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The Bossy Church Lady's Newsletter For New Christians
7-20-2008
"Leaning
back against Jesus, he asked him, "Lord, who is it?" John 13:25 (NIV)
Warm Fuzzies
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In This Issue
><>
What Does It Mean To Be A Friend To God?
by The Bossy Church Lady
><> Mindset - Being Transformed by the Renewing of Your
Mind by Michael Bradley
><> Resources
What Does It Mean To Be A Friend To God?
Way back when, in Jesus’ time, to eat, or to sup, with someone
meant that you were close friends with that person. And we all
know the story about the famous Passover celebration where the
Lord ate with His disciples because they were all friends; very
good friends. In fact, John was so close to the Lord that he laid
his head on His bosom (John 13: 21-25). Now that’s a very close
friend! Revelation 19 tells us that because we are friends with
God that we will sup with the Lord one day.
In the dictionary, friend means:
1. Somebody emotionally close: somebody who trusts and is fond of
another
2. Acquaintance: somebody who thinks well of or is on good terms
with somebody else
3. Ally: an ally, or somebody who is not an enemy
4. Advocate of cause: a defender or supporter of a cause, group,
or principle
5. Patron: a patron of a charity or institution. Friends of
cultural institutions often receive privileges such as invitations
to special events and the opportunity to order tickets before the
general public.
But the above definition only scratches the surface of our
relationship with the Lord.
Let’s take a step back for a moment to reflect on our
conversations with our best friends. Presumably, our friends know
most everything about us, so when we do communicate with our
friends, almost nothing is held back, making the majority of our
conversations flow easily.
Now with God, it’s a different matter entirely: Not only is He
your very best friend, but thanks to Jesus, you are so
emotionally close to Him that you’re one with Him (John 17). The
Lord knows EVERYTHING about you and your life, and He still adores
you. Because God is your very best friend, you can trust Him with
all of your dirty little secrets.
Listen, the Lord is omniscient; He knows the nitty-gritty details
of your first kiss, your fears, your hopes, your dreams, and your
favorite shade of lipstick. He even knows that you’re too insecure
to take your shirt off in front of women because you don’t have
perfect six pack abs and that you won’t wear a bathing suit
because you’re too embarrassed to let anyone see your cottage
cheese-looking thighs.
He knows the inner workings of your mind. He knows every little
thing that has ever been on your mind and knows what will
be on your mind. He knows what’s hidden in the deep
recesses of your heart and He still loves you so much that He
chose to die rather than live without you. Which of your other
friends can you say that about?
So when you talk to God, rather than be nervous, thinking that you
have to hide stuff from Him in order to impress Him like you may
be doing with some of your earthly friends, remember that since He
already knows every little detail about you—even how many hairs
you have on your head—you might as well be forthright with Him
from the beginning. From now on, when you talk to Him, expose
everything; hide nothing from Him, and your conversations and your
relationship with Him will go to another level entirely.
You may use this article as long as you keep the following byline
intact: Copyright © 2008 Sandra Purdue. New in Christ? The
Bossy Church Lady has answers! Visit my website at:
http://www.thebossychurchlady.net
Mindset - Being Transformed
by the Renewing of Your Mind
The Bible tells us that one of the highest and ultimate goals that
God has in store for each one of us is our transformation - and
this transformation is accomplished by the renewing of our mind.
The Bible tells us that God wants sanctify us and transform us
into the express image of His Son Jesus Christ. He wants to make
us into a better and more holy people - both on the inside and the
outside.
Here is the specific verse from Scripture that will tell us that
this kind of transformation is done by the renewing of our minds
in the Lord:
"And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the
renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and
acceptable and perfect will of God." (Romans 12:2)
I believe this transformation process has 3 major steps to it.
They are as follows:
1. Knowledge From The Word
The first thing each Christian must know is exactly what it is
that God wants to change about us. If you don’t know exactly what
it is God wants to do with you in this
sanctification-transformation process, then you will have a hard
time in being able to cooperate with Him once He does try to start
the renewal and transformation process on the inside of you.
There are a million and one self-help books on the market, but
there is only one Book that will tell you exactly what it is that
God wants to do with you on the inside to change you for the
better - and that Book is the Holy Bible. There are no other books
out there that will tell you the specific and exact points that
God is looking to target to make this transformation occur in the
way that He would really like.
The Bible tells us that this sanctification-transformation process
is actually done by the Holy Spirit. However, the Holy Spirit will
not start this transformation process in you until He has
something to work with - and that something is knowledge.
God expects you to play a direct part in this transformation
process if He is going to start to work it in you. In the three
steps that will get this transformation process going for you -
you will be responsible for doing the first two. If you are
willing to put some quality time and effort in doing these first
two steps, then God will do His part and He will then actually do
all of step 3 for you in order to make this kind of
transformation really possible to achieve in this lifetime.
The first step will be to study the Bible for the specific points
that God will be looking to target to change you into the kind of
person He really wants you to become in Him. Since many of these
verses pertaining to all of this are scattered throughout the
entire Bible, I'm going to list, in subsequent articles, some of
the most powerful verses in all of Scripture - showing you exactly
what godly and saintly qualities that God will want to work and
impart into the very core of your personality.
King David tells us in the Old Testament that we are to meditate
on the Word of God. To meditate means to think about, to chew on,
to try and figure out what God is trying to tell us in His Word -
and then to try and see how it applies to our daily life and how
we can get some of these positive qualities worked and imparted
into our personalities.
If you will spend some good, regular, quality time really studying
and meditating on what is in these specific verses I will be
listing in the other articles in this Sanctification section of
our site, you will then have right at your fingertips exactly what
it is that God wants to start working into your personality. And
once you have the basic knowledge of what these positive and godly
qualities are going to be that God will be looking to impart in
you - then you will be ready for step 2.
The reason I have the word "mindset" listed in the title of
this article is because you have to know exactly what it is that
you have to "set your mind on" before God can really kick
this transformation process into full gear - hence the word
"mindset."
You have to develop "right thinking" in the Lord, but you
can't develop right thinking in the Lord unless you first know
exactly what it is that you should be thinking right about. The
Scripture verses that will be listed in these subsequent articles
will show you all the things that God will want you to dwell on
and think right about in order to help you with this renewing of
your mind.
2. Put On Positive Qualities - Put Away Negative Qualities
You will find two key words that will be repeated several times in
many of the Scripture verses that will follow in these other
articles. These two key words are "putting on" and
"putting away."
The Bible tells us that we are the ones who are to try and "put
on" the good and godly qualities that God will want us to have
operating in our personalities and to "put away" all of the
bad and negative qualities that He will not want us to have
operating in our personalities.
This step right here is where many Christians are missing the
boat. They have been walking with the Lord for years and they
wonder why there has not been many changes in the very cores of
their personalities. Where is the peace, the joy, the love, the
sound mind, and the self-control that the Bible promises me once I
fully commit my life to the Lord? Why is it that I still have a
problem in controlling my temper, my cussing, and my critical and
judgmental spirit?
Once you know that the Bible tells you to have self-control over
your bad temper, over your bad mouth and over your condescending
and critical attitudes - then it will be your job at this point to
make some kind of concerted effort to actually "put away" these
kinds of negative and destructive qualities from your personality.
Example - say you have a problem with a bad temper. The least
little thing will set you off. The first step, as described above,
is to find the specific verses from the Bible on this topic so you
can see exactly what God's Word has to say about having bad and
quick tempers. Once you know what God’s opinion really is on the
matter through His Word - then you will have the appropriate
knowledge to work with in order to try and tackle this problem.
Once you see in God’s Word that He doesn’t want His people having
bad and quick tempers - then you will now be ready for step 2. Now
here is where your part will really come into play.
Now that you know God wants your bad temper removed from your
personality - He will now expect you to try and put away this bad
and negative quality. You will now have to start to engage with
your quick and bad temper every single time you find yourself in a
situation that will start to trigger it to release. You will now
have to make some kind of attempt on your end to "put away"
your bad temper and "put on" the quality of self-control.
Say someone has just cut you off in traffic. Your normal response
may be to start cussing at this person and try to flip him off if
you can get close enough to him. Your bad temper as now been fully
triggered like it does every time someone cuts you off in traffic.
At this point, you have to make the best effort you can to try and
control the release of your bad temper. You may have to literally
bite your tongue to keep all the cuss words from flying out of
your mouth. When your bad temper releases on you, it is like a
fire that explodes out of your belly. Once this fire starts to
explode, you have to make a very strong and concerted effort to
neutralize it before the fire hits your mouth and causes you to
start cussing.
You will have to try and put on the godly quality of self-control
in order to try and douse the fire - like pouring cold water on a
hot fire. You will have to tell yourself and give yourself a pep
talk that you will directly engage with your bad temper every
single time you find yourself in a situation that will trigger its
release.
At first, you may not have much luck, because the release of your
bad temper has become such an automatic bad habit. It has become
an automatic response to certain situations. But if you keep at
it, over the course of time you will start to get more
self-control over it, and you will then be able to dramatically
reduce the number of times that you will actually go off.
The reason your bad temper triggers so easily is because you are
weak in the quality of self-control. Self-control is one of the
qualities that God wants to impart and work into your personality.
You will see this positive quality mentioned numerous times in the
verses to follow in these other articles.
By attempting to put on this very positive quality into your
personality, you will have the live ammunition you will need not
only to be able to overcome a bad and nasty temper, but other bad
and negative qualities such as too much of a critical or
judgmental spirit, an unforgiving spirit, and too much pride,
arrogance and haughtiness.
The quality of self-control can really help you "put away"
many of these bad and toxic qualities that the Lord really does
not want operating in your personality.
The same approach goes for trying to incorporate positive
qualities into your personality. The Bible tells us that God wants
us to be loving, kind, generous and gentle people.
Some people do not have many of these positive qualities operating
in them due to all of the bad things that may have happened to
them in this life. What God wants you to do anyway is to try and
"put on" some of these positive and godly qualities. Try to
the best of your abilities to become more loving, more patient,
more kind - even if you don't feel like it. If you will make some
kind of decent and concerted effort to do this on your end, then
God will start to do His part - which will now lead us into step
3.
Each one of us only has a certain amount of mental and emotional
strength in our own personal makeups. We can only go so far with
step 2. We can only get ourselves to a certain point in being able
to become more loving, more kind and more patient. Our best is not
going to be good enough to get this transformation process
properly completed to the degree that the Lord would really like
in this lifetime.
God wants to make us more loving, more patient, more kind, and
more peaceful than we could ever get ourselves to be by using our
own natural strength. So how can the Lord do this?
If we have spent quality time studying the Bible in reference to
the changes God wants to make into our personalities, and we have
tried to the best of our abilities to put on the good, godly and
saintly qualities that He would really like to have operating in
our personalities, then how can God get us up to the level that He
is really looking for as you will see in the Scripture verses to
follow?
Since our best is obviously not going to be good enough - how can
God complete this transformation process to the degree that would
really please Him in this lifetime? This will now lead us into
step 3.
3. By the Power of the The Holy Spirit
As you will see in some of the verses to follow, this
transformation process is completed "by the power of the Holy
Spirit." The Holy Spirit lives on the inside of each believer
and it is His job to mold, shape and transform us into the kind of
holy and righteous people that God the Father would really like
all of us to become in Him.
Many Christians already know this. They then wonder why there has
not been much change in their personalities after they have been
saved. Where is the Holy Spirit? How come He is not removing some
of my negative qualities? How come I’m still crabby, miserable and
depressed all of the time?
The reason there has been little if any true changes in a
believer's personality after they initially get saved is because
they have not spent enough time doing their part in steps 1 and 2.
They have not spent enough quality time in the Word of God to
learn exactly what it is God wants to change about them, and they
have not made any real concerted effort on their end to try and
change for the better - to try and put on the godly and saintly
qualities that God the Father wants them to have operating in
their personalities.
If each Christian would do their part as described in the above
first two steps - then God the Father would only be too anxious to
complete this transformation process for you through the power of
His Holy Spirit.
What will happen in this third step is that God the Father will
then start to impart His peace, His love, His joy, His kindness,
His patience and His perseverance into your personality through
the Holy Spirit. These will be His qualities and attributes being
imparted into you - not yours!
You only have a certain amount of love within your own natural
personality to give and to express to others. However, once God
starts to release His love into your personality - then you will
be able to love others in the way that the Lord would really like.
Then you can start loving your children, your spouse and your
friends to the degree that you would really like to.
Once God's personality qualities and attributes start to enter
into your personality - then many of the negative qualities that
you have will start to "wash away." Once you have God’s love,
God’s joy and God’s peace now starting to flow through your
personality - you will no longer feel crabby, depressed and
miserable like you did before.
God’s love and God’s joy will now be replacing those negative
emotions. You cannot feel depressed and unhappy if the love and
joy of God is operating in your personality through the Holy
Spirit. This is not to say we will never get crabby, irritable or
down at times. We all live in an imperfect, cursed and fallen
world and we are living in bodies that are slowly dying and
corrupting.
But when God really kicks this transformation process into full
gear for you, the down days will not last as long as they used to.
You won’t have as many of them and when you do, they won’t last as
long as they use to. With God’s peace flowing through you, you
will find yourself not getting as upset as often as you did in the
past. You may still lose it from time to time, but not to the same
degree and frequency that you use to.
One of the greatest accomplishments anyone can achieve in this
life is to find true inner happiness, true inner contentment and
true inner fulfillment in this life.
True happiness can only be found on the inside of your being in
your connection and personal relationship with the Lord. All of
the material wealth and goods that are out there for the taking
will not give you this kind of true inner happiness and
fulfillment.
All you have to do is look around you and see all of the unhappy,
depressed and miserable people that are out there - especially
those who are rich and supposedly have it "all." Ever wonder why
so many of the Hollywood movie stars are doing drugs and seeing
therapists? They are finding out that all of their material
wealth, fame and notoriety are not giving them the true inner
happiness and fulfillment they thought that this kind of life
would bring them.
As born-again, Spirit-filled Christians, we all know that this
true inner happiness can only be found on the inside of our beings
through establishing a close, intimate, personal relationship with
the Lord. There is no other way! Nothing in this life will give us
this kind of true inner happiness.
However, many Christians are not finding this true inner
happiness. The Bible talks about it, the preachers talk about it
on Sunday, but many are still not finding it. Why? Once you get
saved, that is just the beginning.
God expects you to grow, develop and mature in your walk with Him.
Many Christians are missing out on this
sanctification-transformation process that is available to them
through the power of the Holy Spirit. This sanctification process
is what will really lead you into true inner happiness and true
inner fulfillment that everyone is looking for these days.
However, God is not going to give you a free lunch on this
process. You will have to be willing to do your part before God
will be willing to do His part.
The Bible tells us that with the measure we use, will be the
measure measured back to us. In other words, if we want God’s
best, then we have to give Him our best. When it comes to this
sanctification-transformation process - we have to give God our
best by reading and studying the Word for the changes that He
wants to make with us - and then make our own attempt to put on
the good and godly qualities that He wants us to have, and then to
put away all of the bad and negative qualities that He does not
want us to have.
If we give the Lord our best in doing both of the above, then God
will give us His best - and God's best will be when He starts to
transmit and impart His saintly and godly qualities and attributes
right up into the middle of our personalities though the Holy
Spirit.
Think about this incredible possibility - that God Himself can
literally impart and transmit part of His very nature into our
personalities through the Holy Spirit if we are willing to work
with Him during this process.
One last point before I give you all of the power verses in other
articles showing you the godly and saintly qualities that God will
want to try and work into us. Once you read all of the qualities
that God would really like to have instilled in us, some of you
may get a bit dismayed and distraught after you read what is in
these Scripture verses. You may feel overwhelmed, realizing that
you may be a long way off in being able to have some of these
positive qualities worked and imparted into your personality.
Some Christians read these verses and feel so overwhelmed - they
don't even feel it is worth trying for because these ideals just
seem to be too high to strive for. The one thing we all have to
realize is that every single one of us is flawed to some degree.
We all have our character flaws and rough edges. No exceptions. We
all have issues that need to be dealt with, and we all need God's
transformation-sanctification process to occur in our lives so
that the Lord can transform us into the holy righteous saints He
really wants all of us to become in Him.
This sanctification process is not done overnight. This is a
process that will occur over the rest of your earthly life. If you
are willing to work with the Lord in this process, God will then
gradually and progressively transform and sanctify you to make you
into the kind of person that He really wants you to become in Him.
Your reward for allowing God to do this type of
sanctifying-transforming work in your life will be a joy, a peace,
a love and a zest for life that you never knew was really possible
to obtain in this life. You will find true inner happiness and
fulfillment. You will find what everyone else is looking for these
days and cannot find, and many people will be drawn to you as a
result.
Many nonbelievers have stated that what drew them to certain
Christians that ended up getting them saved was the peace, the joy
and the love that seemed to be operating through their
personalities. They said they were drawn to those personality
qualities like a magnet.
Not only will you be more happy and more fulfilled by allowing God
to do this with you, but you will also be a joy for others and
they will be drawn to the light of God that will be shining
through you.
As a result, many people, including other Christians will start
asking you what it is that you have. Why are you always so happy
and upbeat? How can you have so much peace in your life in this
crazy and tumultuous world we now live in? As a result of this
kind of inner spiritual transformation, you will be able to lead
many more nonbelievers into eternal salvation through Jesus and
disciple many other believers into a deeper walk with the Lord.
This sanctification process is available to all believers. God
wants to do this with every single one of us. The problem is that
many of God’s people are not willing to do their part in it. As a
result, the Body has many flakey, hypocritical representatives for
God who are doing more harm than good.
They are turning people away from God and Jesus because they are
not truly manifesting God’s nature and personality though their
own personalities - and this is all due either because God could
not properly get the sanctification process started in them due to
ignorance and lack of knowledge on their part on how to actually
enter into it, or possibly due to open rebellion or stubbornness
on their part.
They may not be open to admitting to God what some of their
problems and character flaws really are. They may be full of too
much pride and arrogance to admit that they have any character
flaws that really need to be dealt with, and thus God will not be
able to properly reach them to start this sanctification process.
As a result, they will end up presenting a haughty, prideful,
arrogant and know-it-all witness that will do nothing but turn
people off and away from the Lord.
If you decide you really want God to start this sanctification
process in you and your life after reading all of the Scripture
verses that will be listed in these additional articles - all you
have to do is go to God in prayer and tell Him that He has a full
and solid green light from you to start this process.
Tell Him that you really want this transformation-sanctification
process to start to occur in your life - and that you will be open
to allowing it to occur over the rest of your life down here on
this earth.
Your job will be:
1.
To get into the Word
and study the verses that will give you the knowledge on what
positive qualities God will want to impart into you and what
negative qualities that He will want to take out of you. The
verses that will be listed in the articles to follow will go a
long way in giving this specific knowledge to you.
2.
Make the best
attempts that you can to "put on" the good, positive and godly
qualities that God will want you to have - and then "put away" all
of the bad, negative and destructive qualities that He will not
want you to have.
3.
And then be open and
sensitive to any communication that you may receive from God and
the Holy Spirit on any specific areas They may want to work with
you on. God will let you know exactly what these specific areas
are going to be and exactly how He wants to deal with each of
them.
When this starts to occur, it may be a bit painful at times. It’s
hard for many of us to admit to anyone, including ourselves or to
God, that we may have problems in certain areas of our
personality. But let God do His inner surgery on you and you will
be much better off for it in the long run.
Now on to the actual Scripture verses that will arm you with the
knowledge that you will need to really enable God to start this
sanctification process in you. Remember, the Holy Spirit needs
something to work with - and that something is knowledge. These
Scripture verses will be giving you this knowledge.
These verses are the major door openers that will get God to start
the sanctification process within you - but only if you are
willing to seek to put on the good and godly qualities that the
Lord would really like for you to have, and then seek to put away
all of the negative and destructive qualities that He will not
want you to have.
The Scripture verses that will really help you in the renewing of
your mind will all follow in the articles that will be listed in
this Sanctification section.
Michael Bradley Bible Teaching,
Knowledge, Commentary and Over 150 Free Articles Copyright ©
2005-2007 by Michael Bradley.
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Resources
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me know about it so I can include it in the newsletters.
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Who's in Charge Here?: Humorous
Reflections on Our Relationship with God
- By Russell
T. Montfort / Demensions for Living
><>
23 Minutes in Hell: One Man's Story
About What He Saw, Heard, and Felt in That Place of Torment
- By Bill Wiese / Charisma House.
><>
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