SECRETS OF TRANSFORMATION
"And as the lame man which was healed held Peter and John, all the people ran together unto them in the porch that is called Solomon's, greatly wondering. AND WHEN PETER SAW IT, HE ANSWERED UNTO THE PEOPLE, YE MEN OF ISRAEL, WHY MARVEL YE AT THIS? OR WHY LOOK YE SO EARNESTLY ON US, AS THOUGH BY OUR OWN POWER OR HOLINESS WE HAD MADE THIS MAN TO WALK?" Act 3:11-12 KJV
OBSERVATION
After the death and the resurrection of our Lord, Christ Jesus and the coming of the promise of the father: the Holy Spirit, the apostles began to do mighty works and great exploits. Scripture said, in one single moment of preaching, three thousand men gave their lives to the Lord. Not long healings and miracles began to give way in such a manner that the people are just greatly down founded. If you ever heard of the word status quo, you might have well attempted to march up with it. The human mind operate by standards and if yours is level with that of the world, you would always be down founded when happenings beyond that status quo happens. Such was the state of the earlier new believers as they saw God used the apostles to do great sign and wonder with mighty miracles giving way. You see, you can be saved but not transformed. Salvation is in three dimensions; 1. We are saved, that is the immediate salvation. This is when we confess Christ as our Lord and personal saviour by first believing in our hearts. At this point it is our spirit that is saved. Meaning the Spirit of Christ came and unites with our spirit. Remember, human are three in nature; the Spirit, the Soul and the Body; 2. So the first salvation is the instant salvation of the Spirit. But the soul is not saved instantly when you confess Christ as your Lord and your personal saviour. The soul is saved gradually. Brother Paul in his letter to the Roman church enlightened the church on that fact saying; "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 12:2 KJV). The soul also has three divisions as the spirit and likewise the body. The divisions of the soul are the mind, the will and the emotion. And how is the soul saved. The soul is saved by renewing the mind, that is arrangement you thought patterns according to how God thinks and the way to do that is to begin meditating on the scripture. Meditation is memorising a Scripture verse as you imagine what it is saying happening in your life. So the first salvation is the instant salvation of the Spirit, but the second salvation is the gradual transformation of the human soul by renewing the mind through meditating on the scriptures; 3. And the third salvation is that of the body, that is we shall be saved when Jesus comes and raptures us from this corruptible body.
There are different kinds of bodies. There are celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another. (1Co 15:40 KJV). The celestial bodies are bodies which are not limited to this physical world. It is the body of the heavenly beings. But terrestrial bodies are the physical flesh which is limited to the earth realm. When Christ comes and we are ruptured, we will let go of the terrestrial bodies which is our human flesh and put on heavenly (celestial) body which is not corrupted.
So after you are saved, you must need work on your soul else you will have the Spirit of Christ but behave as the unsaved. Such was the mind of the earlier believers, even though they were saved, their minds are not renewed so they watch the apostles in amazement as God do the miracle by their hand. Peter, upon seeing them being down founded confront them mentioning two critical characteristics of a transformed heart, thus the scripture said "and when peter saw it, he answered unto the people, ye men of Israel, why marvel ye at this? or why look ye so earnestly on us, as though by our own POWER or HOLINESS we had made this man to walk? Vs 12
What are these characters Peter pointed out?
1. Power which is 'dunamis'. Dunamis is supernatural strength, power or ability resident in a thing by virtue of it's nature. Anyone who have the spirit of Christ has the power resident inside of him. But you must be holy to see the manifestation.
2. Holiness which is acting according to the principles of the gods or God is the second thing Peter Mentioned here. It is acting the way God prescribed. Prayer, love, justice etc are prescription of God. If you are going to see power manifest in your life you must need live a holy life that's doing what God demands of you.
Power and holiness are characteristics of a transformed life. To experience the power, we have to fulfil the prerequisite of walking in holiness. Shalom
APPLICATION
Transformation is the goal of Christ. But we can not be transformed if we don't follow the principle of the word of God. In there, is the life.
PRAYER
Lord, lead me in the path of truth to know your ways and walk in them in other to see the transformation you always wanted me to. In Jesus mighty name. Amen