Part III: Habits of Change

     I am finishing up this series on change and in this post I am continuing on with the principle of the seed. I encourage you to read Part I and II of this series to get the full understanding of this post.  At the moment of new birth the very seed or nature of God is brought alive within the heart of the believer by the renewing of the Holy Spirit and at that moment we are totally identified with Christ.  This is not a physical change, nor a physical act.  It is the work of the Holy Spirit, which transforms our hearts.  The apostle John calls this being ‘born from above‘.  Paul in II Corinthians 5:17 says we become ‘new creations‘; in Titus 3:5 he calls it the ‘washing of regeneration‘; in Ephesians 4:24 it is called the ‘new man‘, and then in Galatians 3:27 he uses the term ‘baptized into Christ‘.  All of these terms basically mean the same thing.  The basic meaning is that by the Holy Spirit, Christ takes up residence in our hearts. 

     Paul says in II Corinthians 6:17 that “we are the temple of the living God.  As God said: “I will live in them and walk among them, I will be their God, and they will be my people” (N.L.T.).  The focus of the new covenant is learning to live a life in union with the Spirit.  It is not a religion, but growing in a greater awareness of who we have become.  We are not trying to grow into becoming a Christian we are learning to allow Christ in us to grow into full maturity.

Cooperation is a key for change

     We can’t make ourselves like Christ, but there are things we can do to cooperate with the working of the Spirit of God in our hearts.  Ephesians 2: 10 says, “We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”  The good works happen as we learn how to cooperate with the Spirit of God in our lives.  I want to give you a few simple keys from Acts 2:42 where it says of the new believers that they “continued steadfastly in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread and the prayers.”  It is very simple, but if we will consistently apply these simple keys it will help us to live in a state of constant growth and change.  In nature there are three main things that plants and trees need to grow which are:

1. Light – Consistent Prayer
2. Water – Consistent Intake of the Word of God
3. Nutrients – Consistent Fellowship

Simplicity and consistency

     If we apply these three simple things consistently in our daily walk with God as foundational to all that we do we will experience life.  It is not trying to work your way into growth it is simply supplying the right environment for the life of God to mature within us.  We will grow into a greater awareness of the grace of God at work in our lives and the maturing of Christ within us.  The centrality of our purpose as believers is to grow up into the new man and out of that growth display the likeness of Christ along with the gifts he has distributed into our lives to benefit those around us.