Wednesday, June 20, 2007

From the Inside Out

For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren (Romans 8:29).

We are destined to change! The Father has placed His “seed” in us, and He wants that seed to germinate and produce from within us a godly character. His desire is that we become just like Jesus in the way we live.

In the above verse, the word conformed is from the Greek word summorphoo which means to bring to the same form with. Or to make it practical, this word means to take something on the inside and let it be seen on the outside! He’s in the process of changing us from the inside out. An example of this is in Matthew 17 when Jesus was transfigured and began to glow with a white light. What was inside of Him burst forth!

Behavior originates within. For a person to change there must be a catalyst on the inside to produce the change. When we are born again, the seed of the Word is deposited in us. The Father wants us to water that seed with the Word and prayer so that it will grow within us producing Christ likeness.

Paul travailed for the believers in Galatia until Christ was formed in them (Galatians 4:19). This word formed here means to change the outward to reveal the inward. Travailing prayer, praying in other tongues, helps bring this change about.

In Romans 12 we’re encouraged not to allow the world to squeeze us into its mold. We are not to allow outward things to shape us. It’s the renewing of the mind with the Word that causes a metamorphosis, a change from with, to take place.

Allow the seed that the Father has placed in you to germinate today. Take time to feed God’s Word. Let the Word find a home in you! Let it dwell in you richly. You become a partaker of the Divine nature when the Word abides in you (2 Peter 1:3-4). Water that seed by spending time waiting on the Lord in prayer.

Focus your thoughts on the God’s Word today. Set your mind on things above. As you do, the incorruptible seed will germinate and change you, from the inside out!

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