It is extremely helpful to get in the habit of daily checking ourselves to see if we are living from the new self, walking in the Spirit and focusing on Christ. I think this is one of the fundamental practices of a believer and if we pursue this divine threefold living power supply we will discover a transformation. We do not succeed in Christformation by focusing on our effort, but rather by focusing on our threefold power supply. We need to commit to pursuing Christformation, but we actually pursue it by abiding in our threefold power supply. We can also mention the Father’s parenting, though he appears to choose to provide his power through his Spirit and his Son.
First, remember to live from your new self, which is created in the image of God. Your new self wants healthy loving relationships and especially a union of love with God. Your new self has a stronger conviction of sin. Your new self has an aversion to corruption. It wants to know God better and gets frustrated when you sin. If you continually embrace these new desires and reject opposing desires, then your infant new self will mature. Our new self is not divine itself but draws us to Christformation because it is created in God’s image. If you choose to live from the new self instead of the old self then you will find power to walk faithfully.
Next, we have access to great power because God’s Spirit lives in us. The Holy Spirit allows us to tap into the nature of God for we “have access to the Father by one Spirit” (Eph. 2:18, NIV) and he restores God’s image in us. The Spirit is a continuous guiding force in our lives; he is a power supply. The presence of the Holy Spirit inside us means that God is illuminating the path to Christformation from within us. He doesn’t dictate every decision we make because that would make us into puppets, but he is walking with us and we can “keep in step with the Spirit” (Gal. 5:25 NIV).
Consider how many commandments there are in the New Testament. It would be very difficult to master them, especially since Jesus wants us to keep even our inner life pure. So how do we keep the commandments? “Let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves” (Gal. 5:16 NLT). Isn’t this amazing? This is one of the biggest keys to following Jesus. We still won’t keep all the commandments perfectly, especially the commandments to be loving, humble and trusting of God, but we will make progress in recovering his image, which is all he asks.
Finally, we receive power through focusing on the head of the Body, Christ. 2 Corinthians 3:18 and Hebrews 12:1 teach us to keep our gaze on Christ. Christian teachers refer to this gaze as contemplation. One does not try to figure things out in contemplation; rather, one gazes and absorbs like watching a sunset. Contemplation also includes the idea of receptivity; as we focus on him we receive his influence. Traditionally, contemplation included solitude and inner quiet; one stills their mind and heart and lets all the concerns of life fade away. But we can also do contemplation in the midst of our tasks by training our heart to regularly, or even continuously, focus back on Jesus.
I have found it to be very helpful to consciously center myself in my three living power supplies from God. You might be surprised at the instant change of attitude you experience as you do this. We need to pursue our entire triple power supply in order to reunite us to God in Christ. In other words, the indwelling Spirit of God unites us with Christ through fellowship with our new Adam self under the loving care of our heavenly Father.
