John 14:20 “At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.”
The transformation that occurs in a person upon salvation can be described as nothing but miraculous and nothing in this world compares to it.
The moment of true belief is not one that is easily deciphered. There are no fireworks ascending above a person’s head when the Spirit takes residence, we don’t hear a chorus of angels singing glory to God in the highest, nor is there is a visible light switch seen flipping toward the spiritual ‘on’ position.
Just because we can’t see the visible change in a person’s heart, doesn’t mean it isn’t happening.
At the very moment when a heart that was darkened by sin and shame comes to God in response to His call, a spiritual metamorphosis occurs; darkness is filled with light, a position change occurs from enmity with God to gaining an inheritance as a firstborn child, and redemption from the slavery of sin is exchanged for a position of freedom from death. Once condemned now justified, the slave had an impossible debt to pay, now the account has been reconciled and a new name is written in the Book of Life….your name…directed by God Himself.
Everything Changes
The movement God makes upon a life, upon every life, changes at the moment of what I call “spiritual transliteration“—God revealing His Truth to us in a way where we can understand His call and make a reasonable decision; in essence He transliterates His truth into our language. For us to understand what He is revealing to us, it takes His Holy Spirit as a guide.
God moves people toward a salvation moment in a series of calculated steps where we are allowed to decide whether we will trust in Him or continue to trust in ourselves. When this point of decision is reached, when the evidence is overwhelmingly presented, the call is left without a doubt, and the knowledge of God’s reach is perceived in the heart and mind….it is at this moment when everything changes. The softened heart will either accept the seed of Truth deposited by the sower and a tree of life will begin to sprout up in the life of the Christian or the softened heart turns hard, rejects the Truth that has been presented and the seed that was deposited is choked out and not allowed to flourish.
The Battle
The enemy of our souls, Satan and all who do his bidding, fights tooth and nail to keep us from making a decision for life and godliness. Everything from ideologies that are meant to replace righteousness to false representations of truth meant to steer the wayward pilgrim down a path that ends in death are presented in every worldly institution we know.
Making a life decision based off false information can cost you your life.
How do we know what is false and what is true?
John 17:17 “Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.“
The Word of God is the standard by which we hold all false claims against. There are many false teachers who attempt to insert small changes in how we relate to Christ and walk in His Truth. The Lord will reveal His truth to us, the question is whether we are willing to listen.
Listening to the Voice of God
The transliteration of God’s truth into our lives is a process of revelation specific to our ability to hear. The Lord seems to use our cultural inclinations, our ability to reason, or our level of understanding to impart enough knowledge that leads us to Him.
Initially the Lord has to work through the darkness of sin to lead us to Christ.
After we come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ and decide to follow, the Spirit of God changes our ability to reason. Before, the revelation was for the need to be redeemed from sin, the moral law makes that evident. Jesus is exalted by the law since it is by His grace we are absolved from sin. Once we have made the decision to follow, it is by following that we grow in maturity.
Hebrews 5:12-14 “For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.”
The growth and maturity of a believer hinges on a couple key factors:
- Walking in Obedience. Righteousness is the process of walking in the knowledge of God’s Word and applying it to your actions. It is through the revealed truth of God’s testing by which we grow in the knowledge of Him. Many think that trials are bad and so they do all they can to escape them. They pray to get out of them, they ask for help from others, and sometimes people think it’s a result of sin or punishment. If God is leading you into the trial, He is going to lead you through the trial. If it is His purpose for you to go through it then you can trust that whatever results will be for your good. 2 Peter 1:8 “For if you possess these qualities and continue to grow in them, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
- Spiritual Discernment. For us to be able to grow in knowledge requires us to be able to listen. Listening to God’s instruction requires an active intentional seeking out of His Word, if we get too busy or give our attention elsewhere, we may lose the important aspects of life. Sometimes the Lord instructs preemptively, before the event occurs, so as to prepare us for what lies ahead. 2 Peter 1:2 “Grace and peace be multiplied to you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.
- Spiritual Mentors. There are those who make their faith in Christ just a secondary aspect of who they are, then there are those to whom their faith is everything. It is to those who dwell in righteousness and continually seek out the Lord, by which we should draw near. These men and women of God are growing in wisdom, they are listening to the voice of God and learning His correction, and their lives are producing the fruit of the Spirit on a continual basis. Proverbs 10:20-21 “The tongue of the righteous is choice silver, the heart of the wicked is worth little. The lips of the righteous feed many, but fools die for lack of wisdom.”
Hearing God’s voice and receiving what He says are two different things we can hear and ignore because it interferes with our agenda or we can take the time to receive all He wants to impart. It is the one who hears and applies it in his life is the one who benefits from God’s lead. Fear can dominate these decisions or simply an attitude of selfish ambition but regardless of what hinders, it is at the heart of who we are that determines our reasoning.
The majesty of God’s revelation is given to all who would seek it. Find it, walk in it and you will never be the same.
U.T. 