God's Transformation Process - Part 4

Below is my last post on SUM for the 30 Days - Mind of Christ Experiment.  However the journey continues until Saturday (31st).  And to be honest this is just the beginning, this is an ongoing journey of revelation from the Lord.  If you want to go through the 30 days yourself please visit Day 1 at SUM and then follow through the posts. 

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Over the past three weeks I’ve shared with you the “stages” the Lord has taken me through as He has begun a major transformation process in my life. I’ve walked you through how He revealed His great abiding love and began to help me to truly understand it. How He began to dive deep into my heart and soul to uncover the deepest, darkest and ugliest parts of my life in order to bring healing. And I’ve shared how He has begun to reveal to me the truth about standing with Him while loving others. I pray my transparency regarding my journey will help you in yours. I know that just writing these posts has blessed me tremendously.


I wish I could say the transformation process is over, that I’m a finished and perfected clay vessel. But if these past three weeks have confirmed anything for me, it is that we are all continuous works in process. There is always more to be revealed. These “stages” I’ve shared with you are not a 3 step process that results in a fully transformed mind, heart and soul. Instead they are a cycle which the Lord will take you through repeatedly for the rest of your life. You’ll be able to look back and see how far you’ve come and rejoice in it. And you can also look forward and know you have a lot still to learn. But don’t let this be a discouragement, instead it should be exciting, a sense of expectation. The Lord will continue to transform you as long as you allow Him.

As you continue to yield your life to Him each day and to step down off the throne of your lives, He will reveal His love for you anew, He will reveal the darkness in your heart and heal you, and He will give you His eyes and His heart to see and love the world as He does.

Randy Alcorn wrote a book I love called Edge of Eternity. It reminds me quite a bit of Pilgrim’s Progress. In the story the main character is traveling along a road. As he does he sees two cities. The closest is beautiful and full of wonderful things. At the top of the many tall buildings, he can see that each citizen has their own throne upon which they sit surrounded by vast riches. Far off he sees another city, but it is dark and depressing and only has one throne. However, as he travels farther down this road, his goal being to reach the King’s City, his perspective begins to change. The city in front of him, the one that was depressing and only had one throne begins to become stunningly beautiful, more so than he ever could have imagined. Behind him the city he had thought so beautiful before has become dark. He realizes the thrones that each person sat upon were really tangled webs that held them captive. The people living in the city thought they were free and powerful, but in reality they were in bondage. I read this book a few years back, but this image has stayed with me. It is a powerful picture of our lives.

In your journal today, ask yourself - where are you on this road? Which city do you have your sights set on? Lynn has asked many times during this journey if you are still waking each morning and coming before the Lord on your knees, stepping off the throne of your life and handing it over to Him who truly rules. This is so powerful!

As I sign off on my last post for this 30 day journey I first want to thank all of you. I came into this praying the Lord would give me words to help others and bring Him glory. He has done far more than I could have ever imagined. In some ways I’ve grown as much in the past three weeks as I did over the two years which I’ve shared with you. You have all been part of this transformation for me. I love the way the Lord uses us and our weaknesses to bless others. Isn’t He amazing?

I also want to leave you with a few tidbits the Lord has reminded me of and impressed upon me through this journey.

First, as I said above this is all a transformation process that will continue until we meet our Lord face to face. Look over how far the Lord has brought you and rejoice. Look forward to all that He still has to reveal to you with expectation and excitement. He will continually take you through these stages in one form or another. There are always more layers to peel back as He reveals Himself to us. Always remember He loves you and only wants what is best for you. He has a destiny for you, Beloved. You just need to give Him control of your life and He will lead you there.

Second, God looks at our hearts. I am doing a study of David with my house church right now. Or more specifically we are studying David’s heart. Have you ever wondered what the difference between Saul and David was? Both were anointed by Samuel per the Lord’s instructions, both were filled with the Holy Spirit in a time when the Holy Spirit did not make a habit of indwelling in people, both sinned quite grievously. However, in the end the Lord left Saul, never to return again, but He never left David. Why? It has to do with the heart. God knows that we will mess up at times. This is not an excuse for us to sin or to ignore the promptings of the Lord to confront the sin in our lives. However, please remember beloved, God knows your heart and that is what He honors, that is what pleases Him. Even when your flesh is not able to conform fully, He knows the desire in your heart to be fully transformed. He honors and is pleased by your heart!

But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearances, but the Lord looks at the heart.” ~ 1 Samuel 16:7

The Lord searches every heart and understands every motive behind the thoughts. If you seek him, he will be found by you. ~ 1 Chronicles 28:9

If you are like me you may read that last part above and think, “Ew, I don’t want Him to judge me based on my heart. I know my intentions are not always pure.” If you’ve ever felt like that or maybe do right now, I have a little secret for you that the Lord revealed to me. Are you ready for it?

Recognizing that your intentions are not always pure is part of what He is looking for. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve prayed – “Lord, I desire you and only you. I want your will, not mine to be done. “ And then I pause and have to add - “And if there are any intentions in my heart or desires that are not in agreement with this, please reveal it to me and transform them!”

Even while knowing I desire the Lord, I know there are still parts of my heart that are selfish. I might as well admit these things to God, because He already knows. He knows my heart better than I do. And He is well pleased with us when we are able to be truthful with Him about what we know is in our hearts. That willingness to acknowledge the darkness in our hearts is what God desires of us. That is what pleases Him. David was called a man after God’s heart. Take some time and read David’s story and the psalms he wrote . He readily admits that his heart is not pure, that he had evil and selfish desires. The difference between David and others such as Saul, is that he acknowledges these things and lays them at God’s feet and asks for God’s Mercy and Transformation. That is a heart in which the Lord will be well pleased.

Today as you journal and pray acknowledge those intentions of your heart that are not pure. Ask the Lord to reveal any areas that are not pure and then confess those things and ask the Lord to transform them. Don’t be ashamed of your weaknesses, instead take them to the Lord and trade them in for His Strength. If you do you will hear Him whisper to you “Well, done my Beloved.” and you like David will be considered a man/woman after God’s heart.

And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” ~ 2 Corinthians 12:9

Blessings upon each of you and many thanks for allowing me to share in this journey with you.

Resting in Him,

Angela

God's Transformation Process - Part 3

Below is today's post that I did for SUM.

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As a new Christian, one of my favorite books to read was “Jesus Freak” by DC Talk. The book is a collection of true stories about individuals who have stood for and given their lives for Jesus. It is amazing and inspiring to read these stories. These are people who have lived out Jesus’ instructions to us:


Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ ~ Matthew 22:36-39


“But I say to you who hear: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, and pray for those who spitefully use you. ~ Luke 6:27-28

These people have died standing for Jesus and the most inspiring thing is they do so while praying for and loving those who persecuted and killed them and their families. I remember reading these stories in awe and asking the Lord to strengthen my faith so that if I was ever placed in a similar situation I would be able to stand for Him like that and love my enemies.

However, recently the Lord has brought another scripture to mind for me

Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. ~ Luke 16:10

Along with this scripture I hear the Lord whispering to me: “Beloved, can I trust you in the little things?”

Wow, talk about cutting deep. I start to remember that email I received from a co-worker the other day, the one where she threw me under the bus for something I did not do. I remember how as I read it I could feel the heat of anger literally start at the top of my head and pour down over me, leaving me trembling and having to walk away from my desk so I did not respond in an ungracious manner. Instead of praying for my enemy, all I wanted to do was blast her back and defend myself. I did not in the end, but I did let that anger fester and affect my future interactions with her. I did not pray for her or ask for blessings for her.

You see, loving our enemies is a grand and noble idea – until we actually have to put it into practice. Then we realize how very much we need the Lord to transform our hearts because we are not even capable of truly loving our family and friends, let alone our enemies. Our natural tendency is to defend ourselves, to feel entitled to be offended, hurt or angry. Only through God’s transformation process can we face these situations in our lives with a focus first on God and then on loving others, instead of focusing on ourselves.

A few months back, my husband and I got into a disagreement. I honestly don’t even remember what it was about. I do know I was angry and even though I knew the Lord wanted me to let it go, I was determined to wallow in my anger and hurt because I deserved it! (Oh, how we love to wallow in self-pity!) I had to go run some errands and I took my son (then 4 years old) with me. As we left he wanted to sing. I told him Mommy was not in the mood to sing but he could if he wanted. He started to sing a tune that I had taught him. It is called “Be Careful Little Eyes”. We’ve added other verses such as “be careful little hands, feet and ears”. But this day he added his own verse which we had never talked about before. As I drove down the road, blissfully wallowing in my self-pity and anger, my son’s sweet precious voice began to sing:

“Be careful little heart what you feel,

Be careful little heart what you feel,

Because the Father up above is looking down with love,

So be careful little heart what you feel.”

Amazing how God can speak to us through our children, the very ones we are supposed to be raising up and teaching the ways of the Lord to!

In our anger, we need to make sure we are turning our ears to the whisper of the Lord. He usually will not shout at us. He leaves it up to us to listen and follow His voice. We need to listen for His whisper telling us to love those around us instead of the world’s shout that says we are entitled to our anger. No matter how “right” we are in being angry at someone else’s actions or words, the Lord calls us to love. We have to decide what to focus on, what to obey and follow – the world’s view of what we are entitled to or the Lord’s whisper to deny ourselves and love as He loves us.

Over the past months I’ve been struggling with a question which I now believe the Lord put on my heart. How do you stand for God’s Truth in Love?

But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander. ~ 1 Peter 3:15-16

I’ve compared this to us walking a very narrow path with two very wide and deep ditches on each side. On one side is the Ditch of God’s Truth. This is where we fall when we focus on God’s Truth, His Righteousness and His Holiness. The other side is the Ditch of God’s Love. This is where we fall when we focus on God’s Love, Grace and Mercy. Neither appears to be a bad place to walk and they are easier to walk in because they are so wide! But the true character of our God is made up of both His Righteousness and His Grace. Our human nature has a very hard time combining these two characteristics. It is difficult for us to separate the sin from the sinner. We forget that our battle is not against flesh and blood, but against things that are unseen to our natural eyes. The only way we can walk this narrow path is to focus on Jesus in front of us, leading us. We must open our hearts and minds to Him and Him alone.

As with my other prayers, God is answering this one as well. I tend to be a hands-on learner, and the Lord is teaching in the same way. He is showing me how to stand for His Truth in Love by having me do it in my daily life, in the little things - at work, at home, with my husband, my children, my friends, even strangers. I stumble and fall into one ditch or another more often than I can count. But I know that as soon as I’m done feeling sorry for myself and look to Him, He’ll be there holding out His hand, ready to pull me back up on the path and dust off the muck and mire.

Are you on the narrow path, focused on Jesus right now? Or are you walking in one of those wide ditches? In your anger, are you able to hear the whisper of the Lord and do you heed it? Are you able to separate the sin from the sinner? Are you able to stand for God’s Truth in Love? No? Then, are you ready to ask Him to give you the strength and wisdom to do so? Are you ready for some hands-on learning?

Dear Lord,
We ask that you transform our minds and hearts to love the way you love. Please keep us from anger and offense. Please help us to learn to hear your whisper in these times and to yield to You and Your desires for us. Give us wisdom to remember our battle is not against others, but forces and human nature which is unseen. Help us to separate the sin from the sinner. To stand in Your Truth against the sin, but to love the sinner as You love them. Give us Your Mind, Your Eyes, Your Heart!
In Jesus’ Precious Name,
AMEN!!!

God's Transformation Process - Part 2

Below is my week 2 post on SUM, I've been so busy I forgot to post it on my own blog! :)

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Last week I asked each of you to allow the Lord to show you the great affection He has for you. One fiction series I’m particularly fond of refers to this as the “Great Romance”. I LOVE that. Today I want to tell you about the second stage that the Lord took me through to begin transforming me into the likeness of Him. However, if you have not yet read last week’s post, I encourage you to do so first. I know without an understanding of how much God loved me, I would not have understood what He did next in my life.

I am a bit of a perfectionist and have been known to have some self-esteem issues. I actually have conversations in my head about what others are saying about me. Talk about creating your own issues! Needless to say, I have tended to have a lot of shame and guilt in my life. I tend to beat myself up at times for real and imagined wrongs that I’ve spoken and/or done. Understanding God’s deep love for me is what has broken these chains of bondage over my life. To be honest, they try to creep back in at times, but I’m learning to catch them and put them at the foot of the throne of Jesus. He alone can crush these thoughts.

As a new Christian we are taught that we are all sinners (Romans 3:23). We all have darkness in our hearts, hidden sins we hide from others. Sometimes we even hide them from ourselves. The enemy loves to scratch the surface of this evil/darkness that lives within us. He does so in order to shame us or tempt us, sometimes both. God however dives deep into the darkness of our souls and shines His Light on it in order to heal us.

My first bold prayer to do whatever it took to draw my husband to Him had resulted in my finally understanding how much my Savior cherishes me (don’t you love that word? He cherishes us!) My next bold prayer, prompted I know now by the Holy Spirit, was for the Lord to show me the Truth. To show me His Truth (the only Truth) no matter what that looked like. No matter how much it went against what I currently knew and believed.

Once again He heard my cry and was faithful to answer. Once again the results were not exactly what I expected. But oh, they were so much better than I could have ever imagined or hoped! He began to reveal to me all the ugliness of my heart – the selfishness, the pride, the arrogance, the controlling & rebellious nature that lives inside of me. These things when revealed by God’s Holiness and Righteousness were far more appalling than anything I could have ever created in my own mind. However, instead of beating myself up and becoming depressed about how horrible and what a failure I was, I actually felt hope. I finally understood the deep abiding love of my Creator and I knew that God was revealing these things in order to bring healing.

Last week Bonnie left the following comment regarding the Day 5 post:

“I feel like I've been packing so much garbage under some dirt & then planting flowers so no one notices the garbage. It feels like we're going to unearth & destroy the garbage so all that's left is healthy dirt and beautiful flowers...but He isn't playing it soft here. I have most definitely had to get some dirt on my hands & get in there with Him.”

That is exactly what God began to do in my life. I was able to finally let go of the darkness in me instead of dwelling on it. I was able to move forward and allow the Lord to refine and transform me as He removed the garbage from my life and replaced it with healthy rich soil.

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart,

O God, you will not despise. ~Psalm 51:17

We say we want to be transformed, but we must realize that in order for the Lord to transform us He requires us to have a broken and contrite spirit. This does not mean that we have low self-esteem. It means we need to be humbled. I think many times today we think low self-esteem and humbleness are one and the same. That is the furthest thing from the truth. A Beth Moore study I’m going through right now explains it this way:

“Lack of confidence does not equal humility. In fact, genuinely humble people have enormous confidence because it rests in a great God.”

This concept has been life changing for me. I’ve spent my entire life battling low self-esteem by trying to prove I was smart enough, pretty enough, funny enough, loyal enough, good enough! But real confidence comes not in whom we are or what we can accomplish – it comes from resting in the strength and abilities of our Awesome God! Our confidence is not in ourselves but in Him!

However, our human nature wants control, believes we need to be able to fix things by our own strength and knowledge. The funny thing I’m realizing is that the world sees low self-esteem and arrogance as being opposite of one another. In reality they are just different symptoms of the same root cause, the human disease called self-centeredness. In both cases, the root problem is that we are focused on ourselves instead of on Jesus.

We are not able in and of ourselves to set aside that human nature. I’ve spent years trying to get rid of this human nature in my own power so I can please God. Ironic since my thinking I can fix it myself comes from the very nature I was trying to rid myself of! We must go to the Lord and ask Him to show us these things in our lives and heal us of them. We must be ready for Him to humble us, to create a broken and contrite spirit in us. To give us a spirit and heart that fully recognizes that we are but humans, and He is our Sovereign Lord.

My question for you today is – do you dare ask the question? Are you bold enough to sincerely ask the Lord to reveal His Truth to you, regardless of what it looks like? Regardless of what beliefs you hold dear which may be destroyed by doing so? Regardless of how ugly and appalling it may be? Do you truly desire humbleness, a broken and contrite spirit and heart? Do you dare ask the Lord to show you who you really are so that He can begin to heal you and transform you into who He has destined for you to be?

"P.S. - For those of you who may have already prayed this prayer and are in this stage of your journey right now - I want to encourage you to persevere. It is very hard to have your true self revealed by God's Light, however the rewards at the end, a transformed mind and heart, are amazing and so well worth the refining period required to get there."

God's Transformation Process - Part 1

Below is my first post for the 30 Days: The Mind of Christ experiment at SUM.  Visit the SUM site to join the journey and read what Lynn and Dineen are sharing too!

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When Lynn first asked me to join her and Dineen for this 30 Day journey, my mind was filled with so many different things I could write about, things I’ve learned over the last couple years about having a mind and heart after Christ. Then as I began to meditate on these things I realized how very much I have yet to learn. In fact, this process of sharing my heart with all of you is just a continuation of my journey to put Christ on the throne of my life.

My journey began in earnest two years ago when I stumbled across this site and read a post about “the most dangerous prayer”. I prayed that night with a sincere heart. “Whatever it takes, Lord. Whatever it takes draw my husband to you.” The Lord heard my cry and responded, but not in the way I had anticipated.

You see, the Lord knew the best way to draw my beloved husband to Him was to use his wife to show him the love of Christ. And I can’t demonstrate the love of Christ if I am not of one mind and heart with Him.

The first step in my transformation process is what I want to share with you today. To have the mind of Christ, the heart of Christ, we must first love Him with all our heart. As my 5 year old son says “Love God with all my heart, that’s why He made me.” However, in order to do this, we must first begin to grasp the love He has for us, because without His love we would not be able to love Him.

We love Him because He first loved us. ~ 1 John 4:19

One of the first things we are told as a Christian is about how much God loves us, but do you really understand what that means? Has it truly sunk deep into your heart and taken root?

I had thought I understood how much God loved me, but it wasn’t until as couple months after my infamous prayer that I finally began to understand the great love of our God. I began a study on the Song of Solomon which finally hit home with me. I realized even though I said I knew God loved me, I only felt comfortable kneeling before Him when I thought I was being “good”. There was still a part of me deep down that was trying to earn His love. His love can’t be earned, but that is okay because we already possess it. We just need to realize that fact.

It may seem weird that at the beginning of a journey to make Christ our focus instead of ourselves, I would ask you to focus on how much YOU are loved. However I believe it is essential to being able to love Christ with all your heart. We can’t put him on the throne of our life if we don’t love Him wholeheartedly.

Psalm 18:19 says “He brought me into a spacious place; he rescued me because he delighted in me”.

God delights in you and wants to rescue you from whatever is consuming your focus in life right now. He knows that the only thing worth focusing on is Him and when we are able to do so the problems of this life fade. They don’t go away, but our perspective on them changes. We begin to see God’s reality instead of the world’s reality.

I ask each of you as we begin this journey to do some deep soul-searching and ask yourself this question. Do you really know how much the Lord loves you? Not because of who or what you are, but because of who He is. Meditate on 1 John 4:19. Ask God to reveal to you what this means, then be still and listen for His voice to answer you.

Click here for a link to the David Crowder Band page. There you can listen to the song, “How He Loves Us." I encourage you to find a quiet place to settle yourselves and listen to this song. Close your eyes, turn up the volume and let the words of this song wash over you and sink deep. He IS jealous for you and your love, you are His Beloved!

30 Day Journey - Update 1

Today is Day 2 of the 30 Days - Mind of Christ journey over at SUM.  If you have not already visited over there, I encourage you to take a look.  I believe this journey is going to be life changing for many, myself included.

I've been praying for this series now ever since Lynn shared with me what the Lord had laid on her heart and she asked me to join in this journey.  Friday the journey began and I found myself staying home from work and sleeping for most of the day due to being sick.  And today once again I found myself laid up in bed for the majority of the day.  What a way to start a series!  But I'm choosing to look at this as a blessing.  I've let myself get worn down lately and this illness has forced me into a much needed rest.

I'm also taking this as a good example as to why we need to put Jesus on the throne of our lives.  We can NOT do everything we want or even need to do on our own strength.  We must learn to lean on Jesus for the strength to do what He has called us to do, each and every day.

Thank you Lord for this reminder at the beginning of this journey.

30 Days - The Mind of Christ

A blog that I find very dear to my heart and has been a great blessing over the past couple years to me is starting what I believe is going to be an amazing journey tomorrow.  Over the next 30 days we are going to explore how to put Christ on the throne of your life.  Spiritually Unequal Marriage (SUM) is hosting this "experiment".  Please consider joining us in this journey.  It is not just for those who are unequally yoked, although some of the experiences shared will be related to this.

To read more about this please take a look at Lynn's first post introducing this journey

30 Days - The Mind of Christ

Then scroll through the other posts made by Lynn and Dineen leading up to the kickoff which will happen tomorrow, Friday, October 2nd.

I pray you will join us and run after having a mind and heart after Christ.

P.S. I have been asked to be a guest contributor on Monday's through this journey.  My first post will appear on Monday, October 5th.