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Why We Need God’s Change.
According to Ecclesiastes 3:1, “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: “ We also see that according to Malachi 3:6, the Lord says, “I am the LORD, and I do not change…” and in Hebrews 13:8 He farther tells us that, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever”. So, you can see that God never changes but everything else does change and that is why we need God’s change in our lives.
Whether it’s fashion styles, behaviors of people, or the people themselves, they do change, and even jobs do change depending on a number of factors. Most of us fight God’s change because we feel that we are too old to change now, and also because we are familiar with our old ways of doing things and even feel comfortable and secure in those old spaces. One way we tend to try and fight God’s change is in a situation whereby we find ourselves try to correct natures course of action for instance, aging, by using cosmetic surgery or even cosmetic products
Hence if we are not careful as a result of this, we stop growing and as a result things stop going towards where God wanted them to go leading us to our full potential. Looking at change from God’s perspective, we should realize that God’s change is desirable because it is equivalent to becoming more like Jesus and growing into our predetermined purpose and calling.
That is why, according to Jeremiah 29:11, we see that God has that big potential way he wants us to be, and that is why God’s sending change if he sees that we are still involved in a certain disruptive behavior leading us to a comfort zone mentality, for instance, if you look at the case of Jonah found in the book of Jonah 4:1–7. Jonah was sent to Nineveh to deliver the people of Nineveh, something which he was not prepared to do.
But when he eventually reached there, he found that it was too hot, and as a result, God caused a plant to grow to give shade for Jonah. As a result, Jonah immediately forgot his main purpose and stopped evangelizing and doing the things he was supposed to do but was enjoy the comfort brought by the shade of this plant and then God got very angry and sent a worm which ate this plant and the plant dried Jonah was very angry but God did not stop there He even send strong winds and a hot sun to remind Jonah of his purpose.
Brethren to Jonah, what disrupted him from doing God’s work was that plant to you could be a job to me; it could be money to another; it could be anything. Brethren what is making you to stop focusing on the main things of God and as result making God very angry?
When we read in the Bible the book of Acts 5:13, we see that the things we keep fighting or thinking are pulling us down might be the hand of God working in our lives. Could it be that you are trying to fight the hand of God while God is trying to push you into a new season, trying to push you into a new level.
Remember, his ways are not your ways if thoughts are not your thoughts, That’s what the bible tells me in the book of Isaiah 55:8–9. God might stir up our comfort zones and put us in challenging situations so as to stretch us to the next level. This might make us very uncomfortable, but God is doing his work in our lives. When we look at the eagle, it is a very wise bird it’s mentioned in the bible in the book of Deuteronomy 32:11
The eagle builds a very nice nest, and then it looks after its eaglets (young ones) there. After they have grown up, it comes one day and tears this nest into pieces, and then it starts to throw the eaglets down as if they are falling to the ground, and then it will try to catch them before they reach the ground. It keeps trying to push them to start flying, but some of them will still try to go back to the nest, but there is no nest to go back to until they eventually fly and go away.
We all start as babes in Christ. When we are babies, we are fed milk to grow (1 Peter 2:2). We cannot understand some things as a baby Christian, but we can more easily understand them when we mature. Understandably, we do some things when we are children, but as adults, we should put away childish things according to 1 Corinthians 13:11, “When I was a child, I spoke like a child, thought like a child, and reasoned like a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things (ways).”
When I was younger in Christianity, I thought that success in my life was equivalent to a big house and a fancy, expensive car. I believed that having a big home and an expensive car would prove that I had arrived. If this were my measuring stick, the enemy could use that against me to cause me to feel bad because I come up short. The same thing will happen if I value youth over maturity in Christ. 1 Corinthians 14:20, “Brothers and sisters, don’t think like children. When it comes to evil, be like babies, but think like mature people.”
All change starts in our minds (Romans 12:2). To change for the better means that we must correct the way we see ourselves, but to do that, we need to change how we measure ourselves and what we value in life. As we live in this earthly world full of darkness, if we are not careful, we can easily fall prey to loving only what the enemy does: worldly possessions and vanity.
Do you feel stretched then there’s a new season and even there’s a new level just around the corner don’t give up. brethren don’t give up you might not like what’s happening now but God won’t leave your alone until the lesson is learned or you have been promoted to the next level. God will not leave you alone so God will keep sending his agents of change it could be that loss of income or health you recently suffered
You might ask yourself why are you at home maybe God wants some of us to come back to him, why have some of us lost jobs maybe God wants us to learn something from that it could be the plagues which plagued Egypt those days of Moses they turned to the heart of pharaoh until he learned a lesson that there was a powerful God more powerful than his Gods; could it be the hornets which fought for the Israelites to help them reclaim Canaan land from the Hivites, Canaanites and Hittites (Exodus 33:28-29).
God did not drive them out at once, but He did it in stages so that the change would be meaningful and also helpful to his children. If any agent God chooses, it will be for his good purpose to bring you to the right track. According to the book of Revelations 3:8 sometimes God will close certain doors to get your attention. Remember that God is directing all our steps, and nothing happens by mistake in God’s calendar, so if you lose something or somebody, it’s not just by mistake; God knows why, so we must have an open mind policy when approaching change; God won’t allow it without a purpose.
The stone which will destroy you God will use it to push you to the next level. God wants it to take you to the next level If you look at the same eagle we spoke about when other birds are running away from the storm and trying to hide and then get destroyed, the eagle is a wise bird; it rides on top of the storm, No wonder the Bible says it in Proverbs 30:18–19. so are we not going to learn something from that some people keep holding on to the bitter parts of their lives, their negative friends who hurt them, Don’t keep hurting yourself. this is like when God is telling us to change,
We refuse to change to the new path. If only you take that new path and accept it, God will take you to a new level, leading to a new season. Remember, you cannot take a new piece of cloth and try to patch an old cloth that has a hole in it; it will tear it more. That’s what my bible tells me in the book of Matthew 9:16, so you cannot take new wine and put it in an old wine skin; it will tear the wine skin. Some of us are not willing to change at all, so no wonder God can’t put new things in us to take us to the next level.
Brethren Let’s accept God’s change. Don’t be discouraged by friends leaving you. Don’t be discouraged when you lose something here and there. It is like some weight that has been taken away from you or some heavy weight that has just been taken away from you so that you can walk faster towards your goal of reaching what God ask for you and with this extra baggage this extra weight God is trying to take away you cannot reach your destiny so God takes it away.
Remember that some environments are so toxic brothers and sisters who can be very limiting. They’re like growing a baby whale on a fish pond it will never grow and if it does grow it will just outgrow the environment and eventually die due to lack of resources, so is it that you have outgrown your environment and even friends ,what is holding you back there,
Look at the case of Joseph in the bible and his brothers they sold him away because they could not stand his dreams he did big things but they sold him away that was a negative environment he could not have grown to reach his full potential with his brothers around you will see when the season is over we should learn to accept it’s over get ready for new things God will do a new thing in your life joseph knew this and that is why when he was sold in Egypt he did not go there with a
Negative mindset he went there knowing the God who brought me here as a good plan for me and truly got it a good plan for him and very very soon he became the prime minister so we must learn to accept wherever God is taking us and whatever God is doing to us.
Let’s learn we embrace God’s change that is very important to embrace change so that we can go to the next level sometimes we try to hold on to the past.
I have been new then I tell you and even I tell other people that you those old things we used to do they used to be okay at that time the old song we used to sing also old songs were very good they motivated us in our old self even the places we used to go and the friends we used to have it’s okay but remember the past that time it was good for that time it was right for that time but not for this time
God likes to do always a new thing and that is what the bible says in Isaiah 43:19 if you want to be the best version of yourself you got to accept change and you impress it’s one thing to accept change but it’s another thing to impress it i know people who do the same thing over and over i know them in my community i meet with them every day people work in the same job for 20 years, people who have the same friend for the last 10 years i know that it might be you it might be me it might be somebody else but you don’t want to accept change
it is good to accept God’s Change even if you don’t enjoy living that old friend with whom you have been with and nothing has changed leaving that old job you have been there and nothing has changed that might feel difficult but leave that and move on it might feel difficult it might fail in the beginning challenging but go for it because with it if you remain with that in that scenario you will never go to the next level
Brethren you need to put yourself in a place whereby you will be heavily challenged leading to your growth, is it a church go to a church whereby you will be heavily challenged spiritual you will be forced to pray more, you will be forced to read your bible even take a more challenging a job or a business, change your friends hang around friends who are challenging you are big dreams are thinking big things not just people who are mediocre and who are not going anywhere try something new to get new results.
Somethings are old and done away with like the old telephone boots just imagine those days with the telephone boots they were ok but now we have cell phones can you imagine if you just continue looking for telephone boots you won’t be wondering what’s happening with you. Just imagine because in the book of Acts 2 the disciples received the holy spirit in the upper room in Jerusalem that’s why they chose to have their headquarters around Jerusalem because they believed since we received the holy spirit here this is where things are happening
but we should move forward you should go many of us go back always to where when we are challenged we go back to where we saw God’s move as if only God stays there but that’s not how God works God is always everyone keeps moving with us if you read in the book of Job 8:7 God wants to take us to the next level our latter glory will be bigger our beginnings might be small but our bigger we have a latter glory which is bigger
so let’s not get stuck on these small things so anytime there’s a problem don’t get discouraged and say you want to go back to your ‘upper room’ or ‘Jerusalem’ like the disciples no no no don’t go back to those old friends don’t go back to that old self move on you expect God to do you cannot expect God to do new things when you are living in the old self of yourself
please don’t keep running back to your old friends please don’t keep learning to your old self all the attitudes leave them back and move forward remember you are not created to be an average person you are created to be above average according to the book of Acts chapter 8 due to persecution sometimes problems challenges things which you don’t understand like Philip in the book of acts it was persecution he was persecuted and he ran away from Jerusalem and he went to Samaria we know that God was sending him to Samaria so that he will lounge him to the next ministry and that’s what happened to him so if you look at
David that’s how he became a giant killer if you look at moses that’s how he became a red sea across the red sea barrier remember the reason God closest doors is so that you cannot go back to your old self
yes, it feels bad when a door closes but God tells you i don’t want you to go back to your old self that’s why he closes doors if you read in the book of Numbers 14:4, “We should choose a leader and go back to Egypt.” this is why when the red sea opened it also closed because God knew these people would want one day to go back to Egypt and they did not want that to happen
God has a new mountain for you to climb brothers and sisters God has a new friendship to make he wants you to make God wants you to start new businesses God wants you to do many new things when changes are taking place in your life in your ministry, in your business, in your
career keep the right mindset because God knows why is bringing those changes remember your greatest victories are not in the past they are here so let’s go for our greatest victories
According to Jeremiah 4:22 “My people are foolish and do not know me,” says the LORD. “They are stupid children who have no understanding. They are clever enough at doing wrong, but they have no idea how to do right!”
This is clearly explained in this biblical example, whereby a wealthy person was not willing to change. He was a rich young ruler who had it all together, at least from worldly standards, in that he had great wealth (Matthew 19:16–30). When the young ruler came to Jesus, he asked Jesus what he needed to do to have eternal life. When Jesus told him to keep the commandments, the rich ruler stated that he had already done that and had kept the commandments from his youth. He asked Jesus what else he needed to do, and he was not happy with Jesus’ response.
Jesus challenged the young ruler to continue changing and becoming perfect by selling his possessions and following Jesus, but the young ruler was unwilling. The wealthy man could not let go of what he held dear. God wants to know that we are willing to walk away from materialistic ideals and the comforts of what is familiar to us and that we will be ready to trust His plan. God also wants to know that we are willing to keep growing and changing.
It is impossible to change ourselves, and we do not have to. Jesus will help us to become more like Him, but we must respond to His leading. Jesus often calls us to let go of what we think, get up, take up our bed, and walk (John 5:8). He commands us to think differently and not stay stuck.
Matthew 18:3, “And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you accept God’s change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”
God can use someone old or young, and the Bible tells us that there is a season for everything. Ultimately, what is important is not our age but our willingness to allow God’s Spirit to lead us and help us see change correctly. Let’s pray and ask God to help us learn to embrace God’s change more positively. If you came to me impatiently waiting for God to change something in your life before answering your question first, I would need to make sure that you truly accepted Christ.
Did you accept Jesus? There are many tv “evangelists” and false teachers who would have you believe that the moment you say “Yes!” to Jesus, or “let Jesus in your heart” then God will start blessing you with health, wealth, success, miracle power, and a life free of trouble. If this is what you think it means to be a Christian then I’m sorry but you’re going to be waiting a long, long time. If that’s the case then you still need to hear, believe, and accept, the true gospel of Christ.
Reading the Bible actually changes you. The old “you are what you consume” mentality is correct. We often become that which we consume, both physically and mentally. Many so-called Christians do not walk the walk, do not entertain celibacy, are still drinking, still addicted, are living together, etc. I believe that when you are saved, you are changed. For some, the release from addiction seems to be miraculous. They no longer are addicted. For others, it seems to take forever for that change to come.
1 Corinthians 3:15 gives me the impression that some Christians will smell of smoke but still be saved. My confusion is this: if someone is saved, has repented and confessed Jesus as Lord and Savior, but are continuing to commit sins (whether it is overeating, smoking, fornication, adultery, lying, thinking the wrong thoughts, pornography, omission) – sin from the smallest to the greatest still being sin.
1 John 2:4 Whoever says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person. But if anyone obeys his word, love for God is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in him:
We can never know for sure if someone else is a Christian; but when his/her life has ongoing, unrepentant patterns of sin, there is reason to be concerned that he/she is not real. Scripture is not kind towards those who claim to be Christians and then live like someone who does not believe in Jesus.
Even the Apostle Paul had doubts about the Corinthians who claimed to be Christians but were sinning in many different ways. Therefore, he encouraged them to determine if they were a Christian. Examine yourselves to see whether you are still in the Christian faith. Test yourselves! Don’t you recognize that you are people in whom Jesus Christ lives? Could it be that you’re failing the test? 2 Corinthians 13:5
When Christians are comfortable with sin in their lives, then there is reason to be concerned that they are not real Christians. The truth is not found in what they say. The truth is found in their pattern of life. A Christian who has an intimate relationship with God will want to obey, to please God above anyone else – their family, spouse, girlfriend or boyfriend. Please make sure that you are a Christian.
Pastor Nathaniel.
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God Brings Change In Your Life For your Growth – 2024 (mtmchurch.org)
With A Wrong Mindset Great Changes Cannot Happen Now (mtmchurch.org)
