Paul said: “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind.” (Romans 12:2a) Our mind is to be renewed, transformed—effectively changed—that we may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Our lives projecting that of our Lord. These words, “the renewing of your mind,” means to mirror your mind after the mind of Christ. To mirror our minds after the mind of Christ. What is holy? What is acceptable? What is pure? What is good? We are to think on these things.
Our mind is to be changed into the image of our Lord. This is our intellect, our understanding, our reason, our capacity for spiritual truth, the higher powers of the soul, the faculty of perceiving divine things—recognizing good and hating evil. It is the power of considering and judging soberly, calmly and impartially. This is quite a transformation from what we see in the Church today.
Pastors—and we have good pastors. We have Pastor John, who loves the Word. We have Kin, who is a pastor and holds services Friday night, striving to see the Word imparted into the people. We have Pastor Matt, who hungers for the Word and hungers for intercession. Pastor Ray, who travels throughout Africa preaching the Word, and Odeh who travels the world striving to do the same. We have Pastors who strive to bring forth a Church that is holy and acceptable unto God. However, their congregations are small and not because they are not good at their jobs, because they are. It is because the Church is not hungry for the holiness of God. They do not long for the holiness of God; they do not want to be transformed or distinguished from the world.
\We have pastors who cry out to God for their people. We have pastors whose services are dictated by a church board that says we need to “keep up with the status quo.” One of our Pastors shared with us at the DC Gathering that his board put restrictions on the length of his services—heaven forbid he starts moving in the Spirit and goes beyond the time that they gave Him. His heart wept because they are shutting off the flow of the Spirit. (Please note: We prayed over this in the GOE and this has since been changed—praise the Lord!)
A refining is coming and it will not be easy. You who have been through the refining know what it is like to face severe difficulties that drive you to your knees in prayer—to fall to your face weeping before God. Our trials, our difficulties will either harden our hearts or they will break our hearts and cause us to become so dependent on God that we will do anything for Him. Why? He is the only one that will give us the strength that we need. Instead of shaking our fists at Him because of what we are going through, we will need to raise our hands and cry out to Him, “Take me Lord! Purify me through this and refine me through this! Let me come out of this season, upright, pure, holy and acceptable to You, like a Bride, ready to receive her Groom. Help me, Lord!”
The refining of this year will bring in a new breed of believers, those who live behind the veil. Then, the Church’s refining will begin, continuing beyond this year. However, there will be a new breed of believers who will help lead and guide the Church during the end-times. They will walk in the power and the authority of God that they were created to walk in. They will come into the room and people will know the presence of God has entered in. They will be distinguished from the rest of the world because they walk in the authority and power of the living God.
As children of God, when we move into a room, the presence of God will come with us—not because of titles but because we have lived behind the veil. Consider for a moment Moses. When he came down from the mountain after spending time before God, the people of Israel fell on their faces because the holiness of God surrounded Moses—it literally emanated from his face. He had to wear a veil to cover his face because the people feared the holiness of God that emanated from Him.
Christ did the work so that we could go behind the veil. Many people still see that veil between the holy place and the holy of holies still intact and it affects their relationship with God. However, Christ did the work so that we could enter into a place of intimacy with God. Intimacy with our Creator. Remember, He has the power and authority to create—to give and to take life. If we live every moment of our life remembering that we serve a God Who created us, Who formed us from the dust of the earth and then breathed His breath of life within us, it would transform the relationship we have with Him into one of intimacy and wholeness. Even His name is holy and pure! He is holiness, and if His Spirit resides within us, we too are called to live a life of holiness.
When we wake up in the morning, say, “Lord! Thank You for creating me for this season in time! Prepare me to be used by you in the level and calling that You have created me for. Do not let me fall short of the call that You created me to do! I want to complete this race. I want to complete it having fulfilled all that You created for me to fulfill. Prepare me today, keeping it constantly before my mind.”
He is the God that created you and He breathed life into you. Everything we do is made to give honor unto that power and authority, yet why did He create us? For fellowship, for intimacy, to bring us into the bridal chamber, to bring us down the aisle and up to the altar to stand face to face, eye to eye and to enter into union with us. That is why God created us; we are to live behind the veil. The new breed of believers that will come out of the refining will be so transformed, they will live behind the veil.
To be continued next week…
Blessings & Love,
Ricci Johnson-Wilson
