Turning the page…
Turning the page…
Glory · Our Walk with Him
Not by trying harder. Scripture says God changes us the way life works, not the way machines run: He gives a new heart, puts His Spirit within, and then works in us both to want and to do what pleases Him. We remain in Christ like branches in a vine, behold His glory until we are transformed, and actively put off the old self and put on the new. Your effort matters, but it is response, not engine: God supplies the power, and the fruit appears over time.
https://glorystudy.com/questions/how-does-god-change-me · Scripture quoted from the World English Bible
Ezekiel 36:25-27
As you read: God promises to take away the stony heart, give a heart of flesh, and put His Spirit within so that His people walk in His ways.
25I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you.
26I will also give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh.
27I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and you shall keep my ordinances, and do them.
John 15:1-8
As you read: Fruit is not manufactured; it grows as the branch remains in the vine. Apart from Christ we can do nothing.
1“I am the true vine, and my Father is the farmer.
2Every branch in me that doesn’t bear fruit, he takes away. Every branch that bears fruit, he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.
3You are already pruned clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.
4Remain in me, and I in you. As the branch can’t bear fruit by itself, unless it remains in the vine, so neither can you, unless you remain in me.
5I am the vine. You are the branches. He who remains in me, and I in him, the same bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.
6If a man doesn’t remain in me, he is thrown out as a branch, and is withered; and they gather them, throw them into the fire, and they are burned.
7If you remain in me, and my words remain in you, you will ask whatever you desire, and it will be done for you.
8“In this is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit; and so you will be my disciples.
Philippians 2:12-18
As you read: We work out what God works in: He supplies both the willing and the doing.
12So then, my beloved, even as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
13For it is God who works in you both to will and to work, for his good pleasure.
14Do all things without murmurings and disputes,
15that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without defect in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you are seen as lights in the world,
16holding up the word of life; that I may have something to boast in the day of Christ, that I didn’t run in vain nor labor in vain.
17Yes, and if I am poured out on the sacrifice and service of your faith, I rejoice, and rejoice with you all.
18In the same way, you also rejoice, and rejoice with me.
Colossians 3:1-17
As you read: The new self is already being renewed, and that renewal shows up in concrete daily behavior.
1If then you were raised together with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated on the right hand of God.
2Set your mind on the things that are above, not on the things that are on the earth.
3For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
4When Christ, our life, is revealed, then you will also be revealed with him in glory.
5Put to death therefore your members which are on the earth: sexual immorality, uncleanness, depraved passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry;
6for which things’ sake the wrath of God comes on the children of disobedience.
7You also once walked in those, when you lived in them;
8but now you also put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and shameful speaking out of your mouth.
9Don’t lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old man with his doings,
10and have put on the new man, who is being renewed in knowledge after the image of his Creator,
11where there can’t be Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bondservant, freeman; but Christ is all, and in all.
12Put on therefore, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, a heart of compassion, kindness, lowliness, humility, and perseverance;
13bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, if any man has a complaint against any; even as Christ forgave you, so you also do.
14Above all these things, walk in love, which is the bond of perfection.
15And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful.
16Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your heart to the Lord.
17Whatever you do, in word or in deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father, through him.
Galatians 5:16-26
As you read: Two ways of living are set side by side: the works of the flesh and the fruit of the Spirit.
16But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you won’t fulfill the lust of the flesh.
17For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, that you may not do the things that you desire.
18But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
19Now the works of the flesh are obvious, which are: adultery, sexual immorality, uncleanness, lustfulness,
20idolatry, sorcery, hatred, strife, jealousies, outbursts of anger, rivalries, divisions, heresies,
21envyings, murders, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these; of which I forewarn you, even as I also forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the Kingdom of God.
22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith,
23gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
24Those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and lusts.
25If we live by the Spirit, let’s also walk by the Spirit.
26Let’s not become conceited, provoking one another, and envying one another.
The change starts with something only God can do. Through Ezekiel He promised, 'I will also give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit within you,' taking away 'the stony heart out of your flesh' and giving 'a heart of flesh.' And He does not stop at a new heart: 'I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes.' Salvation itself is described as 'the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit.' You did not make yourself alive, and you do not remake yourself holy: the same God who began the work carries it forward.
“I will also give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh.”Ezekiel 36:26
“I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and you shall keep my ordinances, and do them.”Ezekiel 36:27
“not by works of righteousness, which we did ourselves, but according to his mercy, he saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit,”Titus 3:5
Paul joins two truths that sound opposed until you see they are one: 'work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God who works in you both to will and to work, for his good pleasure.' You work out precisely because God works in; even the willing is His gift. And the promise stands behind it all: 'He who calls you is faithful, who will also do it.'
“So then, my beloved, even as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.”Philippians 2:12
“For it is God who works in you both to will and to work, for his good pleasure.”Philippians 2:13
“He who calls you is faithful, who will also do it.”1 Thessalonians 5:24
Jesus' picture of growth is agricultural, not athletic. The branch does not strain to manufacture grapes; it stays connected to the vine. 'Remain in me, and I in you. As the branch can’t bear fruit by itself, unless it remains in the vine, so neither can you, unless you remain in me.' Union with Christ is not one technique among others; it is the whole engine, because 'apart from me you can do nothing.'
“Remain in me, and I in you. As the branch can’t bear fruit by itself, unless it remains in the vine, so neither can you, unless you remain in me.”John 15:4
“I am the vine. You are the branches. He who remains in me, and I in him, the same bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”John 15:5
There is a looking that changes us. Paul says believers, 'with unveiled face seeing the glory of the Lord as in a mirror, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord, the Spirit.' The same instrument appears again in Romans: 'be transformed by the renewing of your mind.' Gaze long enough at Christ in His word, and the Spirit shapes the gazer into the image of the One gazed upon.
“But we all, with unveiled face seeing the glory of the Lord as in a mirror, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord, the Spirit.”2 Corinthians 3:18
“Don’t be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what is the good, well-pleasing, and perfect will of God.”Romans 12:2
None of this makes you passive. Because God is at work, you act: 'put off the old man with his doings,' and 'put on the new man, who is being renewed in knowledge after the image of his Creator.' Where a specific sin still grips you, the command is surgical: 'if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.' Notice the phrase 'by the Spirit': even the killing of sin is done in His strength.
“Don’t lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old man with his doings,”Colossians 3:9
“and have put on the new man, who is being renewed in knowledge after the image of his Creator,”Colossians 3:10
“For if you live after the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.”Romans 8:13
How do you know God is changing you? Look for fruit, not fireworks. 'The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness, and self-control.' Fruit grows quietly, season by season, which is why slow growth is still real growth. And the calling keeps both halves together: 'If we live by the Spirit, let’s also walk by the Spirit.'
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”Galatians 5:22-23
“If we live by the Spirit, let’s also walk by the Spirit.”Galatians 5:25