FOUNDATIONS: 5 God’s Process for You

How do you change your character and life?
What makes the difference between a person being controlled by the Holy Spirit or their sinful nature?
What is the Christian Essentials’ process to change your life and why?
What was especially meaningful to you in this chapter? Why?

Mike shares his testimony about the power of God’s truth:

“I graduated from seminary and became a Pastor. It was my custom to spend at least an hour a day in Bible study and prayer. I memorized chapters of Scripture. I shared the Gospel with anyone I met. I tried to do everything I had been taught in order to live the successful Christian life.

What was the result of all this? My wife and children didn’t respect me because in my zeal to make them be good Christians, I became legalistic, harsh, and unloving. My marriage was a mess and my personal life was a shambles. Finally I came to grips with reality and stopped being a Pastor. In a short time I became an alcoholic.

I began trying everything I knew to stop including: lots of prayer, hours of Bible study and memorization, fasting, evangelism, accountability groups, hundreds of meetings with Christian and secular counselors, Christian and secular treatment centers, Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, reading many books on addiction, had a “baptism of the Spirit session” and two sessions of exorcism, was disciplined by my church, followed a rigid schedule, and made promises to God and my wife. The result? I lost control and was depressed for days and suicidal.

Why didn’t any of this work? Because they were all things I was doing in the flesh. Whenever we commit ourselves to a program, rules, or method to perform, we put ourselves under law which gives sin power (1 Cor 15:56). The problem was not the bad behavior but the belief behind the behavior that caused me to act that way.

One day I was listening to a teaching on our death in Christ. Rom 6:6-7 says, “For we know that our old self was crucified with Him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin.” I thought, “That’s what I need, but how do I make that true in my life?” Then the teacher said, “It is not something you do, it is something that has already been done.”

It was at that moment that I knew the truth. I knew I had died with Christ and the old sin-loving sinner had died and was no more. I had believed the lie that I was a hopeless, helpless alcoholic. But now I knew that I, Mike, was a child of God who had died with Christ. I was free at last, free at last! Praise God I was free at last !!!!!!!!!”

Do you see how lies can control you? Do you see how the truth can set you free? Why did none of those things that Mike tried help him? Because for some reason they did not change his beliefs about God and himself. Mike discovered what the Bible says about truly changing your life.

Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world,

but let God transform you into a new person

by changing the way you think. (Romans 12:2)

You change your life when you change your mind.

An invitation to a new life

“Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world.” There is a certain set of beliefs, values, and lifestyles practiced and taught by this world. You understand the danger of this when you recognize that “the whole world is under the control of the evil one” (1 John 5:19). It is the anti-Christian, selfish, greedy, lustful beliefs of the world that have programmed your demonic sinful nature to desire and act as it does.

Your mind, especially when you were young, was like soft wax. It could be molded and imprinted by all kinds of experiences with no idea of what was true or false, good or bad. You have lived according to how those people and experiences in the world molded your mind.

What does your life look like when it copies “the behavior and customs of this world”? The people of this world are sinful, angry, lonely, afraid, depressed, hopeless, and empty. Are any of the values and beliefs of the world living in you? Does the pull of sex, money, “success,” and entertainment seem stronger than the Spirit sometimes? You are following “the behavior and customs of this world” and God commands you not to be because it will never make you happy.

Rather, God wants to, “transform you into a new person” (Rom 12:2). The original Greek word used here is “metamorphos” and means a radical and permanent change in the character of something. A good illustration of metamorphos is the transformation that occurs when a caterpillar turns into a butterfly. A caterpillar is ugly and crawls on many legs. The butterfly is beautiful and flies with two wings. And notice that a butterfly cannot turn back into a caterpillar. Once changed, always changed. And this is true of the spiritual growth and transformation that the Apostle is talking about.

Christian, you can change anything about your character. There is nothing about your moral weaknesses that cannot be changed, no matter how long you have been that way, or how hard you have tried to change it. God wants to help you change it because He loves you and He wants to be glorified through your life.

The process to a new life

How can such amazing and lasting change occur in your character? How can you be consistently controlled by the Holy Spirit? Our text says: “Let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think” (Romans 12:2). Why do you change your life when you change your mind? Because the mind is where you believe, and everything you do is controlled by what you believe. The Bible says of all humans: “For as he thinks within himself, so he is” (Prov 23:7 NASB). Your thoughts and beliefs determine what you will do and who you will be. This is how God created you.

If you change what you believe, you will change what you desire and feel. And because you act on what you desire and feel, all of this will change your character. And because you can permanently change your beliefs, you can permanently change your character. This is why God says He can, “transform you into a new person by changing the way you think” (Rom 12:2).

This truth answers a vital question: How does a person experience the powers of the Holy Spirit? What makes the difference between a person who is being controlled by their sinful nature or the Holy Spirit? How do you obey the NT commands to: “be led by the Holy Spirit,” “keep in step with the Holy Spirit,” and “be filled with the Holy Spirit” (Gal 5:18, 25; Eph 5:18)? The answer is simple: Believe the truth. This is why the Holy Spirit is called “the Spirit of truth” (John 14:17; 15:26; 16:13; 1 John 4:6).

Truth is the power of God and the Holy Spirit in your life. Lies are the power of the Devil and the sinful nature. If you are believing the truth, the Holy Spirit will be controlling you. If you believe a lie, the sinful nature will be controlling you. This is one of the most vital and fundamental things to understand about the Christian life.

Think about it for a moment. Everything you feel, desire, and do is based on what you believe. Let us take the example of worry. God commands: “Do not worry about anything” (Phil 4:6). Therefore, worry is a sin and a power of the sinful nature. And when you are worrying you are not experiencing peace or joy, which are powers of the Holy Spirit. Remember, you can only be controlled by sin or the Spirit.

What is empowering the sinful nature when you worry? You believe a lie. Worry means you are believing that you need to worry in order to protect yourself from something or someone. And that is a lie.

If God commands you, “Do not worry about anything” then it means that truthfully there is nothing for you to worry about. God would not command you to do something that would hurt you. All of His commands are actually designed to help you and protect you from harm, including, “Do not worry about anything.” Usually your worry actually hurts you more than whatever you are worried about!

What happens then when you believe the truth that God is always working to protect and provide for you? You turn on the Holy Spirit in you and experience joy and peace! You can worry or worship, but you cannot do both at the same time. The Bible says of God, “You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you!” (Isa 26:3). This is why the fruits and powers of the Holy Spirit are really the fruits and powers of believing in the power, glory, and love of God. Believing God’s promises about you unleashes the power of God within you.

You do not act your way into feeling right as many claim. It is not true that you “Do right to feel right.” Believe right to feel right is the real truth.

Notice that, “changing the way you think” is your responsibility. God has made you able to do it. Many are confused about God’s part and our part in spiritual growth. God’s part is giving you His Spirit and Scriptures. Your part is believing those Scripture so you are controlled by His Spirit.

Through His Spirit, “God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him” (Phil 2:13). Through His Scriptures God provides you the truth to grow. Jesus promised His followers: “You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:32). Free from the destructive lies of the world. Free from the power of your sinful nature. And free to live in the power of the Holy Spirit that indwells you.

God has given you the desire, power, and truth to change your life, but it is your responsibility to use them. This is why the motto of the entire series of Christian Essentials studies is “Train yourself to be godly” (1 Tim 4:7). Because your life is based on what you believe, you can be changed “into a new person by changing the way you think” (Rom 12:2). This means replacing the lies you believe with the truth. It is that simple, but it is not that easy. “Changing the way you think” will be a life-long struggle. The Christian Essentials studies are designed to help you effectively do it.

The process of the Christian Essentials

The key to the extraordinary Christian life then is always believing in the truth of God. This is the fundamental approach the Christian Essentials are based on. The epistles of Ephesians and Romans are also. Why do you think there are no commands for you to do something in the first 3 chapters of Ephesians? These chapters only tell you things God wants you to believe. Things to believe about who He is and who you are. Likewise, there are 315 verses in the first 11 chapters of Romans. Of those 315 verses, why are there only 3 that actually tell you to do something (cf. 6:11-13)?

If you summarized the first 3 chapters of Ephesians and the first 11 chapters of Romans it is clear that they are focused on essentially one thing: God’s great love for you. Why did the Apostle write these letters in this way? Because he knew that believing the truth leads to obeying the truth. Knowing God’s love leads to loving God.

One of the worst mistakes Christians make is emphasizing the commands of God, over the promises of God. The fundamental reason people do not obey the commands is that they do not believe the promises. The commands tell us how we are supposed to love God. But His promises tell us how He loves us. And your obedience to the commands will only be as great as your belief and trust in His promises.

This is why the Christian Essentials are designed to first establish your faith in God’s love in every part of your heart and mind. Some of your mind fully believes in God’s love and could confidently tell others about it. But your sinful desires, feelings, and actions reveal that other parts of your mind do not fully believe in God’s love and lordship.

Study #1 in the Christian Essentials is FORGIVENESS: Discovering 6 Beliefs to Escape the Wrath of God. This study explains how to become a Christian and know you are one. If you are not sure you are a Christian, then you should start with this study.

You are reading study #2: FOUNDATIONS for Your Christian Life. This introduces you to the vital concept of your identity in Christ and how your needs are fulfilled in your relationship with God.

Study #3: FAITH in Your Father’s Love will teach you vital promises from God about your security and significance from God. The Devil works hard to distort these doctrines and it is vital to ensure that you have a biblical understanding of all God has made you to be and given to you.

Building on the base of the FOUNDATIONS and FAITH studies, you have your spiritual armor on and are ready to do battle over those “strongholds” (2 Cor 10:4) in your mind that the Devil still controls. This is the purpose of study #4: FREEDOM to Live in the Spirit’s Power. It will equip you in 4 steps to renew your mind with God’s truth by replacing lies which now control you.

In Study #5: FRUIT in Obeying Christ’s Commands, you are ready to pursue the radical holiness and love that your Lord has called you to. This is because through your increased FOUNDATIONS, FAITH, and FREEDOM you are able to produce more FRUIT of the Spirit and fulfill God’s supernatural commands in your life. Study #6: FAMILIES provides specific wisdom about marriage and parenting and will help you apply your growing Christian maturity in these relationships.

Understand something very important about the Christian Essentials studies and your Christian life. The climax of both is spiritual FREEDOM. As discussed in the previous chapter, the one necessary thing to live an obedient, joyful, fruitful, and God-glorifying life is to be controlled by the Holy Spirit. Ridding your life of the anger, depression, and worry of your sinful nature and experiencing the love, joy, and peace of God’s Spirit is the ultimate goal of the Christian life. This is because obeying God’s commands will rather automatically happen when the Spirit is controlling you.

But the obstacles to doing that are much, much greater than many Christians realize. The Devil has usually worked in their life to create many powerful emotional and spiritual “strongholds” (2 Cor 10:4) of controlling lies that block the Spirit from controlling their life. And getting rid of those “strongholds” may be the greatest battle of their life and the hardest thing they ever do. For many it will require many hours of difficult work to renew their mind and remove the demonic strongholds in their minds.

But when they do, they will experience the love, joy, peace, and power of the Holy Spirit in ways they never imagined. And loving God and loving people will no longer just be a desire, but a reality because the Sprit now controls them consistently. So you can understand why the Devil might really fight against that happening in your life. He does not even want you to recognize how often his anger, depression, and worry controls you.

This battle over your heart and who will control it, is the climax of the Christian Essential studies and your Christian life. Study #4: FREEDOM is the ultimate goal of these studies, just as spiritual freedom is the ultimate goal of your Christian life. Studies #2 and #3, FOUNDATIONS and FAITH, are designed to grow your relationship with God and prepare you to engage in spiritual battle in the FREEDOM study. The 4 steps to renewing your mind explained in FREEDOM will especially help you renew your mind about events in your past that have imprinted you with lies about yourself or God. The steps are biblical and they really work. But going through these steps may be one of the most difficult things you will ever do.

What do you need to be successful in accomplishing your spiritual freedom? Two things: truth and a friend. The only reason the Devil or your sinful nature controls you is because a part of your mind believes a lie. Therefore, you need to know the truth to set you free. And this is the purpose of the contents in the FOUNDATIONS and FAITH studies. Providing the truth you will need to confront the Devil’s lies.

But you will also need a friend. Many years of experience has demonstrated that most people cannot do the 4 steps of mind renewal by themselves. You will probably need someone willing and able to ask questions to help guide you through the steps. And this will obviously have to be someone you trust.

This is a primary purpose of your Barnabas Group meetings and the P.O.W.E.R. agenda. To help train you to be open about your feelings and trust some other people. If you cannot do that you will be greatly hindered in being able to destroy the spiritual “strongholds” in your life. The Devil wants you to keep things bottled up inside and left in the dark. And he wants you to keep trying to fight him by yourself. To be victorious in personal spiritual warfare you need to learn how to recognize and monitor your feelings and get help from others.

So again, the FOUNDATIONS and FAITH studies, projects, and Barnabas Group discussions are all designed to prepare you for the real spiritual battles you will be fighting together in the FREEDOM study. And if you remove your sinful strongholds in the FREEDOM study, you will have the consistent power of the Spirit to live the biblical commands, principles, and habits in the FRUIT and FAMILIES studies.

Understand that in the FOUNDATIONS, FAITH, and FREEDOM studies God wants to stir some things up in your heart that may not be easily or immediately resolved. Especially until you complete the reading and exercises in the FREEDOM study. Permanently changing your life is a process that requires significant time, effort, skill, and wisdom. But if you believe and follow the biblical truths and principles provided in the Christian Essentials, trusting God along the way, Romans 12:2 and John 8:32 will be true for you.

Unfortunately, too many Christians try to live the Christian life without the FOUNDATIONS, FAITH, and FREEDOM they need. This will lead to serving God out of guilt, frustration, and their flesh and eventually to “spiritual burn out.” Many Christians are stuck here. The Christian Essentials will help you grow in your Christian FOUNDATIONS, FAITH, and FREEDOM so you can grow in your spiritual FRUIT.

“Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think” (Romans 12:2). You change your life when you change your mind.

► Return to the beginning and answer the questions there.

► Recite Galatians 5:16 from memory.

► Memorize Romans 12:2 in the translation above or another one.

► Review Appendix F for an outline of the Christian Essential studies and the “Transformation Triangle.”

► Complete Project 2D by reading Appendix G: “The Nine Powers of God, the Spirit, & the Spirit-Controlled Christian.” Which of these “powers” do you struggle with the most? Which one do you struggle to believe God has toward you?