Most of us have survived a great many heartaches and
tragedies. These were all designed by the enemy to break our spirits.
But because of God’s grace, the devil’s efforts failed, and we are still
standing.
You would no doubt confess that before you experienced
some of the difficult things in your life, you were a different person.
Every test you went through exposed something in you (good and bad) that
had been hidden, maybe even from yourself.
But God enabled you by His Spirit to overcome your
struggles, and in the process you were changed. The situations the enemy
had designed for your destruction became places of promotion as you
learned to yield your struggles to the Lord.
Part of the process of change has to do with our
acknowledging that though we live in this world, we are not of it. Jesus
lives inside us. However, we have lived in the world for a period of
time, and we continue to bear many of its characteristics.
God has put in us all we need in order to develop godly
character, but the process through which His attributes increase and our
flesh decreases requires time and patience. It can’t be hurried—or
faked.
What we do is important, but why we do what we do is far
more important. To God, the motivations of our hearts matter more than
outward appearance.
However, the culture in which we live does not embrace
this truth. Today, you and I are given value based on how we appear,
what we do, and our ability to sell other people on the notion of our
importance.
Perseverance—that is, the patient endurance of trying
circumstances while one is submitted to God’s transformation process—is a
radical idea. Nevertheless, God’s character is manifested and His glory
revealed when we humble ourselves so that He can be exalted in us (see
James 4:10).
The apostle Paul assures us that the process is already
underway to make us more like Christ. He wrote: “And we, who with
unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into
His likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who
is the Spirit” (2 Cor. 3:18).
Why We Need to Change
In his book Experiencing God, noted Bible teacher Henry
Blackaby points out that God’s overarching purpose, according to His
Word, is to fill the entire earth with the knowledge of His glory (see
Hab. 2:14). Blackaby says that to that end, God initiates encounters
with us at various times in our lives and through various circumstances
that will propel us toward our particular destiny as we join with Him in
what He is doing in the world.
We’ve heard the saying before: “It’s not about us.” God
first chose us and then filled us with His Spirit for a reason.
In a subsequent book by Blackaby and Avery Willis Jr., On
Mission With God, the authors comment: “[God] doesn’t enter your life to
pamper you or indulge you. He comes to involve you in the greatest
adventure of life—experiencing His glory as you accompany Him on His
mission. By joining Him on His mission, you will experience God and be
forever changed in the process.
“You are not just a channel through which God does
something, but you are a transformed part of His eternal purpose to make
you and all peoples of the world like His Son for His glory.”
God moves dramatically in us, not just to make us happier
people or to fix all our problems (although His will for us encompasses
these things, too). But He works in us to transform us into men and
women who will exhibit His nature on the earth and give the world a
glimpse of Jesus.
Our faithfulness to God is going to demand constant,
radical transformation throughout our lives. And it will require that we
fully embody the truth of our having been made new creations in Christ.
But because the change we need happens in intimate fellowship with Him,
a byproduct of our transformation is that we’ll also get to know Him in
a deeper way.
It’s Safe to Surrender
As a seminary student a few years ago, I often thought of
my father when I was in class. He was a godly man who studied the Bible
voraciously, especially during the latter years of his life. I would
think, Daddy would have loved being here.
Unfortunately, he never had the opportunities I’ve had.
But he loved me dearly, always made me feel safe and modeled a hunger
for God’s truth.
The more I observed him, the more my dreams became similar
to his. I wanted what he wanted because I loved him, wanted to please
him and was totally secure in his love for me.
In Ephesians 5:1, Paul wrote: “Therefore be imitators of
God [copy Him and follow His example], as well-beloved children [imitate
their father]” (The Amplified Bible).
As dearly loved children of our heavenly Father, we have
the privilege of intimately relating to Him. The God of the whole earth
wants to reveal Himself to us and transform us so that we begin to look,
act, speak and think as He does.
A contemporary rendering of 2 Corinthians 3:18 beautifully
expresses the assurance we have that He will finish the work He’s begun
in us: “Nothing between us and God, our faces shining with the
brightness of His face. And so we are transfigured much like the
Messiah, our lives gradually becoming brighter and more beautiful as God
enters our lives and we become like Him” (The Message).
As we steadily focus our hearts on Christ, He continually
reveals Himself through His Word, through prayer and in worship. We have
the ability, as Blackaby and Willis put it, to “adjust our lives to Him
and join Him on His mission.” And what an awesome adventure it is!
Our transformation is orchestrated by One who is perfectly
loving, faithful and compassionate in everything He does. We can
embrace the processes He chooses.
Deep within us the Holy Spirit’s work may be hidden from
view, but that doesn’t mean nothing is happening! In fact, before you
can even say, “Lord, please change me,” the work has already begun.
Brenda J. Davis is the former editor of SpiritLed Woman.
She lives in Sanford, Florida, with her Schipperkes, Grayson and Mercy.
Bill Wiese 
Paul McGuire 
