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When we think about the power of God, our minds may turn immediately to the great works recorded in Scripture – the Exodus from Egypt, the Red Sea opening before Israel, Daniel preserved in the lions’ den or the three Hebrew men protected in the fire. Above all, we see God’s power revealed at the cross and in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Yet Scripture also points us towards a work of God that is deeply personal: His power to transform a human life. Romans 12 calls us not to be conformed to this world, but to be “transformed by the renewing of your mind”. God does not merely want to change our circumstances. Through Christ and the Holy Spirit, He works within us to change the person we are becoming.
Paul’s appeal in Romans 12 follows everything he has already written about God’s mercy, wisdom, and saving purpose. Salvation is of Him, through Him and to Him. Our response to such mercy is to offer ourselves to God as a living sacrifice. Christian transformation therefore does not begin with trying harder to become a better person. It begins with what God has already done for us in Jesus Christ. As His Word renews our thinking and His Spirit works within us, the values and priorities of this present world begin to lose their hold. We learn to recognise what is good, acceptable and pleasing to God and increasingly desire to live according to His will.
Second Corinthians gives us another beautiful description of this work: “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.” God does not simply polish the old life or make us outwardly more respectable. In Christ, our position before God has changed. The old no longer defines us. At the same time, what is already true of us in Christ is worked out in practice over a lifetime as He shapes our character, strengthens our faith, and teaches us to live from our new identity. Stories of dramatically changed lives can encourage us, but the same grace is at work in every believer. Some changes may happen suddenly, while others take years of prayer, obedience and patient growth.
Paul’s prayer in Ephesians 3 brings the message to its heart. He asks that believers would be “strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man”, rooted and grounded in the love of Christ and filled with the fullness of God. This is where the power of God is meant to reach – not simply the surface, but the deepest parts of who we are. Our weakness does not disqualify us from that work. God told Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Whatever your past may contain, you are not beyond the transforming grace of God. Build your roots through His Word, prayer, worship and fellowship, and give Him room to work. The most beautiful work God can do is not merely around you. It is the work He desires to do within you.
The power of God is not limited to outward signs and miraculous events. Through the finished work of Christ and the indwelling Holy Spirit, God transforms the believer from the inside out. Romans 12 shows the renewing of the mind, 2 Corinthians shows our new identity in Christ, and Ephesians shows the Spirit strengthening the inner man. The Christian life is therefore both a completed new position in Christ and an ongoing life of becoming more like Him.
Take some time with Romans 12:1-2 and ask the Lord where the thinking of this world may still be shaping you. Then pray simply that He would renew your mind, strengthen your inner man, and continue to make visible the new life He has already given you in Christ.
