Welcome to another day the Lord has made that we should rejoice and be glad in. (Psalms 118:24)

Today we’ll seek to expand our knowledge to recognizing it’s a continuous transformation.

In Today’s scripture, Philippians 1:9‭-‬11 (NLT) the Apostle Paul says…
I pray that your love will overflow more and more, and that you will keep on growing in knowledge and understanding. For I want you to understand what really matters, so that you may live pure and blameless lives until the day of Christ’s return. May you always be filled with the fruit of your salvation—the righteous character produced in your life by Jesus Christ—for this will bring much glory and praise to God.

Consider…
Yesterday we discussed growing in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ. While knowledge is important, it’s not enough by itself to transform us into what God wants us to be.

Today’s scripture provides the formula or process for spiritual growth…

• God’s love overflowing in us
• Continually growing in the knowledge and understanding of God
• Narrowing our focus to what really matters

As I sought wisdom from God to understand this process, He lead me to my business concept I learned long ago, called ‘Continuous Improvement’.

Continuous improvement is the ongoing process of analyzing performance, identifying opportunities, and making incremental changes to processes, products, and personnel.

As I was reading this definition, my eyes scanned down to an even more fitting description of today’s spiritual growth process. It’s called ‘Continuous Transformation’.

According to LeanIX, continuous transformation implies a culture of continuous improvement, where change is embraced as a necessary and ongoing part of the organization’s operations.

LeanIX also points out, continuous improvement seeks to make changes to a base state, changes that improve performance over time. Transformation seeks to change the base state itself.

That’s it, God wants us to change our base state. God said it this way…

• In Colossians 3:10 (NLT), “Put on your new nature, and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like him.”
• And in Ephesians 4:21‭-‬24 (NLT), “Since you have heard about Jesus and have learned the truth that comes from him, throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception. Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy.”
• Lastly in Romans 12:2 (NLT), “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.”

Notice in all three scriptures that the Holy Spirit provided to emphasize God’s continual (renewing) transformation process, that He includes a key word, “learn”.

• Learn to know your Creator
• Learned the truth
• Learn to know God’s will

This shows us that learning is vital to becoming what God wants us to be.

So what is learning? According to Oxford Languages, learning is the acquisition of knowledge or skills through experience, study, or by being taught.

With that definition the Holy Spirit helped me understand that God wants us to learn who He is by…

• Experiencing Him
• Studying His word
• Being taught by the Holy Spirit

As I sought to fully understand this continual transformation process, I asked God, what exactly does experiencing You look like? The Holy Spirit guided me to 1 John 4:15‭-‬19 (NLT)…
All who declare that Jesus is the Son of God have God living in them, and they live in God. We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love. God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them. And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world. Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love. We love each other because he loved us first.

God showed me that the declaration of Jesus as His Son, leads to dedication to Him as my Father, which will inspire the demonstration of His love, that I experienced through His Son in my time of desperation. (Romans 5:8)

When you experience God’s love through Jesus, you’ll know how to love others like Him.

Next, I asked God to help me understand how studying His word transforms me. The Holy Spirit guided me to Psalms 119:103‭-‬106 (NLT), which says…
How sweet your words taste to me; they are sweeter than honey. Your commandments give me understanding; no wonder I hate every false way of life. Your word is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path. I’ve promised it once, and I’ll promise it again: I will obey your righteous regulations.

Then the Holy Spirit asked me…

• Have you ever enjoyed reading a good book?
• What drew you to the book in the first place?
• What captivated you once you began reading it?
• Why were you so excited to keep reading?
• Who did it inspire you to tell about it or recommend it, and why?

Then the Holy Spirit pivoted and asked…

• Do you enjoy reading God’s good book?
• Are you drawn to it?
• Does it captivate you?
• Are you so excited to keep reading it?
• Has it inspired you to tell others about it or recommend it, and why?

As I pondered the answers to those questions, the Holy Spirit went on to say, when you’re drawn and excited to read God’s word, it will captivate you. Then studying it will be more like immersing yourself in God’s presence. God doesn’t want reading His word to be a chore, but instead something that we love and adore. He wants us to be addicted to the sweet sugary love story revealed about Jesus, The Word, in His words.

I’ve always been fascinated that Jesus was introduced by John as pre-existent, life-giving Word who became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:1-14). The Holy Spirit pointed out, my fascination should inspire me to want to know and understand The Word, Jesus Christ, which involves learning more about Him in the book that tells His story.

Studying the Bible, should be an immersion into God’s love story of Jesus displayed throughout eternity, as told by the Holy Spirit. The more we learn about Jesus, The Word, the more inspired we’ll become to be a more like Him.

Finally, speaking of story telling, we know that we learn by being taught. To better understand how being taught facilitates our continual transformation, the Holy Spirit guided me to Galatians 5:16‭, ‬25 (NLT), which says…
So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves. Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives.

That seems pretty straight forward, except it reveals a three letter word that is essential to being taught, ‘let’. Notice it the scripture says…

• Let the Holy Spirit
• And, let us follow

It is very important that we understand the Holy Spirit will only guide us if we let Him. Teaching requires cooperation between the teacher and the student. This, if we’re not becoming more like Christ, it’s most likely because we’re not letting the Holy Spirit teach us how.

Today I encourage you to continuously…

• Declare Jesus is the Son of God and experience His love
• Immerse yourself in God’s love story about Him
• Let the Holy Spirit bring the story to life in you

When you do these things, you’ll find…

• God’s love overflowing
• Your knowledge and understanding growing
• The Father glorifying Jesus in you, Son-light brightly showing

Continuous transformation, is a continual growth process.

Today’s song is…
Change Me

Blessings 4HG (1 Corinthians 10:31)