The Transformation

If you have gotten this far in reading this book, then it is obvious you are seeking a complete revelation, as it relates to your spiritual and even natural state of being. I praise God for you. I trust the Lord will bring clarity and a quenching of your thirst for righteousness. I have tried desperately to convince you that a sinless life here on earth is possible. I know that this is not a popular view, but it is the one the scriptures proclaim. Even so, in order for me to successfully make my point, I must deal with what seems to be the opposition that negates my knowledge in this mystery.

The Questions . . .

1. “If we are created holy and complete in Christ, then why do I still have these desires and emotions that plague my mind daily?”

2. “If I have the mind of Christ, then why do I crave the things of the world?”

Beloved, these are fair and honest questions. You need not be ashamed to have asked them in your heart. The questions themselves speak to the fact that you are uncomfortable with longing for certain things. Your soul hungers and thirsts for the knowledge of God. It is that knowledge that will bring peace, joy and fulfillment in your walk with

God. The answers to these questions are simple. They are not hard. There are many sons of God whose eyes are not single.

Matthew 6:22-24

22 The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.

23 But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!

24 No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

Thinking creates desires and feelings. The moment we begin to look into the world for things or pleasures, we forsake the desires of the Spirit. When the soul desires to

experience things that are forbidden, it usurps authority over the body and instructs the fleshy mind to think on those things that are unlawful. This wrong thinking creates

lust and wantonness in the flesh. I need you to remember the principles of the previous chapters. I will keep them before you as we continue, for it is of a certainty that all that follows must be built upon the foundation already laid.

1. You have been reborn into the family of God, thus you are the partaker of the divine nature.

2. The body of sin has been destroyed through the circumcision of the flesh.

3. Restoration has come. As Adam was before the fall, you are sanctified; body, soul and spirit. But you are even better than Adam was; you are divine in

nature and the enemy cannot live in you again as he lived in Adam. Your body is now the temple of the Holy Ghost.

4. You are a free moral agent. Your slate is clean. You can choose whom you will serve: sin unto death or righteousness unto life eternal.

5. You can grow into the fullness of the stature of the man, Jesus Christ. There are no captivities that can hinder you.

6. You must learn Christ. These are the facts. You have been made free and clean. But you were born a babe that must grow up into the stature of a man.

But ye have not so learned Christ; If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus: That ye put off concerning the former

conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; And that ye put on the new man, which after God is

created in righteousness and true holiness (Eph 4:20-24). This in no way implies a lack in anything but knowledge. A healthy child is born with all its faculties, but he must be taught how to use them. The same is true for the Sons of God. For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil (Heb 5:12-14).

It is time for the Sons to hear a sure word; one that will cause them to grow in the knowledge of the power of that which has apprehended them. If only we could have heard the truth from the beginning, and had not been poisoned by mixed manna and false doctrines that were poured into the Body like syrup on a stack of pancakes. The poison was sweet and the label on the bottle read prosperity. It would have been so much easier to grasp the truth, if we had not been indoctrinated with the Lie first. Nevertheless, we are here and the voice of the Chief Shepherd is about to be heard around the globe. He will speak to His own first, and then to all who desire Him.

As theologians, it is important that we are careful to keep all script within the context in which they were written. To do otherwise is a reckless endangerment to the spiritual well-

being of the Body. The doctrine of perfection through the life of Christ is founded on the revelation of the mystery that was hidden in God, but is now being revealed to His

apostles and latter-day prophets. Right here I must remind you of the criteria for this study. You must believe on Him the way the scripture has said. Belief is an action word and the action in believing God is to agree. You must agree with that which you learn to be the truth. There can be no spiritual growth or liberation from mental torment without agreement with God. In fact, if you do not agree with God’s purpose and His methods of obtaining that purpose, then you will surely perish. The solution to all your problems is to agree with God. Agree with what God has to say about any subject, and I guarantee you will experience the righteousness, joy and peace that comes with living in the Kingdom.

To transform means to change or make different. In our case it is for us to become a peculiar people, conformed to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ. For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another. But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost (Titus 3:3-5). Can it get any plainer than this? We were once disobedient, deceived by sin and served pleasures. However, the new birth changed our spiritual disposition. The issue is how that change was effected. In the washing of regeneration, there was a sanctification of the body, soul and spirit and a renewing by the Holy Ghost.

Therefore, it is possible for you to be perfect in character; not fashioned like the world, but transformed, changed or made different, by the renewing or influence of the Holy Ghost. That is the only way you can live here on earth among a sinful generation but yet prove what is the good, acceptable and perfect will of God (Rom 12:2). The soul is the spirit of the mind, the heart, the inner man and the spirit of the flesh. Our soul lives in the Holy Ghost who lives within us. His influence is shed abroad in our hearts (Rom 5:5). You now have the mind of Christ. This is the renewing of your mind. God did it. He gave you the mind of the Holy Ghost. He knows that which is acceptable unto God and will never compromise or become deficient. Finally beloved, “If we live in the Spirit, then we ought to also walk in the Spirit.” This is the charge given in Gal. 5:24-25. In Christ (the Holy Ghost), we live, move and have our being. I submit to you that it is impossible to walk in the Spirit and not have the emotions, desires and purpose of the Spirit. Therefore, any feelings other than that of the Holy Ghost are simply manifestations that you are walking in the flesh. Moreover, please let us not complicate this matter by making it seem like some great mysterious thing to actually walk in the Spirit. To do so is to simply agree with God. If you indeed agree with Him, then you will obey Him. It is as simple as that. Obedience to God is perfection. Obedience to God is a walk in the Spirit.

I am a witness that agreement and obedience take the struggle out of living holy. However, take note here that I said agreement and obedience. This is an important point; for it is possible to obey God without being in agreement with Him. Scripture addresses this issue.

Romans 6:17

But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.

Obedience to God must be an act of submission of the heart. It must be without controversy or torment of the soul. There can be no transformation from the way of the world except there is agreement with God. Therefore, if you are experiencing unlawful desires, or emotions that gender ungodly character, then it is evident that you do not agree with what the Word has said about any and every issue. If this is the case, you will never please the Father and you will end up a castaway. Remember you are a free moral agent now. You are able to choose to obey or disobey the Father and His Christ. It is not hard to obey when you agree with what He speaks in His Word and stand ready to submit to do whatever He wants to do through your body.

I love you very much and I know you will feel the liberty of the Spirit, if you take heed to the counsel of this book. You will be a winner in the battle for the mind; for it is with the mind we serve the Lord. I guarantee you will win the ‘Thought War.’