Principles of Spiritual Transformation (1/5)
This is the first message which discusses five principles that one may consider if they are yearning for a deeper, more intimate walk with God.
“Now this I affirm and insist on in the Lord: you must no longer live as the Gentiles live, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of their ignorance and hardness of heart. They have lost all sensitivity and have abandoned themselves to licentiousness, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. That is not the way you learned Christ! For surely you have heard about him and were taught in him, as truth is in Jesus. You were taught to put away your former way of life, your old self, corrupt and deluded by its lusts, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to clothe yourselves with the new self, created according to the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.”
(Ephesians 4:17-24 NRSV)
A. Recognising our Spiritual Inhibitions
As beings created by God, we are designed with intent. Just like temples are designed to inhabit people who worship someone greater than themselves. Because of this, our Maker has fashioned us in His image; purposefully giving us the capabilities of - intellectual autonomy, expressing emotions, perceiving morality and the need for authentic relationships - which are all vital elements for humans to correctly execute what God has uniquely designed us for. These qualities help us to walk in our journeys of becoming beacons of light to a world that is broken, afraid and dark; through the power of God's transformative love expressed through Christ.
These are the traits which we inherit as creatures made in the image of God. However, these ‘characteristics’ can develop ideas within our mortal minds on matters that become deeply engrained with who we are as spiritual beings and how we conduct ourselves. They inevitably steer the choices we make and can either become a contributing (or likewise inhibiting) factor in our walk with the Almighty God.
The reason for this is because our true identity (as physical beings with a spiritual nature) is deeply engrained within our self-perception. If we don’t have a good understanding of who we are in the sight of God, we end up walking in our desires and plans which will inevitably lead us to spiritual death. But we have hope amid darkness; Romans 6:23 reminds us that ‘the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ.’ Praise be to the Almighty for this everlasting gift of life.
Nevertheless, God has fashioned us in His image, meaning He designed purposefully to have powerful traits that separate us from all the other intelligent species He has made. This is so that we may use those gifts of autonomy and morale to effectively govern, create and establish His kingdom here on earth. Yet, if one does not know this purpose, we can live our whole lives seeking purpose via material things the world presents to us as 'good' and 'beneficial'.
Therefore, if we want to truly walk away from living a life that is controlled by the desires of the flesh and to begin the journey towards true spiritual transformation; we must first obtain a self-comprehension that is established on the enactment of fully surrendering ourselves to God. This exchange of authority from our self-governance of actions and behaviours to that of God's divine guidance is not easy. Nevertheless, recognising the spiritual inhibitions of our human nature will allow us to open our hearts and submit to the direct guidance and direction of the Holy Spirit. It is a compulsory season we have to pass through. That is how we begin the process of going from living a life of spiritual idleness to one that is confidently led by the voice of God.
For this reason, it is of utmost importance to begin our journeys of spiritual transformation by going through the process of giving full permission to God's Holy Spirit; to use our human traits (of our autonomy and spiritual consciousness) as conduits for implementing His divine will. God has designed us to walk with Him like a Father walks with a son. God wants us to draw closer to Him so that He can teach us how to live a life of holiness; just as God is holy.
Just like a good parent teaches their children how to show kindness, love and compassion; God wants to do the same with us. But if we let our selfish wants and desires get in the way, we end up ignoring the guidance of God for the sake of our carnal comforts. We must not be ignorant of the guidance of God's Holy Spirit.
I urge you to open the doors of your heart for God to guide you so that you longer give in to the ‘futility of your mind' but to let Him help you 'be filled with the spirit' (Ephesians 5:18). This doesn't just mean declaring belief in the transformational power of God and then proceeding to not live by the knowledge of this immeasurable compassion shown to us by the Divine. It means to give God complete control to change our actions, behaviours, moral viewpoints, thought patterns and choices.
We are only able to truly walk in our purpose as children of God when we completely surrender ourselves (including our behaviours and individual characteristics) to every command and whisper of the Holy Spirit. We must give Him full control over every element of our being. When we make no room for the flesh and empty our bodily vessels to be filled with the power of God’s Holy Spirit; our choices and actions can inhibit God to do as He pleases with our lives without restriction.
Perceive this; A man who is born to be the king of a great kingdom will not have the chance to reign if he is taken away from his original environment (his palace), and hidden from the people who are aware of their authority. To prevent this great king from being a great ruler, one only has to prohibit the king from the environment in which they are meant to rule. It is similar to the Holy Spirit within our lives. Although nothing can truly separate us from the love of God which is expressed in Christ Jesus, (Romans 8:38) there is a moment within our spiritual journey where we have to give complete reign to the guidance of the Holy Spirit within the kingdom of our innermost being. That begins by dealing with any characteristic within our consciousness that inhibits our walk with God.
This tells us something about the purpose of why God has created us in His likeness. 1 Corinthians 3:16 speaks on this matter and states; “Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells within you?”. This implies that we are created by God to be vessels for the fulfilment of His Divine will upon this earth through the act of true and authentic worship. In this context, true worship is in conjunction with the idea that we must offer up our bodies as a living sacrifice, Holy and pleasing to God, as mentioned in Romans 12:1.
When we live a life that is steered towards fulfilling the desires of our flesh, we deify ourselves as that which must be worshipped. If we, as 'the temple', are too occupied with maintaining the building and not drawing people to Worship the One in which the temple was created to glorify - we are missing the mark. Instead, we must come to the awareness that we cannot expect to be transformed by God if we are too busy thinking that our egos are to be co-worshipped with God. That is why we must give complete authority to the only One who can truly transform our previous ways of thinking in alignment with God’s standard of thinking.
Only God can change us from worshipping our wants and needs (such as our fleshly desires and comforts) to being temples that draw people to worship Him. Otherwise, we give the chance for Satan to use our gift of our physical bodies as sacrifices on the altars of our spiritual growth. Therefore, in pursuit of spiritual transformation, we must acknowledge that our raw, unfiltered thought processes as human beings are unconsciously based on egocentrism and the preservation of self.
That is why our traits as autonomous beings with emotions, desires and needs can either form a flawed or healthy perception of what it truly means for God to dwell in us. This is dependent solely on what our human attributes have been fed with as we have grown. If we believe that we can continue living in sin, do as we please with our flesh, gratify our carnal desires and keep on feeding into the destruction of our souls whilst serving God; we have deceived ourselves into thinking that God has created us for our satisfactions.
In recognition of this, to know that the things that make us human may likewise inhibit the spiritual authenticity of our walk with God; this knowledge turns from a point of conviction to a transformative catalyst for change. It provides us with a weapon of conscious defence against the pride of our ego that deceives us into thinking we can keep some elements of our old carnal selves in conjunction with the purpose and plans God has in store for us as the vessels of God's divine enactment on this earth. For if we can sincerely humble ourselves and recognise that we have to completely surrender the desires of our flesh for God; the Lord will be able to have complete governance over this journey we call life through His Holy Spirit in all that we do.
In thought of this, let us reflect with a prayer;
Dear Heavenly Father, full of compassion and love - we come before you today in need of complete surrender to your will. We understand that you have created us in your image and likeness for a reason. Therefore we pray that you use us to be conduits of your love on this earth, and to not lay our bodies to waste by living selfishly in worship of our worldly needs. Through your Holy Spirit, give us the strength to walk, talk and be in the likeness of your son.
In the name of Jesus Christ, we pray,
amen.