Transformation through Experience
Weekly Overview:
We serve a God of powerful transformations. All throughout Scripture God takes those whom the world deemed the lowest, the hopeless, and the helpless and uses them to change the world. You are not beyond transformation. God longs to break off that which inhibits you from experiencing fullness of life. He longs to heal you, deliver you, and set you free. May your life be forever changed as we spend time discovering God’s heart for transformation.
Scripture:
“And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.” 2 Corinthians 3:18
Devotional:
No Christian practice can take the place of experiencing God. It’s in experiencing God that we begin to live in response to the unconditional, unfathomable depths of God’s love. It’s in experiencing God that we learn to discern and trust his perfect, pleasing will. And it’s in experiencing God that our hearts are transformed into powerful reflections of his wonderful character.
2 Corinthians 3:18 says, “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.” When we see God face-to-face everything changes. You can’t see God and stay the same. Encountering him always requires something from us. Experiencing his holiness always calls us to be holy as he is holy(1 Peter 1:15). Experiencing his love always calls to love because he has “first loved us” (1 John 4:19).And experiencing his heart for transformation always calls us to surrender our lives to him as a “living sacrifice, holy and pleasing” (Romans 12:1).
In Isaiah 6:1-6, Isaiah’s encounter with the living God speaks to the truth of transformation through experience. In response to seeing “the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up” and hearing the Seraphim calling to one another, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory,” Isaiah’s natural response was, “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” And upon declaring the truth of his depravity a seraphim touches his lips with a burning coal and says, “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.” Isaiah was transformed through experiencing God.
If you want your life to be transformed you must set out to seek the face of God. You must respond daily to his invitation to meet together. Your life must be centered around the fact that perfect, blameless Jesus gave his life that you might simply have relationship with the Father. If you do—if you give your life to experience the fullness of God’s love, power, and presence—you will never be the same. May you “[behold] the glory of the Lord” today as you enter into a time of guided prayer (2 Corinthians 3:18).
Guided Prayer:
1. Meditate on the transformation that takes place in experiencing God.
“And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.” 2 Corinthians 3:18
“Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.” Isaiah 6:7
2. Turn your heart to God and seek his face. Have faith that when you set aside time to experience God he will manifest his presence to you. His presence is his promise.
“You have said, ‘Seek my face.’ My heart says to you, ‘Your face, Lord, do I seek.’” Psalm 27:8
“You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.” Jeremiah 29:13
3. Rest in the presence of your loving Father. Confess any sin you have in response to his holiness and promise to forgive you. And receive the cleansing that comes from repentance.
“Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord.” Acts 3:19 (NIV)
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9
So great is God’s love for you that he longs to meet with you. In Revelation 3:20 God says, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.” God is already knocking on the door of your heart. You don’t have to wonder if he will meet with you when you open your heart to him. Revelation 3:20 is his promise. He longs for you to encounter him more than you do. He wants to be known by you more than you want to know him. Have faith in the goodness of your God and live a lifestyle of encounter. May your life be transformed by a revelation of God’s unfailing love and presence.
Extended Reading: Revelation 3
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