Day 24 – Being transformed by the truth

Being transformed by the truth

Spiritual growth is the process of replacing lies with truth – John 17 vs. 17 – Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth; through sanctification which requires revelation, and the Spirit of God uses the Word of God to make us like the son of God. So to be like Jesus we need to fill our lives with His Word – 2 Tim. 3 vs. 17 – so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. For God’s Word is alive – Heb. 4 vs. 12 - For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart; [Acts 7 vs. 38; 1 Pet. 1 vs. 23; John 6 vs. 63]. This is why when God speaks, things change, and all creation including everything around us exist (come into being) because of the spoken word of God – I am alive today because of the spoken word of God [James 1 vs. 18]. God’s word is more than a guide book, it’s a LIVE word that generates life, creates faith, and produces changes…

WE simply cannot live without the word of God, and must never take His word for granted as its essential food [Job 23 vs. 12], our milk [1 Pet. 2 vs. 2] our bread [Matt. 4 vs. 4] our solid food [1 Corinth. 3 vs. 2] and our desert [Psalm 119 vs. 103]. To be healthy disciples of Jesus we need to feed on His word, to make it a first priority in our lives. Jesus called this form of feeding abiding – John 8 vs. 31b - if you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples, and in order to incorporate this into our daily activities we must accept the authority of the word of the bible as a benchmark for evaluating everything and for our living, to have the first and the last word in our lives [Prov. 30 vs. 15; 2 Tim. 3 vs. 16]. We need to resolve to find out when making decisions what the bible has to say on the matter, and do what the word of God tells you to do regardless of if it makes sense or not – Acts. 24 vs. 14b - I believe everything that agrees with the Law and that is written in the Prophets. It is not enough to believe the bible to be the truth and not reading it leaving it on our shelves to gather dust, we need to fill our minds with it, and let the Holy Spirit transform us with it daily. We need to receive it, read it, research it, remember it and reflect on it daily.

Receiving the word of God is not the same thing as being around when a word was preached. We need to receive the word of God with an open attitude. So whenever we feel that we are not learning anything from a sermon (be it boring or life less), let us search our minds and find out why we are not receptive. Could it be due to our pride here? – James 1 vs. 21 - Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.

We also need to fill our minds with God’s word by reading daily it keeps us in range of His voice – Deut. 17 vs. 19 - it is to be with him, and he is to read it all the days of his life so that he may learn to revere the LORD his God and follow carefully all the words of this law and these decrees.

Researching or studying our bible has been told to us as another way to receive blessings from God, if you want to be blessed daily study His Word – James 2 vs. 25 – But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does. I know I want to be blessed, an extra blessing not part of the guaranteed, show me the way Holy Spirit.

Remembering the word of God is really not a difficult task. If one can remember those things that are important to them, then remembering the word of God should be a trivial thing to do, because we know of its importance in our life. There are many benefits for remembering the word of God to name a just few includes, resisting temptation, making wise decisions, reducing stress and worry; unimaginable happiness and countless more [Psalm 119 vs. 11; 119 vs. 105; 119 vs. 49 – 50 - Remember your word to your servant, for you have given me hope. My comfort in my suffering is this: Your promise preserves my life; Jeremiah 15 vs. 16; Prov. 22 vs. 18; 1 Pet. 3 vs. 15; Col. 3 vs. 16].

And finally we need to reflect on God’s word, this is known as meditation – focussed thinking on the word of God. If we all can worry (focus our thinking on our problems), then meditating on the word of God should be effortless too. However, the difference between the two is, the focused thinking on the word of God is a healthy habit to have as it transforms us into the likeness of Christ. It is also the key to answered prayer and the secret of successful living [Acts 13 vs. 22; Psalm 119 vs. 97; John 15 vs. 7 - If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you; Joshua 1 vs. 8; Psalm 1 vs. 2 -3].

Lessons learned on Day 24 – Filling my mind is a very important habit to have in my life, but is no good if I don’t apply the principles to my life, as they are useless without application and implementation – James 1 vs. 22 - Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says; Matt. 7 vs. 24 - Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.To remember that I will be blessed by simply choosing to apply God’s principles laid out in His Word in my life – John 13 vs. 17 - Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them. It may be difficult at first, but I need to bear in mind that the truth is the only thing that can set me free, even though it makes me miserable at first [John 8 vs. 32], and to make sure that I share His word among others. We have been posed this question, what has God told you to do in His Word that you have not done yet? I know I need get on with a few, what about you?