Every teaching from the New Testament, after the Great Commission given in Matthew 28:19-20, is a reinforcement of winning and equipping faithful disciples in the local church, Ephesians 4:11-12. God has not left us to ourselves, He has a purpose, and that purpose is to conform us into the image of His Son. Romans 8:28, 29 This is our greatest confidence, assurance, and certainty. This great confidence rests in God’s plan outlined in the fulfilment of the Great Commission, and if you are a believer, you are not only a part of that plan, but you are also in that plan. What God plans to do He accomplishes and that should build within you a great confidence. Hey believer! Your life is a part of God’s plan!
All of this is possible because of God’s sufficient and all-encompassing Word that is applicable to all of life and godliness 2 Timothy 3:16-17. We have the Holy Spirit working in us 1 Corinthians 2:12-13, helping us to understand the things of God, and we have the very nature of God in us which empowers us 2 Peter 1:4. In short, the Holy Spirit of God uses the Holy Word of God to conform us into the image of the Holy Son of God. We are equipped to fulfill His purpose for our lives, we are not left to wonder, His Word changes us, it transforms us. (2 Corinthians 3:18) Start here my friend, start believing what God’s Word says about His Word changing you.
You and I have the greatest opportunity and potential to be everything God wants us to be if we seek God’s Truth and apply God’s Truth to everyday life. If we are good managers of our lives we will do a constant inventory on our lives, we will lay our lives up against the grid of God’s Word to see if our lives fit within that grid. We will be people of the Word, not just people who are “religious”. We will want, desire, and seek truth through His Word and then make a way to apply it to our lives.
Because God’s Word is sufficient for all of life and godliness 2 Peter 1:3,4, we should have confidence in its transforming power. The gospel has transformed us by its power, Romans 1:16, 17, 2 Corinthians 5:17, you have been changed if you are a believer, and you can change and live a life that has focus, God’s glory, 1 Corinthians 10:31, and purpose, becoming like God’s Son, Romans 8:28, 29. Be confident in God’s work in you Philippians 1:6, pray with these passages in mind, even in front of you and begin to take the journey of spiritual change. Look up the passages in this paragraph and personalize them, pray over them and claim them. Prepare your heart and be confident!…….in Christ! (Philippians 4:13)…. remember “your faith and hope are in God”!…….. do not ever give up that hope!
1 Peter 1:13 Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, 15 but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” 17 And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, 18 knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. 20 He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you 21 who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God. 22 Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, 23 since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God; 24 for “All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, 25 but the word of the Lord remains forever.” And this word is the good news that was preached to you.