Our Greatest Goal, Challenge and Fulfillment by Joy Dawson

Today we had the privilege of hearing from Joy Dawson a long time YWAMer sharing on 'Becoming more like Jesus'. Unfortunately she couldn't physically be here to speak because of health reasons. So it was a printed teaching in which we followed along.


I just want to share some of the highlights I got from the teaching.

• "Christ-likeness sure doesn't happen overnight. It's a metamorphosis as with a butterfly."
• Total Dependence on the Father. "When people as me to pray for them, I say, "I'll seek the Lord," and then wait in silence. At times I'll receive a scripture verse, or a prophetic word; sometimes an intercessory prayer, and sometimes nothing. I will not fake it and speak presumptuously. The same principle of waiting and listening applies before we start praying about anything for which He directs us to pray. "...The Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought." Romans 8:26"
• Jesus' Absolute Obedience. "We must understand the following: Delayed obedience is disobedience. Partial obedience is disobedience. Obedience with murmuring is disobedience. We can be positionally in God's will, but conditionally out of His will, like the children of Israel in the wilderness. They were constantly murmuring, unbelieving, and disobedient in the place God sent them."
• "So much of Christianity is the result of peoples' agendas-not the result of waiting on God, seeking His face until there comes the deep assurance that His will has been revealed."
• Jesus Operated in Full Faith. "He who speaks from himself, seeks his own glory." John 7:18 We only speak with authority when we've chosen, in the fear of the Lord, to live as Jesus modeled for us. God is always faithful if we will trust Him to come through in His timetable.
• Jesus was Always Living for the Father's Glory. Jesus taught and lived humility as the key to rest in our spirits, and having the ability to cope under pressure of heavy responsibilities. "Come to Me all you who labor and are heavy laden and over burdened and I will cause you to rest... I will ease and relieve and refresh your heart and you will find rest- relief, ease from your stress. "for my yoke is easy and my burden is light." (When humility is operating through you.) Overburdened?- Try humility." !! Matthew 11:28-30 (Amplified version plus some paraphrasing)
• Acts 1:1 Hypocrisy is giving an impression that we are something that we are not.
• "It is not sufficient to know the truth when we teach the truth. We have to live the truth. And it's only BEING the truth when teaching the truth that will cause God to release His authority on our teaching that will cause other lives to receive and act upon the truth.
• Our Great Fulfillment. Do we honestly believe that God can live His life through us? Is it really our primary goal in life? Do we really believe and understand that the Holy Spirit's main function in us is to reproduce the life of Christ through us? By our invitation, under the daily control of the Holy Spirit we can think His thoughts. We can speak His words. We can love how he loves and what He loves. We can hate what He hates. We can act and react like He did. We can make His priorities our priorities.

Our main problems of not being committed to this goal, are as follows:
  1) Deeply entrenched pride. We feel we have no need to change.
  2) Unbelief. We don't believe it's possible for the Holy Spirit to keep making us like Jesus
  3) Apathy. We don't want the disciplines, humblings and changes of life styles that go with metamorphosis.
  4) Undealt with sin in our lives.