“The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God”
The Witness Within #1
You don’t do what you do because it’s right or wrong; you do what you do because you believe that’s who you are. We make decisions that mirror our self-image. That self-portrait we have of ourselves guides our behavior and decisions at a deeper than conscious level. We don’t even think about it; we just act and decide, based on that self-portrait, whether healthy or destructive. Whether it leads to life or death, we nearly automatically live out our lives based on who we think we are.
There’s good and bad news with that truth. The bad news is self-evident. The Good news is God has taken up residence within us and has recreated us so that our actual image is just like Jesus. Our pursuit is then to agree in our heart, mind, and emotions with the new image, or being, that God has made us to be in Christ.
You have already become that new person spiritually; it’s complete. But you are becoming that new person in the rest of your being. As you live out your new identity, you will inherit and manifest everything God has placed in you by His spirit. It’s as automatic as a seed growing into whatever kind of tree or plant.
But if we are not in agreement in our minds, heart, and emotions, we will not outwardly reflect our true inner spiritual image, which has already been conformed to the image of Christ.
God has bonded Himself to us at the core of our being, and from that place, continually speaks to us, reminding us that we are His child. If you’re subconscious self-portrait is painted by the brush of God’s voice affirming your identity in Him, you will make decisions out of that image rather than the broken image that the pain, trauma, and failure of life has painted.
So the “work of Christianity” is not obedience to a set of rules; it’s to renew your kind, putting on the new man, and in doing so, naturally follow and obey God from the heart, perfectly in sync with Him because it IS who you are. We naturally live out of who we think we are, so let’s put the work in to allow God’s spiritual, eternal image of us to overtake every aspect of our thinking, feeling, and doing.
Psalm 37:23 The LORD directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives. 24 Though they stumble, they will never fall, for the LORD holds them by the hand. NLT
In this message, I walk you through a few passages to keep in mind when seeking to live from your spiritual image. Our great promise is that God will not walk away from us if we stumble; he’ll be right there with us, reminding us we are His child and continuing to give us the power to follow Him and reflect His image.
Clint and Sara Byars
Forward Ministries
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