89. HOW GOD CHANGES US. 2 Timothy 3;16.

Question 1; What do you need changed in your life? Answer:Your understanding about God?, Who He is, and what He can do for you. In these areas of your life - Your mindset, your attitude, your understanding towards God and or people, Your behaviour or habits and sensitivity toward others etc. Question 2. ;Why do you think you need changing? Do you feel inadequate, misinformed or unacceptable?, Do you have a physical, mental or emotional need or disability that makes you feel you’re not good enough? That is simply not true, God loves everyone the same, He has no favourites, He made you and me the way we are for a very special purpose, we have to find out what that purpose is, and carry it out to the best of our ability. How? Whatever we want to do or achieve in life we have to work at it “Butcher, Baker or Candlestick maker” whatever it is, we have to work at it and the harder we work the bigger the dividends. The Spiritual life is no different. “But I’m not a student” you say, Okay, There are many ways to reach for God and stay in contact with Him. Instead of taking out your phone and listening or watching something that may or may not satisfy you, take five or ten minutes and spend it talking or listening to God. You can reach Him through Christian Radio and TV, or just sitting on your own at home or on a park bench or beach thinking of Him and His creation. Do you play an instrument, join a Christian group, attend a Scripture study or youth group. God can speak to you through anything, just sit quietly in His presence and if you are really serious about changing your life (no matter what you have done or how many times you have drifted away, He will show you the road to take, He doesn’t love you more than He loves me, or the other way around. No! His very identity is love. Whatever He does, His primary motivation is love. So, forget about your perception of people’s opinion about you and carry on reading, maybe I can help. Whatever your answer to question 2 may be, You obviously want to know more about this God/Man and get a deeper understanding of your own about Him. And why He has gone to such lengths to make you His friend, his follower in fact His very own The only true answers to all these questions and many more are in the Bible you are carrying around with you Over the last fifty years of listening to people, I have heard several reasons why people feel inferior, out-of-step or inadequate they just accept their lot in life and live with it. No questions asked. However, that is not God’s answer; He said “If you seek me with all your heart, you WILL find me” and I firmly believe that is the answer to all the above questions which are written in His Word. “The Scriptures.” So, stop thinking about what you can’t do and feeling sorry for yourself, (That is a tool of Satan to make you think you are of no value) accept who you are, and concentrate on what you can do (the gifts you are blessed with) whether you are tall or short, dumb or clever, black or white, blind deaf etc. God made you and me for a particular purpose with all our lumps and bumps for His glory. So talk to Him about your problems and His giftings ; Because He made us all in His own image, for His purpose and Glory.. One of the greatest, simplest and best ways God teaches us is through His Word. And the Bible tells us, “All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true” to make us realise what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong, and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare and equip His people to do every good work.(2Timothy 3;16). The story is told of a converted cannibal from the South-sea Islands. He was sitting under a tree by a large pot reading his Bible when an anthropologist approached him and asked “What are you doing?” The native replied “I’m reading the Bible” The anthropologist scoffed and said “Don’t you know that modern, civilized man has rejected that book, it’s nothing but a pack of rubbish, you shouldn’t waste your time reading it.” The cannibal looked him over from head to toe and slowly replied “Sir, if it weren’t for this book – you’d be in this pot by now!” instead of that Antelope !! The Word of God had changed his -life and his appetite. If you are serious about changing your life, you have to get serious about The Bible. You have to read it, study it, memorise it, meditate on it, speak it and apply it. “But, my faith is weak” you say. Are you reading your Bible regularly? Are you studying it? Are you memorising it? No! Then how do you expect your faith to grow? The Bible says”Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God” (Romans 10:17) The Spirit of God uses the Word of God to make us more like the Son of God. Your eternity (forever) depends on this. Life is not a game, One day we all have to die and end up in one of two places. Have you made that choice? Don’t say things like “I’m a good person, I help other people, and do lots of good things for God, I don’t steel or lie, I go to church and give money to good causes and help where needed. All those are good things to do, but, what is the point of doing all those good things for a God that you hardly know.. What God wants is for you and me to know, love and have a personal relationship with Him. Acknowledging Him daily with humble thanksgiving for what He has done for us, by giving His only Son to take on human flesh, to show us the way and take our place on that Cross for the sins we’ve committed. Why? Because nobody else in all of creation would have been good enough to pay the price our sins deserved. That is what you and I are worth to God, “The very life of His own Son, and why I implore you to get serious about God and His Son Jesus Christ . Another way God changes us is through circumstances. C. S. Lewis said, “Pain insists on being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures… but shouts to us in our pain.” The J. B. Phillips translation of (Romans 8:28-29) reads; “To those who love God, who are called according to His plan, everything that happens fits into a pattern for good. God… chose them to bear the family likeness of His Son.” Nothing can come into your life without your heavenly Father’s permission; it must be “father filtered” The interesting thing about how God uses circumstances as their source makes no difference to Him. Also we often bring problems on ourselves. Sometimes they are caused by others. Sometimes the enemy causes things to happen to us. The source is irrelevant. God said,”I will make it fit into my plan for your life, to make you like Jesus Christ. That means there is no circumstance from which we can’t learn if we maintain the right attitude. Why did Solomon say, in (Proverbs 20:30) “A good beating cleanses away wickedness, such a beating will cleanse the innermost being” Because we only change when our fear of change surpasses our pain. If you want to become more like Jesus, think about this, “Though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things He suffered. (Hebrews 5:8) If God used the challenges, conflicts and circumstances of life to prepare His Son for His destiny, wont He do the same in our lives? So instead of trying to escape our circumstances, Learn from them and grow stronger. Someone once wisely said, “You are not what you think your are, but you are what you think.” Lasting change always begins with new thinking. How do you become a Christian?… By repenting of your sin, and selfishness and placing your trust in Christ. The Greek word for repentance is ‘metanoia’ and it means to change the direction of your mind. We are not changed by willpower, but by the transforming power of God’s Word when we use it to renew our minds each day. The Bible clearly teaches that the way you think is determined by the way you feel, and the way you feel determines the way you act. So if you want to change your actions,, you have to return to the source and change the way you think. At times you may act resentfully. Why? Because you feel resentful. And do you know why you feel resentful? Because you are thinking resentful thoughts. The same is true of anger, worry, lust, and other destructive thought patterns. Thank You first of all for realising, understanding and accepting that like all of us who have a sincere heart for Christ, need and indeed long for.- a change that will bring about in us a depth of relationship with The Son of God that few are able to achieve. So aim to be more like Jesus. Not always easy, but every step in that direction is a winning one, and you will see God change you into something beautiful and good. As we live in His presence, His Holiness and His love I pray God’s Holy Spirit will draw us all into that place where we can say with Paul, “It’s no longer I that lives, but Christ that lives in me” God Bless Phaline.