If you’re having a hard time ‘finding’ God, it could be God’s way of inviting you to experience a NEW revelation of Himself.

He can see, where you might not be able to see, that you have outgrown your current image of Him.

He realizes that it’s no longer working for you.

How a Personal Crisis Can be a Trigger

for Allowing God to Change Your Image of Him

 

Inner pain or some other type of personal crisis can be the trigger that prompts you into a fresh understanding of God.

Why?

Because a crisis can force you to ask the Lord for serious help.

And once you’ve asked God for help, you’ll be sure to get it.

At some point, as you work through your crisis situation, you’ll come to see that you might have outgrown your image of God.

You might be able to see that it’s limiting your connection and friendship with Him.

And here’s the interesting thing: Once you’ve gotten through your crisis, you’ll be able to look back and see that your incomplete image of God was, in fact, a contributing factor to your pain!

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I am very aware that each one of you reading this has her own deeply held, deeply cherished, individual image of God.

We all do.

And we all should.

What we should not do, however, is to turn our image into an idol that is never open to change by the Holy Spirit.

The Lord, you see, is far bigger than any image you and I can ever have of Him.

And He steadfastly refuses to be put into a box of your or my making.

You and I Have Been Created

In God’s Likeness and Image

 

You and I have been created in God’s likeness and image:

‘Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness …’             

Genesis 1:26, 27 NIV

(My emphasis)

And again:

‘For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son …’

                                                  Romans 8:29 NIV

                                                    (My emphasis)

But although you have been created in God’s image, getting to full maturity in that image is ongoing throughout your life.

 

It is never a one-off event.

You see, there is always more of himself that God wants to reveal to you.

There is always more of Him for you to discover and get to know.

The Apostle Paul puts it this way:

‘He is the one we proclaim, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ.’

                                                      Colossians1: 28 – 29 NIV

                                                        (My emphasis)

‘…fully mature…’.

In other words, maturity (transformation, the business of adapting your image) is a continuous process!

Whenever you think you’ve got God nailed, remember this.

As you continue on your journey with God, the Lord invites you to adjust —sometimes just a little, other times more radically —your image, your understanding, of who He is.

Again, the Apostle Paul describes your transformation into the Lord’s image like this:

‘And 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 Corinthians 3:18 NIV

                                                       (My emphasis)

 

 

‘…are being transformed…’, present continuous tense, not past tense!

‘…with ever-increasing glory…’ i. e. it’s an ongoing process.

 Or, in a different translation:

‘We are transfigured by the Spirit of the Lord in ever-increasing splendour into His own image.’

                                                     2 Corinthians 3:18

J.B. Phillips New Testament PHILLIPS

                                                        (My emphasis)

 

‘…in ever-increasing splendour…’.

 Again, present continuous tense, not past tense!

And again:

‘…you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its creator.’

                                Colossians 3: 9 – 10 English Standard Version

                                                 (My emphasis)

 

The Actual Process of Transformation

 

Being born again and baptized is just the beginning of your transformation.

You can’t stop there.

God, you see, is creating you all the time.

He never stops creating you!

God is developing His image within you in the same way that a photographer develops the negative of a photograph.

Leaving the image to lie dormant is of little use to you or to God!

A photograph negative, after all, can only become the photograph it was always intended to be if it is placed in a certain environment.

This is precisely the same with your transformation.

God extends to you a loving, gentle invitation to enter into His environment, an environment where you are able to experience FIRSTHAND —whenever you wish —His presence, LOVE and rest!

He invites you to meet Him one-on-one, directly.

A simple yet powerful and guaranteed way to do this is to discover how to pray with and from your heart. 

The Lord never forces transformation on you.

If and when you choose to accept His invitation, He will reveal new aspects of Himself to you in His own time and way.

And through it all, He continues to LOVE you —WITHOUT CONDITIONS!

Thirty-eight years ago, at the age of 35, I found myself in a crisis and, at the same time, just couldn’t ‘find’ the Lord who had always been there for me.  

In answer to my loud cries for help, the Lord powerfully and fully revealed Himself to me in many new ways.

He did this gradually, but with great certainty.

 He spread this process out over a period of about 15 months.

As a direct result, I experienced a radical transformation. 

Not surprisingly, my image of God changed radically.

Very gradually, but with great certainty, God showed me that although my former, deeply-held image of Him had been adequate for my life with Him up till now, at this particular point in my journey it was no longer up to the task!

Did You Know That It’s GOD Who Does the Changing?

The VERY good news is that

• it’s God who does the image-changing, not you!
• He does this with extreme love, gentleness, sensitivity, care, and patience

Where Do Our Images of God Come From?

You and I form our images of God in several, often-unconscious ways.

Our culture, upbringing, family values, civic and religious education, early childhood and teenaged life experiences —all play in to this.

In particular, your image of God to a significant degree comes from your experiences of authority figures, starting way back in your very early childhood.

Sometimes these figures were godly (e. g. a cherished parent always waiting to hug you and love you), sometimes not (e. g. God as a policeman wielding a big stick, waiting to catch you for the slightest fault, or embarrass you or lay a guilt trip on you).

Sometimes they were good folk. Sometimes they were downright bad.

God knows this better than you and I.

He understands how you have arrived at your image of Him.

But He also knows —better than you and I —exactly how limiting your image of Him can sometimes be.

And He is fully aware of how these limits can hamper your ability to experience fully His peace, joy, love, life, faith, freedom, strength, wisdom, and all the other fruits of His Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22).

God wants to help you change this.

Prayer of the heart provides the corrective to the misguided limits your image puts on the Lord.

It’s a guaranteed way to allow the Holy Spirit to transform your image of God —gradually, with extreme love, sensitivity, and gentleness

It allows you to

• soak in God’s healing love
• soak in God’s healing peace and joy
• develop your trust in Him
• cement your friendship with Him
• experience each one of these not once or twice or 3 times but whenever you want or need to!

As you pray in this simple way for a few minutes each day, God helps you recognize how your various life experiences might have affected, for good or for ill, your image of Him.

Just as the negative film that’s exposed to certain favourable conditions develops into the desired photograph, in the same way —under the influence of God’s healing love —your understanding of God gradually changes.

And your image of Him changes accordingly.

Read Part 2 of this article here 

   

 

 

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