It is most important for us to open our spirit to the Lord. Many people who have been Christians all their lives fail to understand this principle of change because it is a thing of spirit rather than of soul. People talk about winning souls, and that’s just about what they do: they win the person on the soul level rather than on the level of spirit.
God is a Spirit; and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. John 4:24. Coming to the Lord without our spirit open to Him is as difficult as a person standing on a river bank trying to talk with a fish in the water. There can be no communication for they are in two completely different environments.
When our spirit is open to the Lord we are communicating spirit to Spirit. When our spirit, created in the image of God, communicates with the Lord who is a Spirit, changes take place in our spirit by transference.
On the mountain Moses talked with God face to face; there was open communication through his open spirit. As we drink of the Lord, we are changed into the same image from glory to glory. God is communicable; He’s contagious. To the extent that we receive a revelation of the Lord, to that extent we change. The secret of our present and future potential is based on God communicating Himself by revelation.
When Moses returned from the mountain, the skin of his face shone. After seeing the glory of the Lord, his own face was so bright it had to be veiled before the people could look upon it. Imagine what could happen if God could communicate that way with us.
I John 3:1, 2Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God … and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that … we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. When God brings the full revelation of himself to us, we will all be changed, because we will see Him as he is. We will take on His qualities and His attributes in glory also in our physical nature.
God can do nothing with sin except kill it. That’s why Jesus had to die—to reconcile us to the Father—for He couldn’t look upon sin; the gulf was too great. But with our hearts right toward the Lord, He will look upon us, and we all, with an open face, will be changed into the same image from glory to glory (II Corinthians 3:18.)
To the extent that we open our heart to revelation, to God revealing himself to us, to that extent we are transformed. We can be transformed in no other way than by a direct revelation of God to our heart.
If we wait on the Lord and renew our strength, we will be changed. As we wait on the Lord, and there’s a revelation to our heart, although we may not be aware of it if it doesn’t reach our conscious mind, our spirit will be aware of it, and then we will begin to change.
In Galatians 1:15, 16 Paul said, “It pleased God who separated me from my mother’s womb, and called me to preach His gospel, to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the Gentiles.” we must reveal His Son, but only a revelation from God can work this change in us. That revelation of the Lord is to show through us.
If we attempt to reform, our efforts are only with the energy of the flesh. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; we can’t rise any higher than the source. But, that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. If the Holy Spirit is moving upon our heart, making Jesus real to us, we’ll change, and we’ll change forever because it’s a change in the Lord. This is the only way of real lasting change.
When we Open our heart and allow the Lord to bless us, we won’t be the same again. We can’t worship the Lord without a contemplation of Him, and to the degree He comes through to us in that moment of blessing, to the same degree we will be changed. There are many living witnesses of the fact that when you worship and expose yourself to the Lord, the changes take place.
The Spirit of the Lord transforms us into His image. Most people want to change, but they don’t understand the principles involved. Every New Year’s Day many resolutions are made, and almost as quickly broken. A leopard can no more change his spots or an Ethiopian the color of his skin than can you do good who are accustomed to do evil (Jeremiah 13:23).
Jesus said to Peter, Thou art Peter and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Verse 18b. “Peter” means a little stone, and the word “rock” implies a big foundation rock. Jesus was saying, “Upon this foundation rock,” referring back to the revelation Peter had of Him. The church is built upon the revelation of the Lord, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. The gates of hell will not prevail against the people of the Lord who are built on a revelation from the Lord.
We have to open our heart and let the Lord bless us and reveal Himself to us. In a church where the preacher lacks the anointing of the Holy Spirit and the word isn’t coming through from the Lord, people miss the blessing and may begin to backslide. They may be persuaded to believe his message, but it is not a revelation of the Lord to their heart.
Even reading the Scriptures can be a dead ritual, a religious exercise that will profit little if not read correctly. When you read the Scriptures, we look for one thing: to see the Lord.
Jesus said to the Jews; Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. John 5:39. The Jews were so engrossed with their Scriptures that they failed to realize the Scriptures were testifying and revealing Jesus. They failed to see Jesus and consequently they missed the salvation they were looking for.
The Lord Jesus Christ is presented in every one of the books of the Bible. We need to start reading for a revelation of Christ, and the Holy Spirit will reveal it to us. we will grow because we’re feeding on Christ. Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. Matthew 4:4. When God brings a word and makes Jesus real to us, then we will grow .
Why was Paul one of the most steadfast men in the Bible? He received a revelation of the Lord while on the way to Damascus (Acts 9:3, 4). He was blind for three days until a prophet healed him. Straightway he was preaching that Jesus was the Christ. What had changed him so much? He had a revelation. Years later, scarred from beatings and much suffering, he wrote, “I bear on my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.” He stood up before a Roman official and testified, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision (Acts 26:19). The revelation of the Lord sustained him, and that’s what will sustain us too.
The more revelation we have of the Lord, the more steadfast we will be, for that revelation of the Lord to our heart transforms us. The preaching of the Word conveys Christ. In the book of Acts we read, “They preached Jesus to them.” It does not say that they preached about Jesus, or about the Scriptures. They spoke the Word of God. They preached Jesus to them. They actually communicated a revelation of the Lord. Paul said, “I was with you, not with enticing words and man’s wisdom, but in meekness and trembling, that your faith may not stand in the wisdom of man but in the power of God” (I Corinthians 2:3–5). He didn’t bring a sermon based on a Scripture. He brought a revelation of Jesus.
When the living word is brought and the Lord is exalted, we are transformed just by listening to it. It’s not a long process of deciding to do better in various areas of our life. It commences the moment the word becomes a revelation to us, the minute we hear it. As the Lord blesses and reveals Himself to us, something permanent happens.