Spiritual Growth - Purpose

PURPOSE

"And God said,

Let us make man in our image"

(Genesis 1:26).

"God ...

hath in these last days

spoken unto us by His Son ...

Who being the brightness of his glory,

and the express image of his person"

(Hebrews 1:3).

"For as by one man’s [Adam’s] disobedience

many were made sinners,

so by the obedience of one [Christ]

shall many be made righteous"

(Romans 5:19).

"Oh Heavenly Father,

I now see your

PURPOSE:

You are still making man in Your image.

This is not through the original Adam,

but through our Lord Jesus Christ, the Last Adam."

Being born into Him through faith,

we became "partakers of the divine nature."

(II Pet. 1:4).

"Christ in you, the hope of glory."

(Col. 1:27).

"As we have borne the image of the earthy [Adam],

we shall also bear the image of the heavenly [Christ]."

(I Cor. 15:49)

"And we know that all things

work together for good

to them that love God,

to them who are the called

according to his purpose.

For whom he did foreknow,

he also did predestinate

to be conformed to the image of his Son."

(Rom. 8:28, 29)

SPIRITUAL GROWTH

is to see that all things are working together

to make us more and more like the Lord Jesus Christ.

In spite of difficult things and frustrations,

we can pray "Thy Will Be Done."

"But we all, with open face

beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord,

are changed into the same image

from glory to glory,

even as by the Spirit of the Lord."

(2 Cor. 3:18)

How does God accomplish this purpose?

One of God's mose effective means is:

FAILURE!

Failure in our lives, cause us to be

FRANTIC.

We want to hide it,

We try to ignore it,

We even rationlize it.

But this is God's instrument

to conform us to the image of His Son!

FAILURE!

causes us to turn completely from ourselves

unto the source of our life:

CHRIST JESUS

Who never fails.

The Holy Spirit

quietly and effortlessly

changes the center of our life

from self to Christ.

We pray, "Not I, but Christ."

"If I am to be like Him,

then God in His grace must do it,

and the sooner I come to recognize it the sooner

I will be delivered from another form of bondage.

Throw down every endeavor and say, I cannot do it,

the more I try the farther I get from His likeness.

What shall I do?

Ah, the Holy Spirit says,

You cannot do it;

just withdraw;

come out of it.

You have been in the arena,

you have been endeavoring,

you are a failure,

come out and sit down,

and as you sit there

behold Him, look at Him.

Don't try to be like Him,

just look at Him.

Just be occupied with Him.

Forget about trying to be like Him.

Instead of letting that fill your mind and heart,

let Him fill it.

Just behold Him,

look upon Him through the Word.

Come to the Word for one purpose

and that is to meet the Lord."

Norman Douty

"For it is God which worketh in you

both to will and to do of his good pleasure"

(Philippians 2:13)