Galatians 2:20 (NIV):
20 I
have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.
The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved
me and gave himself for me.
Hi Everyone!
Hope we are having a fruitful 2016. Today, I wanted to discuss spiritual
awakening. Spiritual awakening is described in the urban dictionary as a shift
in consciousness, an apperception of reality which had been previously
unrealized. Basically, it is a shift in consciousness -it is a realization that
was previously undiscovered. And this is the awakening we are subject to when
we come to Christ.
This is why the
Word says, I have been crucified with
Christ-in other words, my flesh was left behind on that cross-my old life
is no longer here-I am not the same person anymore. I no longer live but Christ lives in me. It is a place of complete
surrender to Him-a shift in personality, perception and purpose. And it is
truly a beautiful experience-when you don’t have the same thoughts that bound
and depressed you because you are no longer subject to the same attributes-your
mindset shifts in Him-you begin to change. You are transformed:
Romans 12:2 (NIV):
2 Do
not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of
your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his
good, pleasing and perfect will.
This is a
process that happens during the transformation-your mindset shifts. And you realize in this process of
relationship and walking with the LORD and being intentional about spending time with Him and being intentional
about getting to know Him as we are supposed to be-and as we do when we get to
know people-your mindset shifts to become like His.
Just like when
you make new friends and they influence you, this is the same way He begins to
influence you. And just like you value the relationship you have with your
closest friends more than acquaintances, it is the same way your walk with
Christ will be reflected in your relationship with Him. The more you spend time
with Him, like you spend time with any other person, the more you get to know
Him, and the more you value His voice, and the more you become accustomed to
knowing when He is speaking-its really like any other relationship just a
beautiful and supernatural experience and spiritual awakening because in Him,
you realize so much more of yourself that you could not have figured out on
your own. His perfection graces your imperfection with His presence and His
holiness is reflected in your life as you walk with Him.
I want to be
clear: becoming a Christian is not a journey of boredom and burden. I like to
emphasize this because I fell into that particular category of people in
thinking walking with Christ was a burden because I understood religion; I did not experience relationship. But when I
started to step into relationship, it was the best decision of my life. You are
not perfect in any way, it is just His perfection graces your imperfections
with His purity and His presence which is why relationship with the Holy Spirit
is so important. And I will be discussing this as well-I might even do a whole
series of posts on this because the Holy Spirit is such a key part of walking
with God.
When you have a
relationship with God through His Holy Spirit because you have accepted the
Son, Jesus Christ, you begin to realize a lot of things you would not have been
possibly able to do on your own as a result of this partnership.
And I want to be
clear once more-it is not that there will be no challenges, it is not that at
some times you will not feel weak, you will but
His presence carries your burdens, and He shows you aspects of your person
and your personality that are reflected in His presence. Its like looking in a
mirror and I discuss this in my book Gift
of Grace it is like walking into a new dimension of understanding not only
your actions but how your actions are
viewed by others. It is a place of peace, and abundant love when you walk with God. And when He begins to
move in your life, when you surrender to
His will for you, you find you begin to do and achieve things you alone would
not have even thought possible because of the presence of His grace.
This is the
beauty of spiritual awakening in Christ. I don’t want people to think it is burdensome
because there are some habits that you don’t want to give up, or some
particular hobbies you enjoy that are frowned upon by the Christian
faith-listen-God hates sin but He loves
the sinner. And we are all sinners:
Romans 3:23 (NIV):
23 for
all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
All He requires from
you, is to lay yourself on that cross in surrender to Him-He will strip you of your old self. And I want to emphasize, this
is the job of the presence of the Spirit in your life, you are transformed by the renewing of your mind.
So don’t be
discouraged or afraid to come before Him because of who you are, trust me, we
have all done things we are not proud of in the past, and we all have less than
admirable attributes-we are all human-but when you come in contact with the divine, when He touches you, you will change in His
presence:
2 Corinthians 3:18 (NIV):
18 And
we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate[a]
the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing
glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
So I encourage
you-step into this deeper dimension of living-it is truly freedom and you will
not regret it.
I made that
decision, and it is the best decision I have ever made in my life.
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