Have You Experienced The Change?

Colossians 3:Therefore, if you have been raised with Christ, keep seeking the things that areabove, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. ² Set your minds on the things that are above, not on the things that are on earth. ³ For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. ⁴ When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory. There is an old saying that goes like this: "It's hard to soar like an eagle when I'm down here groveling with all these turkeys." Whether we realize it or not, we are different when we are born again, and "all things ARE new." Paul wrote on this subject in 2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, this person is a new creation; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. ¹⁸ Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation,¹⁹ namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their wrongdoings against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation.

If anybody can speak to the radical change that is made in us when we are born again, it would be Paul. Paul was putting followers of Jesus in prisons, and even saw to Stephen's death by stoning! The radical change in his life by meeting Jesus turned him into a radical follower of Jesus who changed his world through His fervency for the gospel. Part of this radical change is a change in our faith, our direction, and our peace. We have to actually hold back this change happening in our lives because the Holy Spirit is prompting a new way of thinking, and God's Word makes it all come alive. So how does satan, the father of lies, try to keep us from morphing into this new creation? He convinces us that the Word of God is not the living Word of God, and we don't need to study it. If he can get us to just read it like a book instead of immersing ourselves in its truth, then he has minimized the very essence of our life. Also, satan will use us not studying God's Word to get us to follow hearsay scripture and base our lives on this compromised truth. Christian sayings take over the deep truth of the Word of God, and we begin to make our own word, instead of stifling and "accepting" its truth, all of its truth.

Let the "change" be complete by completely studying God's Word as it is, and trust God to prove it in you. Don't let "religion" be your strength, but allow the Word of God to permeate your will and surrender to the "real" truth and not compromise it. If your life is not completely changed in every area, your pride is in control, and satan is behind your pride. Surrender and ask the Lord to show you His ways, and deny the argument with satan and not fall into the mistake of Eve by arguing with the devil, or he will deceive you too. To taste the fruit of your own will is not worth the sacrifice of your faith in Jesus. We have been raised by Jesus, and we are called to set our minds on things above, and those things are found by studying God's Word with an open mind and heart. Surrender to His Will.

The Pilgrimage Continues,

David Warren