#12 Transformational Christianity

Purling Brook Falls, Springbrook National Park, Queensland, Australia. Photographer - Joshua M.

I am all for practical Christianity, the type where one experiences the power of Jesus’ promises as displayed in the Bible. Hearts, minds and bodies healed; slates wiped clean by Jesus grace; peace and truth planted deep within one’s spirit no matter the surrounding circumstances; relationships reconciled; foes silenced; barriers removed; hope raised and realised; lives miraculously transformed.

Jesus has created a natural order to the cosmos, humankind included. When we look to all of creation and the intricacies of life and existence, be it the stars and galaxies beyond, the workings of the human body, and every amazing biosphere and creature in between, creation shows us an intelligent Creator, with planned, orderly design. Anyone who has designed, mass produced and delivered a product or concept from the ground up can vouch for the level of planning and order required for a complex system to succeed.

Understanding order (not to be confused with control), as God’s design for life balance and sustenance, leads us to receive teachings on sin and repentance. Our health, relationships and lives flow well, thrive, when we put ourselves in order with Creator God.

Becoming a Christian, or growing as a Christian, does not require a lobotomy as some like to mock; it requires the deepening of knowledge. There are many characteristics in each of us that are good, and Jesus wants to refine and develop these further. And there are some sin characteristics in each of us that withhold from us love, joy, peace and growth.

Dealing with sin in our lives is somewhat like the pruning of a tree - cutting off dead wood, and healthy branches growing in the wrong direction, to redirect nutrients to the healthy branches growing in the right direction. Pruning a branch is for the health, maintenance, growth and balance of the whole tree (person), not allowing the continued growth of an individual branch (perhaps a sinful habit) at the expense of the whole tree health.

The parts of us that are dead or unhealthy growth are sin and are taking away from the growth of our good branches, our good relationships and activities, and our relationship with God.

People tend to work this process out for themselves without Jesus – the need to leave behind unhelpful mindsets, habits and experiences as we mature, to develop new ones to create peace, good health and life balance. But wellbeing issues arise when, we with our finite wisdom, are misguided or unclear about which branches of our lives require pruning or complete removal, and also how to prune or remove deep rooted growth.

For example, at times we may be over-involved in good practices that are not meant for us like volunteering or working too many hours whilst neglecting our loved ones. Or worshiping false gods such as money, hobbies, other religions or mimicking Christian practices without authenticity.

At times we engage in popular, bad practices that we continue to do without understanding how much damage we are causing ourselves and other people in our lives, such as alcoholism, sexual impurity, occultism or gossip.

People can also have complete clarity about which branches need pruning but are not equipped to remove them, such as the guilt, shame or grief of a past trauma they have committed or been subject to, such as slander, dishonesty, theft, or rape.

People can also become so blind to their sinful intrinsic beliefs and behaviours they presume them a part of their own personality, a quirky, proud or broken part, an incurable part, such as mindsets inherited from their parents, trauma responses, rebellious ideologies that take hold, or naive choices made in their youth that leave an imprint.

In these examples, in the what and how of sin removal, are where the love, wisdom, truth and sovereign power of our Creator, Jesus, can truly clarify and cleanse.

The Bible speaks explicitly about the thought patterns and behaviours that are sinful, the things we need to avoid, to remove from our lives. Google is helpful for this research. For example, type in ‘Bible gossip’. Also, websites such as Biblegateway.com or the app Bible are helpful.

The truth of sin is difficult to accept if we do not know God as Sovereign, if our ego tells us we know more than God, or if we are convinced that God has provided an exemption to the good order of the cosmos to make allowance for ‘my’ temptation, personality quirk or feelings. We cannot argue with cosmic order, in the same way we cannot argue with gravity. Not believing in gravity will not remove us to live outside of its natural power; not believing in God and His cosmic order does not remove us to live outside of His power.

The giving up of sin, handing it to Jesus for pruning and cleansing, is done through prayer, free prayer, no works required. The only cost is to our ego, realising we are not the all-powerful god of our universe. Jesus death on the cross paid the full price, and his resurrection paved the victorious path for us to walk upon. Our humble, grateful trust in this knowledge is all that is required to access Jesus’ redemption and freedom. Jesus already loves us, we do not need to earn or work for His love. Our decision to accept Jesus as God, opens our hearts to receive His love and healing.

Jesus knows His holiness leads to our holiness, His glory leads to our glory, His inheritance leads to our inheritance, His gifts reach far beyond anything we can possibly create for ourselves. Jesus knows His death on the cross and resurrection was led by our sin and His love, and leads to our eternal salvation. Jesus knows how high the stakes of His relationship with us are.

Jesus has the power and authority to remove all sin, and at times He does so in an instant. This happened to me when He healed me of drug addiction, with all mental, emotional and physical desire removed with one touch of His Spirit. Explaining that further, I was not praying to God about my drug use in that moment, I prayed about a trauma from 10 years earlier; God healed me instantly of that grief which had a side effect of healing the drug addiction in the same instant (Rebirth Part 1).

Other times, the process of giving up sin requires us to work with God, resisting temptations and developing self-control over time.  There are also times Jesus does not heal, instead leaving us to draw closer to Him in our weakness.

I cannot explain why Jesus heals instantly, or slowly, or withholds his healing at times, but all experiences are typical of His healing hand, and our trust in His Sovereignty is important even when it hurts or is beyond our understanding.

When Jesus chooses to not heal us instantly, to involve our efforts, we are more likely to permanently resist sin when we reframe our thoughts with the truth and power of Jesus Word (Bible scripture). This process is very important to create a new order in our mind and life.

Romans 12:2 says, Don’t be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what is the good, well-pleasing, and perfect will of God.

Psychologists now recognise this process as the development and training of new neurological pathways to support changed behaviour, a proven effective practice. I do love it when Science catches up with the Word of God, afterall God is the Creator of all Science, so it makes sense they reflect one another. When pathways are developed using God’s Word, we establish far deeper and more powerful truth, and in turn retrained bahaviour, than a clinical mantra or positive affirmation can do (I am not diminishing the value of professional counsel).

Hebrews 4:12-13 says, For the word of God is living and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and is able to discern the thoughts and intentions of the heart. There is no creature that is hidden from his sight, but all things are naked and laid open before the eyes of him to whom we must give an account.

Our Creator provided the Bible as our service manual, our family tree, our relationship manual. It is all there in black and white, and once applied, its’s impossible to deny its power far beyond any other knowledge. But like all advise, it is only effective if one applies it as it was intended for use.

When we identify a sin area in our lives, rather than only seeking God to help remove it, we are best to ask God to replace it with His Spirit and truth. We are to give our sin to Jesus, and receive back His truth and forgiveness; it is a two-way reconciliation. Finding supporting scripture in the Bible is very helpful for this process.

For example, if one struggles with sinful anger, rather than praying, “Jesus I am sorry for using anger to manipulate, control or hurt others. Please receive my anger and heal me,” we can go further by sewing Gods truth into our neurological development, allowing it to marinate deep into our heart and soul, to strengthen our healing and resistance.  

We can pray, “Lord Jesus, Your Word says,

- a fool vents all his anger, but a wise man brings himself under control (Proverb 29:11);

- self control is a fruit of your Holy Spirit in me (Galatians 5:22);

- I can feel righteous anger towards evil but I must not become sinful in my anger. I must not let the sun go down on my wrath (Ephesians 4:26);

- David cried out to the Lord, ‘Set a guard over my mouth, Lord; keep watch over the door of my lips. Do not let my heart be drawn to what is evil so that I take part in wicked deeds (Psalm 131:3-4);

- Whoever guards his mouth and his tongue keeps his soul from troubles (Proverbs 21:23).”

“Jesus I am sorry for using anger to manipulate, control or hurt others. Please receive my anger and heal me. Gently reveal to me the root cause of my anger so I can pray further into it. Set a holy guard over my mouth, holding back harsh words. Help me to listen to the promptings of Your Holy Spirit within me, please grow in me self-control, help me to listen, and to consider my words before I speak. Help me to be honest and humble about my behaviour and to be quick to apologise on the same day when I stuff up. Amen”

Printing and placing these scriptures and prayer nearby, reading them daily for a week or a month, will bring about a supernatural transformation. Ask another Christian to also be praying for you.  ‘For where two or three are gathered together in my [Jesus] name, there I am in the middle of them’ (Mathew 18:20).

Our words bubble up from our heart and our mind. Healing both sources will tame the tongue and transform our lives. When we invite God into specific aspects of our character and behaviours, He reaches into the depths of us we are often not conscious of and brings about gentle and effective change.

When we know and understand the power of Jesus to lead us to victory over our own thoughts, words, behaviours and lives, we can make an empowered stand when temptation arises. Continuing to claim the above scriptures over our heart and mind when anger arises within, will shift us from a boil to a simmer and to perfect peace over time.

The freedom and relief one experiences when a sin is removed and replaced with love and truth is incredible. I recall many times saying to myself, “I thought that was who I was!” Things that felt like a fixed part of me fallingaway, lies that Jesus washed out of my soul when I drew nearer to Him and built His truth in me. The infilling of love, peace and joy is awesome as its floods into my soul filling the space sin once filled. This is the power of Jesus.

Transformational, supernatural healing and growth is inevitable if we are humble, grateful and honest with ourselves and Jesus about our sin. The power that comes from Jesus, from calling His name into our character or situation, is beyond any power available on this earth. Sin is a barrier for us, preventing our healing, growth and freedom. Some sins we are aware of in our lives, and to some we are blind. Reading the Bible, asking Jesus to help set us free, to prune us, one dead or overgrown branch at a time, is how we transform. Jesus will personally love and support us through our refining, one step at a time. Our growth is not to be compared to others, we are ultimately in Jesus’ loving hands, and accountable to Him. He knows every aspect of our life lived, He loves each of us just as we are  (Uphold the Sinner), but He loves us too much to leave us as we are. Jesus is The Healer.

God’s Word

John 15:5-8, [Jesus said]“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

1 John 1:5-9  This is the message which we have heard from him and announce to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in the darkness, we lie and don’t tell the truth. But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son, cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us the sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Psalm 103:12 As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.

John 3:16  For God so loved the world, that he gave his only born Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

Philippians 2:9-11 Therefore God also highly exalted him, and gave to him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, those on earth, and those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.