The other night I dreamed I was being recruited by the secret group of an organization. On the surface, the company itself seemed to be above board, but in my spirit there was an unsettling. I felt like there was an insidious nature to this secret group, and they wanted me to join because they saw something about me that they wanted to exploit. I remember feeling tempted to take part in their customs, which I knew was not in line with what God wanted me to do. I felt a strong pull to ignore my faith in Jesus and make compromises. They were trying to change me from who I knew I was called to be and become like them. But also in my dream, there were a couple of people who warned me not to join this group because it would cause me harm. I did go a little farther in the initiation process to join, but I began to see red flags. Thankfully, I declined their offer and removed myself. When I woke up, the Holy Spirit dropped a a scripture in my spirit.
Have you ever experienced something either in real life or in your dreams and God spoke to you about it afterwards? Has He pinpointed something specifically and then expounded on it through scripture, through a sermon, through a conversation you had with someone, or even as you just sat with Him and listened as He spoke to you?
Well that’s what happened with this dream. I’m learning that whenever I have a dream where I believe God was speaking to me, I write it down in my journal the next day, and with as much detail as I can, because there could be something I may have overlooked before. When I go back later and read what I wrote down, God will highlight something and give me insight about it.
The scripture the Holy Spirit spoke to me was Romans 12:2. You’ve probably heard this scripture many times: “And be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God ”.
Sometimes when I read the Bible, specific words will jump off the page. These moments are very special because I know God is highlighting the word for a reason. He wants to take me deeper and give me a fresh revelation.
And so this time, the words that jumped out at me were conformed, world, transformed, and renewing. Since this scripture is in the New Testament, I looked them up in the Greek (you can look up the Old Testament in Hebrew).
The word conformed means ‘to fashion or shape one thing like another’.
The word world in this scripture (there are a couple of Greek words for ‘world’) means an ‘age’, or ‘era’, or ‘period of time’ that is marked by moral (or spiritual) characteristics; for example…it’s marked by the customs, patterns, and ideologies of the culture of that period.
The word transformed in the Greek is where we get ‘metamorphosis’. It means ‘to change into another form’, into something new. A great illustration of this would be a caterpillar changing into a butterfly.
The last word that God highlighted to me was the word renewing, or renew. It means to ‘renovate’. To ‘make new’. For me, I think about home renovations. I love HGTV and shows where they tear up the floors, take down the walls, bring the whole space down to the studs, and rebuild something really beautiful. I love the whole process…even when they find things behind the walls that they didn’t anticipate. I love the problem solving, and I especially love the reveal at the end.
Out of those four words, the two that were really highlighted were conformed and transformed. And what stood out to me about their definition was that to be conformed means to be fashioned like another, and to be transformed means to be changed into another. The distinction between these two words and their meaning was revelatory for me.
Some other translations of Romans 12:2 say it this way: “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”, (NLT) and “Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking”. (MSG)
God is saying, “hey, I don’t want you to fashion yourself to what you see everybody else doing. I want you be changed into something new, something better”. This is what God was communicating to me in my dream. It was prophetic. This was my Heavenly Father expressing His love for me by warning me to be careful how I walk in this next season of my life. He wanted to make sure I remain aware of what’s happening around me and be focused on Him and His will for my life, not to conform myself to culture, but to be transformed into another form.
What ‘new’ is He talking about? The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new”.
2 Corinthians 3:18 makes it even more clearer by telling us we’re being transformed into the image of Jesus with ever-increasing glory. That’s the key, and the goal…is for us to be transformed into the image of Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Studying these passages took me all the way back to Genesis chapter 1 where God made mankind according to the likeness and image of Himself. That was God’s original plan; for us to be conformed…or…’fashioned’ like God, meaning to have His characteristics, His essence. We were created to walk in love, peace, holiness, righteousness, wisdom, power, authority…even creativity. Did you know Adam named all beasts of the field and the birds of the air? Genesis 2:19-20 talks about that. That speaks to creativity to me.
But since we are born in a sinful, broken world, those things were perverted. We ended up taking on the characteristics of this world like pain, trauma, greed, selfishness, hate, pride, and so on. Which is why God says in Romans 12:2…”this may be where you started, but now I want to transform you from something broken into something better, something that I originally intended you to be”.
It reminds me of the analogy of the potter and the clay in Jeremiah chapter 18. Verse 4 says the vessel the potter made was marred, so he made it again into another vessel. That word marred means ‘to be ruined’, or ‘corrupted’. Likewise, we came into this world, and through experiences we became broken, hurt, and marred. But through Christ and the power of His Holy Spirit, God is making us again into a new vessel.
The connection for me between Romans 12:2, the story of the potter and the clay…and even the illustration of the caterpillar and butterfly is that they each suggest a process must take place.
In order for the miraculous process of transformation to take place, we must submit ourselves to God’s process. He reassures us that the good work He began in us He will complete, but we must be willing to allow Him to do the work. Although we become new creations the moment we accept Jesus into our heart (according to 2 Corinthians 5:17), our hearts and minds must be renewed. And as we’re being renewed inwardly, it will become evident outwardly in our actions, and in our behavior that we are becoming more like Jesus. But just like home renovations, this requires a process.
And although the process will be difficult and uncomfortable at times, the process is still necessary. Becoming more and more like Jesus is a life long journey, but we’re not doing it alone. We have the help of Holy Spirit, who lives within us and will walk with us.
We won’t always get it right. We will make mistakes, we will mess up. But God’s grace, love, and mercy are always available to cover us. Our journey will also have many moments of joy, beauty, love, peace, growth, blessings, and healing. As you continue on your journey, you’ll have moments where you’ll look back and be amazed at the change in your heart, in your thinking, and in your lives.
Being transformed into the image of Christ is not about perfection. We’re not called to be perfect. It’s about progressing and growing one day at a time, learning how to not walk after our flesh in carnality, but after the Spirit. It’s about allowing our hearts and minds to be changed so that we begin to take on the mind of Christ. We’ll learn how to walk in His love, in forgiveness, in His peace, in wholeness and healing. And we’ll learn to allow all of the fruit of the Holy Spirit to develop in us and be evident in our lives. All of this takes time.
That’s why studying the Bible and spending time with God is so important. He will teach us through His word who He is. He’ll teach us His ways. We can study and emulate the life of Jesus by learning how He treated people, how He walked in love, how He walked in humility, how He prayed, how He walked in faith and power, how He had a close relationship with our Heavenly Father. This is how our minds get renewed.
I want to encourage you to submit to God’s process of transformation. You don’t have to worry about doing this on your own. You have the help of the Holy Spirit. He will empower you. He will guide you every day and walk with you. And as you take this journey by faith, you’ll begin to see changes in your heart, changes in your habits. You’ll notice some things you used to do, you won’t want to do them anymore. Some relationships may be removed from your life because they were conforming you to the patterns of this world. God’s process of transformation may look like a complete renovation in your life. It will definitely be a renovation of your mind, your thoughts, even some beliefs, because they may have been limiting you.
When you allow yourself to submit to God’s process, always remember that God loves you. So whatever He wants to do in your life is coming from His deep love for you. He wants you to heal, to grow, and to become more and more like Jesus. At the end of the day family, it all points back to Jesus. It points back to God and His will being accomplished in your life.
Heavenly Father, thank You for who You are. Thank You for drawing us closer to You. Thank You that You don’t want us to be conformed to the ways of culture, but You want us to be transformed into the image of Your son Jesus by the renewing of our minds. Holy Spirit, thank You for being our Helper on this journey. Thank You that we are not alone. You live within us and You walk with us. Help us to walk in Your love, in Your peace, in forgiveness, in mercy, in kindness, in compassion. Help us to see others, ourselves, and our circumstances the way You see them, for Your ways and thoughts are higher than ours. Amen
