22 Transformation

I hope you have already anticipated the one point where this breaks down. The Holy Spirit cannot bring to remembrance truths and promises if I have not stored them up in my mind to begin with through study, memorization, and meditation. If I haven’t treasured God’s Word in my heart, then every time Satan comes in, I am going to be absolutely vulnerable to him.

This reality causes Christians who are weak in the Word to go down right and left. The Holy Spirit wants to help us, but we haven’t given Him the spiritual material to work with. Therefore, we become vulnerable and most often fall.

Let’s look again at the temptation of Jesus in Luke 4. Satan first moved in with a temptation of the body. He knew Jesus was hungry. He then moved on to two additional temptations. What was the response of Christ? He said “It is written . . .” each time. His weapon was the Word. Three times Jesus said what the Spirit immediately activated—the Word.

Our spirit through the Holy Spirit can bring to mind what we have laid up in our hearts. “I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.” However, when there is no word laid up in our hearts because of laziness, then we quench and grieve God’s Holy Spirit. Why? Because we haven’t taken up the armament needed in order to bring the protection in our life that God wants us to have.

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Spirit control will result in less and less conformity to the world. We have been learning that the old mind (the mind of the flesh) loves the things of the world. And every time we let it go, it’s going to immediately conform to the world. Therefore, we end up walking by the flesh.

Paul says in Romans 12:1, “I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.” Why should you do this? Because your body is the residence of your spirit, and your spirit is the residence of God’s Holy Spirit. Therefore, you’re His temple.

A friend of mine once said, “The problem with us living sacrifices is we keep crawling off the altar.” Paul is saying we’ve got to constantly stay on the altar. How do we do that? Look at the second verse: “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”

We have some options when it comes to the world, which the Bible says is in the hands of the evil one. We might conform to it. Or we could constantly fall into the folly of trying to reform in order to keep ourselves from conforming. Let me explain what this means.

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Every New Year, many people make New Year’s resolutions. In essence we’re trying to reform ourselves. These seem to last maybe two or three minutes after midnight! You get my point. Reformation is our attempt to clean ourselves up, and it cannot work. Humanity does not have the capacity to reform itself any more than a drowning man has the capacity to save himself. Reforming ourselves is what the Bible calls religion, and it is abhorrent to God.

The first attempt at religion was when Adam and Eve sewed fig leaves together. They had sinned, realized they were naked, and tried to cover themselves before God. Their son, Cain, took matters into his own hands as well. Instead of submitting to God, he killed his brother.

I like the way J. B. Phillips’ translation puts Romans 12:2: “Don’t let the world around you squeeze you into its own mold.” This is exactly the pressure we experience. We are constantly being bombarded in an attempt to squeeze us into the world’s mold.

Don’t be conformed to this world. Why not? If you’re conformed to this world, then what a pathetic, disappointed, and disillusioned person you’re going to be. The Bible said this whole world is going to pass away. If you have been conformed to it, you’re going to one day be standing before the Lord stark naked, spiritually speaking. Transformation—not conformation or reformation—is the hope of mankind. “Be transformed

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by the renewing of your mind.” Your mind is transformed if you do not conform or try to reform yourself.

Peace Peace

Next, spirit control will result in mental and emotional health. Let’s look at two passages in Psalms, starting with 32:1–5.

Blessed is the one whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the one whose sin the Lord does not count against them and in whose spirit is no deceit. When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy on me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer. Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord.” And you forgave the guilt of my sin.

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What does the Bible say here? Anytime we refuse to acknowledge our sin, our bodies will begin to literally punish us. This is called psychosomatic sickness. When your psyche is sick, your body will become sick as a result.

Here is another passage from Psalm 38:3–8 to demonstrate this further:

Because of your wrath there is no health in my body; there is no soundness in my bones because of my sin. My guilt has overwhelmed me like a burden too heavy to bear. My wounds fester and are loathsome because of my sinful folly. I am bowed down and brought very low; all day long I go about mourning. My back is filled with searing pain; there is no health in my body. I am feeble and utterly crushed;

I groan in anguish of heart.

This is a biblical definition of psychosomatic illness. When we have sinned and become disobedient and refuse to accept God’s forgiveness, then our sin can begin to manifest itself in illnesses. Some people in hospital beds today in America don’t have anything organically

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