Programme 6: Transformation through knowing the truth
We have been talking about how God transforms us through His Spirit and His Word. Transformation is metamorpisis, a change caused by the outworking and manifestation of the life within. First, He makes us new creations in our spirit, in the image of Christ, with the Holy-Spirit indwelling it. Then He wants that new spiritual-life to grow and develop and control more and more of our life and personality, so that we are transformed into the very same Christ-like image that is in our spirit and the life and glory within (love, joy, peace) is revealed without. We have seen that for this to happen it is essential that we KNOW the truth of God’s Word as to who we are now in the spirit (PT) - John 8:31,32, Romans 12:2 - otherwise the life within is trapped and hidden, because if we don’t know about it, we cannot express it.
Ephesians 4:23,24 says: “be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according
to God, in true righteousness and holiness.”
Our new spirit-man is a perfect holy creation of God (this is PT). Now God wants us to PUT ON the new man, like we put on our clothes. We possess our clothes but until we wear them outwardly they are hidden. We possess these clothes of righteousness, love and joy within our spirit, but they are hidden unless we put them on, so that they show on the outside where people can see them. So again we are talking about transformation. The PUTTING ON is referring to our ACTIONS (such as walking in love) as the passage goes on to make clear. It is acting out who we are in Christ (PT).
However, before we can put on the new man, we must know who he is - that he is created in God’s image, in His righteousness. We must first be renewed in the spirit of our mind. This is not something we can do by ourselves, by our own will-power. We must be renewed. In other words, we must God perform this renewal in us, by receiving His Word (truth) into our minds (souls). Only His Word has the power to renew our minds, but we must receive and believe it, so that we know who we are in the spirit in Christ.
His Word will also change the spirit of our mind. That is, it changes the attitudes and motivations of our thinking, so that it lines up in agreement with the attitude of our spirit. Thus in Christ we have a spirit of humility. The Word will renew our mind into the image of our spirit, forming the attitude of humility within, so that we can express (put on) this humilty in our actions of loving service to others. In this this way we become conformed to the image of Christ. Thus, our mind must first be renewed to know the truth that we are a new-man created after God, before we can put on the new-man by faith, and see and experience his love and humility in our lives.
1Peter 1:23-25: “having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever, because “All flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The grass withers, and its flower falls away, but the WORD of the LORD endures forever.” Now this is the WORD which by the Gospel was preached to you.”
We are BORN AGAIN from DIVINE SEED - the WORD of GOD: The Word (Seed) of God contains His life and nature, and when we received it through the Gospel, we received His new life and nature within. The quality and nature of each life is determined by the quality and nature of the seed it comes from. Our reborn spirit is made of the incorruptible life and nature of Christ, having been produced by incorruptible Seed. Our spirit has been reborn of God in the image of Christ.
As all life comes forth from a SEED which contains the blueprint (DNA) for its full development, and is destined to grow under the right conditions until the nature, potential and life hidden within is fully manifested, so likewise we are born of God's Seed and our reborn spirit contains our spiritual DNA (from God) which contains all our potentiality as sons of God, so that the new life and nature that is already in our spirit is destined to grow in us until it is fully manifested. As the DNA for all life is derived from its parent and gives it a like-nature to its parent, so our spiritual DNA comes from our Father God giving us His nature and causing us to grow into His image. We are predestined to grow into the image of Christ (Romans 8:28-30), by the seed and new-life God has implanted within us.
Therefore our spiritual growth and transformation is all about expressing (working out) the life and nature that God has already worked within us. “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling (in submission to God’s word); for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure” (Philippians 2:12,13). By faith we are to WORK OUT the salvation that God has already WORKED in us. (But we must know it to work it out).
It is not about trying to become someone we are not, but discovering and manifesting who we already are on the inside. We were born again by grace, now we must grow in His grace, letting that new life and nature be shown in our lives. We are a new man, a new creation, through the working of God's grace within us. Now we must let this new life and love that is within our spirit grow in us, develop us and be revealed in our lives. "For we are His workmanship (His masterpiece) , created in Christ Jesus for good (excellent) works, which God prepared beforehand (and programmed within us) that we should walk in them" (Ephesians 2:10).
Just as my natural growth involves the increasing development and revelation of potentialities that were already within me but hidden, so likewise my spiritual growth is the fulfilling, developing, revealing and expressing in my life of who I am already in my spirit. This new-life is in my spirit, and so as I live out from my spirit, by faith depending upon the help and power of the Holy-Spirit in all that I do (praying and walking in the Spirit), I am expressing, releasing and revealing this new-life, and producing (manifesting) the fruit of the spirit in my life and character causing me to be transformed. As I walk in love, so the love of God that is in me is developed and perfected. In this way I grow up spiritually towards attaining full maturity of my character and achieving the fullness of my potential.
However this growth in grace is only possible if we continue to receive the Word, for although the Son has truly set our spirits free (John 8:36) it is only those who continue in the Word who will enjoy and experience this freedom in their lives, for only through knowing the truth of the Word are we set free (John 8:31,32), for it is the Word that tells us who we are now in Christ in our spirits, and when we know and act on this truth, this new-life and freedom is released and manifested in our lives. Without the Word renewing my mind to who I am in Christ, I cannot walk by faith in the new-creation realities. Therefore the Word is a continual means of grace to me that I will always need to grow and develop spiritually in my life.
In 1Peter 1:23 we saw that our new life (spirit) was brought forth by the Word of God. It follows that a major key for this life to grow and develop in us is to keep on receiving His Word. This is why Peter goes on to say: “Therefore as newborn babes (having been born-again), desire the pure milk of the WORD, that you may GROW thereby" (1Peter 2:2). Our spiritual growth depends on us receiving the word. Peter is saying that those who have been born again are now new-born spiritual babes. The priority now is to nurture this new-life so that it can grow, and it is done by the milk of the Word. The Word of God contains the supply of goodness and grace we need to grow spiritually. We are already sons of God in the spirit through the Word of God. We have new life in the spirit but that new life needs to grow and develop in us, so that it controls our personality, so that we are able to express it more and more and so that it changes us into His image. How can we grow like this? By continually feeding on the WORD, for the Word feeds our new-creation spiritual life, activating it and making it strong in us (Matthew 4:4). His grace comes through His Word. So as we outwardly give ourselves to hear, study and meditate on His Word, inwardly His grace is being imparted so that the new life is able to grow in us. Therefore in order to grow we need to give ourselves to God's Word.
If we know that we NEED the milk of the word (PT!) for us to grow spiritually and be transformed, then like babes we will be thirsty for it. It will be our top priority to receive as much as possible.
This same truth is given in James 1:18-21: v18 Of His own will He
(God) brought us forth by the WORD of truth (the New-Birth), that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures.So then my beloved brethren (who have received this same spiritual rebirth), let every man be swift to hear (the Word)...
and receive with meekness the implanted Word,
which is able to save (transform) your souls."
The salvation of the spirit is the New-Birth, but the salvation of the soul is a process, as we continue to hear and do the Word.We have been reborn by the Word of God planted within us. Now we must continually HEAR, RECEIVE and SUBMIT to the WORD of GOD that has already been implanted within us, for it not only has the power to feed our spirits and activate our spiritual lives, but also it has the power to save our souls (mind, will and emotions), transforming them into the likeness of our new spirit-man which has already been saved (transformed into the image of Christ).
As we give ourselves to His Word, it will become dominant in us, controlling and changing our thoughts, attitudes and actions, so that as our soul comes into agreement with our spirit, the new-life and nature of Christ within us will grow in us and find more and more expression in our lives, with the result that we will grow spiritually, showing forth in our lives who we really are in our inner-man, being increasingly conformed to His image.
James 1:21-25 describes this process of transformation:
James 1:21: “(1) Receive with meekness the implanted WORD (PT), which is able to save (transform) your souls.”Firstly, we must know the truth of who we are in Christ. So, we must first receive and submit to the truth of God’s Word, which has the power to renew our minds, removing the blindness and opening our eyes.
James 1:22: “But (also 2) be doers of the Word (put PT into action) and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves (for transformation is only accomplished when you act on the truth you know).
v23,24: For if anyone is a hearer of the WORD and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a MIRROR(the Word is a spiritual Mirror that will reveal who we are in Christ, if we look at it) for he observes himself, goes away, and forgets immediately what kind of man he was.”
Because he does not put the word first (his focus is on other things) he has spiritual amnesia, he forgets he is a new creation, a child of God, an ambassador of Christ, the R+ of God, and so he does not act like one. A quick look in the mirror won’t renew his mind sufficiently to change his self-image, and so he will act no different, and he will not acheive a changed life). Because He does not know his PT well enough he misses the transformation - saving of his soul.
Now James describes what we need to do to be transformed:
v25: But he who looks (intently) into the perfect LAW of LIBERTY and continues (to meditate) in it (the Word) and is not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.”
“But he who looks (intently) into the perfect LAW of LIBERTY
*The Mirror is the Law of Liberty = the Word of our liberty - that Jesus has set us free in our spirit - this is a settled, unchanging law.Perfect law of liberty-reveals the perfect work of Jesus setting us free.It is a spiritual mirror and so it reveals the condition of his spirit.
*As he looks intently, taking a long hard look at who he is in the Mirror of the Word (PT), he will see and remember who he is, his self-image will change forever. He will see himself in the spiritual mirror, that his spirit has been set free and that it’s full of love, joy, peace etc. As he looks into this mirror of liberty, he sees who he is in the spirit, he sees that he has been set FREE from the power of sin, curse and satan, as long as he looks intently to see who he is:
“..and continues (to meditate) in it (the Word) and is not a forgetful hearer.” This one who continues in the Word will KNOW the truth. It will change his self-image forever, so that he will not forget it, but always be conscious of it, so that he will act upon it. Keep looking in the Mirror until you ‘know that you know’ it - then you will be able to live it. He will know the truth and the truth will set him free for he will be able to do it, putting it into practice and applying it to his life, and then the life and freedom of God in his spirit will be released (note the resonances with John 8).
“But he who LOOKS into the perfect LAW of LIBERTY and CONTINUES (to look) in it and is not a forgetful hearer, but a DOER of the work, this one will be blessed (the life of God will be released) in his doing (as he acts on the truth).”
He will only experience the transforming life and blessing of God when he acts on PT, but first of all he must know it for himself, so that he identifies fully with it and be conscious of it all the time. And he can only know it, if he takes a good, hard, long, continuing look in the Word to see himself as he is in the spirit.
So James is saying that our transformation is only accomplished when we act in line with our spirit (according to PT), but that we can only do this after our mind has been renewed to know the truth of who we are in the spirit, so that our self-image is changed through a careful look in the Mirror of the Word, so that whatever false ideas are covering (veiling) our soul, are replaced by the truth.
*Love example (Romans 5:5) - the love of God in us is released when we walk in love by faith.
Thus we must really know the truth by revelation, before we can live it out and experience it. It is about discovering and knowing who we are and then acting it out, and then we will experience transformation (as Jesus said, it is by KNOWING the TRUTH that we are set free, for when you know the truth of who you are, you will automatically start acting accordingly, for the truth in you will cause you to live and respond differently, releasing God’s transforming life in you - so that in this way, the truth itself will make you free.
Once we are born-again, the process of transformation starts by having a good look at ourselves in God’s Mirror until we know the truth. Then the truth in us will cause us to live differently which will release the blessing , life and love of God transforming us from glory to glory by the Spirit of the Lord flowing in and through us.
*Lead in a confession: Confessing the Word (PT) is a great way to renew the mind, for it helps keep the mirror up in front of us. Say again and again: eg: “God has not given me a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind” (2Timothy 1:7).
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