The Power To Change Lives

The Power To Change Lives

Yes it is true! God has the power to change lives. I have seen it over and over again in myself, my family, friends and others. So each of us who have experienced God's power and life change have a story to tell, while others who have rejected or pushed God aside choose to find ways to discredit Him. As a follower of Christ we have a responsibility to share our story because those who reject the God of the Bible need to know their lives can 

be renewed and redeemed. Jesus told His disciples to go and make some more disciples. 

Not everyone we share our story with will become a disciple (A student of Jesus and one  who is progressively becoming more like Him), but it is vital that people hear the truth of the Gospel (Good News), because people must understand it is only through Jesus that they can have their sins forgiven and be reconciled back to God for all eternity.

Romans 10:17 NIV    (Hearing the message)

Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ.

 

Matthew 28:19 NIV   (Making disciples)

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit 

John 14:6 NIV   (Jesus the only way to salvation)

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

The Apostle Paul  exhorts us to give answers to those who are wondering about the faith we adhere to.

1 Peter 3:15 TNIV   
But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect,

It is also important, to always pray for those who are lost. Our prayers are many times prompted by the Holy Spirit who is trying to get us in tune with God and His will.

James 5:16 TNIV  
Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.

The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.

1 John 5:14-15 NIV

This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.

Ephesians 6:18 NIV

And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.

God really does care and wants that everyone to know Christ and receive the free of gift eternal life. Yet some really struggle with the understanding that a person really does have free will when it comes to their salvation (Act of God in ones deliverance from sin and its consequences)

Revelation 22:17 NIV

The Spirit (Holy Spirit) and the bride (The Church) say, "Come!" And let him who hears say, "Come!" Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life.

I sometimes ponder the question, did I choose Christ or did He choose me?

My first answer would be well he definitely chose me because I spent most of my life running away from Him. I desired not the things of God but the things of this world. I would do anything to please myself and didn’t care how it affected others as long as I satisfied my own personal desires.

Many years later (post college) there came a point in time that I felt compelled to go to church. The feeling I had was in a sense supernatural and very powerful. It felt like my heart was softening toward God. So for me it was very much out of character that I would even consider going to Church, yet, for some reason, I knew I had to.  After going to Church for the first time, my life from that moment on had changed because for the first time, I heard about a God who was personal and loving and wanted to have a personal relationship with me. Because I was brought up in a Jewish family, the focus of my religious point of reference was more on the traditions, the law and Jewish liturgy. Christianity, as it was explained to me, was more about relationship and emphasized the spirit of the law, not just about religious activity and the letter of the law. What I found out was that God desires to be welcomed into every area my life. He also does not want me to just live outwardly, making myself look good in the eyes of others and just checking off the boxes with my "good" deeds. God wants me to live from the inside out with a heart and love for Him and other people.

This verses below shed light on the fact that God has a big picture and plan for everyone and also chooses those He desires to to be saved. In other words God predetermined that we would obtain an inheritance in Christ, live for His Glory, and have kingdom work to do..

Ephesians 1:11 NIV 
In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who

works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will,

Romans 8:28 New International Version 

 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

Ephesians 2:10 New International Version

For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

This verse from Romans explains that it is also part of God’s plan and desire for us to be like Jesus in character.

Romans 8:28-30 NIV

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.

The fact that God would choose me to be saved and be a part of His family really blows my mind. I have such a long history of sin and selfish personal gratification that it doesn’t make much sense that He would even want me. But that doesn’t presuppose the character of God who gave sacrificially to prove His love for us.The Cross is Jesus' work to save us from sin and death.

Also there is a purpose behind choosing fools like me to be part of God's kingdom:

1 Corinthians 1:27-29 NLT

Instead, God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful. God chose things despised by the world, things counted as nothing at all, and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers important. As a result, no one can ever boast in the presence of God.

God uses ordinary people even fools like me to fulfill His greater purpose.

God’s Sovereignty is evident as He predestined each one of us according to His own purpose.I believe it was God’s purpose that I be saved. At the same time I had a choice in the way I responded to the Gospel. Both had to work together. John MacArthur explains it this way:

“How can predestination and personal faith both exist at the same time? I don't know. Throughout Scripture there is tension between God's sovereignty and man's will. And it is a tension we are incapable of reconciling completely. But it is our responsibility to believe both truths without reservation, just as they are revealed. We know those truths are in perfect harmony in God's mind, and that should satisfy us.”

As difficult as it is to understand I  believe even as God exercises his sovereignty, I can still exercise my free will. That is why I still sin and get myself in trouble. That is why I choose to love and serve God out of choice even though I am tempted to do otherwise.  The faith I have now keeps me centered and in line with God’s will more than ever before. But this faith did not just appear. In many ways I consider it supernatural in nature because it came from the reading of God’s Word and that Word resonated powerfully within my heart.

The desire to act on my faith came from the Holy Spirit who is the real supernatural change agent in my life.

The Bible states that faith comes from hearing the message and that faith is a gift from

God.

Romans 10:17 NIV

Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.

Ephesians 2:8 TNIV 
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God

So it seems the my choices and God's predetermined will are working together in harmony. Maybe that is why it is so difficult to understand the mind of God. He has an amazing way of harmonizing both aspects of choice and predetermination for His greater purpose. Even though it was God's purpose to save me, I had to hear the Gospel message to frame what real faith meant and begin the process through which my faith was developed. Part of God's determination was to put me in the right position to hear and be open to the Gospel. Through many interesting sets of circumstances. It is now clearly evident to me that at points throughout my life God made this possible. There was also a specific point in time I responded to God’s call to faith and thereby put myself in position to receive that free gift. Wow, God’s timing in all of this was so perfect. The circumstances were just right. In all my years leading up to today, I never would have never guessed that I would end up in a saving relationship with God and understand that God had this in mind from the beginning. To this day God’s timing and sovereignty never cease to amaze me.  With my limited understanding I can usually see after the fact how God put the pieces together. I realize however, that no matter how hard I try, I will never be able to fully understand the mind of God.

Isaiah 55:8-9 TNIV 
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD.

 "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

One thing I do understand is the uniqueness of God and the awesome power of His will.

I don’t know where I would be now if I hadn’t responded to the Word of God. I am not sure if I would have ever gone to Church if God hadn’t compelled me to do so. At the same time I know I was on this journey of discovering ultimate truth. I had a great desire to know the truth about life. All of these things working together brought me to where I am today. I have to say that I wrestled with God the entire way but I never was able to totally escape the knowledge of His existence. I even still wrestle with God over some things but it is more like having a counselor to hash over the difficulties of my life with. Now, as a follower of Jesus, I know I can never run away from the presence of God. 

Historically speaking, before giving my life to Christ, I decided to keep God at arms length until I could understood the truth about the one thing that was a huge roadblock for me, Jesus.

This is what I learned: Jesus is the Messiah. This realization came after I read the Old Testament. Some would say “Old Testament!” Yes, for me, being Jewish, I had to reconcile that the Bible pointed to Jesus as the Messiah for the Jews. There are many places in the Old Testament where Jesus fits that description. So by the time I got to the New Testament I was convinced. Reading the New Testament was icing on the cake for me.

The power of God’s Word did change my life. As I read the entire Bible I kept receiving 

amazing and revealing truths that began to transform my heart and understanding of the world. You see, I had come to understand life through the eyes of the culture that I had grown up with and had been accustomed to. So as I spent the time reading, studying and meditating on God’s Word, my worldview began to be reshaped with a new understanding of the purpose of life. I also realized that everything that I had learned up to the point of my transforming experience with God had to be calibrated through His mind and perspective in order for me to be able to understand my broken past and for me now to live abundantly and set apart to Him in a fallen and broken world.

The Seinfeld Revelation
There was an episode of Seinfeld where George realized his life was not working. All the decisions he made were wrong. So he decided that if every decision he made was wrong the opposite must be true. Maybe in some funny way this applies to me. I had to change my thinking a 180 degrees in order to be aligned with God’s will. This is still an on going process even today. The Bible continues to open doors revealing the most awesome truth about real life. This truth is counter to mostly everything I hear coming from the culture and those who believe that faith and religion are outdated and used by Christians as a crutch or a way to gain power over others.. Because of God’s power, my life has been transformed. Because of God's love, mercy and grace I have been renewed. Because of God I am not the same person I used to be.  Because of God I now have real life, with real Hope, and have a real eternal future with God. Because of God I have a biblical worldview instead of a worldview that is filled with deception and lies. Unfortunately the secular worldview is masking the real truth about God and keeping many imprisoned in their sin and broken circumstances.

God's power will change us. In fact the Bible tells us we are being transformed into the image of Christ. 

 2 Corinthians 3:18 New Living Translation

So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image.

Yet it is up to us to make sure that we are following God in accordance to His principles and not get sucked into believing what the world says we should go along with. Obedience to God keeps us on the road to remaining true to the faith we espouse. In order that we don't live with hypocrisy, we have to make the necessary changes to our character so we represent God accurately, reflect the heart of Christ, and stay on course, attuned to His will and purpose. Our goal should be to set our lives apart to God and not lose track of what He has called us to do. We need to understand that with all we have to face in this life, we need a strong foundation of Godly wisdom and perspective. With the Holy Spirit helping us, we now have the strength to apply this Godly wisdom and perspective to everyday life.

Matthew 7:24 TNIV 
"Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.

Ephesians 5:15-17 TNIV

Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is.
   
The good news is the Holy Spirit is our counselor, helper, and teacher and will interject God's truth back into our hearts and minds:

John 14:26 New International Version (NIV)

But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.

For all of us who have become followers of Jesus it is imperative for God to be the ultimate authority in our lives. The words, surrender, submit, devote, worship, pray, relationship, love, mercy, grace take on a greater meaning when used in context to biblical truth.  When it comes to God’s power in our life, Jesus reminds us that without Him we can't do anything that has any eternal significance for His kingdom.

John 15:5 TNIV 
"I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.

It is humbling to know that we must depend on God’s love, mercy, grace, forgiveness, wisdom, discernment and spiritual provision in order to lead a Christ-centered life. This applies to our marriages, parenting, relationships, job, ministry etc. Once again, everything in the Christian life revolves around the power of God.

As we continue to love and serve God let us always do it for His glory reflecting a humble character and Christ-likeness that His power recreated in us.  God desires for us to help others know that there is ultimate truth and abundant life for all who come and receive Jesus as their Lord and Savior. We have a God who keeps His promises, and He has promised to give us hope today and an everlasting and glorious future in heaven. So let it be part of our great purpose to help others embrace that same hope and future that is in Jesus.  Let us live with the power of Christ guiding our every step along the road to eternity.

Hebrews 10:23 TNIV 
Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.

Acts 1:8 New International Version (NIV)

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Just sayin………………..Dave