Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, because you are His dear children.
-Ephesians 5:1 (NLT)
The goal as a Christian is to become the mirror image of our Father in Heaven — to put off the old and put on the new as empowered vessels of the Holy Spirit.
Oftentimes, we only look to the Holy Spirit for the miracle or a sign of some sort; we have access to God’s miraculous power but realize that the same Holy Spirit that shows up in power is also the same Holy Spirit sent to make us like Jesus — this is living the miraculous!
God wants to reveal and restore all of the unrefined areas that are still lingering that don’t honor Him, but instead, we brush them aside because it’s not porn or drugs — you know — the bigger issues. We save those corrections for the “real sinners.” (I’m being sarcastic, just in case you can’t read my tone).
Realize it all has to go.
Anything that’s not the nature of God is sinning and disobedience. Down to the little things like thoughts and emotional reactions that many brush off as not that big of a deal or “normal” because “we all struggle,” but to God, He knows those seemingly insignificant areas are what’s keeping us from becoming more like Him.
From the attitudes of our hearts to what we do in secret that we would be embarrassed about if our church fam knew — God knows.
And He’s the one we’re called to please and honor.
Friend,
God is not concerned with our church performance. Anyone can put on the Christian mask and know what to say, especially if you’re someone as churched as me.
I mean, we got the answers back from Awanas and V.B.S days!
(Fist bump for all my old school Awana and V.B.S peeps!)
But really, we can be so well trained in a church setting, know exactly what to say that makes us look and sound like a Christian, but live pretty messy lives at home, in the workplace, driving in traffic…reacting to the grouchy store clerk, giving our spouse the silent treatment when we’re mad (eh-hem, demanding our own way), or irritated with the sweet woman who still writes checks for her grocery bill. The list is endless on the many blind spots we could have that are messing with our spiritual transformation, and not even realize these are the areas that are weighing us down, hindering us from running our race!
Many of us have learned how to shove down a negative human response in testing situations but still have knots in our stomachs and all kinds of colorful words running through our minds — we just learned how to “practice self-control” and make sure they don’t exit our mouths.
Those moments reveal the attitude of the heart, the one God wants to touch and heal to make you more like Him.
I know.
I’ve been on such a crazy stripping journey where the Holy Spirit calls me out on something I didn’t even realize was in me. Thoughts of comparison that lead to jealousy and envy or getting frustrated with the slow car in front of me when I’m late, revealing an attitude that was making me more important than the person in front of me, thinking of self rather than remaining in peace and showing kindness and consideration. Yes, in my car. Alone. Who else would know I had a bad attitude?
God did.
He corrected me.
And He continues to.
Several months ago, I was hit with heavy depression. I’ve been trained long enough in the Holy Spirit boot camp to know when I’m feeling something that’s not His joy and peace, I have to pause and ask the Holy Spirit to show me what I can’t see — but I can feel.
So, I did.
I prayed, “Lord, what’s going on? Why do I feel this heaviness over me?”
The Holy Spirit highlighted this “not good enough” thought that was subconsciously polluting my mind, followed by flashes of memories of myself over that week redecorating little corners of my home. Something that usually brings joy was weighing me down.
To catch you up to speed, I have this thing I do — I buy a new-to-me piece of furniture from Facebook Marketplace, and when I’m ready for a change, I sell it and buy another used piece of furniture to update my space. It’s like a treasure hunt, my little creative outlet. I usually love giving my home a little refresh but this time my adventure was hitting me differently.
Here’s what the Holy Spirit revealed: I was looking for inspiration on Instagram and slipped into feeling like what I had was not good enough. I was comparing my home to someone else’s and felt like I couldn’t measure up. This conversation with myself was subconscious, by the way. I didn’t realize these thoughts were plaguing my mind and making their way into my heart. Not only was this comparing situation a joy stealer, but it also revealed jealousy and envy that began to weigh me down, blocking my ability to live by the Spirit rather than filled with an overflow of love, joy, and peace…you get me?
As soon as I repented and came out of agreement from jealousy and envy and put on a mind of thanks and praise, the depression lifted, and I was back to my joy-filled, spirit-led self.
I didn’t fake a smile.
I wasn’t putting on the Christian mask at church that Sunday and then wearing the depression as soon as I got back into the car.
I didn’t call my prayer warriors to tell them I felt depressed and needed prayer.
I called on Jesus and asked Him to show me where I was off so I could get back on the path of life!
This is one of the many ways we can partner with the Holy Spirit throughout our everyday lives and learn to yield to Him in all things so we can grow up in Christ.
God does not want us to ignore His gentle nudge during these corrective moments.
There is no shame or condemnation for those in Christ, so let’s be brave enough to take an honest look at ourselves and look intently into the mirror of our hearts.
Honestly, what I’ve observed, more often than not, is how much we joke about our shortcomings in church. You know what I mean, “Raise your hand if you sinned this week…” followed with, “The ones who didn’t raise their hands are liars…”
And everyone laughs.
I don’t think those “relatable” church messages honor God in any way. In fact, I believe it hurts His heart.
We’re not supposed to be relating to each other.
We’re supposed to be relating to Jesus, going from glory to glory!
Not only do those messages not honor the work of the Holy Spirit, but we don’t get called higher. We begin to minimize the reality that the Holy Spirit wants to do a good work inside of us, sending a subtle message to our hearts that we really can’t change these areas, but we’re supposed to look like Jesus, so we get better at our performance.
Yikes!
These funny (not funny) “relatable” phrases that we’ve passed down in the church for generations have sent us a mixed message that says we should be producing the fruit of the Holy Spirit, but we really can’t be like God (because we’re not Him), so we just learn how to paint on the Christian front, but on the inside — we’re still the same.
No true change.
White-knuckling our way through the Christian checklist but leaking out the residue of our old-born-from-Adam-sin-nature to those around us.
No wonder the world thinks we’re a bunch of hypocrites.
Yep, I’m going there.
We are called to be lights to the world around us—
Salt to the earth—
We are vessels of the living God — the hands and feet of Jesus.
But many of us are ineffective simply because we are not putting off the old by crucifying the flesh in every way, yielding to the Holy Spirit, and putting on Christ.
Instead, we’re making too many excuses and justifying the gray areas instead of crucifying them to become like Jesus in every way: pure, righteous, and holy.
I’m telling you, putting off the old self and putting on Christ is our true freedom.
Imagine not getting triggered by life, getting poked, squeezed, pushed, and all the other emotional responses that can come out of us (or remain in us) because we’re walking in such supernatural peace it’s actually weird to those around us?!
Realize that’s gonna do some damage to the kingdom of darkness…Christians acting like Christ in the purest form.
What-the-what?!
This new spirit-empowered life is the one Jesus paid for.
And it begins at the end of you.
I’m challenging you to lay it all down. Fully surrender your will and your way for His. Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal what’s hindering you from becoming like Him in every way.
You can fully trust the Holy Spirit to highlight the areas in your life that need to go.
It’s a guarantee.
I am writing these things to warn you about those who want to lead you astray. But you have received the Holy Spirit, and He lives within you, so you don’t need anyone to teach you what is true. For the Spirit teaches you everything you need to know, and what He teaches is true—it is not a lie. So just as He has taught you, remain in fellowship with Christ.
-1 John 2:25-27 (NLT)
If today’s devotional spoke to you, and you are ready to step into greater depths of your new life in Christ, my book Ripple Effect will help you identify the areas that have been blocking your spiritual freedom. Grab your SIGNED COPY HERE or CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE ON AMAZON.
Much love, J
