The Live Transformed Podcast

Authenticity leads to freedom and experiencing freedom has two sides. We are set free out of slavery and bondage, and we are set free to walk in love. Without sin controlling our lives, we have the opportunity and invitation to be authentic because fear and sin no longer bring limitations. With Jesus as the King of kings, we are experiencing a small portion of the true freedom that is available to us.

You will find what you are looking for. When we aren’t being authentic, we will never see God the way He truly is. The children of Israel didn’t really want to get to know God, they built their lives around knowing His deeds. We journey to figure out the process of knowing him, but systems are designed to be disposable.

People fall in love with the path that represents clear formulas and disciplines, but true life happens when you start following “the way” which is natural and effortless. In the New Testament, great things happened in between what was planned. Paul tells us to exercise ourselves to Godliness. Learning means doing something deliberately and repetitively to build up natural strength until it becomes a way of life. Eventually, you get to a place where you can’t imagine anything other than the character you have developed.

People want to know the future because they believe that if they know what’s coming, they’ll automatically be prepared for it. The truth is, there isn’t great comfort in knowing what’s ahead, but rather there is a window of time to prepare for what you will face. People think if God would speak personally to me, I would get ready. The truth is, God is continually speaking to us through His Word, and it’s personal! We are always getting what we are pursuing.

The inward journey to transitioning requires flexibility and adaptability. If you're going to stay relevant, you have to be open to change. Our tendency is, the minute we experience something frightening we make a closed definition and make conclusions. In order to remain effective, authentic, and pliable, we move towards being childlike. The gift of childlike faith is given to everyone but trust is developed through experiences.

God has not given us a spirit of timidity. It’s not our circumstances that are the specific threat, but rather the intimidation of a worst-case scenario. Fear is a bully that functions on imagined power, but when challenged with real power, they run. Our sense of self changes when we change our perception. When we have the confidence to rest in our self-worth and self-image that comes from Jesus, we no longer have to panic under pressure.

What does it really mean to search the Lord with all your heart? We live our life out of our identity, self-image and self-worth. We can’t function well until tall three are all established in our hearts. Moving past the intellectual boundary of identity and seeing and experiencing your life “in God” as completely yours brings you to the concept of living in the spirit. What does the word “Spirit” really mean? How does the function of our “breath” relate to our spirit? Our breath is our life, and in the same way our spirit is our life.

A person can’t enjoy the peace of God without experiencing the righteousness of God. Walking with God in the good times, not just in crisis, establishes our relationship with Him. When we abide in peace, even in dire circumstances, peace becomes our natural habitat or environment. When you believe who you are as an heir, the fruit of your life grows effortlessly. Having hyper-realization of your identity in Jesus sets you up for the best decisions.

God wants to bring us life, to the point where we have no way to imagine the extent of good He wants to bring to us. If we are moved by earthly circumstances, we will not have abiding peace. When you learn to live in peace, you will never revert to panic. If there are no works to accompany intentions, it reveals that there was never any intention of putting new information into practice. People tend to live life by “sheer will” relying on human strength and miss the power of the Holy Spirit.

How you think determines who you are. However, renewing your mind isn’t just about how you think, for that gets into willpower and putting forth effort. Renewing your mind and believing in your heart includes intention and conceiving God’s promise in your heart. Once it’s conceived, there is a capacity that this is possible. Then it turns into a definitive decision that you are going to change the quality of your life based on the fact that you are created in the likeness of God.