“You Can Be Better With Age!”

by Pastor Tim Burt

Romans 12:2 “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will know what God wants you to do and you will know how good and pleasing and perfect His will really is.”

“God help me to change.” How many times have I lifted that prayer before the Lord in different degrees of emotion and exasperation over the years? I want to be more Christ-like. Is that possible? Absolutely! How do I know? The same way I can confidently know anything about God and His will for my life. He tells me in His Word in 2 Corinthians 3:18. “And all of us have had that veil removed so that we can be mirrors that brightly reflect the glory of the Lord. And as the Spirit of the Lord works within us, we become more and more like him and reflect his glory even more.”

And again in Colossians 3:10. “In its place you have clothed yourselves with a brand-new nature that is continually being renewed as you learn more and more about Christ, who created this new nature within you.”

And we see it yet again in 2 Pet 1:3-4 “His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness. Through these He has given us His very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.”

These verses are revealing and this last one so powerful that it’s almost mind blowing. Did you catch God’s Words “…so that through them you may participate in the divine nature?” God says we can participate in His divine nature. That means we have God working within us. That is the supernatural help of the Holy Spirit that He makes available to us. God does help us but we must understand that the Holy Spirit doesn’t work independently without our participation. The verse says, “His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of Him…” God gives us the Holy Spirit, but expects us to seek the knowledge of His will. As we learn what God asks us to become, we grow in confidence that we can or He wouldn’t have asked. We just have to believe by faith that the Holy Spirit will energize us and supernaturally help us do what we couldn’t do in our own strength – make changes and become more Christ-like!

The first step of change is putting ourselves in Godly atmospheres where God can get His Word to us to speak to our heart. Then we come to today’s Fresh Manna where we continue to learn how God works change in us. We are instructed, “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will know what God wants you to do and you will know how good and pleasing and perfect His will really is.”

God says the way to become more like Jesus is to change the way we think. Again it says, “…but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think…” How do we let God transform us by the way we think? We begin to elevate the truth of what He tells us above our shallow and limited thinking. Do you know the future? No, but God does. Do you have the power to change the unchangeable? No, but God does. If you’re honest, you will admit you can’t even change yourself or your life to be all you really want to be. I know there are many people out there with a good heart and good intentions giving their “ra-ra”, exhortations – “You can be anything you want to be” speech but it’s not entirely true. You can’t without God’s help. His help says, “Change the way you think and do that by renewing your mind to the promise of my Word.”

I used to think God could never love me because of my past sins and behavior. Nothing would have changed my thinking on that until I was exposed to His Word that told me differently. It changed the way I think. It exposed His will to me. Jeremiah 31:3 spoke to my heart and helped me realize God’s love for me. “…I have loved you with an everlasting love. With unfailing love I have drawn you to myself,” and in Romans 5:8. “But God showed His great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.”

I would have put all sorts of limitations on myself about what I believed I could do and accomplish but God told me differently. Philippians 4:13 “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” When we allow God to be the source of our thoughts and transform our minds and our way of thinking by elevating His truth above our own thoughts and unfounded beliefs, then we begin to gain the strength and power and help of God and supernatural transformation happens. So, shut down your negative thinking and begin to elevate God’s Word in your life and believe it! You’ll never be the same!

In His Love,
Pastor Tim Burt
http://readfreshmanna.blogspot.com/