I was born in a Christian family, where we were all involved in a certain ministry.

But I was involved in the youth ministry, and I use to preach, sing and pray a lot in the overnight prayers, we were doing almost every Friday. Everything was fine until I became an hypocrite.

I started doing terrible things in my hypocrisy. I became addicted to pornographic films, then I began to play around with girls from the neighborhood and girls from the very youth group I was leading. and after that I began parting, drinking and doing all the creasy things people my age were doing, which led me right into the darkness. And I remember some people that knew me as a Christian, came to talk to me about the terrible things I was doing, but I ignored them and kept on living the life of sins I was living.

It took me the life of my father to understand. And you know what they say “ It’s better to go to a home where there is mourning than to one where there is a party.” When I lost my father, my whole world turned up side down, and through that sorrow and pain, I began to think about my life and all the bad things I had done. And it’s through that time that the lord opened my eyes.

I always thought that I was doing what Jesus told us in (Mathew 28 : 19) where he says “Go and make of all nations disciples of mine. But how can one do that without being transformed spiritually.

(Luke 11: 39) says: you Pharisees clean the outside of a cup and dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. That’s exactly what I was doing; cleaning the outside, while the inside was full of sins; which made me even worst than a pagan. I always use an experiment to clarify that fact.

We all know what the bottle of mineral water look like, and I have seen one with a label that says “ pure water”. Now if you put tap water in that bottle, nobody would know that it tap water until they test it, because the label describes it to be pure. That’s exactly the kind of person I was, because the label on me said that I was a Christian, but the water or the spirit in me wasn’t purified. Now how could I make disciples with that.

(Jeremiah 17 : 10) says: I the lord, search human minds, and test human hearts. That shows me that I was a Christian, but I wasn’t worthy to be called a disciple of God, because of my hypocrisy. And the following verses opened my eyes:

-           (Mathew 7 : 21- 23) in these verses, the lord made me realize that I was wasting my time 

       pretending to be his disciple.

-         (Mark 7 : 6- 8) in these verses, the lord describes me as an hypocrite, because I was holding fast to the tradition of men, which is to look perfect on the outside.

-         (John 4 : 23- 24) in these verses, the lord told me to worship him in spirit and in truth, because the truth can only be found in the spirit.

-         (Romans 12 : 2) in this verse, the lord told me not to conform to the pattern of the world, but to be transformed spiritually.

But how can one be transformed spiritually?

(Romans 8 : 13- 14) says:” If by the spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you’ll live.

For all who are being led by the spirit of God these are sons of God.”

Putting to death the deeds of the body by the spirit, is basically being transformed spiritually. And the story of the 4 friends, clarifies that fact.

The 4 friends were Andrew, Ben, Claude and Dave. They use to spend time together, smoke together and do everything together. But one day, Andrew decided to quit smoking, so he told the 3 other guys. Then Ben said to him “ everybody do say that, but we’ll just wait and see how far you can go.” Very sad Andrew went off, thinking that it’s over. Since the quitting couldn’t be done over night, he was tempted again and ended up smoking secretly. But very soon Claude saw him and told the other 2 guys, then together they went to confront him. As we all know, people in that situation use anger to escape. So he told his friends to go to hell,  and that he would live his life the way he want to live it. And that very reaction made him even worst. He ended up smoking even more than he use to smoke on a daily basis.

A few months later Dave also decided to quit smoking. But he was wiser, because he never told any body. He took one step at the time. From smoking 20 Cigarette a day, he went down to 15 then 10,7,5,3,1 and suddenly he stopped completely. Then Ben and Claude realized that he wasn’t smoking at all, they tried to confront him as they did with Andrew. But Dave just smiled and walked away, because he had a secret, which was his spiritual transformation.

He managed to put to death the deeds of the body by the spirit, which is also what being born again is all about. He was transformed spiritually by God .

Through this story I realized that, I had to be as wise as Dave, by keeping my spiritual transformation a secret between me and my God , because once the secret is revealed, the devil will use the very people you told that very secret, to get you back to the darkness. And that little secret is our strength in God.

For just as Samson lost his strength by revealing his secret , so can we.

The spiritual transformation is always done progressively, and I always compare it to my painting strategy.

There was a time in my life where I was into Art. I would buy a cheap board, draw on it, paint it, frame it and sale it once done, at the price it worth. From nothing it became something with a price.

I remember one day, I was right at the beginning of my work, when my brother walked in the room where 

I was working, and said “ I don’t think this one is going to be as beautiful as the others you did.”

I just smiled, because I could see in my mind what the painting was going to look like, once done.

The very same thing happens to us (Christians) during our spiritual transformation.

We actually become the speechless boards and God is the artist with the vision of what we will turn out to be at the end, who expect us to be patient and obedient during the process of transformation, despite the fact that we don’t look good enough to the world. 

God want to set us in a position, which is going to be comfortable for him to do his work in our lives.

He will first take us to an area which is suitable for our spiritual transformation to be done, then draw his plan on us, paint us and frame us. And when he takes us out, we’ll be worthy to be called his disciples.

My area of transformation has been the death of my father, which the lord used to transform me spiritually.

And through that process I have learned that, without Wisdom we can never get to the spiritual transformation. For Wisdom itself is defined as being prudent or discerning over matters.

I think of Wisdom, whenever I want to cross a busy road, because I look to the right and the left before

I actually cross the road. And people don’t blindfold themselves before crossing a busy road, because they don’t want to die. And wisdom keeps you from dying in sins.

I remember seeing one day a mad person in the middle of the free way, with a trolley full of cardboards, not minding what happening around him. Cars drove pass him very fast from both side. And I was standing on the side of the free way thinking “oh my God is he mad”, eventually he was.

I believe that the lord is watching us, walking in the middle of the free way, which is the world ,  with  trolleys full of our businesses and worries not minding what happening around us.

Anything can happen anytime in the free way. And God is looking down on us thinking “ Are they mad”.

(Mathew 21: 43) says: The kingdom will be taken away from you and given to a people that will produce the proper fruit.

The time has come for us Christians to be transformed spiritually while we still can, because life is too short.

During the Tsunami disaster, a journalist said “ where was God when this happened. “ But some day God will ask “where were you when the gospel was around you. “

Whenever I think about this, I thank God. Because, even though I’ve lost my father, I have found my God.

 (This testimony is used with permission from the author)