TESTIMONIALS OF TRANSFORMATION

“That you PUT OFF, concerning your former conduct, the OLD MAN which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts” – Ephesians 4: 22

God desires that His children become eternal TESTIMONIALS of TRANSFORMATION: “If indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: that you PUT OFF, concerning your former conduct, the OLD MAN which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you PUT ON the NEW MAN which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness” (Eph.4: 21-24). Encountering God’s Truth is the guarantee for total transformation. Some people doubt if human beings can really change. Yes, human beings cannot change themselves by their own power, but the Holy Spirit can and does transform people’s hearts and lives.

Our Father-God is willing to help us change, radically and wholly by His Word and His Spirit, if we’ll submit to His Hands like the clay in the Potter’s hands. That’s why we’re not ‘done’ at the point of salvation. We are work-in-progress. God is molding us into the Image of Jesus. He is committed to change our lives for the best! When we receive Jesus, God doesn’t just forgive our sins, but begins to change our nature from inside out. God can transform anything and anyone! It doesn’t matter where we are in life. He can bring transformation out of any situation, however impossible it may seem (Hab.3: 17-19).

The Bible is replete with Characters who have become eternal TESTIMONIALS of TRANSFORMATION from whom we can learn and find hope; people who did not change in just one area of their life, but were transformed totally because God’s Word and Spirit changed their innermost being. They were able to find peace, courage, strength and forgiveness, which set them on the paths that God planned for them, better than anything they could ever imagine. Through being transformed on the inside, their lives were transformed on the outside. Here are few examples that we’ll consider in detail in the days ahead:

David, the young shepherd boy, found courage and strength to trust God, face, and defeat Goliath. Launched from this platform, he allowed God, having anointed him, to transform and prepare him to become the epitome of Kingship in Israel.

Rahab’s testimony of transformation gives a glimpse into God’s plan to bring people of all nations, by faith, into His covenant with His chosen nation (Joshua 6). God changed her identity from that of an outcast Gentile – a prostitute – to the redeemed of the Lord, and progenitor of the Messiah (Mt.1:5). The change was so striking, Hebrews 11:31 commended her faith: “By faith the harlot Rahab did not perish with those who did not believe, when she had received the spies with peace.”

Ruth, the Moabite – an alien to the commonwealth of Israel – had her identity transformed through divine intervention. This downtrodden stranger entered into divinely arranged connection, provision, and elevation into the lineage of Jesus (Mt.1:5).

Zacchaeus encountered the Lord Jesus and was gloriously transformed. This tax collector who had been ‘swimming’ in sin, and hurting his neighbours through exploitation, was eager to repent, change his ways, and make amends to those he had harmed. Zacchaeus had a renewed heart and began to live in consonance with his name, which means ‘pure’!

Paul, formerly Saul of Tarsus, had his heart changed, and experienced a complete turnaround as he encountered Jesus on Damascus road, while on a mission to kill Christians. People who met Paul noticed that something had changed about him: “But all that heard him were amazed, and said; Is not this he that destroyed them which called on this name in Jerusalem, and came hither for that intent, that he might bring them bound unto the chief priests?” (Acts 9:21).

Beloved, having encountered the saving power of our Lord Jesus Christ, God would have us become eternal Testimonials of Transformation as we PUT OFF the corrupt and deceitful OLD MAN, submit to renewing of the spirit of our mind, and “PUT ON the NEW MAN which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness” (vv.22-24).