Editor's Note: The following is a report on the practical applications of Gary Thomas's new book, The Beautiful Fight: Surrendering to the Transforming Presence of God Every Day of Your Life, (Zondervan, 2007).

It’s good to know the truth and to do what’s right, but true Christianity is about much more than simply what you believe and how you behave. The faith is nothing less than a beautiful fight in which God wants to transform you completely, for His glory.

So don’t settle for anything less than the best. Here’s how you can go beyond just good moral behavior to true transformation:

Experience God every day. Understand that you can’t truly connect to God through mere morality. Rather than just believing in God, reach out to Him every day to experience His presence, power, and wisdom. Instead of just discussing issues, praying about them, and feeling inspired by them, put your faith into action every day. Realize that no matter how much you know about God, what matters most is what you know of God through a close relationship with Him. Don’t limit your discipleship to what you can accomplish through your own energy; ultimately, that will be nothing of eternal value. Set aside your personal agenda and invite God to act on your soul however He chooses to do so. Rely on God’s unlimited power rather than your own limited power. Know that you can best reach others for Christ simply by letting them see the compelling ways God is working through your life.

Surrender to the work Jesus is doing right now. Remember that, after His time on Earth, Jesus ascended to heaven to continue His reign – and that He is still there, calling all believers to become more and more like He is now. Ask God to help you overcome pride, so you can shift your focus from working to build influence for yourself to surrendering to Jesus’ influence on a minute-by-minute basis, helping to build His kingdom, which will outlive you. Instead of trying to impress other people through your own abilities, let them see how God is manifesting Himself through you.

Invite God to use you to do His work in a hurting world. Recognize that, by embracing God’s transforming work in your life, you can become an oasis for hurting people in our fallen world. Confess and repent of habitual sin in your life that’s desensitizing you to God’s work in the world. Ask God to help you care about what He cares about. Offer yourself to God to use in His service.

Ask God to give you eyes that can see well. Pray for God to give you His perspective on reality, helping you to see yourself as He sees you, and to see other people as He sees them. When facing important decisions, pray about each situation: “God, how does this look to you?” Understand that it’s not enough to be guided by morality alone, abstaining from lust, prejudice, or disdain when you look at people. Instead, move toward transformed sight that views people with honor, respect, and compassion. Be humble, realizing that you deserve hell, but God has chosen to spare you. Let your gratitude for God’s grace and awe and reverence for His power motivate you to view Him – and the people He has made in His image – with the right perspective. Ask God to cure you of spiritual blindness that forgets His wonderful work. Pray for Him to give you the light you need to see what He wants you to see. Make a covenant with your eyes to turn away from looking at negative, impure things and to focus instead on positive, pure things. Train your eyes to read the Bible often and incorporate its truth into your life. Worship with your eyes by focusing your sight on God’s majesty and glory.

Ask God to give you a mouth that can speak well. Recognize the incredible power of words – they can either build up or destroy nations, families, churches, careers, or businesses. Control your speech so you don’t unleash destructive power through negative words. But rather than just avoiding negative speech, strive to speak positive words as often as possible. Realize that if you allow your mouth to become God’s servant, there’s no end to the good He can accomplish through you. Invite God to use your mouth to encourage, instruct, and occasionally confront others, as He leads.

Ask God to give you ears that hear well. Know that while it’s good to avoid listening to gossip, lies, vile talk, and hate speech, God calls you to do more. Tune your ears to what is pure, holy, right, just, and divinely ordained. Learn how to test whether or not a certain message you hear may be from God: Figure out if it lines up with the truths revealed in the Bible, if it’s consistent with the witness of the universal church, if there’s any sin in your life that you haven’t confessed and repented of (which will block your spiritual healing until you deal with it properly), and if you’ve built the kind of intimacy with God that enables you to become familiar with His voice speaking to you. Expect that, the more time you spend listening to God, the easier it will be for you to naturally turn to Him for His wisdom in any situation.

Ask God to give you a mind that thinks well. Understand that your thoughts don’t have to rule you; God can help you rule them through the power of His Holy Spirit. Pray for the Spirit to renew your mind, and cooperate with Him in the process. Become a diligent student, reading, studying, and meditating on the Bible often. Read some classic devotional books written by believers who lived throughout history, and learn from their experiences. Give up lesser pursuits to free up more time to pursue God’s wisdom; eliminate distractions wherever you can in your life. Turn your thoughts away from evil and toward good. Whenever a destructive thought enters your mind, take it captive by refusing to dwell on it, and replace it with a holy thought that reflects God’s truth. Know that training your mind to think wisely will also enable you to choose wise actions, because your thoughts and behaviors influence each other. Rather than focusing just on trying to modify your outward behavior, focus on thinking like Jesus so you’ll be transformed from the inside out.