Welcome, dear friends! Grace and peace from the Father and our Lord, Jesus Christ be with you! We continue talking about changes. We will change daily until we face God Himself. Do you know why? Because changes depend on our knowledge. Our knowledge will not be complete unless we enter the presence of God. This is what Paul says about it:
«For we know in part, and we prophesy in part; but when that which is complete has come, then that which is partial will be done away with. When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I felt as a child, I thought as a child. Now that I have become a man, I have put away childish things. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I will know fully, even as I was also fully known». (1st Corinthians 13:9-12).
We know and see in part today, since we will see the full picture only when we get to Heaven. Thanks God, as long as we live on this Earth He gives us a living word. God wants us to accept the revelation of His word, so through that we can be transformed. Then He can change the circumstances around us. God often permits desert in our life, in order to teach us and transform our thinking module – mind. Thus we learn to trust and lean upon the Lord. We learn to rely upon Him in everything. For example, children of Israel lived in Egypt – the house of slavery, but God decided to lead them out and bring them to the land flowing with milk and honey. «and I have said, I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, to a land flowing with milk and honey.» (Exodus 3:17).
The same way me and you lived in the house of slavery, where sin and satan would dominate over us. I was there, but I am not there any more, because God pulled me our from that pace and transferred me to the the Kingdom of His beloved Son. «…giving thanks to the Father, who made us fit to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light; who delivered us out of the power of darkness, and translated us into the Kingdom of the Son of his love». (Colossians 1:12-13).
God transferred me and you to His Kingdom and called to become co-heirs of the holy ones all over the world. God is leading us to the land flowing with milk and honey. Meanwhile, the way to that land land leads through the desert just as it was in case with the children of Israel.Leading the children of Israel through the desert God desired to transform them and teach them the values of His Kingdom, so that once in they have entered the promised land, they can live according to the culture of the Kingdom of God. Let´s read a passage from Deuteronomy: «You shall remember all the way which Yahweh your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, to prove you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments, or not. He humbled you, and allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna, which you didn’t know, neither did your fathers know; that he might make you know that man does not live by bread only, but by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of Yahweh does man live. Your clothing didn’t grow old on you, neither did your foot swell, these forty years. You shall consider in your heart that as a man chastens his son, so Yahweh your God chastens you. You shall keep the commandments of Yahweh your God, to walk in his ways, and to fear him». (Deuteronomy 8:2-6).
Leading us through a desert, God wants us to walk His ways, rely upon Him and walk in reverence to Him, which is the beginning of wise deeds. Up to now we have talked mostly about changes God makes in us via relationships with other people. Tomorrow we are going to begin discussion about how God changes us through accountability. I would like to stress that accountability is a part of relationships. Proper relationships are impossible without accountability, and, do you know … where there is no proper relationships, neither growing-up nor positive changes take place there. Let´s meet tomorrow in our column «Daily word for spiritual strength!»
