“… we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ,” Ephesians 4:14-15 NASB1995
It’s time to grow up. Jesus is coming back for a bride made ready. So God is doing a quick work of maturity. Things that used to take years will be happening in weeks and days. Because the Day of His visitation is drawing near. Maturity in Him is no longer an option. It is time for the bride to mature. We must embrace multiplicity. Be formidable and flexible.
A big way that this will come is through the multiplicity of revelation. It will hit multiple areas of your life at once. It will come with refining, correction and rebuke to prepare you. We must get good at receiving His correction and rebuke because it is time to mature.
The key to maturity is resignation and repentance. We resign ourselves fully and we agree completely with His mind. This is how we can stay on the wheel of His will. Resignation and repentance.
“Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.”” Isaiah 30:21 NIV
Every day we have a decision to make. Will we heed His instruction?
“Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent.” Revelation 3:19 NIV
Whom I love means those who He kisses with affection. I rebuke means exposed, shown to be guilty, revealing of fault. Discipline means to chasten and train. Repentance means to change your mind. To think differently. He loves so He rebukes and disciplines. We love by being earnest and repenting.
“Repent at my rebuke! Then I will pour out my thoughts to you, I will make known to you my teachings.” Proverbs 1:23 NIV
“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
The gift of repentance is critical in this hour. Get used to continual repentance. Ongoing repenting. Renewing. Mind changing. God is taking us into His mind and it will affect every area of our life. The way we are as a spouse, a parent, a son, a leader, a lover, a friend, and a disciple. Every area of your life is to undergo metamorphosis.
Repentance is the key to receiving God’s correction and rebuke gracefully. Justifications and excuses hinder the progress. Repentance opens the door to the next level of growth. As long as we are making excuses and justifying the things God is correcting, we will be at a stand still. It is when we repent and agree with God’s verdict that we will progress to the next level of growth. We accelerate in the spirit.
God’s mind and the revelation and wisdom that comes to us through the Spirit of Truth will affect every area of our life. It is meant to conform and convict us. Mold us into my image. When you come like a pile of soft clay, emptied of ourselves, our life, our cares. Everything. God can mold us on the wheel of His will.
The Greek writers used the Greek word metanoeo to refer to repentance. Metanoeo means a change of mind, thought, or thinking so powerful that it changes one’s very way of life. I think the Greek word metanoeo is an excellent synonym for the Hebrew word shub. Both words mean thoroughly changing or turning from evil to God and righteousness.
Repentance means you change the way you think about the issue. Renew your mind to God’s Mind. If we agreed with His verdict on sin, we’d turn from it. We turn from it towards Him. Renounce your opinion and pick up His. Repentance is the result of being swept into His mind.
As you are swept into His mind you will be confronted with how different your mind is to His. Your definition of good and evil. Your understanding. His thoughts and ways are way higher than yours. To renew your mind to His mind you must simply agree with His verdict and opinion on it. Reject your contradiction or lie and pick up His truth. You will need to do this over and over again. The path will be a path of a thousand deaths. Over and over again, you must submit to His definitions. His mind. His will. His verdict. His opinion. The moment you surrender your carnal mind and say yes to His mind you just repented and renewed your thinking.
This will need to happen in greater Frequency as God continues to take us into His mind. We will have to shed small thinking. Limiter thinking. Unbelief. Lies. We’ll have to learn to do this quickly to cooperate with the acceleration of the spirit.
“But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: “God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.”” James 4:6 NKJV
He resists the proud, but He gives grace to the humble. When we remain rigid and cling to our thinking through justification or excuses we are proud. We create great resistance to God’s plan of maturity, intimacy, and conformity. It is when we remain humble. Pliable and flexible. Repentant. That we ascend!
If God confronts our thinking on money, family, leadership, worship, prayer. Whatever it is. We are continually confronted with an option. Repent or resist. It is our choice. The outcome depends on our response. Pride brings resistance. Humility brings grace. When God confronts me and He declares His opinion about my thinking I have a decision to make. The more I resist, the more uncomfortable it will be. The moment I just surrender and embrace His assessment of my life, I receive grace.
There is a simplicity in this. A gift. A treasure. A secret key. A trust. Just repent. Say yes. Agree. And you will actually receive empowering grace to change. Repentance isn’t the petition for forgiveness. Jesus already forgave you on the cross. Repentance is the act of agreeing with God’s mind. We agree with His assessment, thought, and will about our lives. We resign ourselves completely to Him. When we justify or make excuses we create a resistance between us. But when we repent and agree with Him we receive grace.
There is something powerful about resignation. The ability to completely resign ourselves to him. Our self, our life, our worries, our cares, our reputation, our plans, our dreams, our promises, our gifts, our finances, our family. Everything. When we let him take it all we become empty so he can fill us.We become a moldable piece of clay for Him to form.
Once I walked in a labyrinth and I learned this. In the center of the labyrinth there was a cross. As I walked along sometimes my back would be facing the cross. I couldn’t see the goal: The cross. Him. But no matter what, every bend and turn in that labyrinth made me pivot to see Him. Every turn pointed me back to the cross. In the same way, as we walk in faith with Him, it is when we turn (When we repent and agree with His mind) that we get a better glimpse of the cross. We see Him more clear. We feel close and get a view of Him. We get perspective and see the goal and prize of Him! The end! His coming! When I see Him in communion, I receive grace to continue and conform! The key to seeing Him is the turning. The repenting. The changing of thinking.
By Micah Level