The Even As of Christianity; Part 4.
The Essential Requirement of Conformity.

I want to bring you a quick recap on this important study, which I believe is of vital importance to the believer in Christ.

The main thrust of the thought of the Holy Spirit is to lay emphasis on the essential need of the believer in Christ to have a spiritual walk in Christ where less of man is seen, and more of Christ is revealed.

The important element that the Holy Spirit has placed on my heart is the need of the believer to understand the call of Almighty God on the life of the individual and the body of Christ as a whole, that is to represent and demonstrate a living Christ in the midst of a dead nation, to be a light that walks in the midst of darkness to shed forth the light and life of a life hid in and empowered through close communion with Christ.

Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude. Colossians 2v6-7.

the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked. 1 John 2v6.

These two portions of scripture are the foundation of this study which the Holy Spirit is building for us a solid grounding on the vital truth of the need of the believer to conform their lives unto Almighty God for the purpose of having Christ manifested in and through our lives in this Christian walk on this earth, I have had the prompting of the Holy Spirit that Almighty God requires the body of Christ to arise into this high call of God and walk in a closer communion and comprehension of why we have been called out of this earth and received in Christ.

A Word of Exhortation;

“For the will of Almighty God to be exercised in the life of those who have been called out, there has got to be the place of full surrender and the yielding up of the will of man to God, there is the continual need of the believer in Christ to be emptied of self, and to be filled with Christ.”

“ there is the necessity of receiving the revelation that being in Christ and Christ being in the believer is a progressive work of regeneration, sanctification is an ongoing process, firstly it is God taking the believer out of the world, then taking the way of the world out of and away from the believer, thus establishing the work of God in the life of the believer, and the believer into the work and ministry of Almighty God.”

For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified. Romans 8v29-30.

Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And be not conformed to this world: but be you transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. Romans 12v1-2.

Set before us through the ministry of the Holy Spirit are two very important revelations concerning the equipping and the manifestation of the will, plan and purposes of Almighty God for the church, the body of Christ, those who have been called out of this world, and gathered into union in Christ, the former emphasizes the predetermined mind of God, the latter is the individual believer conforming his will to the will of God.

For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son.

It is important to understand God’s work of predestination, it is vital to gain the revelation of the mind of God, through the Apostle Paul, the church gained insight into the heart of God, for their lives.

Our finite minds fail to comprehend the vastness of Almighty God, we struggle to grasp the enormity of our place in Christ, in the mind of Almighty God, in the eternal past, even before the creation of time, God purposed to have a people set apart for His will and purpose through whom He could come into covenant with and indwell, and who through this state of occupancy He could manifest and exhibit His will and influence into this earth.

Philip said to Him, "Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us." Jesus said to him, "Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, 'Show us the Father'? "Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own initiative, but the Father abiding in Me does His works. John 14v8-10

Our minds in the natural fail to understand that just has God indwelt Jesus and ministered through Him to redeem the race of man, so also Almighty God desires to minister His life through the redeemed of the Lord to touch and minister the lives of all men everywhere.

for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.Do all things without grumbling or disputing; so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I will have reason to glory because I did not run in vain nor toil in vain. Philippians 2v13-16.

A Word of Exhortation.

“ the human body, gives the life or spirit of man his legal authority on this earth, and in the realm of the Spirit, the body of the believer allows Christ to indwell and have authority in this earth, and through His Spirit in the renewed spirit of man, God can exercise His authority in this earth”

It is time for the church to arise to walk in the high life, to step up and into the path of destiny that Christ has purposed for His body, that of excelling in the high call of Almighty God for those who acknowledge the Lordship of Christ, and who by the Holy Spirit has cut out and sealed a people unto His kingdom and His use.

The will of man, and the Will of God.

Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And be not conformed to this world: but be you transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. Romans 12v1-2.

The thought that the Holy Spirit has laid heavily on my spirit is to reveal the importance of the believer’s need to be actively progressing in their communion and walk in Christ, Almighty God has desired the believer to be excelling in the things of God, and growing in the knowledge and grace of Christ.

There must come to the heart of the believer the revelation of the importance of the active will of each believer to comply their own life to the plan and purpose of Almighty God, the Holy Spirit through the Apostle Paul was laying this emphasis to the church in Rome that each believer must take an account of their own life in the purposes of God.

On the day of judgement, each believer will stand alone, and will have to give an account of their own life, they will have no say or comment on the life of any other member of the body of Christ, the believer as an individual will be judged and rewarded for what they did or did not accomplish in their life and ministry in Christ.

The word in the Greek that the Apostle Paul used in his admonishment to the church in Rome was the word - Parakaleo, this is a strong urging, an exhortation to be grasped, it is the taking seriously of a subject or thought of expression.

Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. Romans12.1

We are responsible for our ministry of service, we cannot put off onto others that which Almighty God has given unto us to accomplish.

As members of the body of Christ nothing that we attempt in the natural will achieve the accomplishment of the will of God, we have to throw our lives onto the power and ability of the Holy Spirit, our responsibility is to present or offer up our lives unto Almighty God, and in this tendering or placement of our lives unto God there is the emphasis of abandonment of self, and of self-interests and esteem, in the strongest sense of the word there is the death of the one who offers his life upto God, now one can understand the words of Jesus Christ when He gave His commission to the disciples.

"He who has found his life will lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake will find it. Matthew 10v39.

Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. "For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. "For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of man shall come in the glory of His Father with His angels; and then He shall reward every man according to his works. Matthew 16v24-27.

Some time ago the Holy Spirit gave me this admonishment concerning the believers life and ministry;
“ You cannot serve the purposes of the kingdom of God in the power of the flesh, neither can you employ the wisdom of this world to perceive the mind of the Spirit, to be effective in the Hand of God one must yield their life fully into the His care and rely on the strength of God and not the power of the flesh”

And be not conformed to this world: but be you transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. Romans 12v1-2.

In this address to the church at Rome, there is a two fold admonishment, the former is that which the believer has to avoid, and the latter is that which the believer must grasp hold of and retain.

The believer is admonished not to be conformed to the world, in the Greek the emphasis of this word is to avoid being fashioned after the way or manner of the world and its way of performance, the church has to live in the world but not be governed by the world’s system.

To live in the higher life that Almighty God has purposed for His church the believer must be transformed by the power of the Word of God by the Spirit of God, the believer has been taken out of the world this was the active result of conversion in the confessing of Christ as Lord, but the believer then requires the elements of the world being taken out of them, this comes as the believer gives himself to the study and hearing of the Word of God.

The challenge to the believer in his faith walk in Christ is ever progressive, it is ever increasing, it is ever an ongoing work of the grace of Almighty God, the Apostle Paul highlights a threefold progressive work of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer in Christ, but the condition is on the part of the believer and not the emphasis of the Holy Spirit, this is of utmost importance for the child of God to grasp and retain in their own life.

I have received this prompting by the Holy Spirit which is the responsibility of each and every believer to seek to attain and retain in their lives.

“Who is responsible for the success of your spiritual life?”
“Do not look to another, but look unto and into yourself, there is set before each and every single believer a walk that they must enter into, the call of the Holy Spirit is to the heart of the believer to hear and cleave unto the leading of the Holy Spirit, unto the Lordship of Christ, to lay aside the claim of the world and take up the claim and authority of Christ Himself who has purchased your life from the world and has desired that you live and abide in His kingdom, and His kingdom live in you.”

The call of the Spirit in the life of the believer is a call to grow from one level of life unto the high life of Almighty God, the admonishment of the Apostle Paul to the church at Rome is applicable for the church today, the walk of the believer is a threefold advancement.

And be not conformed to this world: but be you transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. Romans 12v2.

By the prompting of the Holy Spirit there is the revealing of a good, acceptable and a perfect will of God for His people, the good is the commencement of the life of the believer coming into knowledge of Christ as Lord, the acceptable is the believer living in Christ, but the perfect will of God is Christ living in and through the life of the believer.

according to my earnest expectation and hope, that I will not be put to shame in anything, but that with all boldness, Christ will even now, as always, be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. Philippians 1v20-21.

"I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me. Galatians 2v20.

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