In these days where change is needed, we have to understand God’s blueprint for becoming conquerors and overcomers. Although every story has unique bends and turns, there is an overall narration from God’s Word that we can rely on for our journey of transformation.
Isaiah 61 gives us a foundational tapestry every overcomer needs. Whether it’s physical healing, emotional healing or simply overall change, the journey of transformation is so much more effective if we can understand the following precepts:
1. You need a revelation of Father God’s love. Isaiah says, “the Lord has anointed me” (Is. 61:1). This word “Lord” is not Jehovah, but in this case, Adonai. It speaks of the anointing Jesus carried of the Father’s heart, a downpour of Father God’s love and acceptance for you. The majority of our generation, including Christians, has no clue about the depth of the Father’s love, especially because our relationship with our earthly fathers has been so tainted and skewed. Relating to our heavenly Father is challenging because we were not given a template to relate to Abba or Daddy in a way that is healthy and without fear.
The vast majority of people never remember hearing their earthly father say, “I love you. I am proud of you. You are a good son. You are my precious daughter.” No wonder we lack a healthy radar for hearing that from God. Without this revelation, the rest of the journey—and let’s be honest—the rest of our Christian walk, is pointless. Until the church experiences the vast love of God in our hearts, we will live our lives trying to earn approval or searching everywhere to substitute our void with counterfeits.
2. You need to know God is good. One of the greatest wars facing the world today is the battle over the goodness of God. People have the question revolving in their hearts, “Is God really good?” The answer to that question depends on your spiritual lens of life. Do you understand the enemy’s involvement in this world? Do you see the access Satan’s army has been given in the hearts of mankind? Do you realize you have a decision in this matter: to choose life or choose death?
When you have a healthy spiritual war lens, you can understand that God is good and the devil is bad. All good things come from the Father, and all evil has its source in sin, which is Satan’s ways. He is the father of lusts and the father of lies. He is a wicked, counterfeit father, but one to whom people every day. When his thoughts find agreement in the hearts of people, his mission to steal, kill and destroy manifests on the planet.
Those who receive the work of Christ in their lives have a mandate and responsibility: to manifest the goodness and glory of God on this planet. We are the ones called to demonstrate the heart of Father God and represent the good heart of the Father to the world. When we don’t, it is not God who allows evil to manifest but people who allow evil to manifest on the planet. Are we taking our responsibility seriously?
Without a spiritual war lens, people are left to become angry with two people: God or themselves. But neither target is a good place to send your anger. First of all, you are never called to be your own enemy. You don’t wrestle against any human being, including yourself. Your enemy is invisible, seeking to find agreement in your thoughts.
Second, God is never your enemy. He is for you, but the enemy would love to wreak havoc on your life and then blame God for the calamity. Restoring transformation involves restoring the grid of goodness in your life. If God is good and always good throughout His nature, what does it look like to talk to a good Father?
3. You need to admit you need help. Only those who are hungry, humble and teachable will enter into their full potential. When I minister on the power of the Father’s love to break our bondage and hang-ups, I am still shocked to see a look on people’s faces that says, “Yeah, I got that. I’m past that.” Since when did experiencing the love of God become a place of arrival? There is no end and limit to His power and love.
The moment we feel as though we’ve arrived somewhere is the moment our growth is stifled. Only those who continue to remain as a child will inherit the full potential of what God has for us. A child remains teachable to the point that he or she approaches every subject as a novice so the greatest amount of revelation can be received. The moment we think we have arrived, we limit our ability to absorb new insights.
4. You need heart-healing. Every person is born with a love bucket that can only be filled with Father God’s love. Those love buckets are our hearts. Wherever love has been missing or compromised, brokenness resides. Jesus had a challenge getting the Old Testament people to understand their hearts were broken. The same is true today: The church wants freedom and power without addressing her brokenness. We trudge forward with deep battle wounds so instead of marching, we are limping ahead, wondering why we are struggling to make progress.
Many say, “The past is the past.” Yet this is not true if the past is still affecting your present. Unresolved brokenness will infect many areas of our present. This is why we must continually bring our hurts and pains before our Father, so He can heal and empower us to move forward with a pure vision for our future.
5. You need to hear the message of transformation first, so you can then be equipped to walk it out. There are things you need to be equipped with that you are not aware of right now, so you will need to press in to understand the tools at your disposal.
The message of Isaiah at this stage is to proclaim freedom to the captives. We need to actually hear the Word of freedom and then respond to it by walking into that freedom.
Many people want God to rescue them out of their prison when, in reality, God often gives us a picture of freedom first so we can learn what living in freedom is like. We can then step out of prison and into that freedom.
God wants us to hear that message of freedom first, so by faith, we step into that freedom. When we hear the message of freedom, God teaches us what freedom looks like, so when we step into it, we are equipped to remain in that way of life.
Many people are asking God to rescue them from something, when in reality, He is asking them to step into the freedom that has already been made available. As a believer, the kingdom of God is within you. Instead of waiting for something to land on you somewhere over the rainbow, take hold of the freedom available to you in God and step into it today.
6. You need to leave prison. Getting out of your chains is up to you. Yes, you need to be taught, healed of brokenness. You need God’s power to do this. But what are you waiting for? At some point, we need to make a firm decision to walk into the land of promise–the place of freedom and healing Christ paid for. God first teaches us how to live in the land of freedom so we can shake off the chains that hinder us and walk it out.
What are you waiting on God to do when, in fact, God is waiting for you to step out of your prison and into the place of freedom? Like the lepers in the Gospels, sometimes you need to leave where you are to go into the place of healing.
To do this, we have to confront our patterns of victim thinking, self-pity and self-loathing that keep us in places of hopelessness and feeling stuck. At some point, we have to say “Enough is enough. I want freedom, and I’m willing to do whatever it takes to step into it today.”
The message of the gospel is empowering, showing you there is hope to step into your freedom today. But each of these steps is critical to receive the maximum manifestation of God’s work in your life.
Your freedom begins today. Listen to it and respond by leaving your prison!
Question: Which step do you need to enter into today to deepen your spiritual transformation? {eoa}
Mark DeJesus has served as an experienced communicator since the 1990s. As a teacher, author, coach and radio host, Mark is deeply passionate about awakening hearts and equipping people towards transformational living. His message involves getting to the core hindrances that contribute to the breakdown of our relationships, our health and our day-to-day peace. He is well versed on struggles that originate within our thoughts. Through his own personal transformation, Mark is experienced in helping people overcome and live fruitful lives. He is the author of five books and hundreds of teachings. He hosts a weekly radio podcast show called Transformed You and blogs at markdejesus.com. His writings have been featured on sites like CharismaMag.com.
For the original article, visit markdejesus.com.
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