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change

Change: Stinkin’ Thinkin’!

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There’s an old saying, “If nothing changes, nothing changes.” As believers in Christ Jesus, we are called to change. Join me this week and consider some aspects of change in our lives as we walk with the Lord. Is there anything that you need changed?

 

Stinkin’ Thinkin’!

Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

Romans 12:2, NLT

Wednesday_Day_Three_Pic-New_Mindset_Stickies“If only I could stop doing such and such! I really must stay away from that, or them, or whatever the temptation is. After all, shouldn’t I try really hard to behave differently from the world now that I’m a Christian?” Have you ever had ideas like these rolling around in your brain unit?

Read today’s Dose verse. It tells us to allow God to change our thinking, so that how He wants us to behave will be clear. Our behavior and habits will change when our thought patterns change. I haven’t read anywhere in the Bible that if we try really hard, we can, by our own willpower, stop copying worldly habits and behaviors. This is just stinkin’ thinkin’. But if you’re like me, you tend to hold onto that ol’ stinkin’ thinkin’ way past any point of usefulness it may have ever held for you.

Stinkin’ thinkin’ says, “I believe God saved me, but now I need to do my part and change all of my behavior.” But what do you do when that vulgar language you still use (despite your best efforts to cease) starts to sound really bad in your own ears? How about that awkward and uncomfortable feeling you get now when you participate in gossip, like you’ve done many times before, especially if you’ve at any point informed your fellow gabby-gossips of your conversion to Christianity?

Could it be that the awkwardness of these situations are all indicators that the Holy Spirit is alive and working in your heart, prompting you to change how you think? We behaved in certain ways because on some level, we could live with that behavior without feeling increasingly uncomfortable. When we follow the practices and behaviors of this world, we plunge right into selfish patterns and damaging reliance on unhealthy people and things.

As a believer, we’re now being convicted that continuing in our ungodly thoughts, habits, and behaviors is not honoring to God, our testimony, or our new lives.

God desires to change us from inside outward. As we follow the prompting of the Holy Spirit in our lives, He works changes in us, which transforms us into new people, and we accordingly demonstrate outward changes in what we say and do.

Be encouraged today in knowing that God will help us change our ungodly behaviors as we allow Him to change how we think.

Precious one, don’t you want to be changed from stinkin’ thinkin’?

By grace through faith,

Rita

Change: “The Works!” It’s a Process!

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There’s an old saying, “If nothing changes, nothing changes.” As believers in Christ Jesus, we are called to change. Join me this week and consider some aspects of change in our lives as we walk with the Lord. Is there anything that you need changed?

 

“The Works!” It’s a Process!

This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone, a new life has begun!

2 Corinthians 5:17, NLT

Tuesday_Day_Two_Pic-Group_PrayingYears ago, I was in a single young adult Bible study group when the chaplain leading it asked the half dozen or so of us sitting in the circle if anyone would like to pray to receive salvation in Christ. When he got to a fairly new guy in our group, the guy opted to pray his own prayer of salvation. The chaplain obliged and we all bowed our heads and waited for the guy to speak. He said, “Jesus, I know you’re up there and you can make me new. I wanna be new, so … gimme the works. Amen!”

If only my eyes weren’t closed while he was praying because I’d have loved to see the looks on all our faces when he prayed that prayer! I only appeared to handle the situation maturely because I couldn’t find a giggle-buddy in the room! The chaplain knew the guy wanted salvation, and he knew exactly what he was talking about. Read today’s Dose verse. We’d been studying it in the King James Version, which reads, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” That young man received “the works” that night when he became a believer. He wanted to be completely changed from what he was to someone new.

We become brand new people through Jesus Christ once we accept Him as our Savior and Lord. We are instantly forgiven by God and pure in His sight. We are given “the works”! However, our old ungodly habits and thoughts we had prior to salvation are still with us because we come to Christ just as we are, broken, filthy, lost, and in need of much help. Faith, repentance, and willingness to surrender were all we brought to the table. So how do we change?

God gives us His Holy Spirit to help teach, guide, convict, and comfort us as we submit to His Lordship in our lives. In this way, we grow and change. Be encouraged to know that you don’t have to change everything at once (you couldn’t if you tried) but that through the power of the Holy Spirit, we have all the power we need to be completely changed in each area of our lives.

Sweet lady, are you a new creation in Christ Jesus? Why not request “the works” and get started on your lifelong process today?

By grace through faith,

Rita

Change: Never Say “Never!”

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There’s an old saying, “If nothing changes, nothing changes.” As believers in Christ Jesus, we are called to change. Join me this week and consider some aspects of change in our lives as we walk with the Lord. Is there anything that you need changed?

 

Never Say “Never!”

“But Lord,” exclaimed Ananias, “I’ve heard many people talk about the terrible things this man has done to the believers in Jerusalem! And he is authorized by the leading priests to arrest everyone who calls upon your name.” 

Acts 9:13-14, NLT

Monday_Day_One_Pic-Praying_Woman “She’ll never change!” Have you ever said that about someone? Would it flip your weave to find out that she really had changed? We sometimes forget, even as believers who have been changed, that God has the power to change people! Maybe you’ve been labeled incapable of change or even believe it about yourself. But is that true?

Saul was a man changed by the Lord. His dramatic conversion, from a murderous, enemy of believers, to a follower of Christ himself, is told in Acts 9.

“As he was approaching Damascus on this mission, a light from heaven suddenly shone down around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul! Saul! Why are you persecuting me?” “Who are you, lord?” Saul asked. And the voice replied, “I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting! Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.” … Saul picked himself up off the ground, but when he opened his eyes he was blind. So his companions led him by the hand to Damascus. He remained there blind for three days and did not eat or drink.” (Acts 9:3-9 NLT)

Read today’s Dose verse. Ananias was the believer whom God instructed to go find Saul (the new believer) and lay hands on him to receive the Holy Spirit.

God had changed Saul but Ananias had a hard time believing that Saul had really changed. I bet he thought, “This is the guy you want me to go befriend, pray for, and restore to sight? Come on, Lord, You know that Saul guy is straight craycray! He’s been killing us at the rapid rate!” I can understand his fear, can’t you? That kind of guy doesn’t ever really change, does he? But, he does indeed, if his heart is willing. God is all about changing people with willing hearts to be more like Jesus Christ. Once Ananias reached out to Saul and spent time with him, he found out that Saul really had changed.

We don’t need to reach the point of murderous intentions to realize change but we do need to reach the point where we believe that God can change anyone and will do so for those whose hearts are willing.

Dear one, do you believe you can never change? It’s not true. Be encouraged today in knowing that nobody is beyond God’s reach to change.

By grace through faith,

Rita

[Read Acts 9:1-31 for more of this story of Saul]