By Keiko Chibana-Shinn | Rediscovering Prayer
We all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. 2 Cor. 3:17-18
Jesus calls us into holistic transformation. The ministry of Jesus lives and breathes to restore us into new beginnings, a new life for today. The work He does in and through us is not half-heartedly done. It’s a finished work. We can walk in the power of His strength to demonstrate a living faith that can come against every scheme of evil intention and strife.
The devil loves to downplay your identity. We are told a great lie from early on. We are told through our families, media, and social influences that we are nothing more than a product of human design. From every side there is a message being whispered, eventually resounding in our ears saying, Did God really say…? (Gen. 3:1). All diabolical atrocities in humanity’s history are marked by the degradation of the sacredness of mankind. The devil seeks to steal, kill, and destroy the eternal value you possess. But there is so much more to us than meets the eye.
We are all made in the image of God. Therefore we are a sign of divine power, a miracle fashioned in the mind of Christ before the foundations of the earth. He set your appointed time in history that you may seek Him and find Him in your need. From one man He made all the nations so that the Family of God would grow and prosper in His creative order. Jesus Himself gives us His life in exchange for our brokenness. The old has passed, behold the new has come.
The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit. John 3:8
It takes a Spirit-filled heart to manifest God’s great mercy and loving kindness to express compassion upon the undeserving, for we all have fallen short of the glory of God and in need of inner healing and deliverance. As we continually position ourselves to be filled with His Spirit, we can then effectively impart His faithful love to a broken world.
When we fail to see God in each other we have the adverse potential to create cracks in our identity, individually and collectively. Infliction caused by continual assaults, insults, and invalidations imposed by prejudices and faulty judgments embodies the self-serving and prideful yearnings that only strengthen the influence of demonic forces. Let us not accumulate detrimental entry points for the devil to take possession of what is not his. Consequences of injustice leave people with deep soul wounds that cannot be healed by human intervention alone. Anger, disillusionment, and abuses of every kind left untreated can starve the child-like faith that is meant to take you from glory to glory. But Jesus stands at the door of our hearts.
A respected and renowned pastor for the nations defines the term communion in its simplest form. Communion means common-union. The Lord yearns for you to talk with Him because it’s His heartbeat for you to know you have common-union or commonality with God. Communion then embodies evidence of intimacy and quality relationship with God. It’s in that place of communion one discovers the rich commonality with the Godhead- the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. You and I are family with the triune God. We are continually being awakened by the revelation that as sons and daughters we are more like God than we ever thought or imagined.
Let us take our rightful place in the Kingdom of God. We are a Holy people, redeemed of the Lord. He delights in who we are but God does not condition His love by mere appearances, not by the color of your skin, your age, your gender, your skills, or your bank account. We were once found hiding in fear, running from our past and wandering upon bitter-stricken roads but God restores our identity, transforms us into the Sought Out ones, a City not forsaken. We carry the ministry of reconciliation because we ourselves have been reconciled as sacred in the eyes of a loving God.
He says to us today: Receive My Spirit today. Welcome Me in today. The same power that lifted Me up from the grave is the same power that lives in you, who believe. Acknowledge the potency and purpose of My Spirit. Let me tear down the veils of deceit. For where my Spirit is, there is freedom. I make you one with Me and one with each other. Let my Spirit guide you in unfamiliar paths. I will turn darkness into light before you and rough places into level ground. I promise to deliver you and I will continue to deliver you to the very end. These things I will do for you. Align your spirit to Mine today.