Romans 12:1-2 is the Apostle Paul revealing God expects Christians to “present our bodies—our entire self: spirit, soul, and body—to Him, so we can live in agreement with the “measure of faith” He gives us through Christ Jesus, by the Holy Spirit; thus, we will examine Romans 12 in a very different “work of faith”, to understand what God wants to become in His people.
Mark 11:22-24 is “believe to receive”; our Lord Jesus, the resurrected Christ, commands us to “believe God’s word, but put our faith and trust in the God whose word we believe”; therefore, the faith we receive from Jesus, in Hebrews 12:1-2, will not only move every mountain of opposition, but with His faith we can also receive from God that for which we believe—the lost to be saved, baptized into the Holy Spirit, and healed.
Romans 12:3-8 is Paul listing the many avenues of faith-gifts the Holy Spirit works through all who totally give themselves to Him, so with these scriptural truths in mine, we will also include the truth of Psalm 139:13-16, Ephesians 1:3-14, and Revelation 20:11-15, where we learn every tiny detail of the life of every human being was prewritten in our individual book, before God created anything, and the names of every human being that has or will live exclusively for God was prewritten in the Book of Life, and nothing written in these books will ever change, be added to, or erased, for these are eternally fixed writings, but each of us will be judged in agreement with what God prewrote in our individual book before creation.
When reading Ephesians 1:3-14, please understand this is written in the past-tense, for this was how God saw, created, and planned for us to become, before He created anything, so this is how God sees those He foreknew would believe, love, obey, and trust Him, and it cannot be changed.
Romans 12:9-21 is God through Paul, commanding His people to believe Ephesians 1:3-14 and Revelation 13:1-8, where we understand the entire Bible, God’s infallible word, was in God’s mind and character long before creation, but once God spoke His thoughts, Psalm 119:89 says, “they were eternally settled in heaven”, never to be changed: added to or removed.
Since before time began and before God created anything, and wrote every minute detail of life in our individual book and all the names in the Book of Life of all who have or will live in obedience to God and His word, and since none of this can or ever will be changed; thus, it is God’s plan and will for us to use the faith we receive from Jesus, the resurrected Christ; not to change what is prewritten in our individual book, but by faith-prayers change the person we now are, so we become the person God prewrote in our book for us to become, which is clearly given in Romans 12, so there will never be an excuse for disbelieving God’s word and committing all of self to Him, through Christ Jesus, by the Holy Spirit, and then living exclusively for Him.
We know, from birth until the present, what was already written in our book, but by faith and prayer, we choose to believe God prewrote His plan and will for us in Ephesians 1:3-14; thus, by our “believe to receive”, we can change our present self to come into agreement with what God has already written in our individual book, out of which He will judge us by our thoughts, speech, and actions prewritten there; therefore, we need to fully understand Romans 5:1-5, 2 Peter 1:2-11, and Galatians 5:6, for in God’s divine power “we already have everything pertaining to life and godliness” (1 Timothy 2:14-16), “by which have already been given us His exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these we may partake of His divine nature, to escape the corruption that is in the world through lust”, because Christ Jesus our Lord has already crucified us to the world of lust and crucified the world of lust to us (Galatians 6:14), and has already overcome the world for us (John 16:33; 1 John 5:1-5), so in Christ Jesus, keep the lust of the world out, by faith in what He has already given us.
In 1 John 5:14-15, we understand how absolutely positive we are that God always answers every prayer in agreement with His will, and we have already proven by Scripture it is God’s perfect will for us to believe in prayer for our present self to come into agreement with what God’s word says is already written in our personal book; thus, we believe, know, and trust God to do for us what He promises in Romans 8:24-30, that through praying in the Holy Spirit (unknown tongues or languages unknown to us), the Holy Spirit, through our prayers, will intercede (mediate) to get God’s will accomplished, to “conform us to the image of His Son, Christ Jesus”, which is what we know was prewritten in our personal book, and we know our prayer of faith will change our present self to conform to what is written in our personal book, from which we will be judged by what is written there.
Therefore, we also know the person God created us to become in the image of His Son, Christ Jesus, is not addicted, diseased, sick, poor, or sin’s slave, for John 8:31-36 reverses this belief, and the noun “peace” in Jeremiah 29:11, who Ephesians 2:13-14 says Christ is, means “complete safety:” mental, physical, financial, health; in Exodus 3:14 God says He is “I AM WHO I AM”.
Prayer—Father, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, by the Holy Spirit, in agreement with Your will, as stated in Your word, I ask You to empty us of self, fill us with Your fullness, in agreement with Ephesians 3:14-21, so the present us conforms to the image of Your Son, Christ Jesus our Lord in agreement with Your word, plan, and will already written in our personal book, and for this we praise, thank, worship, and trust every detail of this life to Your plan and will. Amen.
Jim Nabors
