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).
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!
God is 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. And He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light (Matthew 17:2). What was inside of Him burst forth!
We live from the inside out. Our outward behavior is but a reflection of what we are inside. Prior to the New Birth, our unrenewed, sin-nature dominated soul (our mind, emotions, and will) ruled us. Self-centered living characterized how we did life. We lived to please ourselves first.
When we become new creatures in Christ, the Father desires that we learn to live from our spirit nature. This is the part of us that is radically changed. It’s the part that has passed from death into life. It’s the part of us that is God centered and not self-centered. Our spirit nature is the part of us where the Love of God is deposited (Romans 5:5). We really do have the ability to do life differently, from the inside out.
Paul travailed for the believers in Galatia until Christ was formed in them. My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you (Galatians 4:19). This word formed here means to change the outward to reveal the inward. Travailing prayer helps bring this change about.
Since praying in other tongues is praying from your spirit, it can also be a catalyst to move this new nature in your spirit to the forefront in your life. Notice Romans 8:26-28: Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. (27) Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God. (28) And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. We often take verse 28 out of its setting by quoting it alone. Notice that verse 28 starts with the conjunction and, which joins it to the preceding verses. All things work together for good because the believer is praying the will of God into manifestation!
In Romans 12 we’re encouraged not to allow the world to squeeze us into its mould. Don’t let the world around you squeeze you into its own mould, but let God re-mould your minds from within, so that you may prove in practice that the plan of God for you is good, meets all his demands and moves towards the goal of true maturity (Romans 12:2 - JB Phillips Translation). We are not to allow outward things to shape us. It’s the renewing of the mind with the Word and learning to live from the spirit and not the soul that causes a metamorphosis, a change from with, to take place in our lives.
Allow the seed that the Father has placed in you to germinate today. Take time to feed on God’s Word. Let the Word find a home in you! Let it dwell in you richly. This new Divine nature develops and grows when the Word comes alive in you. As His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. (2 Peter 1:3-4). Water that Word 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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