Come Up Here And See

It is sad how many of us (me) do not like to change even when change is being forced upon us because we have gotten comfortable and enjoy where we are, to a certain degree that is, if we are truly honest with ourselves.

However, when you are believing for a breakthrough or a promise to come forth then we must be ready to change without fighting the change.

I was thinking about change and the Holy Spirit reminded me, Lisa you say that Romans 12: 1-2 has become your favorite scripture so you need to think about what that truly means. You are praying not to be conformed to this world but to be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Well Lisa this means there should be a continual changing taking place in your thinking to bring all your thoughts, your beliefs, your actions in line with what I, the Lord God says to be truth so that you will know the truth and the truth will set you free. Yes Lord.

• Romans 12: 1-2 NASB Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. ² And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.

• John 8: 32 NLT And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free

Merriam Webster describes Transform, Renew and Change as:

• Transform – a · to change in composition or structure; b · to change the outward form or appearance of; c · to change in character or condition: convert.

• Renew – 1 · to make or become new, fresh, or strong again. strength renewed by a night’s rest;  2 · to restore to existence. renew the splendor of a palace.

• Change – change implies making either an essential difference often amounting to a loss of original identity or a substitution of one thing for another.

Tim Ross a preacher says, “Don’t ever get married to a season, get married to the God of a season”. Season meaning change because change is never ending, circumstances will change, we must know the truth that God works all things for good.

• Romans 8:  28 NASB  And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.

With each step in our lives, we are continuously walking through change such as a new season either of high school, some form of post-secondary education, maybe engagement, marriage, babies, business, older children, hopefully grandchildren and when we examine pictures of our lives, we see those seasons and hopefully each season of change has brought a new joy.

There is only One who does not change and that is God Almighty. There are many scriptures of how God never changes, and I am grateful that I can rely on His character, faithfulness, lovingkindness, mercies, and His Word not to change.

• Hebrews 13:8 ESV Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

• Jeremiah 31:3 ESV The Lord appeared to him from far away. I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you.

This brings us to a question of why we get so frustrated with change and with the Lord God Almighty when He is telling us, when God is wooing us to change our minds about how we think, to change to become like Him who never changes because He has so much in store for us. He has a call on our lives, and He wants only the best for us, and He knows all things, why do we struggle with this?

I believe it is because we have not surrendered every part of our lives to the Lord Jesus Christ. Many call Him Saviour and they love that part of having a Saviour who has redeemed us from our sins, but we have not surrendered our heart, our will, our knee to His Majesty, to His Lordship.

We think, believe me that I am talking about me first, that our plan is the best, I know what works, I know how my husband, my children should be acting but I have not surrendered every situation to the Lord, and I have not said whatever You want Lord, I will do it.

When I think that I have the best plan and I know what will work then I have not even considered or stood in awe of that even though Jesus is God, He is also the Son of Man and He learned obedience by what He suffered.

• Hebrews 5: 8-9 NKJV though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered. ⁹ And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him,

Wait, stop, Jesus learned obedience by what He suffered then why I am struggling with the Holy Spirit when He has stopped me throughout the day, at work, at play, in our homes, constantly if we will admit it that is, telling us what He wants us to do, but we act like a spoiled brat and say Umm, well not today, I do not want to do what You say, it does not matter to me today.

We are not walking in the Holy Fear of the Lord because we are not being obedient. God tells us that He is God, and we are not and many times our actions are that we do not care or believe that statement.

Jesus told us that we must continually die to our ego, it is a never-ending process, but He showed the way, and that way is glorious. He showed us how to say to the Father, thy will be done and not mine and not pout about it. Jesus died to His will and that brought about the everlasting, biggest change that all mankind needed. When He did that it opened the way for us to go boldly into the Holy of Holies and it gives “change” a beauty that we should not be butting our minds against.

• Matthew 16: 24 NKJV  Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me
• Matthew 26: 39, 42 NKJV  He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, “O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.” 42 Again, a second time, He went away and prayed, saying, “O My Father, if this cup cannot pass away from Me unless I drink it, Your will be done.”

Since the resurrection of Jesus, the writers of the New Testament have been encouraging us by the Holy Spirit of the beauty of change and to do it Jesus’ way:

• 1 Peter 2: 21 NKJV For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps
• Philippians 2: 5-9 NASB Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, ⁶ who, as He already existed in the form of God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, ⁷ but emptied Himself by taking the form of a bond-servant and being born in the likeness of men. ⁸ And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death: death on a cross. ⁹ For this reason also God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name,

• 2 Timothy 2: 11-12 NKJV This is a faithful saying: For if we died with Him, We shall also live with Him. ¹² If we endure, We shall also reign with Him. If we deny Him, He also will deny us.

Wow Lord, if I am going to be praying Romans 12: 1-2 all the time then I must be ready to continually deny myself, to be obedient, to align my thoughts to Yours so that I can present my body as a living sacrifice to You which is pleasing, and my thoughts will become more like Your thoughts every day. Thankfully I know that this process is only by Your amazing mercies and that Your mercies are new everyday and because this is in Your Word, it is possible. Woo Hoo. Thank you, Lord, that is encouraging.

Holy Spirit, I thank You that You are there to continually help us, encourage us and convict us, show us where we have not denied ourselves and the beauty of denying ourselves to become more like Jesus, I am grateful. In Jesus’ name, Amen.