"Be not conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind..."
When we were children we had clay. We could mold and shape that clay into any shape we wanted. We even had molds that you put the clay in and press real hard on the handle and bingo, your clay looked like what ever it was forced into. That is being conformed. Being conformed is being pressed into shape by an outside force. i.e. (Forced into shape by your Preacher, religion, parents, peers, world, friends, family, and or temptation) But the Bible says do not be conformed to this world. Do not be shaped by the pressures of the world, as to be shaped by an outside force like the world is.
The other side of the coin is being “transformed”. A caterpillar is transformed into a butterfly. It is not outward pressure that changes the worm into something beautiful, but a transforming power within that causes it to change. One day a worm, the next a beautiful flying butterfly. How? By a transforming power at work within.
Have we taken on the shape of our “religion” by being pressed (conformed) into that shape? Are we just conforming to the traditions of our “denomination”? Or has something really happened within that changed this worm into something beautiful? I was a son of Adam, by natural birth. Just a worm! But when God’s seed was planted into me, I became a Son of God by transforming power. I am being truly changed into His image. I am not conforming to mere rules of my religion. No! I am truly a New Creation! Be blessed.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Seed for April 29
Heb 2:14-1514 Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death-- that is, the devil-- 15 and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.(NIV)Here we see verse that Jesus ascended with victory over "captivity". Men, the Bible says, were all their lives held captive (slaves) by the fear of their death. What great fear men have always experience in facing their own mortality? What will happen after I die? Will I really live again? Is there hope beyond the grave? No matter what anyone said, it there really any proof? Has anyone come forth from the grave to live and never died again? All our lives we have been held in fear, actually held captive, by the fear of death. But when Jesus came forth from the grave alive, to never die again, He proved He had power over "captivity" and He lead "fear of death" into captivity. He actually took the fear of death from the minds of believers and set us free from that which has held all men everywhere captive. Oh glorious day, when Jesus by His resurrection proved He had power over death! There is an old saying, "born once, die twice and born twice die once". If you have not been born again of the power of Eternal Life then your death will be only the first of two you will experience. If you have been born again by the power of Eternal Life, then you will come forth from the grave in Victory!
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Seed for April 24
Have you ever prayed to be made stronger to conquer some temptation or sin? If so, then we are praying opposite to the will of the Spirit of God. Salvation does not come from making me stronger! Quite the opposite is true. We get victory by being made weak. "My Strength is made perfect in weakness". What is the ultimate weakness? Death is the ultimate weakness, the result of us becoming weaker and weaker until we finally die. If His strength is made perfect in our weakness, and the ultimate weakness is death, then we get a true picture of how God delivers us out of all our troubles. We die. He lives in us and He has no sin problem. Next time you struggle, you need to pray, "Lord, I see myself as dead and you alive in me owning the victory!"Be Blessed from a recovering Pharisee,
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Seed for April 23
Isa 5:1-2CHAPTER 5
1 Now will I sing to my wellbeloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard. My wellbeloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill:2 And he fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a winepress therein: and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes.(KJV)
This is our story and His expectation in us: To bring forth sweet juice and not bitter juice. It is easy to see what kind of juice we produce when pressure is applied. We are that grape and when the pressures of life are applied to our lives what comes out? Is it sweetness or bitterness? I learned something along time ago. Pressure comes to our lives to show us what is inside, as it is no surprise to God, seeing He already knows. What is inside will come forth when pressure is put on the grape. You must ask yourself, "Does the sweetness of the Life within come out, or is it the bitterness of me?" "Have I really died, and does He really live in me?"
1 Now will I sing to my wellbeloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard. My wellbeloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill:2 And he fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a winepress therein: and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes.(KJV)
This is our story and His expectation in us: To bring forth sweet juice and not bitter juice. It is easy to see what kind of juice we produce when pressure is applied. We are that grape and when the pressures of life are applied to our lives what comes out? Is it sweetness or bitterness? I learned something along time ago. Pressure comes to our lives to show us what is inside, as it is no surprise to God, seeing He already knows. What is inside will come forth when pressure is put on the grape. You must ask yourself, "Does the sweetness of the Life within come out, or is it the bitterness of me?" "Have I really died, and does He really live in me?"
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Seed for April 22
Ps 122:1
1 I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the LORD.
(KJV)
David, a man after God’s own heart, desired sweet fellowship with the Lord and longed to be in His presence. The Lord has always desired to be in sweet fellowship with man. The Lord walked with Adam in the garden, and they had sweet fellowship. But sin broke that fellowship. Then, the Lord’s plan was to allow Israel to live on all sides of the Tabernacle (His presence), because of the blood of the sacrificed lamb. 12 tribes of Israel camped 3 on each of the 4 side of the Tabernacle (His presence). This signifying, God’s presence dwells in the middle of His people. Then the plan further evolved to, the Spirit of the Lord making Himself a body and dwelling with mankind, and He was called Emmanuel, God with us. But the ultimate plan was for God to not just to be with us, but dwell in us. After Calvary, sin debt paid, the way was made for God to dwell inside His people, and now we have become the “house” of the Lord. No longer do we have to go somewhere to be in His presence. He does not live in houses made by men’s hands. He does not dwell in church building, but in His people. Thus, where ever 2-3 or gathered in His name, there He is. Not only is He in me, but when I join with more of His body, there He is in the midst. So, let me ask….is it a joy for you to live in the presence of the Lord? Do you long for sweet fellowship with Him in His body? Be blessed.
1 I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the LORD.
(KJV)
David, a man after God’s own heart, desired sweet fellowship with the Lord and longed to be in His presence. The Lord has always desired to be in sweet fellowship with man. The Lord walked with Adam in the garden, and they had sweet fellowship. But sin broke that fellowship. Then, the Lord’s plan was to allow Israel to live on all sides of the Tabernacle (His presence), because of the blood of the sacrificed lamb. 12 tribes of Israel camped 3 on each of the 4 side of the Tabernacle (His presence). This signifying, God’s presence dwells in the middle of His people. Then the plan further evolved to, the Spirit of the Lord making Himself a body and dwelling with mankind, and He was called Emmanuel, God with us. But the ultimate plan was for God to not just to be with us, but dwell in us. After Calvary, sin debt paid, the way was made for God to dwell inside His people, and now we have become the “house” of the Lord. No longer do we have to go somewhere to be in His presence. He does not live in houses made by men’s hands. He does not dwell in church building, but in His people. Thus, where ever 2-3 or gathered in His name, there He is. Not only is He in me, but when I join with more of His body, there He is in the midst. So, let me ask….is it a joy for you to live in the presence of the Lord? Do you long for sweet fellowship with Him in His body? Be blessed.
Monday, April 21, 2008
Seed for April 21
We are joined to Christ that we might bring fruit unto God. It is that union that produces the good fruit. IT is called the "fruit" of the Spirit opposed to the "works" of the flesh. Does a tree struggle to produce fruit? No, it is a natural process of the life within. Should we struggle to bear fruit to God...absolutely not...it is the natural process of the Life of Christ within us. It is Him in me and not me!
Living for God is not a struggle, but a walk. Jesus lives out His life in us, and His life is always well pleasing to God.
Origin determines destiny. What is of the flesh is flesh, and what is of the Spirit is Spirit. We should stop trying to please God from the "ground" of the Old Man, and let the New Spirit inside us live to please God. It is the Walk in the Spirit, not the Work in the Spirit. Be blessed.
Living for God is not a struggle, but a walk. Jesus lives out His life in us, and His life is always well pleasing to God.
Origin determines destiny. What is of the flesh is flesh, and what is of the Spirit is Spirit. We should stop trying to please God from the "ground" of the Old Man, and let the New Spirit inside us live to please God. It is the Walk in the Spirit, not the Work in the Spirit. Be blessed.
Saturday, April 19, 2008
Seed for April 19
Gal 5:1
1 Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.
(KJV)
This is Paul’s strong admonition to the Church, who after starting out in faith, were now going to be made perfect by keeping “the Law”. Let’s examine this in terms perhaps we can better understand. As great as the “Law of God” was, it could not save man! (No man shall be “declared not guilty” by the keeping of the Law.) The Lord promised a day when it would no longer be an “outside” law that would govern, but the law of God written on our hearts. In other words, the day would come when it would not be a law “without” that governs, but a “law within” our minds that would govern us. The law in my heart sets me free from the bondage of the “law without”. But I can’t have it both ways, Paul said. It is either faith, and the law of God in my heart, or falling from grace with legalism and a law without which attempts to govern. For some reason we have no confidence in the Spirit’s ability to lead us from within our hearts. And that is exactly what God wants, is a people that are free and governed by His Spirit within.
When I add this or that as a “standard” of what holiness looks like, I put God’s people under the bondage of “law without” that cannot save, but it causes them to fall from the liberty and grace of God. They fall into the trap of trying to be made perfect, by keeping man’s religious laws. Now they have fallen from grace, and no longer enjoy the liberty of Spirit-life.
Presenting your body a living sacrifice and keeping your conscience clean of all offense, is enjoying the liberty and freedom of the Spirit. Stand there, Paul said. Be blessed.
1 Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.
(KJV)
This is Paul’s strong admonition to the Church, who after starting out in faith, were now going to be made perfect by keeping “the Law”. Let’s examine this in terms perhaps we can better understand. As great as the “Law of God” was, it could not save man! (No man shall be “declared not guilty” by the keeping of the Law.) The Lord promised a day when it would no longer be an “outside” law that would govern, but the law of God written on our hearts. In other words, the day would come when it would not be a law “without” that governs, but a “law within” our minds that would govern us. The law in my heart sets me free from the bondage of the “law without”. But I can’t have it both ways, Paul said. It is either faith, and the law of God in my heart, or falling from grace with legalism and a law without which attempts to govern. For some reason we have no confidence in the Spirit’s ability to lead us from within our hearts. And that is exactly what God wants, is a people that are free and governed by His Spirit within.
When I add this or that as a “standard” of what holiness looks like, I put God’s people under the bondage of “law without” that cannot save, but it causes them to fall from the liberty and grace of God. They fall into the trap of trying to be made perfect, by keeping man’s religious laws. Now they have fallen from grace, and no longer enjoy the liberty of Spirit-life.
Presenting your body a living sacrifice and keeping your conscience clean of all offense, is enjoying the liberty and freedom of the Spirit. Stand there, Paul said. Be blessed.
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