“He who began a good work I you will complete it…”(Phil 1:6)
The Holy Spirit comes inside the believer at the point of salvation. As mentioned at the close of the last section, He then begins a work of making us holy, this is sanctification. It’s a process that is filled with events. (These events we have described as the need for reconciliation, the process of sanctification, the baptism in the Holy Spirit, the second blessing of the love of God, and the anointing) Oftentimes, this process of sanctification comes over time. As the Holy Spirit leads us into holiness, we become conformed to the image of God. This is our identity, the image of Christ. Faith, once it is inside the soul, has a transforming effect. This is a kingdom principle and Jesus gave us a series of parables to explain. He states:
“Then He said, “What is the kingdom of God like? And to what shall I compare it? It is like a mustard seed, which a man took and put in his garden; and it grew and became a large tree, and the birds of the air nested in its branches.” (Luke 13:18-19)
According to this parable, man and God are co-laboring to produce the Kingdom. First, the man places one of the smallest seeds in the plant family and plants it in his garden. The Garden is symbolic of the man’s soul. The mustard seed is symbolic of faith. By faith, the man waits for the seed to grow. When faith is birthed in our hearts it begins to change things in the inner man. It may not be apparent, but eventually everything is going to change. Faith grows until it becomes the largest tree in the garden of the soul. This is like the Kingdom. A certain measure of faith is always present within us. This faith begins a process of growth within our inner man. It is a slow process of change but it yields huge results. Rapid growth in the kingdom can be dangerous. Growing in the Kingdom is a process, but if we continue in faith, we will become a tree. A tree is symbolic of an anointed and gifted leader. (Psalm 52:8, psalm 92:12) An live tree is one that produces the anointing in lives of others.
Jesus continues,” And again He said, ‘To what shall I liken the Kingdom of God? It is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal til lit was all leavened.” (Luke 13:20-21)
The woman takes the leaven. (Generally in scripture, leaven is symbolic of sin, but in this parable it is symbolic of faith) Faith has a similar action as leaven. It is placed inside the lump of the soul and it is undetectable to the naked eye. When left alone, it causes everything around it to grow to twice its size. The woman takes the leaven (faith) and implant it into the bread (soul) . Then, the leaven (faith) changes the entire make-up of the bread (soul and life) and causes a transformation over time. This is how faith and the Kingdom work and how growth in the Kingdom is achieved.
Who Do You Think You Are? 