There is a harvest of righteousness that is waiting for those, who are standing firmly on the promises of God. The believers in Christ Jesus like these do know for certain, that God will do exactly what He says He will do for them. God’s blessing awaits them as they set their faces steadfastly on His promises (Matthew 5:6).
The reality of who they are in Christ Jesus is transforming them to be just like Jesus. While on the other hand the world around them is struggling to get out of the various entanglements within its corrupt system, but these ones are actually experiencing a spiritual transformation in their personal lives. A spiritual transformation that’s affecting their personal relationship with Jesus, in the midst of the uncertainties that others around them are facing every day.
To be transformed into being like Jesus requires the discipline of the spirit, the soul and the body on their part. They are sacrificing many things in this world so as to achieve this objective in the Christian life. Without a willingness of the heart to be disciplined, this transformation is unattainable.
The scripture says:
“Now all discipline seems to be more pain than pleasure at the time, yet later it will produce a transformation of character, bringing a harvest of righteousness and peace to those who yield to it.”
Hebrews 12:11 TPT
The character of Christ Jesus has to evolve in every child of God who desires to see Him face to face. That’s what the trials, troubles and the discipling of the Lord are meant to produce in our lives as His children. God disciplines every child that He loves.
This is how the true children of God knows that they are not bastards. They do know that they are the legitimate children of their loving Heavenly Father, because there is the longing within them to be like Jesus. God’s watchful eyes are never off His children in the midst of their troubles and trials. He sees them and carries them through each one of them.
The Christian discipline is what positions and establishes us before God. In this manner these ones are experiencing the love of God in a unique way. The Father’s love towards His own children who are being disciplined by Him, cannot be measured by any human standard. It’s unparallel, unfathomable and unmeasurable. The loving kindness of God opens the floodgate of Heaven’s goodness into their lives.
It’s spiritually toxic to be like the world.
The process of transformation can be brutal; but the end result is always glorious. At the end of it you will come to realize that it’s worthwhile to have gone through it.
It’s like the experience of a pregnant woman in labor pain. She travails in pain for the delivery of her baby. The childbirth pangs may be though for her to bear; but as soon as she hears the cry of her baby, and she’s able to hold her baby with her hands; she forgets about the pain that she went through. The joy of hearing the cry, seeing and holding her baby overrules the agony and suffering of giving birth.
God disciplines His children, because He wants to give birth to great things in their lives. That’s why the process is worth it. Godly discipline will transform anyone who will yield wholeheartedly to it. Those who are resisting the discipline of the Lord will end up suffering like the ungodly.
The Bible advises us to:
“Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? If you are not disciplined—and everyone undergoes discipline—then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all.”
Hebrews 12:7-8 NIV
Those who are rejecting the discipline of the Lord are suffering the rejection of a loving Father, who desires to shower His love over them. There are a lot of Christians today who are suffering in this way like the ungodly. You can barely differentiate them from the unsaved.
They are indeed saved, but because of their own personal decision to reject godly discipline, it’s difficult to separate them from the people of the world. They are living like the ungodly in the world. They talk like the world; but will still show up in the assemblies of the righteous. Don’t be fooled by them. They have chosen to live with the consequences of their own disobedience, instead of the blessing which follows every act of obedience to God.
They have forgotten that our Father in Heaven can’t bless stupidity (Proverbs 12:1). You can’t be living contrary to God’s word and the conditions that goes with each of His promises, and still expect Him to bless you. It’s impossible to be declaring God’s promises about the blessing every day, whereas in reality you are not living in accordance with the conditions that goes with those promises.
This is why many are never growing up into spiritual maturity within the Body of Christ. They’ve set up their own standard of godliness, without any regard to what the Bible says about it. They are setting up a Christian living standard for themselves to fit into the system of their world, instead of applying God’s standard as written in His word to transform their world through them.
In the stupidity of their hearts, they are thinking that, by lowering God’s standard to their own level, they will be able to reach out more effectively to the unsaved. Unfortunately for them it has never worked that way, because God never designed people to be saved by human standards.
That’s why no denomination or Church can save anyone. God’s word sets the standard for salvation. Neither will any human methodology for salvation ever work, because God’s way of doing the works of His Kingdom will always trump man’s methods.
Some have even gone to the extent of embracing the spirit of entertainment from the world, instead of the Bible; in their cynical attempt to appease the ungodly.
Unfortunately, they do not realize that God is not in the business of appeasing sinners. He is saving them by the hearing of His word. But these ones have watered down the gospel of Jesus Christ to the level of the world’s system. They are thereby depriving many of the power of God to save, to heal and to deliver.
Whereas the Lord God had said:
“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord.
“For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways,
And My thoughts than your thoughts”.
Isaiah 55:8-9 NKJV
It’s foolishness to try to bring God’s ways down to the level of the ungodly in the world. God had already done that. Jesus came down from heaven for that very purpose. There is no other way to be saved apart from the way, that Jesus had established for us on the earth for us to follow. And it’s very easy to follow in His way. All you have to do is keep on doing exactly what He says.
God’s way of thinking and His way of doing things are different from our own ways. You can’t ever be smarter than God, even if you think that you are smart. It’s only a fool in the world who thinks that way. But when we align ourselves with God’s way and method as revealed in the scriptures, we are being positioned into being glorified with Jesus.
Sinners may come to be entertained in the Church because of the music, rather than to be transformed into the image of Christ. That’s why they are not experiencing a deep-rooted conviction of their sins for them to be saved, because their attitude is not right towards the gospel of Jesus Christ.
A Church that is conformed to the world’s system, is often not seriously committed to prayer and intercession, which is the only solid foundation that can ever be laid for any victorious Church. Prayer and intercession are the foundation of everything, that Jesus did and accomplished on the earth to save us. He started His life on the earth with prayer and ended it on the cross with prayer, and not entertainment.
His crucifixion on the cross was not for entertainment purpose. It was the real deal of God with all human beings for our salvation.
God can’t be fooled. Neither can He ever be mocked. Some will end up lying down on their own beds, just as they are making it. It’s the standard that they are setting up for themselves, as the spiritual gauge for their lives; that they will eventually be judge with.
As the Bible says:
“They have forsaken the right way (of God) and gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness;”
II Peter 2:15 NKJV
And it’s so easy to be unrighteous. All you have to do is to quit obeying the holy scriptures and set up your own standard for being a Christian to fit into the standard of this unsaved world. And that’s exactly what those with little understanding of the ways of God are doing.
Beware of the world’s system.
God will not give His blessing to a child, who has not been properly groomed by Him to carry it. He knows that the devil will tear up such a child with all types of temptations, until that child of God is eventually destroyed.
Being properly groomed for the Lord’s blessing, therefore requires going through the process of transformation with biblical discipline. If you’re not disciplined in the word of God, you can’t be transformed to be like Jesus. And you can’t go through the transformation process, if your heart is not committed to it till the end.
There are many Christians who are not even seeking to be transformed at all into the image of Christ. They think that it will be too much for them to do. They think that it is an extreme form of Christianity. And that’s exactly why they are just living in their sinful past, without any genuine transformation of their hearts towards God.
What they are really saying with that type of attitude is that, since Jesus had done everything for them, there is therefore nothing else that they need to do; apart from being the person they had always been before meeting Jesus. They’re of the opinion, that they don’t need to give back to God the love that He had given them.
They want to keep holding on to the garbage of their past lives while following Jesus. This is why Christianity has become a burden for them. They’ve distance themselves away from living a Christ centered lifestyle, because they want to cling on to the world and its corrupt system. They prefer to worship God from afar, rather than getting intimate with Him.
They are not different from the Israelites in the wilderness. The scriptures say concerning them:
“Now all the people witnessed the thundering, the lightning flashes, the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking; and when the people saw it, they trembled and stood afar off. Then they said to Moses, “You speak with us, and we will hear; but let not God speak with us, lest we die.”
Exodus 20:18-19 NKJV
Apparently, the devil has crippled their faith for anything that’s from God with the fear of the unknown. The sinful garbage of their past lives is much more precious to them, than the love that Jesus came to manifest on the earth for them. They have become a fraud to themselves with the deceitfulness of their own hearts.
The spiritual fruit of their salvation is not being allowed to manifest in their lives by their own personal design. They often do get excited about the word of God, when they hear it being preached.
But excitement alone cannot bring transformation into the life of a Christian. You can be excited about what you hear in Church, with the crowd all around you cheering. But the reality of the Christian life and what was exciting to you comes, when you’re alone in the midst of your trial, test or life’s trouble.
The truth and the bottom line of the matter is that these ones are actually not prepared to make any sacrifice, so as to live by the standard of the word of God which is exciting to them. The word of God may be exciting to you, but are you conforming your lifestyle to the message that excited you?
The feeling of excitement may give you goosebumps. But are you really interested about leaving your old lifestyle of sin behind, for the new life in Christ Jesus? This is why many of them are often leaving the presence of God unchanged by the word, that they had heard preached or taught before them, because they love the world more than they actually do love Jesus.
It’s a good feeling to be associated with the people of God. It’s what gives them a false illusion, that they are protected from the enemy. Whereas the devil himself knows those who are really committed to Christ, and those who are just playing their own silly games around the anointing of God.
Biblical meditation will transform you.
We however do know that it’s the entrance of God’s word to the heart, through the process of meditation that brings transformation to the spirit, soul and body. That’s why it’s important to be disciplined in the word of God for your spiritual growth.
Meditation here implies that we’re pondering and thinking about something which has captured our attention in the Bible. Meditation on the promises of God means that, you are pondering and thinking about all that God had done for you in Christ Jesus, so as to bring you His word of healing as an example.
It’s what will cause your mouth to be filled with the good things of life – the promises of God to you (Psalms 103:1-5). This is how your heart will begin to be filled to the overflow with thanksgiving to God. The overflow of thanksgiving to God from your heart through meditation, will then begin to come out of your mouth about your healing, instead of the noise and complaint about the pain or the negative effects of your pain medications.
The good things of life are in the promises of God comes to you from the closet of your meditation. It will run from your heart to your mouth with thanksgiving to God. Real biblical meditation will prompt you to open your mouth with thanksgiving to God, even when the pain is so unbearable for you. It will cause you to stop paying attention to the pain, and every evil report about sickness diagnosis.
You will stop complaining about the medication that is not working for you. You will begin to thank God for your healing, until it manifests physically in your body. Thanksgiving to God will cause your healing to be released. Meditation on the promises of God from the scriptures will build up your faith in God as the Healer.
This is how your spiritual growth will begin to transform you into a new man in Christ Jesus. A Christian who is not being groomed for spiritual growth by God’s word through meditation, can’t be effective in spiritual warfare at all. That’s why many have fallen from grace and are no more walking and living by faith today. They have decided to cling to the world’s system for their healing and deliverance, instead of falling deeper in love with Jesus.
Transform your world for Jesus.
The Apostle Paul gave us this advice in the scriptures:
“And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”
Romans 12:2 NKJV
It’s the adaptiveness of the word of God to the level of our world’s system, that is destroying the faith of many in the Body of Christ today. They had brought God’s word to the level of their own worldview. That’s why there is no power in the gospel that’s exciting to them in transforming them.
Jesus never told us to conform to the standard of the world. He told us to go and preach His gospel message – period. It’s not up to us to bring conviction of sin to the sinner. This what the Holy Spirit does through the preaching of the gospel, when it’s not being conformed to the world’s system, so as to appease the world.
God’s word is not meant to work in the system of this world, even though it can transform the system itself. God’s word will change the world, even though His word never changes with the message of Christ.
This is because God’s word is Spirit and life (John 6:63). It works to transform the spiritual atmosphere that controls the world’s system, so as to bring it into conformity with the way that God had created the world.
The devil is the one who is manipulating the world, because his plan is to destroy it, and everything that God has created within it. But it’s the responsibility of every believer in Christ Jesus to ensure that, the vacuum that’s in the world is being filled up with faith-based words, in order to stop the devil, and bring God’s power to transform the world.
As an example, you may fast and pray to change any nation. But the believer in Christ has the responsibility to get out and vote during an election, so as to affirm what they had changed in the realm of the spirit through fasting and prayer. The voting system had been placed on the earth by God, for us to bring His ordained authority on the earth into manifestation. It’s the tool of heaven on the earth to bring change to the system of the world.
But the devil can manipulate the voting system itself, by preventing the children of God from voting. He can also manipulate the system by rigging an election.
These are ways by which the devil can manipulate the world’s system, so as to hinder the will of the Father on the earth. That’s why your obedience to God after fasting and praying is not completed, until you do your own part by voting.
It’s what God expects you to do. In the same manner not voting at all as a child of God, automatically gives your vote to the devil. He wins and will succeed in silencing your voice as a Christian, if you don’t vote.
In the same manner also you don’t get married, by just praying and fasting for a spouse. You have the responsibility to open your physical eyes wide, as you are being attentive to the spirit of God to help you in making the wise choice of a spouse.
Prayer and fasting won’t bring you a spouse. Prayer and fasting are meant to help you not to be guided by the desires of your flesh, in making wise decisions in your relationship with the world around you.
It’s the word of God which brings transformation into your life through meditation, that will cause you to be fruitful as a child of God. You can’t afford not to be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
God is speaking to you now. Open up your heart and listen, to hear and receive His word to you. Let His word bring transformation into your life. Don’t get yourself so entangled with the world, to the extent that the people of the world, sees no difference between you and them.
This is why the character of Christ must be built up in the lives of Bible believers, so as to be able to carry the weight of God’s glory into the unsaved world, so as to change it.
There are a lot of Christians who are struggling to carry the glory of God in their lives. This is because they do not yet realize that His glory is never meant to be a burden to them. God’s glory is His blessing in your life, and it’s not meant to be a burden to you.
Let integrity protect God’s word in you.
Finally, your faithfulness to God is measured by the level of integrity in God’s word within your heart. Integrity here is the state of being whole and undivided, in your approach to the standard of God’s word in your life.
It is meant to protect the harvest of righteousness in your life as a believer in Christ Jesus. It’s what will cause the Christian character in you to be steady, even when the people of the world around you aren’t. Integrity will protect you from the world and the schemes of the devil.
Integrity at heart will get you to be focused and unshakable, when others around you are yielding to the temptations and changes in the world around them. Integrity will cause you to be established in the word of God and His promises for your life. It’s what will make you to be strong in the midst of the troubles and trials of your faith, so that you may become qualified for the price waiting for you at the end.
The Bible says:
“He who walks with integrity walks securely, but he who perverts his ways will become known.”
Proverbs 10:9 NKJV
A Christian who compromises God’s word for the standard of the world is a perverted Christian. He is never secured in God’s word. He is compromised. He’s the Christian who will pervert God’s word so as to be conformed to the world’s system with his practice of the Christian life. And according to the above scripture text he will be exposed for who he really is. God’s word will expose him for all to see.
But the Christian who is walking in integrity at heart, is secured with God and with His word. He is not like the pervert who trusts in the world’s corrupt system, more than he trusts in God. That’s why the pervert should never expect God, to respond to his cry in the day of trouble.
The Apostle Paul advised us about how to be secured with God, in the midst of troubles and trials when he said:
“So be made strong even in your weakness by lifting up your tired hands in prayer and worship. And strengthen your weak knees, for as you keep walking forward on God’s paths all your stumbling ways will be divinely healed!”
Hebrews 12:12-13 TPT
Praying in the spirit and the worshipping of God will give you strength in the time of weakness. This is how your thanksgiving to God will begin to take you higher with Him.
When you know that you are not standing firmly on God’s promises, that’s when you need to be praying more in the spirit to build up your holy faith (Jude verse 20).
When you are praying more in the spirit and worshipping God with thanksgiving, as you are getting focused on His promises, strength will begin to come to your spiritual weakness. If you’re about to give up, the Holy Spirit will begin to quicken you, by energizing your faith and reinvigorating whatever is about to crumble in your life (Romans 8:11).
You will never stumble or fail. You will succeed. You will overcome. Your strength comes through prayer, worship and thanksgiving in the presence of God.
Don’t ever be conformed to the world. You are living in the world, but you are not of the world. The world and its corrupt system can never build you up in Christ Jesus.
Begin today to meditate more on God’s promises. It will transform your spiritual life and make your faith in God more fruitful and productive.
