Becoming the Man God's Future Requires

Good morning, sir!

Welcome to day eleven! I hope you're encouraged by your consistency! We're here together again to pursue a deeper relationship with the Holy Spirit. He is the One who transforms us!

Let's pray: “Lord, thank You for Your Holy Spirit! Draw my spirit into deeper union with You as I pause in Your presence. You are the Vine; I am the branch. Abiding in You makes me fruitful! Amen!

I’m still thinking about our communion scripture that Pastor Paul took us through, “Let this mind be in you.” Phil. 2:5   Without it, our thinking will naturally conform to this world (Rom. 12:2). But how do we receive the mind of Christ and actually live from it?

Humility is the path. Revelation is the light. Truth is the means. Grace makes it possible.

After fifty years of following Jesus, I've become increasingly convinced that everything begins with relationship.

God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world (Eph. 1:4). Think about that! His desire for relationship with us preceded our very existence!

Jesus came "full of grace and truth" (John 1:14). Not fifty percent grace and fifty percent truth, but completely full of both! Grace welcomes us into a relationship we could never earn. Truth exposes the lies, corruption, and self-deception that keep us from living in that relationship.

And humility says, "Lord, I want You more than I want to defend myself, justify myself, or remain unchanged!"

Jesus said that whoever does the truth comes to the light, where his deeds are revealed as having been done in God (John 3:21).

This is how we begin living from our new identity rather than struggling to manufacture new behavior.

I'm a new creation! I'm a son, not a hired servant! I belong to Him. And increasingly, I refuse to live like someone who doesn't belong, because that's no longer who I am!

Lord, I accept Your invitation to live in continual fellowship with You. Transform my thinking through Your grace and truth to be like the mind of Christ! Amen!