A New year is a perfect time to reevaluate your life and make important changes. What if you had the power to make lasting personal changes that would benefit you and your family for generations? It is easier than you think!
There are things that need to change in your life. You know it. I know it. There are things that need to change in my life too. One of the constants of human experience is the need to grow; to improve; to better oneself.
The age old question is “Can people change?” There are those who state emphatically that people cannot change. Their experiences in life have painfully proven it time and time again. The truth is people don’t change on their own. We tend to rise or fall to the level of our character and morality. But notice the important phrase “on their own”.
People don’t change, but God changes people. Yes, God can change people! He is in the people changing business! God has the power to change you. He can change your character, priorities, and morality. With His Divine power, you can overcome of a lifetime of sin and foolishness. Don’t try to make positive changes in your life by the power of your will or human techniques alone. God will help you!
[shareable]People don’t change, but God changes people.[/shareable]
Here are 9 things you need to know to make the positive changes you desire this year:
1. God changed you at salvation.
The most drastic and miraculous human change in history happens each time a soul is saved. A sinner is made a saint. A child of satan becomes a child of God. The lost is now found! If God can save your eternal soul from Hell, do you believe He will struggle to help you improve the rest of your life? Of course not!
2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”
If you are not sure that you have been forgiven of all your sins, learn how here.
2. The Holy Spirit indwells you.
At salvation, God moved into your life. Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. He is Christ in you the hope of glory. The Holy Spirit is there to teach, empower, and improve you. When you yield to Him, His fruits are manifested in your life.
1 Corinthians 6:19–20 “What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? ”“For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.”
Galatians 5:22–25 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.”
3. The ultimate power to change dwells within you!
The God Who formed all creation dwells in you. The One who saved your soul desires to empower your life!
How foolish to rely on human willpower to change you! Vain “resolutions” have no power. That’s why they are made in January and forgotten by March.
God gives you the desire to make godly changes. He also gives you the power to follow through and actually make the changes. Don’t miss this life-changing truth! The power to change create positive change in your life comes from God! He empowers you to move the internal miracle of salvation to the outside of your life where others can see it.
Philippians 2:12–13 “Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.”
[shareable]This is a new year. It can be a new you. You make the decision. God will provide the power.[/shareable]
4. You are already changing for the better.
You are being conformed into the image of Christ. What a privilege! If you’re like me, you have such a long way to go. Don’t fret! God has started the work in you and will finish it.
Romans 8:29 “For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.”
Philippians 1:6 “Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:”
5. You can choose to accelerate the process of growth.
Salvation did not eradicate sin from your flesh. It gave life to your spirit and gave you the freedom to live a holy life in spite of your sinful flesh. You have the power to choose!
Romans 6:11–14 “Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.”
Too often Christians fight the good changes God is making in their lives. They continue to yield to past fleshly desires rather than yielding to the Holy Spirit within them. You do the yielding and God will do the changing! Decide today to become God’s vision for you. Don’t settle for a slightly improved version of your old sin nature. Strive to be like Jesus!
6. See yourself as Who God wants you to be.
Stop seeing yourself as who you were in the past. You are a new creature in Christ! You may have the desire to do some of the same actions of the past because you are still clothed in the same sinful flesh. Nevertheless, you are different on the inside. You are a child of God. Remind yourself and the devil that you are not the same. You are God’s child. You will live for Him.
1 Corinthians 6:11 “And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.”
7. Obey and watch God make up the difference.
Stop waiting for God to sprinkle you with “fairy dust” and make it easy to obey Him. God will not override your will. He wants you to choose to follow Him.
How should you live? What would you do today if you were totally surrendered to God? What would Jesus do in your shoes?
Answer those questions and then do it. You will be amazed at how God will help you do things you thought were outside of your ability. You decide to obey and God will make up the difference.
Philippians 4:13 “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.”
[shareable]Decide today to become God’s vision for you. Don’t settle for a slightly improved version of your old sin nature. Strive to be like Jesus![/shareable]
8. Walk in the Spirit.
The divine power to change dwells within you. If you are not in tune to the Holy Spirit each day, then you are living well below your spiritual potential. Yield to God. Surrender your will. Pray. Read the Bible. Seek God’s face. If you walk in the Spirit, you won’t be in slavery to your flesh.
Galatians 5:16–18 “This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.”
This is a new year. It can be a new you. You make the decision. God will provide the power.
What changes do you plan to make this year? Leave a comment below.