Author Archives: Dan Lemburg

About Dan Lemburg

Hi I'm Dan, I'll update this bio info soon.

A Two-way Street

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We need to be reminded here that interaction with the Spirit of God is the cornerstone of spiritual growth. We also must remember that prayer and meditation in Scripture is most effective when it’s a two-way street—listening as well as speaking. God still speaks to His people today, and learning to walk in intimacy with Him as a daily discipline nurtures the likelihood of hearing His voice.

Our life is never the same once we’ve heard God speak, especially when He does so in a way that addresses our personal circumstances. It changes us like nothing else can. And the beauty is that God wants to speak to us, not just once, but time and again as a natural part of a life built on closeness with Him.(John 16:13-14) Have you sensed God speaking to you? If not, set yourself squarely in His path. You’ll hear Him.

Nonconformists

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Paul prefaces his message of being “transformed by the renewing of your mind” by first exhorting believers to “not be conformed to this world.” So resisting the devil and fleeing from temptation is a critical first step forward, no matter how many times we might fail in it.(James 4:7)

Admittedly this isn’t an easy thing to do, but one clear-cut benefit of failure is that disgust over it helps prod us toward the goal. And although we’ll probably never be perfect in resisting sin, we can’t let that keep us from trying. God is here to help, and things will get better each time we make the right choice.(1 Corinthians 10:13)

We must never allow sin to become an excuse for retreating from our pursuit of God. Let your sin drive you to God rather than away from Him. Believe me, He knows and understands you. And He’s more than willing to work with a repentant heart.(Psalm 103:12-14)

The devil does his best to deceive us into believing that we can’t come back to God until we’ve cleaned up our act. But we need to remember that the cross has stripped Satan of any actual power over our life.(Colossians 2:15) Ultimately, the devil only has the influence we allow him to have. He has no power to keep us from God, and we must never allow him to fool us into thinking that our sin somehow puts up a barrier between Him and us.

God’s Game Plan

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Are we able to bear fruit without being meaningfully transformed? Yes, in scant quantity and meager quality we can. But without a true metamorphosis we’ll never be successful in bearing the kind Jesus wants—“much fruit.” For this reason transformation is absolutely essential to fruitfulness in God’s kingdom.

There’s no question that God wants to see us radically changed. And since we know we can’t transform ourselves, He must have a method to accomplish it. But the big question is just what that plan consists of; how do we get from here to there? Well, God has His part in the process, and we’ve got ours.

If transformation is ever to become a reality in us, we must cooperate with God as He goes about working in our life. The beauty is that freedom from the power of sin makes choosing to walk out our faith in this way possible—in spite of the weakness of our flesh. Because God has done what He has through Christ, it’s now all about choice! But submitting ourselves to God for what is likely to be a very arduous journey is never an easy choice to make. Nevertheless, we can do it! Aided by His power, we can become the kind of Christians we intuitively want to be as a result of our redemption. God Himself has put that desire there.

Yet truth be told, we often have to come to the end of ourselves—finally fed up with failure—before we can actually bring ourselves to make that commitment. You may be at that point in your life right now! If so, unconditionally give yourself over to God, and then take action by submitting to His will. Sometimes we think that giving over our will to God is a one-time event. Not so. Rather, it’s a choice we make day by day. And making daily progress toward transformation entails following well-defined steps: God’s Game Plan. We’ll be talking about what that involves.

Fruit’s Proof

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What’s encouraging is the fact that somewhere along the line we come to a point where it’s virtually impossible to get mired once again in the pit of the old self. Why? Because our character has been permanently altered—who we are has changed. Once our character is transformed, we truly no longer are our former self.

Yes, we’ll continue to be confronted with the issues of our old nature (our old self). That’s why we must always be vigilant. But though we may slip, we won’t turn back! My guess is that those who throw in the towel have never experienced any meaningful degree of transformation in the first place.

The “fruit of the Spirit—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control”—firmly entrenched within provides bona fide proof that metamorphosis has taken hold.(Galatians 5:22-23).

It’s true that God can cause one or more of these virtues to sporadically spring forth according to the need of the moment, even before they become the rock-solid foundation of our character. But just stop and think what it must be like to enjoy the advantage of the fruit of the Spirit deeply-rooted and dominant in your life.(Galatians 5:24)

The Soil of the Heart

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Jesus said that abundant growth is not only possible, but to be expected from ground that has been cultivated for God’s purposes. Our job is to prepare the soil of our heart to receive that growth. Paul knew how vital it is to press on toward this goal: “to present your bodies a holy and living sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.”(Romans 12:1) No, presenting ourselves in this manner won’t be the immediate fix we all long for, but rather a pushing forward; it’s what it means to live our life in a manner pleasing to Him.(Colossians 1:10)

Given the proper conditions, metamorphosis will just naturally continue on its course. Let’s think about the butterfly. What chance do you suppose it has of reverting once again to its original form—the caterpillar? Zero, right? Having undergone such transformation, it can never return to what it once was.

Making godly choices sets us on that same road. Early in the process there are lots of opportunities to slip back under the spell of the old self. But over time, as we experience degrees of transformation, the likelihood of that happening keeps diminishing. Consequently, the further we’re transformed, the more likely it will be to come to full fruition.

Discerning My Purpose

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Discovering God’s purpose for our life is kind of like driving a car. It’s impossible to steer a car that’s standing still, but easy to maneuver when you give it the gas.

Yet being in motion isn’t the only issue; a reliable steering mechanism is also vital to getting to our destination. And this is our responsibility as much as it is God’s. So we must not only step out, but be willing to be steered if we are ever to get where we need to go.

Think of it as being like a ship on the open sea. If its rudder is broken, it doesn’t matter that the engine is pushing it forward, since it will ultimately drift wherever the wind carries it. Consequently, shipwreck becomes inevitable. But if the ship can be steered while under power, its direction can be changed at key navigation points, bringing it safely to harbor—even if it first starts out heading in the wrong direction.

Obedience through Serving

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Our walk with Jesus was never meant to be stagnant. He wants us to be continually moving forward with Him. And moving forward means not sitting idly by waiting for black and white instructions, but rather serving God to the best of our ability with what we know of His will right now.

The Bible is full of very explicit instructions concerning God’s will—not necessarily His unique purpose for us individually, but His bidding for each and every one of us as believers in more general terms. So we need to be about obediently implementing these responsibilities. At its most basic level, serving God means serving others. We know from Scripture that at the very least God wants this. So why not start there?

Created for God’s Use

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Everything we were ever created to be is wrapped up in Jesus Christ. Coming to the realization of who we truly are in Christ is the first step toward discovering His purpose for us because it lays in us the sense of self-worth needed to confidently step out in serving Him. And the better we get to know Him personally, the more He can impart His will to us.

So first and foremost is the need to develop a lifestyle of communing with God, because the intimacy essential to discovering His will can be achieved in no other way. But I want to emphasize that prayer is a two-way street—we speak and we listen.

Doesn’t it stand to reason that if God has in fact prepared good works for us to walk in He would need to let us know in some way what they are? Look at all those people in the Bible whom God chose to use in one way or another. Not only did they hear from God, but they clearly discerned what He was saying to them. Even if their revelation might have been a bit murky in the beginning, what He wanted eventually came to light as they went about trying to obey Him.

My Purpose?

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Paul tells us that we’ve been “created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we would walk in them.”(Ephesians 2:10) God has created and redeemed each one of us with an individual purpose in mind, often thought of as a personal calling.

We all share this inward tug as believers. So letting life move us forward without any real sense of direction can’t help but lead to a sense of confusion and frustration. “What am I doing for God? I just don’t know what my purpose is. Why can’t I be more like what’s-his-name over there?”

This is by no means an uncommon problem. In talking with others over the years, I’ve come to the conclusion that the majority of Christians find themselves stuck in the disappointing position of not understanding what God’s intent is for their life. I often sense it myself. And even those who have been used by God in some unique way sometimes share this frustration, since falling back into that familiar holding pattern is easy to do once a job is completed.

Apparently we can’t just lean back and rest on our laurels, since that merely serves to produce the same sense of dissatisfaction as if we’d never experienced the fulfillment of walking in God’s calling at all.     

We Need Purpose

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Do you ever feel like you’re in some sort of holding pattern as a Christian? Even though you may be pursuing relationship with Christ—faithfully fulfilling your sense of duty by going to church, loving God, your family and others, and just being a good person in general—there’s a good chance that you’re still left with a sense of emptiness.

The reason for this is that along with being born as a child of God into Christ’s kingdom there comes an innate sense of destiny. So if we’re living life simply biding our time, more or less going through the motions of our faith, we shouldn’t be surprised to find ourselves not entirely satisfied.

The issue is purpose. not necessarily our eternal purpose in Christ, but rather the purpose for our life while on earth. One very perplexing problem for the Christian is that it’s possible to have a good understanding of God’s heavenly purpose and still be quite bewildered as to His earthly purpose for us.