II Corinthians 3: [18] But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.
Referring to this verse, Pastor Tom Bruscha (Grace Bible Church in Warren, Michigan) said at the conference last week in Chicago:
That's absolutely amazing. Because we have the Bible, that's told us who God has made us in Christ and told us the glory of Jesus Christ . . . that is, when we read the Bible it's all written out there for us to see "as in a glass the glory of the Lord" and we're actually LOOKING in the Bible and SEEING what God has made us in Christ. As we see that, something happens. A transformation takes place.
Speaking to the nation Israel, Ezekiel 36 says God's going to put His spirit within them:
[26] A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.[27] And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.
What did we already learn from Romans 8? That we have the "Spirit of life in Christ Jesus" in us and if we walk after that Spirit, we won't fulfill the lust of the flesh, but we'll fulfill the law.
Romans 8: [2] For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.
[3] For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:[4] That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
Paul is taking from what Israel will get in the new covenant where God will take away their stony heart, put His spirit within them and CAUSE them to walk in His ways and keep His commandments.
II Corinthians 2:16: [16] And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
That's what God is doing in us. God is IN us of a truth and He says He will walk IN us. It's not our walk; it's HIS walk and He will do that IN us and so therefore we need to separate from all the religious things, and all the sinful things, and allow God to live His life in us and we have the power to do it because we have the "Spirit of life in Christ Jesus."
We have the very power that raised Christ from the dead. We just have to mind the things of the Spirit of God rather than the things of the flesh.
I've noticed how, and I guess it's just natural, the different speakers here have been quoting Psalms 119. It's the longest chapter in the Bible and it's all about the Bible and the effect of the Bible.
When I think about walking circumspectly, I think about Psalm 119: [105] Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.
When you think about that, I remember when I first learned about the customs of Israel. When they were carrying jugs or heavy things on their head and you're walking at night, how would you ever be able to see?
You can't carry a lantern. They'd strap lamps on their feet that would be a light unto their pathway. To me, that explains Ephesians 5 where Paul says we are to walk circumspectly. What we need is God's Word to be a light unto us.
Psalm 119: [97] O how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day. He loves His law because he meditates on it.
I want to tell you a little honest statement here. I used to think, "Why, Lord, did you put your Word and choose through the ages to communicate to us in a Bible, in the written form?" I mean, before it was written He had prophets and He was giving His Word out and they were speaking. He gave signs because otherwise it's hard to trust what a prophet had to say.
But to me I'm a listener. Reading is work for me. The last thing I would ever do is read a story novel: "The sun was glistening and the water was shimmering." Ha, I can't even quote how they do that. C'mon, just tell me what happened. I read for understanding, for information. I don't read at all for pleasure, but I do read the Bible because I realize the value of the Bible.
I say that so I can read this article to you. There's a lady at our church, Joyce, who puts out the bulletin and she put this in and I read it and thought, "Man, does that express the brilliance of God, not to put His Word out the way I think He should have done it, but to do it the way He did it by putting it in written form."
I was so pleased to read the article but before I quote it to you, I have to tell you Joyce forgot where she found it and I had to search the internet to find out who was being quoted. I found out it's C.S. Lewis and it's an article he wrote called, "How Repeating God's Word Rewires the Brain."
You see, if I talk to you about the Christian walk, we quote Romans 12: [1] I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
[2] And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.It's the Bible that renews our mind and that's what C.S. Lewis expresses and he does it so flowery, so clearly.
(NOTE: Here is the C.S. Lewis article passage as I found it online in a PDF):
"There is a quiet war that rages where no one can see it deep within the corridors of the mind. It does not announce itself loudly, but it shapes everything. I've lived through days where the real battle was not in circumstances or people, but in the quiet repetition of thoughts I could not turn off.
"Words looped inside me. Questions echoed. Regrets rehearsed themselves and fears drew their own conclusions before I could answer them. What I've come to see is this:
"Most of our outward struggles begin as inner whispers. What we repeat becomes what we believe. What we believe begins to shape how we live, how we love, and what we fear.
"We often try to fix our lives from the outside in. Changing habits, chasing peace, silencing the noise. But healing begins far deeper than the surface. It begins in the mind where thought becomes conviction and conviction becomes direction long before modern science mapped the brain's pathways or named the phenomenon of neuroplasticity.
(Neuroplasticity is the brain's remarkable ability to reorganize itself by forming new neural connections throughout life. Essentially, it means your brain is not 'hard-wired' like a computer but is more like dynamic plastic that can be reshaped by experience.)
"God had already spoken to this hidden terrain. Scripture wasn't only given to save my soul. It was also meant to heal my mind, to reshape what I dwell on, to renew how I interpret pain, temptation, time, identity, and hope. And it does this not through noise or speed, but through holy repetition.
"The mind is never empty, I've learned. It is always being trained by something. Either the world trains it by fear, distraction, and opinion, or God trains it through truth spoken again and again.
"What I rehearse inwardly, I eventually live outwardly. In seasons of confusion or anxiety, I used to assume I needed a radical shift in circumstances. But often what I needed most was a shift in focus. A turning from what was merely loud to what was deeply true.
"God, I discovered rarely shouts at the mind. He reshapes it patiently. One verse repeated in faith becomes more than memory. It becomes transformation. A truth spoken aloud each morning can become a shield by nightfall.
"This is not a religious slogan. It is architecture of the soul. Repetition in God's design is not mindless. It is restorative. It is the gentle rebuilding of the foundations we didn't realize were cracked.
"I used to read scripture for information or obligation. But now I've come to see that when I repeat God's Word, when I let it circulate inside me, when I speak it softly under my breath, when I write it down and carry it with me, it doesn't just comfort me, it rebuilds me. And that has changed everything.
"I used to think my thoughts were private and passing shadows that drifted in and out of my mind, harmless and forgettable. But I've come to realize that nothing shapes my life more quietly, more consistently than the words I allow to echo in my own mind. There is a voice inside me that never stops speaking.
"Sometimes it's anxious. Sometimes it's critical. Sometimes it's full of old lies that wear new disguises. But always it is forming something. With each repeated phrase it lays another brick. Thought by thought, belief by belief, a structure is being built within me. And whether I like it or not, I end up living inside the house my thoughts have built.
"Scripture says, 'As a man thinks in his heart, so is he.' Proverbs 23:7. It is not the outward noise that defines me. It is the inward dialogue. The story I repeat to myself becomes the script I follow. The words I dwell on become the shape of my soul. It makes perfect sense then that God would command his people to meditate on his Word day and night. Not because he is demanding performance, but because he is offering protection. His instruction is not to burden me, but to anchor me.
"If the mind is left unattended, I've come to understand it will still be taught, just not by truth. In the absence of God's voice, other voices take the stage. Fear, comparison, bitterness, shame. They do not need an invitation to speak. They simply fill the silence.
"God designed my mind not to be empty, but to be filled and formed by truth. His truth, his Word, was never meant to be a once a week reading or a quiet background hum. It was meant to be the dominant note, the firm foundation, the inner rhythm by which my thoughts are trained to trust rather than tremble.
"When I begin repeating His Word, even in the smallest phrases, You are with me. I am not alone. Your grace is enough. Something begins to shift. The lies grow quieter. The mind becomes steadier. The old fears don't disappear overnight, but they stop leading.
"This is not magic. It is designed. And slowly I begin to realize the mind God gave me was never meant to be a battleground of confusion. It was meant to be a sanctuary of truth shaped word by word until my thoughts begin to echo the voice of heaven.
"For much of my life, I thought repetition was for the weak-minded, those who needed reminders because they lacked resolve. I feared that repeating God's Word might become empty ritual, a kind of spiritual muscle memory without meaning. But now I know better.
"Repetition, when rooted in truth, is not lifeless routine. It is deep soul renewal. When God spoke to Joshua before he led the people into the promised land, he didn't give him a sword or a strategy. He gave him a sentence. Keep this book of the law always on your lips. Meditate on it day and night. Then you will be prosperous and successful. Joshua 1:8.
"Before the battle, before the breakthrough, God pointed Joshua inward. Why? Because courage begins in the mind and faith must be trained long before it is tested.
"The more I sit with scripture, the more I see that repetition is not God asking me to prove devotion. It is God inviting me to practice truth until it becomes instinct. Until my first reaction is faith, not fear. Until his promises are not just words I know but reflexes I live by."