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Changing: Spiritual Transformation, Part 4 of 5

God desires to change us and to set us free. I want to be clear on what spiritual transformation is and what it is not. Spiritual transformation describes a result that comes from a work of God in your life.

Most of my Christian friends have had defining moments when their faith was tested. They hung on by their fingertips as they saw things shatter in their lives. Somehow, through it all, they learned that that God would carry them through, that they would make it, and that God loved them with an enduring love that never quits.

My dear Grandma Weigold understood how to draw upon God’s strength. Grandma loved well and trusted in the Almighty. I was going through my files today when I came upon a birthday card she’d sent me when I was in my late thirties and recovering from a breakdown (which took four years). Grandma ended the card with these words, “I pray God will pour upon you His healing and abundant mercies. You are precious in His sight.“

You can never learn that Christ is all you need, until Christ is all you have.        -Corrie ten Boom

The following list describes how the transformation happens.

What Spiritual Transforming Is.

  • active seeking, asking, and listening to God
  • spiritual change that happens from the inside to out
  • a spiritual metamorphosis process
  • God at work in you
  • open engagement with God—with the heart, mind, and soul
  • healing, cleansing, purifying, repairing, awakening,
  • an intimate work of God in your life.
  • involves repentance, confession, active prayer, and listening.
  • intentional giving of yourself to God
  • how to become a friend of God
  • an open, honest, heart-relationship with God

What Spiritual Transformation Is Not.

  • passive
  • an intellectual pursuit that’s independent of the heart
  • an adding on of certain behaviors
  • a closed relationship, where you hold back or withhold areas of your life in compartments, away from the touch of God
  • the result of a bible study, but it is influenced by bible study
  • a fix-all solution for spiritual living

It Takes Honesty and Transparency with God.

Spiritual transformation takes lots of seeking, meditating, personal prayer, reading the Word, and time.  Going deeper with God requires familiarity with Him. Very similar to a human friendship, it takes being present in the present. The benefit with God is He is always present even when He may not seem present.

God has a way of shaping us. He knows what He wants to do with our lives and how He is going to achieve the end result. We can say no. We can resist. We tend to have an aversion to pain and suffering. But God teaches us to lean on Him and to trust in Him during the difficulty.

YOU are precious in HIS sight.

Next in series: Maturing: Spiritual Transformation, (Part 5 of 5)

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Photo by Renee Fisher, Unsplash

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Middle: Spiritual Transformation, Part 3 of 5

I began to look for answers.

My personal journey into authentic belief, into Christian belief that is real, into spiritual transformation that energizes, started with my search to know God. This search is ongoing and will continue until I meet my Savior face to face in the next life.

Spiritual transformation is a process that takes both you and God. It takes honesty with God, transparency with God. You have to have some skin in the game.

  • It takes looking in the mirror of God.
  • It takes a decision to sit at the feet of Jesus and learn from Him.
  • It takes putting your false self aside by not pretending anymore.
  • It takes seeking God to know Him.

The end result is you become authentic.

I want you to get a taste of what it is like to be spiritually transformed and to live an authentic Christian life. How far you want to go with this, depends on your willingness to seek God with an open heart.

Heather, in her latest book Called to be Me, says it this way. “Fly, little butterfly, … fly!” That’s what spiritual transformation looks like after you’ve been on the journey a while.

When you change, you become beautiful, and you get to fly.

I wrote this on Twitter last month.

“One of the most freeing things I ever did was to ask God to heal my memories. I didn’t know if God could heal them. Through a process, God met me where I was at and He cleansed my memories. The sorrow and submerged pain left. That was 19 years ago.”

@nlbrumbaugh

God did what I could not do.

God does what we cannot do. Every time God meets us in our place of sorrow and pain, He takes us further than we were before. When you get discouraged, look back at your back trail and see what God has already done in your life.

God is doing something in you.

Your spiritual transformation may be very slow. Don’t quit. Don’t allow discouragement to overtake you. Don’t turn aside and think it’s not worth the effort. Trust in God takes time to develop. As they say, Rome wasn’t built in a day.

God is doing two things in your life (and maybe more). He is deconstructing what doesn’t belong (which is painful and thorough). He is constructing what does belong. Both take time. God is developing a living relationship with you. One that speaks life to your soul. Hang in there.

Invite God to minister to your soul. God is willing, able, and delights in drawing close to you. When you begin to open up and draw upon God’s good favor toward you, you will experience divine mercy, loving tenderness, and spiritual enlivening.

You are becoming a friend of God.

Next in series: Changing: Spiritual Transformation, Part 4 of 5

Home Page: Spiritual Transformation

Photo by James Morden, Unsplash