God’s desire is to touch the world with the Gospel through His Body called the Church. He wants to work through all of us in an unhindered and unrestricted way. He has a plan, destiny, and assignment for every Believer. We must get our minds renewed to who we are in Christ to fulfill what we are called and commissioned to do.
When we receive Jesus as our Lord, and are saved, salvation changes us. We become new creations in Christ 2 Corinthians 5:17. Old things are passed away and all things are become new. We are God’s workmanship Ephesians 2:10, the handiwork of God. He never made a failure, flop, or mistake. The new creation was a complete success.
When we get saved we are not totally aware of all that passed away and all that became new. We also have to know where salvation took place. In 1 Thessalonians 5:23, it tells us we are a three part being made up of a spirit, a soul, and a body. “And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole SPIRIT and SOUL and BODY be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Our inward man is made up of the spirit and soul with our outward man made up of our physical body.
SALVATION FOR THE WHOLE MAN
Salvation we received in our past changed our SPIRIT – instantly.
Salvation in the future will change our BODY instantly in the rapture or resurrection.
Salvation in our present time has to hit our SOUL (mind, will, and emotions) in an ongoing way.
We have to know how change comes to our soul. The change that has to happen in our soul is called the renewing of the mind (Rm. 12:1, 2) and the saving of the soul (James 1:21). The word “transformed” in Romans 12:2 is the same word translated changed in 2 Corinthians 3:18 (“… are changed into the same image from glory to glory”). Change happens BY something – not by luck, chance, or accident, but BY THE RENEWING OF OUR MIND.
CHANGE AND TRANSFORMATION
1. This change is up to us.
2. We can start it or stop it.
3. It is personal and up to each individual.
4. God will not force this change on us.
As often as we receive the Word of God implanted into us it has the power to transform and radically change us. As often as we reject the Word of God being implanted into us we are choosing to stop its changing power. The devil does all he does to stop God’s Word from producing in us (Mark 4:1-32). To experience a new year transformed by the power of God we have to put the Word first place in our lives on a daily basis. What we do daily determines what becomes permanent in our lives not just what we do on Sundays.
Pastor John Rasicci is the founder and Pastor of Word of His Grace Church in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, where we are building people who are building the Church. Pastor's ministry mission is to help people discover God's dream for their Life, the Local Church, and the Last Days' Harvest. With a strong emphasis on the grace of God and with a prophetic voice, Pastor John preaches and teaches in churches, conferences, and crusades both locally and throughout the world. He has produced books, tapes, and other teaching materials to empower, enable, and equip Believers with the Word of God. Pastor John is married to his wife Candy who with their three children, Krista, Joanna, John Anthony, and two son-in-laws, Matt and Doug, serve together in the ministry. After graduating from Kent State University, Pastor John pursued a career in professional baseball before accepting the call to the ministry. He and his wife, Candy, received their ministry training from Rhema Bible Training Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
John Rasicci 
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