Wednesday – June 22, 2016
What a handsome camel, I guess if you are another camel. God, the Creator, certainly had and has a sense of humor. The appearance of the camel signals hump day and the appearance signals another presentation of God’s wonderful Word. God is so good, beyond good.
Colossians 3:9-11 (KJV)
9 Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds;
10 And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:
11 Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all.
We left off yesterday talking about the renewing of our minds. Our goal is to think like Him, to talk like Him, to behave like Him. A mature Christian is like Christ. That is what the word Christian means. The more our mind is renewed to be like His the more knowledge we have of the Kingdom of God the more mature we are and we become a son of God, one who builds the Kingdom. When we are born again we are one of the children of God, but we are not a son until we are led of the Holy Spirit of God and that takes a certain level of maturity.
The idea of increasing knowledge or education is almost an anathema to the Church which at times seems to glory in absolute darkness and ignorance. A secular education is not necessary to be in the Kingdom of God or to become a son of God but it facilitates the process. To be a son we need a doctorate in our knowledge of God. Notice in our text we are told that we need to be renewed in our knowledge and that process makes us more and more like the One who created us.
Colossians 3:10 (AMP)
10 And have clothed yourselves with the new [spiritual self], which is [ever in the process of being] renewed and remolded into [fuller and more perfect knowledge upon] knowledge after the image (the likeness) of Him Who created it.
Notice that we choose to put on the new and discard the old. Everything including salvation in our lives we trigger. Like a gun, it does not go off if we do not pull the trigger. We activate the gun the power. In the Kingdom of God the “gun” is activated by the Word of God. We say yes Jesus is my Lord and the Holy Spirit has a legal right to quicken our dead spirit. Using the example from Scripture of clothing it is as if as we take off let’s say an old and tattered shirt and we put on an elegant and sharply creased new shirt. We must chose to remove the old shirt and substitute the new shirt. The change is not complete so long as we are looking back and mourning the loss of the old shirt. We must choose new knowledge, His knowledge, and make it our knowledge. The other must be destroyed, cast down in the name of Jesus, as Scripture says torn down and taken captive.
2 Corinthians 10:4-5 (KJV)
4 (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)
5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;
We are in a war, we must fight to win, and the war is won by faith motivated by love with our eyes firmly fixed upon our hope which is Christ Jesus. Faith is simply believing God. Faith in God is the foundation upon which we stand to obtain the hope set before us.
1 Timothy 6:12 (KJV)
12 Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses.
For a moment, let’s look at the essential need for knowledge. The following Scripture is hardly alone when you start looking.
2 Peter 1:2 (KJV)
2 Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord,
There is only one way we will have more activity of Grace (the Holy Spirit) in our lives and more peace (wholeness in every sphere) and that is through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.
By Dr. David Wood, Author, Bible Teacher, and Prophetic Voice
