2 Cor 3:18 …are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. Process of change to display the glory – the manifest presence of God on earth as it is in heaven. We can choose to embrace and pursue the process of change – to maturity. Can’t stay babies, toddlers or infants.
Rom 12:1 Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.
Transformation = Metamorphosis. A complete change of form. Body-Soul-Spirit to Spirit-Soul-Body. Human being – spirit being – living being – godlike being.
Cocoon. Cloud. Wilderness. Crucible. Furnace. Situations, circumstances, relationships.
Where am I? Who am I? What am I? Why am I? When the cloud overshadows it is the Holy Spirit brooding. Don’t run from it; don’t criticize the environment. Pursue and embrace the transforming fire of God’s presence.
Psa 139:23 Search me thoroughly, O God, and know my heart; Try me and know my anxious thoughts; 24 And see if there be any hurtful way in me, And lead me in the everlasting way.
Zech 2:5 ‘For I,’ declares the Lord, ‘will be a wall of fire around her, and I will be the glory in her midst.’ Wall of fire. Glory in the midst.
Jude v24 Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy, Deal with stumbling blocks. God uses situations and circumstances to reveal them. Will we let Him deal with them?
Isa 40:3 A voice is calling, “ Clear the way for the Lord in the wilderness; Make smooth in the desert a highway for our God. 4 “Let every valley be lifted up, And every mountain and hill be made low; And let the rough ground become a plain, And the rugged terrain a broad valley; 5 Then the glory of the Lord will be revealed, And all flesh will see it together; For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
Wilderness – understand its purpose. Place of testing. Place of preparation. Place of hearing. Place of calling. Be willing to face and embrace the wilderness.
Exod 14:11 Then they said to Moses, “Is it because there were no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? Why have you dealt with us in this way, bringing us out of Egypt? 12 Is this not the word that we spoke to you in Egypt, saying, ‘Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.”13 But Moses said to the people, “Do not fear! Stand by and see the salvation of the Lord which He will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you will never see them again forever. 14 The Lord will fight for you while you keep silent.”
We have come out of Egypt, but has Egypt come out of us? Are you prepared to die in the wilderness? Would you rather serve the old masters of sin? Are you fearful of transformation?
The wilderness is a place of separation to deal with our souls. Moses left Egypt to deal with Egypt in him. Wilderness is place of calling. Moses and the burning bush. Place of preparation for our calling. Israel died to unbelief. Place of testing and overcoming – Jesus’ temptations.
It is God who leads us into the wilderness – testing, equipping. Abraham, Moses, children of Israel, David, Elijah. John the Baptist. Jesus. Paul.
Prepare us to live in the promised land of our inheritance. Learn to fight. Learn to overcome. Learn to be obedient. Learn to trust God’s provision. Learn to possess our inheritance.
Matt 4:4 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. Jesus faced the same temptations as Adam and Eve. 1 John 2:16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.
Wilderness – few people. Aloneness – face real issues. Confinement – no distractions. Inconvenient – uncomfortable. Inhospitable surroundings. God gives messages that form our lives.
Get ready, for the Lord of Glory is coming. Prepare the way of the Lord. Forerunners – prepare the way. Moses – Joshua. Elijah – Elisha. John the Baptist – Jesus.
Isa 40:3 (Amp) A voice of one who cries: Prepare in the wilderness the way of the Lord [clear away the obstacles]; make straight and smooth in the desert a highway for our God! 4 Every valley shall be lifted and filled up, and every mountain and hill shall be made low; and the crooked and uneven shall be made straight and level, and the rough places a plain. 5 And the glory (majesty and splendour) of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken it.
Matt 3:1 Now in those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, saying, 2 “ Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” 3 For this is the one referred to by Isaiah the prophet when he said, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Make ready the way of the Lord, Make His paths straight!”
Mark 9:12 And He said to them, “Elijah does first come and restore all things”.
Make our crooked ways straight – behavior. Fill valleys – low places – confidence. Inadequacies, insecurities, weaknesses. Mountains made low. Pride, personal agendas, ambitions, self-promotion, self-reliance, competitiveness.
Crooked or uneven. Ways of thinking and understanding. Snake – crooked. Sinful secrets and moral compromise.
Luke 3:7 …You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Snakes flee from fire.
Prov 3:5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. 6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight.
Act 13:10 …and said, “You who are full of all deceit and fraud, you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, will you not cease to make crooked the straight ways of the Lord?
Rough ground – a plain. Personality and character defects. Abrasive: Brother Rough and Sister Sandpaper. Rugged terrain – a broad valley. Changes in our attitudes, beliefs and actions. Alignment with the kingdom. Glory of the Lord can be revealed.
Isa 35:8 A highway will be there, a roadway, and it will be called the Highway of Holiness. The unclean will not travel on it, but it will be for him who walks that way. Righteousness is gifted to us so we can choose to be holy. The Highway of Holiness is built in our souls our hearts
I sought to unblock my soul gates – heart. For each year of my life, I tried to identify the causes of each soul gate being blocked. Ruthless, honest and open to the light. Identify by revelation – patterns of sin, weakness, hurts, mind-sets, character issues, behavioral fruit etc. Own it, confess it, repent, renounce, forgive. Blockages removed.
Conscience. Sin, deception, pride, independence, judgment, criticism, defensiveness. Imagination. Images, TV, films, books, fantasy, games, internet, magazines, real life trauma. Mind. Strongholds, words spoken, words received, curses, fear, false doctrine, lies.
Emotions. Rejection, disappointments, fear, unforgiveness, betrayal, vows.
Will. Sin, rebellion, stubbornness, control.
Rev 3:18 I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness will not be revealed; and eye salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see. 19 Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline; therefore be zealous and repent.
How do we buy? Present ourselves for transformation. Step into the presence of God through the pathway or veil of Jesus – through the cross. Access the realm of His kingdom.
Zech 3:1-7 we get new robes of righteousness – cleansed.
Father by faith, I choose to step into Your heavenly presence. I receive Your acceptance, love, mercy and grace. I stand in the victory of the cross, forgiven, justified and cleansed. I thank you that You clothe me in white robes of righteousness. I am the righteousness of God in Christ.
Father I choose to give You full permission to do whatever it takes to change me and transform me into the image of Jesus. I give you full permission to remove all stumbling blocks from me. I give you full permission to use whatever means you see fit to purify, refine and restore me to my original eternal condition.
Father, I choose to deny myself and I surrender control of my life to you. I give you my conscience. I repent of and renounce everything that has damaged my conscience. I ask you to purify and restore my conscience. Direct and protect me through my conscience by a flow of reverence and fear of the Lord.
I give you my reason center. I repent of and renounce doubt, unbelief, rationalism, skepticism, cynicism and denial. I ask you cleanse me of all false doctrine, philosophies and ideas. I ask you to renew and restore my reason. Use my reason to interpret your thoughts and understand your ways.
I give you my imagination. I repent and renounce of viewing any image that has polluted me. I ask you to blot out every negative image with the blood of Jesus. Purify and restore my imagination Restore my screen, vision and revelation.
I give you my heart, my sub-conscious mind. I repent of and renounce all strongholds, negative belief and value systems, vows, words, curses, doctrines, triggers, coping and defense mechanisms. I ask you to cleanse every negative memory. Purify, restore and reprogram my heart with your truth, values, and my destiny.
I give you my emotions. I repent and renounce all unforgiveness, bitterness and anger. I ask you to purify and restore my emotions. Use my emotions to feel your heart and guide me through intuition.
I give you, my will. I repent and renounce all sin, rebellion, stubbornness, willfulness, control, fear, doubt, unbelief and indecision. I ask you to purify and restore my will and restore courage, perseverance and boldness. Use my will to enable me to do your will through obedience and true worship.
Father, I surrender my spirit, soul and body to You. I declare that Jesus is Lord of the gates of my life. I step back into this realm readily available to do Your will and purposes. Manifest Your glory and presence in and through my life. Manifest Your Kingdom authority and power through me and around me.