Transformation Vs Manipulation

“What is of man uses manipulation to conform. What is of God uses implantation to transform.”

~A.W. Tozer

Church hurts are common and they have been in every age of two millennia.

This is no mystery when we strip God away from religious activities—whether it’s church leadership or schisms of members. At these junctures of life, the spiritual pastime becomes bane, beleaguered, and unspiritual and the power of God vanishes where the power of humankind rises up.

Of course, church quickly becomes a tricky business. It only works when God is inherently part of it; by wisdom on the part of the serving leadership, which is subject to God, and by the diligently cheerful subservience of the following mass. And, because the Spirit of God is easily quenched by the presence of sin, the risen power of humanity against the gentle purity of holiness is forlorn. It puffs out of steam.

Manipulation never wins, not ultimately. Only by transformation, by the secret implantation of the work of the Holy Spirit, is sustenance derived.

It Takes Two To Tango

Church is God’s manifestation of life at its most beautiful; the Bride of Christ.

She is a streaming flow of wonder, dripping with love. And what sounds so romantic cannot be unless there is sacrifice; the leader in wisdom guided by the Spirit, alone, and followers humbly following that direction.

There are traps for the leader and the followers, alike.

If the leader is given to pride, due to a false step on the path, and many delusions are those, they take their followers off the God-anointed way into tributaries of complaint and bypasses of compromise. If followers, even one or two, get wind of doubt or lack the vision, even by their self-deception, they may threaten the best of divine work.

Going Higher To Transformation

There are manipulations everywhere if we will see them, but the trouble is if we look for them we will see them. We are easily deceived in these ways. What looks like a manipulation often is a transformative process underway. The devil confuses us.

When we are on our guard, especially against pride, we will seek counsel, walk carefully, be diligent in what we say, and especially, we will be prudent by what we see. We are on double guard for deception. Everything must be screened for truth and lavished with love.

Going higher to transformation is a simple objective when we begin to stop looking for manipulation, and start looking for the miracles of God in our daily lives.

Going higher to transformation is a flick of choice to get onboard with the agenda of the Lord.

© 2012 S. J. Wickham.