Many of us have heard Romans 8:28 quoted enough that it has almost sound trite especially in the midst of trials.
It really needs verse 29 to get the point Paul was making.
“And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren;”
What is God aiming at?
What is His purpose?
What has He predetermined?
What does it look like to be conformed into the image of Jesus?
In short, it means aligning our mindset with the mind of Christ in us.
Practically, it looks like declaring our dependence on Him.
“Jesus, I am so glad You’re doing this through me.”
Connecting with the Lord before making decisions is essential.
We teach this in our first Journey Tools week.
Learning to ask God rightly, leads to proper abundant mindset and proper alignment in our choices.
Jesus did nothing without first seeing what the Father was doing.
His alignment was perfect.
What gets us out of alignment?
Fear and the Flesh.
Fear and Faith cannot co-exist.
If the Spirit is showing me what the Father’s will is and I choose to do my own thing instead, it’s fear or the flesh that has conned me into rebellion.
How do we handle that?
We simply ask what lie we have believed about God that gave the enemy the opportunity to manipulate me through my flesh.
Then, we ask the Spirit to show us who taught us that lie, and then uproot it with a prayer format replaces the lie with truth and realigns our emotions with that truth.
The whole process is best summed up in Proverbs 3:5,6 which are also well-known verses.
We are called to trust the Lord with ALL of our heart and not try to figure things out ourselves.
As we acknowledge Him, He promises to show us the straight way.
As we purpose to align with the mind of Jesus in us in all that we do not only are we going to walk in obedience, we will also experience His Presence and joy even in the midst of life’s storms.
We will know that He is working all things together to make us more like Him.
Blessings!
Robyn Henning