I’ve come to discover something that’s a bit strange in our walk with God, and here is what that “something that’s a bit strange” is about: we’re quick to acknowledge that we can’t make someone else act like Christ, but we’re quite slow to acknowledge that we can’t make ourselves too. Or maybe it’s not that we’re slow…maybe we just get so conscious of the fact that this is “us” and hence we need to get it right, as soon as possible, for ourselves. So, the eagerness to change a bad habit or say a lifestyle drives us so fast to the point where we become oblivious about the role of the Holy Spirit, and of course leave Him out of the picture…unknowingly.
Now, let me quickly add: we all have a role to play, we all do have a role to play in our change process, and we can’t rule that part out. But, it’s never on our account to; ultimately, change anyone or ourselves, never. We play our role, but the ultimate power that enables a man to act like Christ has nothing to do with us, and that’s where the heart of this blog post lies.
So, here are the areas I want us to look at:
How have I taken the place of the Holy Spirit, unknowingly?
And
What is my role?
So, let’s start with the first one; how have I taken the place of the Holy Spirit, unknowingly?
Check your attitude. Your attitude tells whether you’re looking to yourself or unto Jesus
What is your first reaction when you fail yet again?
(Fail in this context means doing something that contradicts the life you’re called to live as a Christian)
You honestly don’t like where you are, and you want to get out of it soonest, so what do you do? You sit down to create “dos” and “don’ts” that you believe will help you defeat ungodly habits, and then you set a date, jump right into your plan, believing and hoping that at your “set date” you would have defeated at least most of the ungodly habits… But, as desperate as you are to become good and better, there’s a major problem with that. Do you know what that major problem is? When you reach your “set date” and you can’t see the results you believed and hoped for, you’ll be discouraged, and you’ll want to give up, because you’ll come to believe that you’ll never make it. Creating and giving yourself rules to help yourself be like Christ isn’t the right call.
What is your first reaction when you fail yet again?
You have to understand that you can’t do it by yourself. Right now, I can hear you asking: “Well, are you trying to say we should just relax with a bad habit and don’t try to come out of it?” No! Absolutely not. I’m not saying that. Here is what I’m saying though: you should not be so passionate about changing that you forget and ignore the personal of the Holy Spirit.
What is your first reaction when you fail yet again?
You don’t have to prove anything to God, He knows all of you. He can see your “all” and “every”. Before you desired the change, He knew you will. He’s the one that that convicted and convinced you to the point where you desired a change. Yes, He put the desire in you. He started the process, so why do you want to jump in and seize the process from Him?
What is your first reaction when you fail yet again?
God has His way of changing a man. It’s not with His anger. It’s not with rules upon rules. It’s not with condemnation. It’s not with guilt. IT IS WITH HIS LOVE…and this Love is just too good to be true, hence we find it hard to trust this HIS LOVE. However, if you really want to change, you need to let Him do it His way, through the Holy Spirit, with HIS LOVE (SEE Ephesians 2:4-9, Romans 5:8).
Have the right attitude.
Stop setting rules on how to beat a bad habit, instead throw yourself at the feet of Jesus and ask for God’s Grace (the enabling power) to change and do right and then let the Holy Spirit show you what to do. Accept God’s forgiveness when you make mistakes, don’t talk yourself down and beat yourself up. Don’t hate yourself for doing something disappointing yet again, because God is not disappointed in you. Don’t run away from God, when you go back to your vomit, because your actions can never catch God by surprise. Stop telling yourself that you’ll never change, because that’s a BIG lie from the pit of hell. Stop looking at yourself, crying your eyes out and thinking something is wrong with you, because nothing actually is wrong with you.
Have the right attitude.
Stop trying to change yourself with all you’ve heard and learnt, because it is not the information that makes a man to act like Christ; it is the power that comes with the information that has the ability to transform a man. Change might actually not come to you in the fashion it came to another, even if that another had a similar struggle. So you see, getting the information that changed their habits is not effective all by itself; getting the power is the main deal. There’s nothing wrong in/with getting motivated by other people’s testimonies and victories, but don’t just rush into replicating their process, rather their testimonies and victories should stir up faith in you to believe that if God can do it for them, He’ll also do it for you.
Have the right attitude.
By all means, be exposed to Godly information. Hate all that’s not Godly in you. Hold on tightly to that desire to be more like Jesus, but never forget to admit that there’s nothing you can do to change yourself if the power that raised Jesus from the grave does not quicken your mortal body (SEE Romans 8:11).
Have the right attitude.
Refuse to put confidence in your flesh (SEE Philippians 3:3). Always remind the devil that it’s never about you, but about what Jesus has done. Take the rules, guilt and condemnation away; they’re actually from the devil not God. Refuse to see yourself in the picture. Just admit that, by yourself, you’re unworthy, and then immediately see Jesus as the reason why you’re worthy. Thank God for the sacrifice of Jesus, and just cherish every moment with Jesus.
Have the right attitude.
Stop thinking about how you might fail tomorrow, trust God with your tomorrow and just be grateful for the victory of today. Do you really believe that God will want you to get so caught up with “how not to fail tomorrow” that you miss out on the joy and peace that today’s freedom and victory has provided? No, that’s not God’s will for you. It is the devil that wants you to be occupied with the thought of: “How am I sure I will not fail tomorrow?” “What’s the guarantee that I’ll overcome this temptation tomorrow?” The devil does that because he wants you to live in fear. God wants you to have confidence in His Goodness, Wisdom and Power. He wants you to enjoy today, trusting that tomorrow will be much better.
Have the right attitude.
You have to come to the point where you believe, beyond all doubt, that God’s Love will never give up on you…no matter what. His Love has seen the BIGGEST mistake you can ever make, and has gotten pass it even before you’ll ever make the mistake. His Love will never leave. His Love will be there even when everything, everyone (including you) gives up on you. When you believe and accept His Love, you release His power upon your life. (SEE Romans 5:20, Hebrews 13:5b)
So how can I let the Holy Spirit do His Job?
Good question. One word: YIELD. That’s your job…that’s your role, just yield to the Holy Spirit. But how do I recognize the leading of the Holy Spirit? Another good question and here’s a simple answer: Ask God. Just talk to God about all you wish to know. Talk to Him as you would to your closest buddy.
Now you probably want to tune off, because you believe it’s not that easy to just ask God and have Him say something back to do. But, I’m here to tell you that…it…is…that…easy. You need to learn to just trust God for yourself, and watch Him reveal Himself to you. More than you’ll ever want to hear God; He wants you to hear Him. So, what’s going on? What’s the barrier? What’s holding you back? Why do you think it is hard? Who even told you it is hard? It’s the devil, no one else, nothing else, just the devil. Please refuse to believe that liar.
Can we just learn to sit down, and allow God come to us? Can we truly be still, and know that He is God?
How can you yield?
“Do not continue offering or yielding your bodily members [and faculties] to sin as instruments (tools) of wickedness. But offer and yield yourself to God as though you have been raised from the dead to [perpetual] life, and your bodily members [and faculties] to God, presenting them as instruments of righteousness” Romans 6:13 (AMP)
First, you need to ask for the Grace to yield…for the enablement to yield. If you ask, you’ll find Grace…you’ll find that enablement (SEE Hebrews 4:16), and when you find Grace…when you find that enablement, here are things to do:
Expose yourself to the Word
You’re encouraged to expose yourself to God’s Word, not because your “doings” will change you, no. It is because the Word will change your mindset and when your mindset changes, your character and behaviour will follow.
2 Corinthians 3: 18 says “And all of us, as with unveiled face, [because we] continued to behold [in the Word of God] as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are consistently being transfigured into His very own image in ever increasing splendor and from one degree of glory to another; [for this comes] from the Lord [Who is] the Spirit” (AMP)
Also, 2 Timothy 3:16 says: “Every scripture is God-breathed—given by His inspiration—and profitable for instruction, for reproof and conviction of sin, for correction of error and discipline in obedience and for training in righteousness [that is in holy living, in conformity to God’s will in thought, purpose and action]”
Now make sure you go to the Bible for yourself. Find a translation you really enjoy reading and ask God to, through the Holy Spirit, reveal His heart to you.
When you go to the Bible for yourself, hold on to your personal convictions
I already said a whole lot about this in my previous blog post, you should read it. When the Word reveals a truth to you; live with the truth, even if other Christians you respect and honour aren’t living it. So, the BIG question here is: “what if what I think are convictions from God are actually not from God?” Dear one, let me tell you something; God sees your heart. He knows you’re all out to obey Him, and if you’re headed with error, He’s reach out to you, separate you from error, and set you right.
2 Timothy 3 :14 says: “But as for you, continue to hold to the things that you have learned and of which you are convinced, knowing from whom you learned (them)” (AMP)
Ask for and decree God’s will. In other words, pray
You just have to learn to talk to God about any and everything, because He wants you to, and because when you talk to Him, He’ll talk back to you. When you, in prayer, decree God’s Word on earth you make tremendous power available. Plus, when you pray in the Holy Ghost you rise like an edifice…higher and higher. Then, the devil will come for you, when he sees you heading God’s way, so you have to learn to rebuke him and shut him the hell up. So, pray…and pray always. (SEE Jeremiah 33:3, James 5:16, Philippians 4:6, 1 John 5:14, Jude 20, 1 Thessalonians 5:17,)
Don’t listen and believe the lies of the devil
This is very important to note, because the devil tries to use the truth we’ve discovered in God’s word against us. How does he achieve this? By making us feel guilty when we don’t live up to the truth we know. When the devil lies to us, naturally it seems to be the truth, but we have to redefine truth. Truth is: what God says to us and about us, and we can find all of that in the Bible. So even when you don’t feel like it, always, always, always…always speak God’s Word over the devil’s lies. (SEE John 8:44, James 4:7, 1 Peter 5:8-9, Ephesians 6:11-18)
Don’t settle for the shallow waters…go deeper. Don’t settle at the feet of the mountain…climb Higher
Don’t settle with your first victories. Refuse to be satisfied. There’s always a deeper level to dive in with God. There’s always a Higher level to go up with God. When you read the Bible and see what the Word says concerning a child of God (which you are), thank God, and ask for Grace to become that. Keep wanting for more!
2 Timothy 2:20 -21 says: “But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver but also [utensils] of wood and earthenware, and some for honorable and noble [use] and some for menial and ignoble [use]. So whoever cleanses himself [from what is ignoble and unclean]—who separates himself from contact with contaminating and corrupting influences—will [then himself] be a vessel set apart and useful for honorable and noble purposes, consecrated and profitable to the Master, fit and ready for any good work” (AMP)
I have just one question; why settle to be utensil of wood and earthenware, when you can be a vessel of gold and silver?
Dear one,
God has never expected you to change yourself, and He’ll never require that from you. All He wants you to do is open the door to your heart and make, and keep making room for Him.
My prayer for you:
I pray that the eyes of your understanding be flooded with God’s Love, so much so all you can see, wherever you turn to, is His Love. I pray that the revelation of God’s Love make you “let go” and “let God.” I pray your mortal bodies experience that same power that raised Jesus from the grave. I pray that you’ll never be the same again, and that your path keep getting better, and better and better…and brighter, and brighter, and brighter…like a perfect day.
Amen.
Do get in the gym, and
Stay Spiritually Fit.
