Your Spiritual Transformation is Personal

God’s grace shines brightest in our darkest trials.

God expects the progress of spiritual formation in the lives of His people. The Apostle Paul wrote, “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously, and godly in the present age…these things speak and exhort and reprove with all authority…” (Titus 2:11-12, 15). Paul’s prayers and expectations for the first century church reflect that desire clearly (Rom. 1:8-12; 1 Cor. 1:4-9; Eph. 4:17-23; Phil. 1:9-11; Col. 1:9-14; 1 Thess. 3+4; 2 Tim. 2:1-2, 15; Titus 2+3; Philemon 6). From these passages, an understanding of spiritual formation becomes clear.

Spiritual Formation is the process by which the believer’s faith and disciplines are progressively and eventually fully transformed as He brings the Word of God to bear in his life through reading and meditating on it (Ps. 119:105; Rom. 12:1-2) in a Divine/human cooperative. Doing so transforms him progressively into the image of Christ who is the express image of God (Heb. 1:3; Rom. 8:4, 7, 29; Cor. 3:18; 4:16; 1 John 3:2, Who delights fully in God, John 14:31). This is accomplished through full dependence on the grace of God secured by Jesus Christ and reinforced by the Father through the Holy Spirit at the start and throughout the believer's life (1 Cor. 2:10-13) as he wholly commits Himself in action and prayer to a life of holiness (1 Pet. 1:15-16) and acknowledgement (Prov. 3:5-6), which has been given and expected by the sovereign Lord (Phil. 4:6-7).

This 8-module plan is an overview of steps that a believer must employ in his or her life in order to commit continually and progressively to God’s expectation of spiritual formation and thereby see God’s grace and love more clearly manifested in and through their life to His glory.

Eph. 4:1-6

Walking worthy is a CHOICE and a CALLING for EVERY believer vv. 1-6

1. Paul begs you and dares you to WALK GODLY (“implore” v. 1)

2. God wanted you and called you to BE GODLY (“unity” and “one” vv. 3-6)

Eph. 4:7-16

YOU ARE worthy because God HAS GIVEN you vv. 7-16

1. You are given EVERYTHING you need to walk worthy vv. 7-8

2. YOU ARE given to the church for WHAT IT NEEDS vv. 10-16

Eph. 4:24

CHOOSE v. 24

You have been CALLED and EMPOWERED to put OFF the old self v. 22

You have been CALLED and EMPOWERED to put ON the new self v. 24

“TIME”

++Chronos — Time that is passing

++Kairos — Time that is critical

“right time” “season” “opportunity” “opportune moment”

Paul has made this spiritual transformation a choice that is for every believer, because God has given you and empowered you to do such for yourself and His church…not our church, not my church, but the Lord’s church.

Time is passing (Chronos) and it is a tyrant that steals your moments. Once they are past, they are gone for good. Apathy is the partnered tool of Satan himself to steal your moments for himself. Is time (Chronos) robbing your moments for the glory of someone other than God?

The time is critical (Kairos) and it is rewarding. Rather than stealing your moments, it redeems them. Once they are past that are safe and securely purposeful…they cannot be erased or drained of their power. Love is the partnered tool of God Himself to redeem your moments for His glory and your good.

The Time is now, right here, this very moment.

Will you commit to joining the QUEST for spiritual transformation?

Maybe you already have. Only you know the truth about how your relationship with God truly is: active or not.

One tool that is effective, if you need help in the process of putting off the old and putting on the new for your spiritual transformation of your relationship with God is journaling.

Journal:

• Decisions to make or made this day

• 4 questions:

1. Is it helpful (physically, spiritually, mentally)?

2. Does it bring me under its power?

3. Does it hurt others?

4. Does it glorify God?

• 4 steps of response: (start/end of day)

1. Identify — what would God say is “rightest”

2. Commit or Confess — to do what is right moving forward

3. Praise or Repent — for right you should do or wrong you did

4. Rehearse or Retrain — continue in what is right or retrain to do it next time

Tozer wrote,

“It may be said without qualification that every man is as holy and as full of the Spirit as he wants to be. He may not be as full as he wishes he were, but he is most certainly as full as he wants to be.”[1] — Tozer

Let it be known in your own heart and to others with whom you interact,

“the privilege of being holy [spiritual formation] is yours, and the decision and responsibility to be holy is yours. If you make that decision, you will experience the fullness of joy which Christ has promised to those who walk in obedience to Him,”[2] (John 15:11; 1 John 1:4).

Not engaging in spiritual formation will always leave you woefully short in your relationship with God.

++However, engaging in spiritual formation will never leave you disappointed.

[1] A. W. Tozer and W. L. Seaver, Prayer: Communing with God in Everything--Collected Insights from A. W. Tozer , 60. [2] Jerry Bridges, The Pursuit of Holiness, 126 (emphasis added).