Transformed into His likeness…… Part II

“….so we are transfigured much like the Messiah, our lives gradually becoming brighter and more beautiful as God enters our lives and we become like him”.            II Cor. 3:18  MSG Bible

None of us have ever been given an assignment quite like the one Moses received, but we have been called to follow the Lord and to represent Him in this world.  At times, this task becomes difficult and discouraging, and we need something from the Lord.  We may be asked to do something we cannot do on our own and we need something that will recharge our spiritual batteries and that will rekindle the old flames of excitement and passion for the Lord.  We refer to that something as revival.  We pray for God to send revival and all we are really asking is for that which Moses prayed: “Show me Thy glory!”

II Cor. 3 verse 18 reads: “…. we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit”.
This verse is the climax of the chapter and presents truth that is so exciting and marvelous.

It declares that all of us, Christians, are privileged to share in possessing and radiating the glory of the Lord through the work of the Holy Spirit.

Under the Old Covenant, only Moses ascended the mountain and had fellowship with God; but under the new covenant, all believers have the privilege of communion with the Lord.

We are participants in the glory of God and are transformed into His likeness by the Holy Spirit.
As we look into God’s Word and see God’s Son, the Holy Spirit transforms us into the very likeness of God.

Paul declared: “Therefore, since through God’s mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart”. (2 Cor. 4:1)
When we understand that our lives and ministries involve the glory of God, how could we quit or give up hope?

 Paul declared: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (2 Cor. 5:17)

No matter how long we have been a Christian, whether a short time or a long time, we are a new creation.
As a new creation, we are a member of the family of God, and we have received the Spirit of God, and God is for us.

Ultimately, there is nothing we cannot overcome and become, because we like Paul can say, “I can do everything through Christ who gives me strength.” (Phil. 4:13)

None of that means that transformation is going to be easy or quick, because Satan is working against us, and sometimes we also work against what God is trying to do in us and for us.

But no matter how frustrated we might be, or how much we may have failed to experience transformation in the past, the possibility remains in the present and the future.

God’s promises always remain – including “…He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ.” (Phil. 1:6)