Winning the War Within – Part II

Two major points I want to make this week:

•  The real you (spirit) was changed the moment you were Born-Again.
•  The you people interact with (your soul) must BE transformed through a mental metamorphosis’.

(Recap) There are three parts of you:

• You are a Spirit (this is the real you).
• You possess a Soul.
• You live in a Body.

(2 Cor 5:17 NLT)  This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!

• When I read this verse, as a new believer, is really bothered me.
• Paul was telling me that I was already a new person, but I did not think, feel, or make decisions like one.
• I did not know that Paul was referring to the true me… my Born-Again spirit.

(Rom 12:2 NIV)  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.

• In this letter Paul acknowledged the War Within in chapter 7 (read 7:14-25).
• In chapter 8 he tells us to be led of the Spirit (8:14).
• Later in the letter we find out how to actually do it – through mental metamorphosis

The Greek word translated “transformed” in this text is the base word for our English word metamorphosis.

• This is not slight change.
• This is complete change.
• A butterfly is completely different from a caterpillar in appearance, condition, and function.

Closing thoughts:

• Your spirit was Born-Again and completely changed the moment you gave your life to Christ.
• As a newly Born-Again believer you experience a War Within between what your Born-Again Spirit is telling you to do, what your body is pulling you to do, and what your untransformed mind wants to do.
• Through the process of time, the Word of God can actually initiate a mental metamorphosis that will change the way you think, feel, and make decisions.  That’s when you truly change!