Chapter 1.
The Power Of God's Love
To understand how God can change us, we first have to understand who He is and how He works in our lives. God is love. I John 4:8 tells us the basic nature of God. John 3:16 tells us what kind of love God is. He loves us so much that when He created man He knew that He would have to send His only begotten Son to die for the sins of all. Still He made man to walk and talk with, to fellowship with, and share our love. His entire motive in creating us (that includes you, too) is love. He loves our company. He loves our praise. He loves you as if you were the only one. You have, when you accepted Jesus as you Savior, officially become His Son--as precious to Him as Jesus Himself. I John 3:1 says, "Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons of God." God has for you a love greater than the love an earthly father has for his sons. Sometimes in this world of broken homes and selfish people it's hard to comprehend God's love. It is hard to believe that it is just for you. It takes time to grow in a relationship with anyone--time to develop love and trust. It takes time to develop a strong relationship with God. You have to get to know Him and then develop a trust with Him.
If others have hurt you, it is hard to trust God and submit to His love and let Him work inside you. I was that way. God just kept working on the trust between us and proving Himself to be trustworthy. When I gave up that hurt, He healed it. But to give it up I had to let go of it. To let go of hurt you have to forgive the people that hurt you and not hold it against them. If you hold it against them you cannot give it to God. Things you won't commit to Him He cannot fix. Things that we do, He surely will repair. God will even help you to forgive when you can't do it yourself, if you'll make up your mind honestly that you want to. He can be, in you, the love that you don't have. When you forgive, He will love you and heal your broken heart until you can love Him in return. Isn't He a wonderful God with such a wonderful love for you, His child.
We can get to know Him through his Word and through the testimony and teaching of others. This is good. Unfortunately, this is where many people stop. Their relationship becomes based on the relationships of others and not one of their own. That would be like my starting a friendship with you based only on what everyone says about you. Not by my getting to know you at all. That is not a real relationship and cannot grow into a real love. To develop a real relationship I would have to take time to spend with you, listen and talk with you, be real with you and invite you to let me get to know you and let you get to know me. Without this, how could I say, that I even had a real relationship with you at all. Our relationship with Him needs to be personal. We not only fail God but we also fail ourselves, when we think that being religious is all there is to a Christian walk. Some of the most perfect, outwardly-holy people that seem to be the most religious often have no personal relationship with God, but a relationship with what they think it should be like to be a Christian. They try to walk the Christian walk alone without relying on His love and support. These people, unless they find a true love relationship with Him-a talking with, walking with, obedient relationship with Him--will miss heaven. A real eye-opener is found in Matthew 7:21-23. In this scripture, these people had accomplished many things for the Lord. They had forever forgotten the one most needful thing. Having a real relationship with God. One in which He knew them.
Satan tries to destroy Christians before they are strong in that relationship. They can be easy targets for his accusations (when they fail or even when they don't). The Bible tells us satan is the accuser of the brethern both day and night (Revelations 12:10). He hates God and because he does, he hates the thing closest to God. That’s you. It's his job to accuse you and discourage you until you quit, because you think that there is no use to try. When you find that real relationship with God, his tactics no longer work. When satan says, "You are nothing and will never be anything." You can answer, "Yes, I am, because I know God loves me and I know I am special to Him." When he accuses you, you merely answer, "I am forgiven". When He tries to discourage you by showing you the circumstances around you, you can just ask God to show you His side of the picture. You have to have confidence in God's ability to keep you. You must be secure in your relationship with Him to be able to be steadfast as a Christian and to allow God to do His changing work in you.
The only way you can loose in your relationship with God is to take it for granted or quit trying. Sometimes we don't treat God as if He were real with real feelings. God is very tender- hearted toward His children. He loves us with a jealous love (Deuteronomy 4:24). He weeps when we fail to serve Him just as Jesus did when He wept over the city of Jerusalem. (Matthew 23:37). Luke 1:78 talks of His tender mercies. He is tender in His love for us. We often fail to consider His feelings. We go for days and fail to speak to Him or seek His guidance. We fill our prayers with grumbling instead of the praise that He delights to hear. We fail to honor Him in our relationships with those around us and even denounce our relationship if it doesn't seem to fit in with what is happening at the time. We forget his benefits. We love Him and commit to Him when it is convenient and expect Him to love us unconditionally. A real love relationship is not that way. Jesus Himself said in Revelations 2:4,"Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love." We must fall in love with Jesus and let Him love us for us to be able to be new in Him.
We also should never take advantage of the love of God or His forgiveness. Many take the attitude that whatever we do is OK because God will forgive us. Beware of false teaching that more or less gives you the license to sin premeditated or thought-up-ahead-of-time sin because you are a child of God and He will forgive you. The Bible teaches that if you continue to willfully sin over and over after you know the truth of God there is no more sacrifice for you. (Hebrews 10:26). Another way to say this is don't spit in the face of Jesus on the cross. Don't ever take advantage of one drop of His precious blood that was shed for your forgiveness.
This is not to say that we cannot be forgiven. I John 2:1 says, "My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous". I John 1:9 says, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." Jesus loved us so much that while we were yet sinners, He died for us. I know He will forgive you. But also remember I John 2:5, "But whoso keepeth His word, in Him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in Him." With all your heart love Him and serve Him without excuses. Keep His Word.
When a baby first walks he often falls. Being a new person in Christ is sometimes like being a baby all over again. New Christians have a lot to learn about God and His ways. If you fall, keep trying to walk, just like that child does that keeps getting up until eventually he learns to run. Don't excuse away your failures and sins. Confess them, and trust God's love to forgive you. Don't let Satan accuse you into discouragement. When you stand forgiven you are indeed forgiven. Don't let Satan put a fear of failure in your life. Perfect love casts out all fear (I John 4:18). Don't forget the love of your heavenly Father that watches and waits to help you when you fall.
If you hear others talk about God's love and how wonderful He is and how He blesses them, but you can't feel His love. If it seems like He isn't blessing your life, be careful not to get angry with God or angry with those that have found their place in his love. This will lead to a jealous spirit and you will be bound from being able to find that love that God has for you. Hold on to the knowledge that a relationship with Him can be yours. Ask God to help you. Find out what might be hindering you. Are there other things in your life that you are holding on to that you might need to give up to have a relationship with God? The love of God is like a precious pearl that a man sold everything to gain (Matthew 13:36). If you are not forgiving others it can stop you from being able to feel God's love. If you are living in consistent sin or in your heart you would rather have sin in your life than to have the goodness of God then you will not be able to have His love until you repent and ask forgiveness. (Repent means to turn away from the wrongdoing.) Ask God to help you to find that relationship with Him and obey Him. If you do not follow Him as He leads, then you will not go in the same direction He is going.
Of course the first step in becoming a new person is to accept God's gift of salvation.
Romans 10:9-11 says "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the scripture saith whosoever believeth on Him shall not be ashamed." For you to begin the change that God can bring in you, you must let Jesus, by the power of the Holy Ghost, come into your heart. You must realize what happens to you when you are saved. One young man, after overcoming a situation that had always, before his salvation, brought him defeat, remarked to me, "I know now that Jesus is in me". Jesus is truly in you to help you overcome and to help you to become new in Him.
The next step to changing to a new creature is to fall in love with Jesus. Fall in love with God. Understand Him and His love. Get to know Him. Most of all, let Him love you. His love has the power to transform you.
The next step is to want this relationship. If you do not want to have this relationship with God or you do not really in your heart want to change, then there is nothing that God can do for you. God will never overstep our free will.
We have to know, in order to change, that we are forgiven. "You are forgiven" are sometimes the most precious words that we can hear in a relationship with our loved ones. It is that way in our relationship with God. He loved you enough that He sent His only begotten Son to die for you? Will you receive that love and love Him in return?
Chapter 2.
You Don't Have to Be Like You Are For Forever
God is a God that is the same. He never changes. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. (Malachai 3:6). What He promised the saints of Bible times, He will also do for you. He was mighty enough to send plagues on Egypt, turn the sun back, divide the sea, stop the mouths of lions and quench the heat of the fiery furnace. He is still the same God and He has not changed. In this age of constant change, it is good to know that we serve a God that does not change. His nature is not going to change tomorrow. The God that we get to know today is going to be the same tomorrow. As time goes on and we get to know Him better, our perception of Him may change as we learn more about Him. He Himself will not change.
We are not the same way. Too often we look at ourselves, our weaknesses, our personalities, the things about ourselves that we don't like and we become convinced that we cannot change. This is sometimes because we try to change ourselves and we fail. Then we give up. We begin to think that there's no need to try to change because we are the way we are and we cannot change. We are not like God. We can change. To think that we can't is not true. We can change, because God is a God that loves to change people. The main goal He has for our lives is to ultimately change us into His likeness. I John 3:2 says, "Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is." We might say to ourselves that this change is just talking about a change that takes place when we get to heaven or when we are caught up in the rapture. The Bible, however, constantly talks about the Christian life as being a process of growth and surrender and a changing process. Read these verses. These verses aren’t just talking about salvation but Paul is talking to God’s children. Ones that have already been saved: Galatians 5:1, II Peter 3:18, Galatians 19:1, 2 Thessalonians 1:3, I Corinthians 13:11, Ephesians 4:13-15. If we are not growing in our relationship with God then it might be said that we are sliding backwards. The best way to be sure that we never get pulled back by the tricks of satan or the power of the world is to be sure that we are constantly moving forward in our walk with God. If we stop changing or growing, then we need to check out our relationship with Him and see what we need to correct in our lives.
We do not have to settle for our weaknesses and the things about ourselves that we do not like. When we try to change ourselves and we fail, we think that we can't change. It is impossible for us to change ourselves. We can change on the surface and we can change small things about ourselves, but ultimately it takes these things to bring about a change inside us. It takes God, His salvation, His Holy Spirit living inside us, and His forgiveness. It takes His Word, His love, and His family of support around us to bring about a real change inside. And with all that going for you, how can you not change? We must stop looking at the Christian life as something that we need to do on our own. This will only lead to frustration and failure. We need to look at it as a process of surrender, giving up and giving in, and letting God do the tremendous work that He wants to do in and with our lives. Yes, you can change, because He can change you. "And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created, in righteousness and true holiness". (Ephesians 4:24.) "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me." (Galatians 2:20) This verse doesn't say that we become like Christ because we are trying really hard and using the faith that Christ has given us. It says that we change by being crucified, by being dead, so that Christ can live in us. It doesn't say that we have to use the faith that Christ gives us. It tells us that we actually use the faith of Christ. That we actually use His faith, because it is He that will do this work in us, if we will just submit and allow Him to. And the One who loved us enough to give Himself for us will surely faithfully work on us and stay with us until we are changed. That is if we just stay in His hands and yield to Him. Isaiah 64:8-"But now, O Lord, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand."