When they were alone, He
explained all things to His disciples. —Mark 4:34
{CHAMBERS} “Jesus doesn’t
take us aside and explain things to us all the time; He explains things to us
as we are able to understand them. The lives of others are examples for us, but
God requires us to examine our own souls. It is slow work— so slow that it
takes God all of time and eternity to make a man or woman conform to His
purpose. We can only be used by God after we allow Him to show us the deep,
hidden areas of our own character. […] …. Jesus will reveal to us everything we
have held within ourselves before His grace began to work. […] We have to get
rid of the idea that we understand ourselves. That is always the last bit of
pride to go. The only One who understands us is God. The greatest curse in our
spiritual life is pride. […] He will allow us to experience heartbreak or the
disappointment we feel when our intellectual pride is wounded. He will reveal
numerous misplaced affections or desires— things over which we never thought He
would have to get us alone. Many things are shown to us, often without effect. But
when God gets us alone over them, they will be clear.”
{ELGIN} (Romans 8:29) “For
those whom he [God the Father] foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to
the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many
brothers.” Have you ever given any
thought to what being conformed … molded .. changed … means? Well, first you know it is a spiritual
change, right? Second … you know that the
process is going to be contrary to your flesh.
God will show you things through the Spirit that you may not want to see
or admit, even to yourself. (One of the
Spirit’s missions is to convict the world of sin. The Spirit plus the Word of God are the “one-two”
punch in the sanctification process. The
knock-out punch is my surrendering my will)
You know that there are
certain aspects of your old nature that you want to hide or cling to. Adam and Eve tried to hide themselves in the
Garden… you know how that worked out for them.
The only ones you can hide your sin from, for a season, is man. The Word says (Numbers 32:23) “Your sin will find you out.” God knows everything .. that is why we
confess our sins (1 John 1:9) ..
confess means to “agree with” not to reveal.
The goal of this transformation – conforming process is not to make you
miserable, but to bless you .. to make you better. The pain or difficulty you experience is from
the battle between the flesh and Spirit.
My encouragement to you is the same as Paul’s to the Romans. (Romans
12:1-2) “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to
present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is
your spiritual worship. Do not be
conformed to this world, but be
transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern
what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” God won’t make you do that. You must surrender your will. Will you?
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