Formation to Transformation

UV 1733/10000 Formation to Transformation
This people have I formed for myself; they shall shew forth my praise
Isaiah 43 v 21

The Lord has chosen us, formed us and transformed us. The purpose for our formation and transformation is to manifest the praise of the Lord. To manifest or show forth the praise of the Lord is even greater than declaring it by means of our mouth. It implies that our mere presence on Earth is sufficient to manifest the praise and glory of the Lord. Even without the utterance of a word, the grace and glory of the Lord are manifest to the nations in which we live. We are chosen and set apart for God. We are to reflect His greatness, goodness, love, beauty, truth and faithfulness in all our interactions and relationships. We are transformed people as He has replaced the ashes of our misery and sinfulness with the beauty of His holiness. He has replaced the spirit of sadness, heaviness, gloominess, depression and negativity with the garment of praise and positivity. He has given us the anointing of the joy of salvation in the place of our fears and sorrows. He has called us to a divine destiny, to be a royal priesthood, to be the chosen generation, to be a nation of priests and kings. He has called us out of the darkness of ignorance into the marvellous light of His presence. He has called us to be a peculiar people with unique standards, values, habits and priorities of life. We have been bought not easily but with a heavy price and hence, whatever we do, we should do it for His glory and by His grace.
The Lord forms us through our experiences, both good and bad, the sweet, the bitter and the tough ones. He forms us through the Word by convicting us of various truths and goading us to follow these truths in our lives. He forms us through our interactions with other people. He forms us through the ministry of the Holy Spirit who indwells us. The more we resist the act of being formed in these various ways, the slower and more painful the process will be. The more we yield to the move of the Lord to form and transform us from deep within, the more blessed and faster the process will be.
We are to manifest His praise continually even as we declare it continually with our lips. We can ask the Lord to form us in the areas where we are partially formed. We can yield the parts of our lives to the Holy Spirit that need further shaping or grooming so that we reflect the true image of the Lord in our lives. He forms us all our lives. There is something to learn, to re-shape, to re-form every day within us. There are some parts of our lives and inner selves that are like “broken cisterns” which do not manifest the glory of the Lord. In these areas, it is critical we ask the Lord to repair us and make us whole again.
Prateep V Philip