Conformed to the Image of His Son

I want to take us on a journey through several scripture references and two main concepts in the Bible as we become better acquainted with God’s eternal purpose for us. I will then use an example of renaissance art to illustrate what I believe we can learn from our study of the Word. Let’s begin in Romans 8:28-29.

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.

(Rom 8:28-29 KJV)

Paul makes a sweeping statement by saying that all things work together for good to them that love God and are the called according to his purpose. He does not leave us an out to decide for ourselves which events, circumstances, trials, testings, attacks, etc., will work together for good. When he said all, he meant all. Notice he doesn’t say all things are good, but that all things work together for good.

Many people quit reading after verse 28 and therefore fail to see what purpose Paul is talking about. God’s purpose for us is simple: that we are conformed into the image of His son. And if we are called to this state of conformity by virtue of our relationship with Him and His loving claim on us, He will use the whole of our lives; the good, the bad, and the ugly, to work for our good in this conforming process. In His foreknowledge He saw the whole picture. He saw the who, what, where, why, and how of each of us and even after that, He stuck to His plan for us. He knew when we would cooperate with Him and He knew when we would allow our selfish natures to rise up in defiance to Him. But the plan was good from the foundations of the world and will be good for all eternity.  We now move on to Romans 12:1-2.

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

(Rom 12:1-2 KJV)

Paul now urges us to do something no Old Testament sacrifice could do. He asks that we willingly present ourselves as a holy sacrifice to God. The animals sacrificed under the old covenant had no choice in the matter. They were killed without negotiation. But Jesus, God’s own Son, had a choice and made the choice to die on the cross for us. He negotiated with His own will in the Garden of Gethsemane and chose the will of the Father above His own, becoming the ultimate living, holy sacrifice. Paul tells us this is a reasonable service of worship unto God. He pleads with us to do the same. It’s reasonable because without the cross and death, there is no resurrection power. Jesus could not bypass the cross and neither can we.

God asks us, through Paul, to offer our flesh in a different way. He asks us to reject the ways of the world; to stop being fashioned, or do not have the habit of being fashioned, as the world would press us to be. We have two ways of conformity to consider. One is to be conformed or fashioned into the image and likeness of His son and the other is to let the world mold us into its sinful likeness. The cross we bear is to cooperate in the process of conformity. It is a crucifixion of our flesh nature. And it hurts. Our nature is strong and defiant in us. Our mind, will, and emotions must be channeled, or fashioned to accept God’s eternal plan for us.  This is a daily process of letting go of our own way and submitting to God’s rightful rule in our lives.

Paul tells us that transformation by the renewing of our minds is the door by which we enter into agreement with God concerning our conformation, that proving out that God’s plan actually is good, acceptable, and perfect! The renewing of our minds is essential because repentance is a change of mind that brings a change of heart and actions. It is a paradigm shift that, when it has its full work in us, propels us to cooperate with God. Repentance brings positive action.

 The other uses of transformation in the New Testament are found in 2 Corinthians 11:12-15. These are references to Satan himself being transformed to appear as an angel of light and apostles of darkness, Satan’s ministers, appearing as apostles of Christ. The transforming here is of one fashioning themselves, by their own efforts of disguise, to appear as something they are not. It relates to outward fashioning as opposed to inward change.

We have probably all seen, at one time or another, an image of “David”, the iconic sculpture by Michelangelo. Several weeks ago God put that image in my mind and asked me to consider the statue itself and the process it took to produce the masterpiece. It may surprise you to know that Michelangelo was not the first artisan to work with that mammoth chunk of marble. The original commission was given to a Florentine sculptor Agostino di Duccio in 1464 but his worked stopped two years later when Agostino’s mentor, Donatello, died. By this time Agostino had roughly begun on the legs and torso portion of the statue.  Ten years later Antonio Rossellino was commissioned to take up where Agostino had left off. His contract was very shortlived, being terminated shortly after being awarded. The piece then sat exposed to the elements for twenty-five years in the yard of the workshop of the cathedral of Santa Maria Del Fiore in Florence, where it was to have been displayed. In 1500 a workshop inventory denoted  "a certain figure of marble called David, badly blocked out and supine." Because of the vast procurement cost of the marble as well as the intense labor that had been needed to transport it from Carrara, it was then decided to find an artist to finish the sculpture. Michelangelo was just 26 years old when he began to sculpt his statue of David, in 1501, and worked on the project four years.

As I was faithful in my research I came upon the following words by Michelangelo that helped frame my thinking on our subject of conforming to the image of His son. "In every block of marble I see a statue as plain as though it stood before me, shaped and perfect in attitude and action. I have only to hew away the rough walls that imprison the lovely apparition to reveal it to the other eyes as mine see it." What a picture of God’s intent for us to be fashioned in the likeness and image of Christ. God sees what we can become: shaped and perfect in attitude and action. That is, our minds renewed and our actions following suit. Before we are revealed as His masterpiece, which is what all creation is groaning for, He uses all things for the good, hewing away at the rough walls that imprison our loveliness. Were there regrets on Michelangelo’s part over what he had to chip off to create the finished image he envisioned? I doubt it. The rough prison walls we’ve built up around us must be razed to expose God’s glory within us.  I’m almost sure he reasoned, as Paul did, that the glory of the creation is worth the loss.

For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.

(Rom 8:18-19 KJV)

Just as Michelangelo was not the first to work that piece of marble, God is often not the first influence that tries to shape us. The world, the flesh, and the devil are more than willing to try and create a graven image from us. When we are conformed to the world system which sympathizes with our flesh and allows the enemy access to us, the end product will be far from God’s image of what He would have us be. Thus John’s warning in 1 John 2:15-17.

Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.

(1Jn 2:15-17 KJV)

It is estimated that the ankles on “David” are supporting near six tons of weight. Can you imagine how much that piece of marble weighed before the hewing began? There is far more that was chipped away than that which remains. Our prison walls are thick! Paul tells us in Philippians to forget about what we’ve lost in the process and move forward to receive that prize of the high calling of conforming to His image.

 That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

(Php 3:10-14 KJV)

So let us submit to the hammer and chisel of God’s process in our lives and have no regrets what He takes from us, but rejoice over what He is creating in us and through us.

God Sent Leanness in Their Souls

By Janice J. Bowman

And God gave them what they asked for... but he sent leanness in their souls. This, my friend, is what I have seen in many of the people of God. They get what they want but they persist in perusing less than what God wants for them. Their vision is shallow and it cannot satisfy the heart of God in what He wants for them. The price paid is getting what is asked for while missing His will. Many times there is a tendency to believe if things feel good and comfortable, and all our wants and needs are being met, then surely God has His stamp of approval on it.
 

Many of the people of God come to the conclusion if it doesn’t feel good then it can’t be God. The manna that God gave to His people was purposely designed to keep them full for short periods of time because God wanted them to keep coming back for more. It was symbolic of God in His son, who later said unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood you have no life in you. When God sent the meat they demanded, it came to them at hip height. All they had to do was reach out and grab it; a vast contrast to stooping low for the manna. They had lost their humility. God warned us not to follow the bad examples of the children of Israel who He was leading out of bondage, but far too many of God’s people have cried before God that it’s not enough! We want to look like the world, act like the world and be like the world. Let us have what we want God! He said OK and then stood back and watched a people eat what they demanded but become lean in their souls as a result.

Today I see many lean souls among the people of God. They don’t want manna, they don’t want deeper revelation. They want what feels good and cost them nothing. Once you get a taste of the deeper things of God and that hidden manna, that hidden revelation, you always want more and it is God that keeps you hungry for more. But there are a people among us who don’t want the deeper truths of God. They want it all to be easy and they don’t want to stoop low to gather the deeper things of God. Humility is something God delights in seeing in His people and He purposely puts us in positions that He knows will help us stay in that position. The Israelites lost their humility and wanted it all to be easy and didn’t want to sweat for a thing. You have to be hungry and humble today to get hidden revelation and you have to work for it: waiting on God by praying and studying and opening up the scriptures while you eat his flesh and drink his blood. It takes your time, your humility and the right priorities, and most of all; it takes an insatiable hunger that cries out even after you partake.

The giftings and callings of God are much like the quail the people demanded. They come without repentance. In these last hours during the greatest battle of all the ages, God is crying out to His true bride asking her to hear what the Spirit is saying to the church. God is creating a people and getting them ready for the next move of the Spirit which will take them far beyond giftings and callings. He is not preparing them to take a hunk of real estate as the children in the wilderness were to inherit, but God is preparing a people for transformation. Many have forgotten to seek the deep heart of God, forgetting gifts and callings are just a means to an expected end: the next and best and final move of God. His desired end is the fullness of His character in us, the full measure of His agape love which goes far beyond gifts and callings. God is looking for one thing and one thing only in these last hours we are living in. When the Gardener comes into His garden He is looking for full ripe fruit. This sought after fruit is the full measure of the full stature of Christ Jesus.

The spirit of the living God is seeking out visionary people who have eyes like the eagle because the Holy Spirit will not rest until the Son has a resting place in a people He will fill with His full measure of glory! Christ in you, the hope of glory unto full measure! It is certainly time to cry unto God’s people to position themselves to seek things beyond giftings and callings, and He has a people crying out now. They are the eagle flyers. They are visionaries. They are often laughed at even as Israel laughed at Joshua and Caleb because camping on the back side of the Jordan just wasn’t good enough for them. They must go in and take the land. God has a people in this day and in this hour and in this generation who know giftings and callings are not the end and are not enough. An eagle flying at an altitude of 1000 feet over open country can spot prey over an area of almost 3 square miles from a fixed position. God has a people who see into the full plan of God for this day and this hour.  We are called upon to cry out to those who can hear what the Spirit is saying to the church! God is preparing a people in these last days for a full transformation experience. God, the Father seeks nothing less for his Son than a bride that delights His heart and has come into the full stature of the mind of Christ, being transformed into His very likeness and image. This bride, through the inward workings of the cross, will not settle for 30 fold or 60 fold fruitfulness. God’s Word tells us to seek those things which accompany salvation and many stop at that place and believe that salvation is all God wants them to have. Others believe God wants them to have more; the infilling of the Holy Spirit but they choose to stop there. But some are willing to lay down their lives a living sacrifice, acceptable unto God because they considered their moving beyond the normal Christian experience reasonable service unto God. These are the ones not conformed unto this world but transformed by the renewing of their minds.

Many of God’s people say they want this 100 fold fruitfulness but when they see what it will cost them, they walk away. The full measure now becomes an offence to them and some create empty, phony messages that tell God’s people there is no price to pay for coming into the full mind of Christ. But God is already marking a people that are paying that price and they are already becoming a terrifying thing to the principalities in the high places. Becoming the full ripe fruit terrifies Satan far more than gifts and callings. The full measure will bring the kingdom of God into the earth. When God has a people that have become totally broken and emptied out of their own desires, plots, and schemes, God is able to put Himself in that empty, broken place and shine forth inside with the glory of His presence.

 This is representative of the 300 men Gideon was allowed to keep to fight against Israel’s enemies. God has a people who don’t drink just anything that is tossed their way. They examine what is being offered them and test it by the Word. They don’t care how much anointing is present, how many signs, wonders and miracles are present. They examine what is being said by the Word regardless of all those things because Satan can reproduce gifts and he can produce a false anointing. God has a people who know these things and know how to try the spirits to see whether they are of God and they know how to examine fruit and look for character. When will the people of God cease to labor mobilizing their own armies to fight against the enemy when God’s way is to demobilize?

Those soldiers of Gideon’s putting their faces into the water to lap it up like a dog are symbolic of people who did none of the things I just spoke of. It isn’t enough to be fearless and believe; those are good qualities but alone are not enough. God sent those soldiers home, too. God kept the men who looked at what they were drinking, while looking all around them for the enemy. We cannot be asleep in this day and hour we live in nor can we just accept any doctrine. We must test it by the Word and we must see what is coming out of it. God will have a pure move of the Spirit inside of His people, not just among His people. There is a huge difference of what takes place among the people of God and what takes place inside of them.

God intends transformation while many are just waiting for transfiguration. God has a church within the church that is willing to identify with the cross, not trying to find a way to escape it! God needs broken people in this battle, not gifted people. A people that know they simply have nothing in their own strength and power that can win this battle and that only God’s divine intervention can save them now. That and that alone will bring the victory in these last days.

Transformation doesn’t happen because you have giftings and callings. It happens when you have gone completely down with Him in death by identifying with His sufferings and come up on the other side with Him in resurrection life. Joseph was a type and shadow of Jesus Christ. He went down in death inside a pit and prison and came up in glory right next to the king, and was given the entire store house of riches to govern. Try to imagine Joseph in prison if he chose to blame God for his discomfort instead of finding the highest position in that prison. He would have simply shut down and settled for the lot He supposed God had given him. It would have been impossible, under those circumstances of attitude, for God to create that gold He was looking for in Joseph in that place of testing.  Joseph fed the world by being in a place of authority only because he suffered first.

Saints, when will His people fully understand all God has wanted from the beginning of man is a place He can dwell in His full measure? It isn’t the things we desire to build for Him but it is He who wants to build us. He wants to be the carpenter. He wants to do the work and many times He first has to tear down what we have built ourselves. As the word says, the Word of the Lord tried Joseph. So let’s stop calling all suffering God asks us to endure Satan’s doing. God custom makes many of our tests and trials so He can create that gold He needs; sons and daughters in His likeness and image.  Jesus learned obedience through the things He suffered. Are we then more obedient than the Son of God was when He endured the cross for the joy that was set before Him? This is the desire of God in this last hour and it will cost you everything to have what is most important to the heart of God.