Life is Process
Process is defined as a series of actions, or steps, taken to achieve a particular result; it is living out various stages. It is the daily practice, of a routine, until progress is achieved. Without process:
- There is no life
- There is no success
- There is no victory
Life is process!Nothing more and nothing less.
“Success is not a destination… success is a journey”
(John Maxwell).
Life is described in this same way, “Life is not a destination; it is a journey.” Life is made up of good days and bad days. It is made up of seconds, minutes, hours, days, months, and years; it is full of millions of moments. People do not live from day to day but from moment to moment. Life has its ups and downs as well as its ins and outs. In life, there are good moments and there are bad moments. And, with maturity, the bad moments are prevented from ruining all other moments. Life happens! Life is always happening, even in bad times. So, in the not so good times, remember to avoid placing too much emphasis on Satan. Removing this unnecessary focus will free people from all kinds of stress and its related illnesses. Life is good! And true freedom happens when people decide to glorify God during the process of fulfilling of their God-given assignments.
Life is living, and fulfilling, the daily process leading into one’s destiny.
Process is key!
Joy is living life and accepting the changes that occur because of struggles and victories. If people mess up today, there are steps that will help them get up tomorrow. It is the process that separates people from the animal kingdom. People could make changes without anyone telling them. As a result, they are always in the process of attaining the next level of promotion. And, through implementation, progress is unlocked. What is process? Process is a series of actions or steps taken to achieve a particular end. Words that describe “process” include procedure, operation, action, activity, exercise, affair, business, job, task, and understanding. Process means system, and when the right systems are discovered, people can walk in success while unlocking divine favor. Every endeavor on earth has a system built into it.
System is, “a set of things working together as parts of a mechanism or an interconnecting network.” Order, arrangement, network, and administration are words that help describe a system. So, process is the system for progress.”
Favor is not a random event or a moment of luck. It is a divine system, of process, set up by God, for man.
Favor is Process
God Created the World Through Process
God works through a progression of events to establish His finished work. In Genesis, chapter one, God established process when He created the world in seven days rather than in moments. He could have spoken everything into existence with one powerful word, however, the process enabled Him to enjoy the work of creation until its completion. It is not bad having incomplete tasks, journeys, dreams, or accomplishments. And, people can still find satisfaction, and joy, even though the day ended without accomplishing what was intended. The point is, everything cannot be completed in a day; and, that is okay. There is still meaning, in the day, though the project was not completed as expected. Even God, at the end of every day, declared, “it was good.” Though creation was not finished, He rested in the fact, what He had done was good. And, He knew that the process would bring Him to His desired end; one day at a time. So, enjoy the journey. Enjoy each day as completion of that project looms on the horizon. Take pride in the accomplishments of each day and do not allow failed expectations to negatively alter the value and purpose of the day. Evaluate every decision through the eyes of process, understanding that tomorrow is another day to move closer to the finish line. Find joy, in the journey, knowing that God is patient with our incompletions.
“… being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” (Phil 1:5-6 NIV)
Purpose creates value. One of the biggest mistakes in defining purpose is that performance is attached to it. When people allow purpose to be defined by performance, they measure it by the level of performance and not by value. When this happens, people tend to compare what they do with another person’s performance. As a result, there is a misinterpretation of purpose based on another’s accomplishments; this can cause feelings void of purpose. When people walk this path, it leads into the trap of comparing and competing, with others, for better performance. Purpose is not performance. Purpose is value. More importantly, people have value. When people understand their purpose, their value will begin to create volume. And, it is important to avoid living for volume and live for value instead. It is also essential to celebrate those who are succeeding; admire them because no individual person is less valuable than another. Eventually, people will attract what they admire which brings reward. Therefore, anything that goes uncelebrated, goes unrewarded and will, eventually, exit a person’s life.
The power of purpose is understanding that value is not attached to performance. However, success is decided on performance and does not change the person’s value. God places value on life and He places favor on the willingness to obey His divine instructions.
Conformity Stops Process
There are many things that keep people from walking in divine favor including: fear, worry, anger, unbelief, doubt, addictions, sexual immorality, along with many other works of the flesh. For believers to gain a level of freedom from these things, they must stop conforming to the patterns dictated by a worldly system. They must be transformed by the renewing of their minds.
Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is-his good, pleasing and perfect will. (Rom 12:2. NIV)
Conformity means to behave according to socially acceptable conventions or standards. It means to be similar in form or type; or, to agree. Paul is telling us to stop behaving according to the socially acceptable standards of the culture; instead, be Kingdom minded. All worldly mindsets must be replaced with His Kingdom mentality. At ChurchOne80, our motto is, “Kingdom above everything.” Sticking to this mindset will cause the body of Christ to stand out rather than appearing as though walking in the same darkness as the world. Romans 12:2 says, “Do not conform to the pattern of this world.”Therefore, living a compromised lifestyle must stop. Believers are people of the light and must live as such. Because the Kingdom of God is a kingdom of light, the Church is no longer to conform to the prevailing standards, attitudes, or practices of a fallen system. If the Church is compromised, how can it be the light the world needs? The Church is here to show a different way, a way of love and obedience to a good God. It has been commissioned to be different to lead others out of a broken system. However, if its understanding has been darkened by deception, it is not able to do that. I command Light to shine upon the Church; His divine light which enables all believers to walk uncompromised, by darkness, as well as to live the life of uncommon favor.
Transformed
Paul not only tells us not to conform but he also tells us to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. Transformed means to make a thorough, or dramatic, change in the form, appearance, or character of a thing. Basically, this means a metamorphosis from one thing to another. In people, this is done through the power of thought, or the renewing of the mind. In other words, take that stinking thinking and replace it with God’s Word. This will enable the believer to understand God’s good, pleasing, and perfect will. However, transformation will not take place if the focus lands on lifestyle rather than on how one thinks. By adapting our minds to new, life-giving thoughts, our lifestyle will change as well. 2 Corinthians 5:17 states, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!”
Transformation starts with a change of mind before anything can occur in life-experiences. In other words, before people can see a change on the outside, there needs to be a change on the inside first. This is done by taking the Word of God and applying it to the mind, will, and emotions until it becomes stronger than the old carnal thoughts. Paul tells us to renew our minds or make them new again. That does not mean to get a new mind, but a new way of thinking. Paul is telling people to wake up the mind given to them before being formed in their mother’s womb.
“Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you, before you were born, I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” (Jeremiah 1:5 NIV)
Unfortunately, from an early age, people are programed to believe their experiences limit them. And the negative words spoken over them have had a detrimental effect on how they view themselves. In other words, the life most people live is based on the realities of their past experiences rather than on the truth of what God says they can be or have. Though all these experiences are real and have shaped the concepts of who people are, His spiritual reality is more real and able to reshape humans into who He sees them to be. However, in general, they have been conditioned to see the natural world which, then, blinds them to the realities of the Spirit realm. Regrettably, the Church seems to focus more on external numbers than on internal awakening. This outward drive for large church gatherings has hindered many from understanding who they are in Christ. There must be an atmosphere shift; one that enables the people to reconcile their past from their present. It would be good to move away from entertaining people and, instead, teaching scriptural principles that help in the renewing of the mind. Some of those principles include:
- Conviction: This happens when the Holy Spirit begins to challenge wrong thinking and wrong actions. He does this through Biblical scriptures which teach, correct, rebuke, and reprove. Once a person understands how they have missed the mark, then their mind can be changed.
- Repentance: This is the next step after conviction. It is a sincere turning away in both the mind and the heart, or from self to God. It involves a change of mind that leads to action – the radical turning away from a sinful course to God.
- Confession: This comes after Holy Spirit conviction and repentance. It is an acknowledging of, or taking responsibility for, one’s sins against God. It is a reconciling, to God, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
“…that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” (Romans 10:9,10 NKJV)
- Conceiving: This step involves receiving Holy Spirit. It enables a believer to grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ which brings maturity to the Body of Christ. In addition, the Holy Spirit leads us into all truth, He teaches us all things and is always revealing Jesus. Through Him, we receive power, purpose, as well as the strategies of the King. And it is important to remember, even as Mary conceived Jesus through the supernatural power of Holy Spirit, she also had to carry that pregnancy to term and, then, deliver him. As the Body of Christ, we carry the seed of life within us as well. By Holy Spirit, we must also carry His seed to term, then, deliver it to the world. Therefore, because of conviction, repentance, and confession every believer has a connection to Almighty God. Without Holy Spirit, the Body of Christ is rendered powerless.
- Conversion, or Transformation: To change in character, or cause to turn from an evil life to a righteous one is conversion; it is a fundamental change brought about by Holy Spirit. In conversion, people are given a completely new heart which alters the mind, the heart, and the will. Therefore, salvation is called the “new birth.” As new creations, believers are no longer children of Satan, they are now children of God.
Paul is challenging the Body of Christ to wake up and be filled with Holy Spirit. He is telling us to renew the mind we were given, prior to birth, in order to have a “right,” biblical perspective. The bible never deviates from the instruction to “repent or turn away from sin.” So, in order to convert the world, God expects us to repent, or change the way we think. Through the act of repentance, how people feel, process, and react will also change. Everything changes when people begin to think, and apply, right perspectives. Philippians 2:5 states, “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.” Religion sees repentance as the method used to stop sinning. This method is shallow and attached to the salvation experience and does not reflect the mind of Christ. As His mind is so shall our mind be. As the Body of Christ shifts to His way of thinking, the Kingdom of God gets brighter and brighter.
God’s favor will occur as the Body of Christ stops being performance oriented and begins living by the Word of God. The modern-day Babel is conditioned to believe a pseudo-religion which compromises revelation for religious interpretation. As a result, people are living lies rather than truth; they are deceived and do not know it. Unfortunately, hypocrisy is rampant among this group of people. They say one thing and do the exact opposite. In addition to hypocrisy, church has succumbed to being about comfort, success, and feelings; it has become an all about “me” culture. Instead, the “true” church should be the most powerful entity on planet earth. Oh God, have mercy on the Church. Help us to see through the darkness of religion and walk in the Light of Life.
As the Church begins to hunger and thirst for righteousness, rather than the intoxicating feelings of a worldly system, they will be filled. When our minds are renewed to the purposes and plans of the Almighty, then our spheres of influence will begin changing to reflect His Kingdom. Those are the moments when heaven’s door is opened, and the favor of God is revealed. At this point, true freedom is within the grasp of the Church.
STOP LIVING FOR GOD’S LOVE AND START LIVING FOR HIS FAVOR Being Highly Favored is my desire; how about you? To achieve this position, the Church must not live like the world. We are told to seek His Kingdom first as well as His righteousness, then, all the things the Gentiles seek will be added unto us. Though the Church is not of this world, they are still in it and must work through the world’s systems. However, their source is the Kingdom of God, not the world system. And, because the Church is connected to another place, our power comes in knowing our value. Therefore, our purpose is driven by value not by performance. So, it is important to avoid any attempts of fitting in, for, God has already accepted us. Begin to live out of His perception rather than dying out of wrong perception. Do not just do church, be the church. Live for the pleasure and purpose of the Kingdom. It is here that we attract God’s divine favor.
