How to Develop a Better You in Christ (2)

2 Corinthians 13:5

“Examine yourselves to see if your faith is really genuine. Test yourselves. If you cannot tell if Jesus Christ is among you, it means you have failed the test.” (NLT)

Isaiah 64:8

“But now, O LORD, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand.” (KJV)

Dearly beloved, by God’s grace I shall bring to conclusion from last week’s devotion the topic that is before us. I shall begin this devotion with key number four.

(4) Be Humble To Learn: The whole purpose of your faith is not just to go to church and expect that God would grant everything on your wish list, but while you are there, be ready also to hear what God has for you and be ready to do exactly what he desire of you. Dearly beloved, humility before God will get you to your destined height in God. Proverbs 22:4 says “By humility and the fear of the LORD, are riches, and honor, and life.” It is your humility that will make you a better person in Christ. It doesn't matter for how long you've been in the church serving God, there is still room for learning, not just learning the word but also learning the doctrine of the word and applying it in your daily living. Proverbs 4:1-2 says “hear ye children, the instruction of a father, attend to know understanding. For I give you good doctrine, forsake ye not my law.” The doctrine of the word is living and abiding by what it says, Apostle Paul was speaking in Roman 2 from 21-22, he says if you tell others not to steal, would you then turn around and steal?, if you tell others how bad adultery is, would you then turn around and commit the same sin? The doctrine of the word like I've already mentioned is doing exactly what the word say. (I’m not repeating myself just emphasizing). Develop a better you in Christ through the doctrine of the word by humbling yourself to learn not just from God but also from those that God has positioned in your life as a spiritual heads, mentors, and Godly friends, do not despise and Godly counsel that is meant to build you up.

1. Develop Self- Discipline: There is this accent story that on a certain day King Fredrick the Great of Prussia was taking a walk in the outskirt of Berlin when he saw an old man walking from the opposite side, the man walked past him without as much as turning his head to say hello with a bow to the great king. The king fascinated by this boldness called the man back and asked the man ‘who are you? The man replied ‘I am a king’. King Fredrick the Great replied, a King? Over what kingdom do you reign? The old man replied over myself. Dearly beloved, a king is met to rule, and if you child of God see yourself as a monarch like this old man in this accent story then it is your responsibility to rule. The question however is who are you ruling? My answer to this question is ‘you’. Yes! You must begin your rule first by ruling yourself; rule your own actions, rule your desires, rule your decisions, rule your urges, rule your wrong and evil motives, rule you attitude, rule your character. It might interest you to know child of God, that it takes character and self-discipline to refrain from doing those things that are wrong in the eyes of God. Proverbs 25:28 says “he that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down, and without walls.” And Proverbs 16:32 says “he that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city.” Dearly beloved, the foolish man wants to conquer the world but the wise man wants to conquer himself; so I say to you, be wise, conquer yourself and put your strength under control.

(6) Develop the Mind of Christ: You cannot develop a better you in Christ if you do not have the mind of Christ. You might ask, what is the mind of Christ? Or what kind of mind does Christ have? Well here is the simplest answer; the mind of Christ means to think like him, talk like him, and act like him. Philippians 2:5 says “let this mind be in you that was also in Christ Jesus.” But you might say just like 1 Corinthians 2:16b ‘but I have the mind of Christ’. Dearly beloved, it is a lot easier to say I have the mind of Christ but the truth is, doing it is much more challenging. The mind of Christ is not selective in action, you can’t pick and choose which of God’s word to obey and live by; you can’t choose who you love, who to respect, who to pray for etc. when you have the mind of Christ, you will think and act from God’s perspective. The one with the mind of Christ does respond in love to God’s word. You cannot have the mind of Christ and still behave like the world does; there cannot be hatred in the world and also hatred in you, there cannot be lies in the world and you are filled with lies. What would be the difference between you and the unbeliever if he fights you fight too, he keeps malice you do the same, he covers his sins you too covers yours. Romans 12:1-2 says “I beseech you therefore brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” This is a standing order from God that none of his child should conform to the world’s lifestyle and to achieve this, you must have the mind of Christ by total dependence on the Holy Spirit.

1. Walk in Patience: One of the most difficult fruit of the spirit to cultivate is patience and the reason being children of God has adapted the world system of first flight. Everyone is on the fast lane, so much so that even the micro wave is too slow for some people. If you must develop a better you in Christ, you must let patience well up in you. You must sincerely desire the working of the Holy Spirit because patience is his bearing fruit. As a child of God, you must be in constant reminder that you are made in the image and likeness of God according to Genesis 1:27, therefore you must bear in your physical, mental, and spiritual nature a likeness to your Maker and one of such attributes of your Maker is patience or longsuffering according to As you work on developing a better you in Christ, I encourage you to be patient with yourself, don’t expect all the changes over night, watch out for Satan will come to tempt you to see if you will fall again but not to worry, let him know that you are more than conqueror through Christ who strengthens you. I will be keeping you in my prayers as you walk this great path of developing a better you in Christ.Numbers 14:18a “The LORD is long-suffering, and of great mercy' and Psalm 27:14 “wait on the Lord be of good courage and he shall strengthen thine heart; wait I say on the Lord.”

MAY HIS JOY FILL YOUR HEART....

#Wait #Patience #Havefaith