Opportunity:

I have come to appreciate the power of God to change things inside us. It is amazing to see how dramatically and how quickly He can make changes if we give Him permission and some space to work. He can change what we notice, how we think, what we want, what we do, and how we do it; And He can do it practically overnight. We each have an opportunity to leverage this powerful force in our lives.

We were put on this earth to manifest Gods love. The sinful nature introduced by Adam and Eve’s rebellion in the garden has gotten in the way of that purpose; We all struggle in a fallen world as a result. We are each called to transform from being “Self”-centered to becoming “Love”-centered so that we manifest Gods love to others on this earth. 

Self Improvement Approach:

Some folks try to do this themselves in self-improvement or self-help mode: Try to understand the rules, Apply the rules to our lives when practical, Do our best to control our urges and emotions, and strive to be a good person. This approach can achieve decent results in outward behavior, but it does not address the root issue driving undesired thoughts, motivations, and feelings. This approach is prone to failure, and It can gernerate internal struggles and extreme levels of frustration. It also misses the opportunity for Grace to come in and help make change.

God Powered Approach:

The alternate approach is to submit yourself to God and invite the Holy Spirit to come in and change you. If you give Him permission, He will replace the sinful nature deep in your soul with the loving nature He originally intended. That will remove the driving force for self-centered agendas (thoughts, motives, emotions) that you otherwise will have to continuously fight against.  If you continue to give Him permission, He will work in you to rewire thought patterns and emotions built up around your old sinful nature and help establish improved patterns where you start to see things from His perspective, see His love in action in your life, see the opportunities He presents, find ways to flow His love out to others with your unique gifts and talents, and feel the Joy of being part of His kingdom.

These are very different process with very different results. The “you” that results from your best efforts is limited by your ability to continuously deal with your sinful inner nature. The “you” that results from transformation by God’s grace, is freed from that inner constraint and is limited only by your own imagination of what is possible and your willingness to release yourself to the Holy Spirit.

If you want to expeirence your ultimate God powered transformaiton there are a few things to consider.

1) Free Will: You have free will to decide how you want to proceed with your life. God wll not force anything on you. You have to decide to make a change before He can change it. 

2) Your inner love: God will continue to give you what you love deep in your heart. This sounds great, but you have to understand what you really love. If you still love your self-centered self, He will not take that away from you. If you want to give Him permission to make changes, you must recognize in your mind that you are creating undesired consequences with your current approach and you must become committed in your heart that a change is necessary. It is only after these two steps then you have actually given Him permission to make changes in your life.

3) Grace: Grace is the free flow of blessings from God to those who believe. Grace works through Faith.

4) Faith:  Faith is when you believe and hope for something to happen in the future before you see any of the tangible results. For example, when you agree to mow a lawn for the first time, you are acting in faith that you will get paid when you are done. You are willing to work now and get paid later based on an understanding established up front. You mow the lawn, i’ll give you $20. If you trust the agreement and mow first, you create tension which pulls the pay into your wallet. God works in sort of the same way. The bible makes promises of good things that can flow into you and it describes expectations for you to align yourself to recieve them. If you position yourself properly with God,  claim one more of the promises He makes to believers, believe that it is already happening for you based on proper understanding, and it will flow into you. You must act (think, speak, act) in faith to make space for His grace to flow in.

ex: Father God, You call me to see things from your perspective. You call me to see my enemies as children of God stuggling in this fallen world. I thank you for working this in me so that I can let your love flow through me and shine like a beacon for your kingdom..     

How:

So how do we give God permission to make changes in you, and how do you make space for Grace to move and do its work?

• Submit yourself to Jesus, Make Him Lord of your life
  1. He has full authority over heaven and on the earth
  2. He came here and paid the price to restore what was lost
  3. He is the way, the truth, and the life
     • He is the ONLY way to the Father
     • The truth WILL set your free
     • Knowing Him IS eternal life

• Submit your old inner nature to God, condemn it, crucify it.
  1. My sinful nature came from Adam and is rooted in evil
  2. I am no longer interested in self-conscious or self-serving agendas in my life
  3. I hereby crucify my old self with Jesus on the cross
  4. I am putting off the old man, and putting on Jesus
• Raise yourself in the resurrection with Jesus
  1. I am raised into life with Jesus
  2. I am born again – My spirit is renewed – I am a child of God
  3. Jesus is the first born of many – I am one of the many
  4. The Image of God is restored in me – I am a new man
• Receive the Holy Spirit
  1. Holy Spirit please come and live in me.
  2. I present my body as a temple worthy of your presence.
  3. Fill me overflowing with your living water.
• Give Him permission to work in you
  1. I draw near to You – please draw near to me.
  2. I seak you – Please help me get to know You.
  3. Guide me into all truth and righteousness.
  4. Open my eyes to see things from your perspective.
  5. Open my ears so I hear and understand your words.
  6. Transform my mind so I think your thoughts.
  7. Change my heart so I know and do your will.
• Give Him glory
  1. I am saved by Grace througb Faith; It is not me but you that does this work.
  2. You are the vine, I am the branch; I can do nothing without you
  3. I ask all things in Jesus name, to bring glory to the Father through the son.

I am a work in progress, This is a work in progress, Hope it helps.