complete Him. His counterpart will one day forever be the wife of the Lamb who shall fulfil and satisfy that desire. In God’s plan, formed in eternity past, Jesus’ bride, His wife, would be comprised of members of God’s highest created being, man. Fundamental to His unfolding plan God created Adam, in the image of Jesus, referred to in Luke 3:38 as ‘the son of God. read more

TRANSFORMATION

Transformed into the Same Image

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1 Peter 2:9. But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light….
Colossians 1:13. For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son….
Ephesians 1:13-14. In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation – having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory.2 Corinthians 3:18. But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.

When we first experience salvation ‘by grace through faith’, we enter into a fullness of joy such as we have never known, yet our future is wrapped up in a mystery. We wonder what lies ahead of us along the pathway of life now that we have become a believer in Jesus.

It is easy to imagine that, having been ‘called….out of darkness’ or ‘rescued….from the domain of darkness’ we must simply await our ultimate destiny of going to be with Jesus in heaven at life’s close. Being brought ‘into His marvelous light’ is truly a life changing experience. Some feel drawn to enter some form of ministry. However, for most, the Christian life and walk will consist of joining with other believers in a pattern of church attendance and activities that follows the well-worn path of tradition. Looking back, the writer’s perspective was very much along those lines. read more

OVERCOMING

It is No Longer I Who Live

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Galatians 2:20. “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.”
Romans 8:19-21. For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God.

Galatians 2:20 expresses one of the deep heart cries of the apostle Paul, which many who love the Lord Jesus hold as especially dear to them. It describes a state that many desire to be their own experience. However, the importance of pressing on to attain to this degree of surrendered faith can easily be a goal in itself that doesn’t take into account its vital significance toward the achievement of the eternal plan and purpose of God. ‘For we are God’s fellow workers’. 1 Corinthians 3:9.

“I have been crucified with Christ….” At the moment that Jesus cried out “It is finished” and “Father into your hands I commit my spirit” all sins, all sinners and indeed all the works of the devil were forever dealt with. Henceforth, newness was made certain. ‘The old things passed away; behold, new things have come’. 2 Corinthians 5:17. Nevertheless, evidence of the old will linger on in the presence of the new until the dawn of eternity, when the new Jerusalem will be displayed as the centerpiece of new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness will dwell forever. read more

OVERCOMING

All Things New

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2 Corinthians 5:17. Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.
Revelation 21:5. And He who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” And He said, “Write, for these words are faithful and true.”

When our first parents, Adam and Eve, fell for Satan’s lie, sin and death reigned over all created things. Even the galaxies are terminal – in countless eons they too must all be gone. But when the Lord Jesus died, the works of the devil were destroyed so that when God’s great recovery plan shall have been completed, and time shall be no more, perfection and permanence will characterise all things as they were in the beginning. Satan and his fallen angels, together with death and Hades, will no longer have any place for them except in the lake of fire which will burn eternally. ‘….the old things passed away; behold, new things have come’.

God made the greatest sacrifice that could be offered when He gave His one and only Son. The purpose of this sacrifice was that what Satan had debased and ruined might be restored to perfection and newness. Within this mighty achievement and victory of the Lord Jesus the way was opened for man to repent and believe the good news and find entrance into the kingdom of heaven. So that all who had become corrupted by Satan’s lie might be recovered to be sons of God: For remember that Adam is referred to as ‘the son of God’ at his creation. Luke 3:38. Through the cross all the redeemed, united together as perfected ones, will become the centrepiece of a new creation in Christ, the new Jerusalem, the eternal dwelling place of God. read more