In order to walk in the spirit there are some things in us that will have to change. As we grow spiritually we will notice a change in how we respond to circumstances and people. We all start out responding or reacting wrongly, it is part of our self- life or conditioning. But as we learn to stay full of the Spirit and walk in the Spirit we respond to things in the spirit and not in self.
There will be times when we lose our spiritual condition and lapses in our spiritual connection in which our ego takes over. We find moments when our thinking is not being directed by God, and our emotions are troubled. But through the leading of the Spirit we start responding according to the word of God in the things we say, and we take the next right step in the things we do.
As we grow spiritually we are able to maintain a conscious contact with God, where our thinking is directed by the Spirit but we still find that in our subconscious thoughts keep coming to mind that will pass in time. We have no direct control over our subconscious mind, but that level of thinking does not have the power it use to have over us because we learn how to displace those thoughts in our conscious mind.
In order to walk with God, we have to be aware of Him. We walk according to the intuition of our spirit, what the Lord would have us do with our time, and acknowledge him in the things we do and say. But if He is not in our conscious thought during the day we can get into a rut or routine.
The dangerous thing about just going through the motions is that we can get into a rut. When we are in a rut, the potential of growth and change-disappears. We then need to stir ourselves up in our spirit, and get out of the rut and get ready for change. How do we change?
Circumstances—a sudden prosperity or a sudden devastation—can bring change because we are forced to reach into God for our response. Otherwise, withdrawal or bitterness may slip in.
The natural mind thinks that if we can just change our circumstances we will be happy.
Our soul does not change by changing our circumstances or through some kind of self-discipline. Until we have a walk in the spirit, we can suppress one area of the flesh, only to see it spring up and express itself in another way. If the flesh is suppressed in one way, it will express itself in another.
Getting rid of addictions and bad habits opens up space in us for spiritual growth, but until we die to self, the changes will only be superficial because until we get to the root, the fruit of the self-life will just manifest in a different way.
What we need is a change in our soul so that we can enter into spiritual things and start receiving revelation of where God is leading us.
Change comes from exposure to God, not discipline of the self.
Why was Moses on the mountain for so long, he was not just up there for forty days to get Ten Commandments?
The cry of his heart was show me your glory, so the Lord put him in a little cleft of the rock and the glory of God passed by and he saw the back of God.
Exodus 33: 18And he said, I beseech thee, shew me thy glory. 19 And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy. 20 And he said, Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live. 21 And the LORD said, Behold, there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock: 22 And it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a clift of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by: 23 And I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back parts: but my face shall not be seen.
When he came down from the mountain he was changed. He even looked different; his face had a glow on it.
What Moses saw on the mountain cannot compare with what God has prepared for us. The glory Moses experienced faded away.
A revelation of the Lord 2
II Corinthians 3: 18But we all, with open (to unveil or uncover (by drawing back a veil), face (pros, “towards,” ops, “an eye,” lit., “the part round the eye, the face,” in a secondary sense “the look, the countenance,” it came to signify the presentation of the whole person beholding as in a glass (continuous action, passive- middle, to show in a mirror, to make to reflect, to see reflected, released-sent out through the word or presence) the glory (what He essentially is and does) of the Lord, are changed (occurring now, 1-denoting change of place or condition 2-to form, to change into another form, to transform, to transfigure, it is a change of life form-from a natural life form into a spiritual life form, convert one form of energy to another) into the same image (root-to be like, denotes “an image;” the word involves the two ideas of representation and manifestation)from glory (essence-“identifying nature-the quality or nature of something that identifies it or makes it what it is” of God) to glory (what Jesus is), even as (just as) by (of separation, of origin- of the place where the change takes place)the Spirit of the Lord.
If we really are exposed to a living word, or a revelation of the Lord Himself, change comes to us. This is called impartation. More than words are conveyed to us through impartation; something of God Himself comes through.
The changes will come because we press in to a greater revelation of the Lord.
If we are struggling with something, we have to break our focus on it. The revelation of the Lord’s nature and righteousness is what changes us; all the revelation of sin does is produce something negative in us.
We need to avoid the negativity as much as possible. We change by exposure to God. The repentance that comes from exposure to God is better than thousands of sermons against sin. Isaiah saw the lord sitting on a throne and said woe is me. The revelation of the lord reveals where we have fallen short. But without a revelation of the lord we do not change.
The approach of all preaching should be to exalt the Lord first, not to preach against sin. The first thing that must come is a revelation of the Lord, and in the light of that we’ll see our need.
The religious person never breaks through to something real from God, because they never see the lord in such a way that brings change, what they see is their own need.
The people in the world already know their need, what they need is to have their eyes open to see the Lord.
We don’t so much change through introspection or through discipline or rules and regulations of religion. We change because we’re exposed to something real from God.
Seeing the lord is not a mental exercise; it’s something our spirit has to be open to. When the lord reveals something to us, we experience His love for us in the revelation, we realize when God becomes real to us through revelation, that He loves us because He is letting us see something through His eyes.
Change is the opening of our spiritual eyes which is the impartation of God’s faith. What we do is respond to the desire in our heart that God has put there so that the cry of our heart is for God to reveal Himself to us.
If we have never had a revelation of the lord, in which He becomes real to us, we need to start voicing this every day with an increasing intensity. Lord- Show me your glory, I want to know you and walk with you, I want you to be more real in my life! When we seek Him with intensity in our heart we find him.
We have to learn how to be focused in our spirit upon the Lord. He has to reveal Himself to us, and he will reveal a part of his nature to us. When we see a certain aspect of his nature, we change. We know part of His nature is imparted to us. We don’t know the Lord all at once; our soul is transformed as we experience an aspect of his nature in our spirit.
The love of God comes to us because God is revealed to us in His love. And because His love and His nature become so real to us, we change.
We need to keep seeking, asking and knocking, and start confessing with our mouth for the Lord to reveal Himself to us and He will.
Change only occurs as we are exposed (to set forth to view, to exhibit, to display to show, to uncover and make visible) to God and if we learn to practice His presence and constantly sense Him. We are in the time of His presence; the barriers of not feeling and sensing His presence disappear when we start to believe He is near, He is right here. His word says draw near unto me and I will draw near to you. When our spirit accepts the word, then the manifestation occurs. Every time we draw near to God His word says He draws near to us.
We need to say, “Lord, help me because I want the walls of unawareness to come down. I don’t want to be unaware of you. I want to sense your presence. I want you to walk with me and to talk with me. I want to be aware of you all the time.”
We can live constantly in a spiritual state of awareness of the Lord and not have to live from one experience to another. We should all be constantly aware of Him. Walking with God should not be a few experiences, constantly blowing hot, and then cold. It should be the maintaining of an awareness and spiritual reality that we live in all the time.