Recently I have been teaching a class with a young man I am mentoring. The class is based on Romans 12:1-2:

"Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God -- this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is -- his good, pleasing and perfect will."

We live in a culture that wants to be improved but not transformed.
Transformation requires submission to God and change. We are challenged by God's Word to submit to God's will rather than the culture we live in. Either we are letting the culture mold us or we are choosing to allow God through His Holy Spirit to shape us.

The key to our salvation is the blood of Jesus Christ which cleanses us from all sin. (1 John 1:9) The key to our abundant life in following Jesus Christ is the power and the infilling of the Holy Spirit of God.

Have we been transformed by the Holy Spirits power? In Ephesians 5:1-20 the Apostle Paul calls us to live the transformed life. A life that has sharp contrasts between the former life of impurity and the new life we have in Christ. In 5:8-9 he says; "For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light, (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth)"

The Christian's relationship with the Holy Spirit is both critical and progressive. There is that moment when we realize we need to submit to God's authority in our lives and surrender ourselves fully to Him and by faith ask Him to fill us with His Holy Spirit. To allow Him full access in our lives to do as He wills. Yes, our relationship with the Holy Spirit is also progressive in that we walk consistently in the power and control of the Holy Spirit. As a result, the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) will be produced in our lives.

We need to always be seeking God and the continual infilling of His Holy Spirit so that we might live a life that conforms to the image of Christ, not the image of the world we live in.
What is shaping your life?

Prayerfully, Rick Messer / Pastor of a church without walls.