Category: Discipleship

Mentoring 101

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Mentoring is not really a new idea. It was a way of life between generations; passing on information, history, stories and a legacy to the next generation. In the past, there was not much talk about mentoring because it was expected, assumed, and therefore unnoticed.

As I study the Bible, I notice that nearly all training of people in Scripture was through mentoring. One of my favorite examples was the relationship between Elijah and Elisha (1 Kings 19:19, 20, 21); I’ll share more about them at a later date. The point is that he followed Elijah, forsaking everything he had come to know.

In the New Testament, Jesus spent more time developing a few people than dazzling the multitudes or crowds with sermons and authoritative teaching. He invested himself into the Twelve; He spent time with them. One of my favorite Bible passages is Mark 3:13-14, where Jesus called His closest men to himself. Did you catch what He called them to do? Our attention generally goes to “sending them out to preach” because that was the task given to them. We often overlook the phrase just before that, “He appointed the Twelve, that they might be with Him.” I call it the “with Him” principle, and it is the same call that Jesus gives to us.

I once heard a story about a turtle perched on top of a fence pole. An inquisitive mind would wonder how it would have gotten up there (where many people might just let it go unnoticed). The answer is, that someone else put him up there. This is a simple truth in life about success. Successful people never reach their goals alone. Mentoring will help people get to where they want and need to go.

Have you heard about the origin of the word “mentor?” In Homer’s Odyssey, Mentor was a friend of Odysseus. When Odysseus left for the Trojan War he placed Mentor in charge of his son, Telemachus, and of his palace. He was to teach Telemachus not only book learning but the wiles of the world. When Athena visited Telemachus she took the disguise of Mentor to hide herself from the suitors of Telemachus’ mother, Penelope. As Mentor, the goddess encourages Telemachus to stand up against the suitors and go abroad to find out what happened to his father.

The modern use of the word mentor refers to a trusted friend, counselor or teacher, usually a more experienced person. Some professions have “mentoring programs” in which newcomers are paired with more experienced people, who advise them and serve as examples as they advance. Schools sometimes offer mentoring programs to new students, or students having difficulties. I have in my office a certificate of appreciation from the Virginia Beach school system for “dedicated service and commitment” as a mentor.

Why cannot this concept exist in the church today? In the next few months, King’s Grant Baptist Church is working on a mentoring strategy to help our guests and new members to discover the life about which Jesus spoke (John 10:10). This life is caught more than it is taught. It’s time to step out of the comfort zone into real life! I trust you’ll want to be involved.

The Urgency of God's Purpose

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Here’s a great verse… Time after time I sent you prophets, who told you, “Turn from your wicked ways, and start doing things right. Stop worshiping other gods so that you might live in peace here in the land I have given to you and your ancestors.” But you would not listen to me or obey me. – Jeremiah 35:15.

 

I remember an illustration from back in college, which came from a little booklet called, Tyranny of the Urgent. The point was that in life there are many urgent things that come up. We can spend our entire lives stamping out fires, dealing with those things that are most urgent. Then at the end of the day we wonder what we have done with our time. We must look at the important items in life and take care of those things, because no one else will do it for us. Spirital growth is just one of those important things. God will wrestle with us because it’s important. Part of spiritual growth is getting rid of sin that has enslaved us.

 

There is urgency in God’s call for us to repent of our sin and to return to Him, as well as persistence when God wrestles with us. Other people will tell us what they think, but they will eventually abandon us. God doesn’t give up. He wrestles with us until the end and isn’t distracted from His purpose.

 

I wonder if there is an appointed time for each of us, where the wrestling match in life would finally come to an end. God wrestled with Jacob “until the breaking of the day” (Genesis 32:24). God wrestled with urgency, with insistency, with greater and greater strength. He knew that if Jacob didn’t confront who he was in that night, he was going to miss the prime opportunity to become who he was created to be. Each of us may be running out of time, too.

 

God’s urgency must not be ignored. He knows something about our lives that we don’t know. He knows when the enemy is coming after us. He knows our areas of weakness. He knows when Jesus is coming again, and when it will be too late.

 

Return to Him …

 

  • Before you lose your life …
  • Before you lose your integrity …
  • Before you lose your wife …
  • Before you lose your son or daughter …
  • Before you lose what God has given to you …

 

God’s urgency is for a purpose. Don’t ignore Him.

 

  • We don’t have time to fool around.
  • We don’t have time for detours.
  • We don’t have time for childish things.
  • We don’t have time for rebellion.
  • We don’t have time to play games.
  • We don’t have time for an affair.
  • We don’t have time for meetings and committees that really aren’t important.

 

Look at your watch right now and say to yourself, “NOW is the appointed time for me to serve God so that I might live in peace here in the land He have given to me!”

 

I hope to see you all at the Welcome Center on Saturday, April 25.

 

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Why is Sanctification Needed?

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A simple yet profound definition of sanctification is the life-long process of becoming more and more like Jesus. Some pseudo-Christian groups teach that believers will actually becomes like Jesus… like a god to rule over your own world, but I’m talking about becoming more and more Christ-like in our thoughts, attitudes, actions, and habits.

 

Salvation comes to a person is multiple ways. Notice I did not say that there are multiple ways to be saved! When someone decides to commit themselves to Jesus and become a follower of Christ, he is saved from every sin he has ever committed, and will ever commit. This is justification (becoming just as if I’d never sinned). Sanctification is the process of becoming more like Christ and then glorification occurs when we finally see Jesus face to face, basically when we make it to heaven. There, we will finally be able to not sin! Three facets of one salvation. So in answering the question of my salvation, I can honestly say, “Yes, partly and no.”

 

So what biblical support can I give that growing in faith and godliness is the right thing for a follower of Christ to do?

 

  • Peter tells us to keep growing in the grace and knowledge of Christ – 2 Peter 3:18
  • We should not be content to remain immature in the faith, which was the case for many early believers – Hebrews 5:12-14
  • God works in us (through His word) to bring us to spiritual maturity (to sanctify us) – John 17:17, Colossians 3:16, 1 Peter 2:2-3, Psalm 119:11, 119:105
  • The Bible is the source of our faith and practice, to correct us, train us and equip us for every good work – 2 Timothy 3:16-17
  • The Holy Spirit teaches us and reminds us of the word of God – John 14:25-26
  • The word of God is immeasurable effective in bringing growth – Hebrew 4:12
  • We are to be like a runner in a race, pressing on and continuing toward our goal – Philippians 3:12-14
  • We are to rid ourselves of everything that hinders us from movement toward the goal – Hebrews 12:1
  • We are to fix out eyes on Jesus because of what He has done for us – Hebrew s12:2
  • We are to train ourselves to be godly, like an athlete trains for his sport – 1 Timothy 4:7-8
  • We are encouraged to put much effort into living a godly life – 2 Peter 3:14
  • We are to abide in Christ so that we may bear much fruit – John 15:5
  • We are to become imitators of Christ – 1 John 2:6
  • Peter tells us many Christ-like virtues – 2 Peter 1:5-9
  • We should be motivated to grow in our faith, after all Christ did for us – 1 Corinthians 15:57-58, 2 Corinthians 7:1, Romans 12:1-2
  • God uses His word to revive our soul, make us wise, give us joy, and much more – Psalm 19:7-8
  • God requires that we keep working toward our salvation (not to earn grace but to demonstrate faith), and He works in us by His word and His Spirit – Philippians 2:12-13
  • God is graciously transforming every Christian into the likeness of His Son – 2 Corinthians 3:18

 

It is amazing to me that someone could pray a prayer, come to Christ, receive His salvation and yet not commit to God wholeheartedly enough to eliminate sin and ungodliness from their life, and be content to remain a “baby” Christian until they die. To me, it seems like a situation of premature death.  

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Discipleship is About Life Change

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A great word regarding this life change is transformation, like we read in Romans 12:2, “do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” The original word in the New Testament is metamorphoo, from which we get our word metamorphosis. According to Strong’s lexicon, it means “a permanent state to which a change takes place.” There is much biblical support for doing away with the old and bringing in the new:

 

  • Tearing down the old altar and building a new one – Judges 6:25-26
  • The Spirit will come upon King Saul and he will become a different person – 1 Samuel 10:6
  • Your scarlet sins will become white as snow – Isaiah 1:18
  • Jeremiah saw the potter take the clay jar, smash it and start over – Jeremiah 18:4
  • God takes a stony, stubborn heart and replaces it with a tender, responsive heart – Ezekiel 11:19
  • Angels cleanse the High Priest, changing his clothing – Zechariah 3:3-4
  • Jesus said we all must be born again – John 3:3
  • The transformation of Paul is an illustration – Acts 9:1-18
  • Repentance put into action, burning the old books of magic – Acts 19:18-19
  • We are dead to sin and alive to God – Romans 6:11
  • We are not to be conformed to this world but transformed – Romans 12:2; 1 Peter 1:14.
  • We are to be a new creation in Christ – 2 Corinthians 5:17; Ephesians 4:22–24
  • We pass from darkness into light – Ephesians 5:8–10
  • Unbelievers will be surprised at your transformation – 1 Peter 4:4
  • Because of transformation, we now are able to do what is right – 1 John 2:29

 

So, in looking at your own transformation, how are you continuing on the road of discipleship?

 

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Imitating Jesus

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Authenticity. That is what will convince a lost and dying world that a relationship with Jesus is real. How many times has the professing Christian community continued to live like the world, and that action has cause someone to reject the message of Christ? Perhaps they say, “If YOU can’t live it, why should I even consider it?”

 

No one is perfect, so it’s not an issue of never making another mistake, but do you wake up each morning with the goal of becoming more like Jesus in your actions, thought life, relationships, business dealings, or is He the farthest thing from your mind (until you get into a jam and cry out for help)?

 

The Bible has many verses that call for followers of Jesus to actually become imitators of Him. It’s a tall task, but that is what discipleship is all about. Sanctification (being set apart and becoming a little more like Jesus each and every day) is the will of God (1 Thessalonians 4:3a).

 

Only a believer can imitate Christ, or else it is a sham. But we are not left to ourselves to get it done. The believer has the power of the Holy Spirit so that we can imitate Christ.

 

Here are some biblical commands to imitate Christ:

 

  • Every Christian is predestined and called to become like Jesus – Romans 8:29-30
  • Every Christian is being transformed into the likeness of Christ – 2 Corinthians 3:18, Colossians 3:9-10, Ephesians 4:22-24
  • Every Christian is to walk (live the life) as Jesus did – 1 John 2:6
  • Jesus calls every Christian to imitate and become like Him – John 13:2-11 (He modeled behavior and then told us to do the same – John 13:12-15
  • Paul says to imitate Christ to be a blessing to others – Romans 15:1-3, Ephesians 5:1-2
  • When someone wrongs us, Christians imitate Jesus by not retaliating – 1 Peter 2:20-21
  • Paul imitated Jesus so that he could be a good example for other Christians – 1 Corinthians 11:1
  • Thessalonian Christians became imitators and models for the sake of others, by imitating Jesus and the disciples – 1 Thessalonians 1:6-7
  • Christ-like obedience is the way to enjoy divine love and joy – John 15:9-11
  • The hope and certainty of one day seeing Jesus and being conformed into His image should motivate us to seek purity, as He is pure – 1 John 3:2-3
  • The risen Savior lives for God, we ought to do the same – Romans 6:10-12

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Discipleship is Caught, Not Taught

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I suppose that from the very beginning of my spiritual life, back in high school, I have been fascinated with the process of growing into the image of Christ (2 Peter 1:3-11, 1 Thessalonians 1:5-6, 2:8, Ephesians 4:11-16, Philippians 1:6). It is a long process and I know I have not arrived (no one can do it in this life) but our goal is to get closer each week. Going to church can help, but it’s one thing to study the Bible and learn from it. It’s another to take that knowledge and translate it into life change. How often do we simply go through the motions of being people of faith? We believe the right stuff but have no clue on how to put it into practice.

 

How does one even hear God, much less become obedient to Him? Would it not make sense to be around people who are what you want to become? There’s biblical precedence (2 Timothy 2:2). Timothy had a “Paul” to help him grow up in the faith. Another example is the relationship between Elijah and Elisha (1 Kings 19:20).

 

Elijah had defeated the prophets of Baal in an historic victory on Mt. Carmel (1 Kings 18:21-22, 38-39). Then for some reason he tucked his tail and ran away from Jezebel (1 Kings 19:2-4) fearing for his life. He was discouraged to say the least, and felt so alone; but was he alone? God was with him through it all. God spoke through the still small voice (1 Kings 19:12-13) and reassured him that he was not alone (1 Kings 19:18). Then the very next story is the appointment of Elisha to be the prophet’s helper and successor (1 Kings 19:19).

 

Look at what happened. When Elijah handpicked Elisha as his successor, Elisha immediately killed his twelve set of oxen and ran after Elijah just to be with him (1 Kings 19:21). No doubt he knew what a great privilege it was to be selected by the great prophet. Killing the oxen meant there was no turning back. He chose what he wanted and took dramatic steps to follow though on his commitment. But, it was not enough for Elisha to be handpicked. He also wanted a double portion of Elijah’s anointing (2 Kings 2:9). As we read the miraculous activity of Elisha, it appears that God answered this prayer.

 

If you want to grow in your Christian life, ask God to lead you to another man who is far ahead of you spiritually and simply start hanging out with them. As you walk alongside him you will begin to catch what he has. You will begin appropriating the anointing that is on his life that will mix perfectly with your unique gifting and talents.

 

We need more people today who are willing to run after their “Paul” or “Elijah.”

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Why Does God Wrestle With Men?

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The Men of Steel looked into this topic; how often do we wrestle with God?

  1. The Enemy within Me
  2. God Sparing Your Life
  3. Refuse to be a Target
  4. God Wrestles with You… Alone
  5. Why Does God Wrestle with Men?
  6. The Reality of the Spirit Realm

Last time I wrote about Jacob wrestling with God (Genesis 32:24) because wrestling is a man thing, lots of testosterone. I regularly listen to a syndicated Christian radio station called K-Love, and they play a song called By Your Side by a group named Tenth Avenue North. Here are the lyrics:

Why are you striving these days
Why are you trying to earn grace
Why are you crying, let me lift up your face
Just don’t turn away

Why are you looking for love
Why are you still searching as if I’m not enough
To where will you go child, tell me where will you run
To where will you run

‘Cause I’ll be by your side, wherever you fall
In the dead of night, whenever you call
And please don’t fight, these hands that are holding you
My hands are holding you

Look at these hands and my side
They swallowed the grave on that night
When I drank the world’s sin, so I could carry you in
And give you life, I want to give you life

What does this have to do with wrestling? I sense this song pictures us wrestling against God, while He wrestles with us to help us realize that we need Him more than we could ever imagine. As men we are often striving, trying, and fighting the hands holding us.

I suppose that God also wrestles with us so that we will discover what we are made of. He already knows what He created us to be and He knows what we’ve done with His creation. He’s waiting for us to discover who we are, so He wrestles with us so we will know His power and our weakness, His wisdom and our error, His strength and our frailty.

God wrestles with us to make us realize that we are wasting our lives; that we are mistreating our wives; that we really aren’t the “greatest” or the center of the universe.

God wrestles with us to make us see that we need to persevere and not quit in life, our jobs, our marriages, our spiritual lives, or our church.

God wrestles with us until we face the facts. He doesn’t sugarcoat what He has to say. He wrestles with us until we admit, “Yes, I’m unstable. Yes, I’m making excuses. Yes, I was wrong.”

God wrestles with us so that we will start searching for Him and hunting for what He wants us to find. Man is a hunter by nature. God’s commands to the first man were to “be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion … over every living thing that moves upon the earth” (Genesis 1:28).

To subdue means to control or conquer, to have dominion means to maintain one’s conquest. Deep inside of men is the need to subdue, the need to conquer, the need to track down and bring something into dominion. There’s a hunter inside every man.

  • We may be hunting for a contract or business deal.
  • We may be on the hunt for a woman.
  • We may be hunting for the perfect new house or car.

Sometimes we don’t even really want what we’re after; we’re just hunting because it is our nature to hunt. Fishermen often catch fish, unhook them, and throw them right back. They say, “Look what I caught,” and then they toss that fish back into the lake. That doesn’t make the man any less a fisherman. It means that he is merely fishing for the sport of it, not for dinner. He is just “hunting.”

Unless we allow God to step in and give us the right goals and guide our “hunting” instinct, we can spend our entire life hunting for the wrong things. Jesus said, “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness” (Matthew 6:33). He promised that if you seek for it, you’ll find it. (Matthew 7:7). I hope that the Men of Steel can help each of us navigate through this thing called life.

Excuses or Obedience?

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Terry Rae delivered a fantastic message on March 15 on Moses and obedience, After the initial shock of hearing God’s voice in a “burning” bush, I can imagine Moses listening to God (Exodus 3:6-9) and thinking, “right on, you know it’s tough back there, it’s about time You did something about it.” Then God adds one more phrase, “Therefore, come now, and I will send you to Pharaoh” (Exodus 3:10). Now it gets personal.

 

Then Moses asked some important questions about his mission, and he brought up some fairly reasonable concerns as to why God would want him to be the deliverer of God’s people. What’s the bottom line? God is calling Moses to obedience.

 

One of the problems I have constantly faced as a follower of Jesus is the mistake of believing God owes me some sort of an explanation every time He commands me to do something. This has caused me at times to expect God to explain Himself instead of me simply trusting Him enough to do exactly what He says.

 

I am learning that if I am to be the follower God wants me to be, then I need to be obsessed with obedience rather than expecting an explanation from Him! Imagine if there was an explanation every time God wanted you to do something. He could say, “You need to do this…and when you do it, the following will take place…”

 

But, I believe one of the reasons He doesn’t waste time with an explanation is because it would lead to negotiation on our part. We would hear His plan and try to “improve” it because, after all, we’re smarter than He is, right?

 

God’s plans are so much higher than ours (Isaiah 55:8-9, Ephesians 3:20) and if He were to try to explain Himself to us, our limited human minds could not handle it.  There’s another misconception about God. That His work is all about us! In reality it is all about Him and His Kingdom. That’s why He owes me no explanation.

 

When we want an explanation, and try to enter into negotiation, it seems reasonable that it will always lead to frustration. There are lots of frustrated believers out there, and it could be because we refuse to obey His voice for no other reason than it doesn’t make sense.

 

God’s commands don’t always make sense, and we may never know why He asks us to do certain things, but, if we believe He is in charge, then we must believe that every single one of His commands are right. We must believe that He is holy, just and good; and whatever comes from my obedience must also be holy, just and good. God doesn’t owe us an explanation. The fact that He commands us at all or even uses us to do anything amazes me. 

 

So, what is it that you have been putting off?  Anything you’ve been asking God for an explanation about?  What is it that you know He’s commanded you to do, but it absolutely makes no sense? Stop expecting an explanation. Listen to what He says and then do it! 

 

Saddle up your horses for the great adventure! What a way to live!

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Refuse to be a Target

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The Men of Steel looked into this topic; how often do we wrestle with God?

  1. The Enemy within Me
  2. God Sparing Your Life
  3. Refuse to be a Target
  4. God Wrestles with You… Alone
  5. Why Does God Wrestle with Men?
  6. The Reality of the Spirit Realm

Men, if we don’t confront our frailty and capacity for sin, we will always have a target on our back, just ripe for the enemy to shoot his flaming arrows into and make us fall – Ephesians 6:16. Beware guys; this is another depressing post about being on your guard against the enemy. This is part three of the wrestling match series.

I read a great book years ago called, Ordering Your Private World. Years later the same author wrote another book called, Rebuilding Your Broken World. The basis for the first book was to help Christians order their lives in such a way that they live on purpose and for God. The second book was written after the restoration process the author went through due to a moral failure. He mentions the one thing he could never see himself doing was committing adultery… and that’s what took him down. A prominent pastor and author did not see himself as vulnerable to the enemy’s attack.

We need to admit to ourselves that we are vulnerable. There’s something in every man of steel that acts like kryptonite, which has a sole purpose of bringing each of us down. If you don’t believe that you can commit a certain sin, you remain vulnerable to it. Why? Because if we are so sure we will never do it, we never set up safeguards against it. Without safeguards, you are vulnerable to any sin.

  • You never thought you could get that angry.
  • You never thought you could get that aggressive.
  • You never thought you could have an affair.
  • You never thought you could be that weak.
  • You never thought you could be addicted to porn.
  • You never thought you could be an alcoholic.
  • You never thought you could leave your family.
  • You never thought you could be that hurtful.

For many men, they never thought they could… so they did. You’ve got to look square in the mirror and say to yourself, “I could commit every sin.” Whatever your problem may be, there’s always a problem behind your problem, and the Bible calls that problem sin.

  • What is it that makes a 40 year old married man try to act like he’s 20 and single?
  • What makes a man try to drown his trouble in alcohol or illegal drugs?
  • Why does a man need to prove himself by doing daredevil stunts?

It’s called our sin nature! This is the part of you that wants to do the bad stuff rather than what is right. When we accept Christ, this old nature is trying to fight back for control in your life. But it is this sin nature that is supposed to be put to death while we are made alive in Christ – Galatians 2:20. If we continue to sin, it shows where our loyalties really lie – 1 John 3:8.

If you’ve messed up… forgiveness is ready for all who submit to Christ, putting their faith in Him and allowing His Spirit to help us to repent of our sin. It’s a conscious effort to repent, which is to turn from sin and turn toward God. Remember that He is ready and able to forgive – 1 John 1:9. Restoration of relationships takes more time, because while we are forgiven for our past sin, the consequence of our sin may remain for a long time.

I’m glad that you are a part of the Men of Steel. It shows a commitment to being the best man that you can be, for God’s sake, for your wife’s sake and your kids’ sake.

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God Sparing Your Life

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The Men of Steel looked into this topic; how often do we wrestle with God?

  1. The Enemy within Me
  2. God Sparing Your Life
  3. Refuse to be a Target
  4. God Wrestles with You… Alone
  5. Why Does God Wrestle with Men?
  6. The Reality of the Spirit Realm

Years ago at a youth conference (anybody remember Bill Gothard’s Institute for Basic Youth Conflicts?), anyway, I saw a “campaign” button that read, “PBPWMGINFWMY.” Confused? It stood for, “Please be patient with me, God is not finished with me yet.” Men today need to listen to that advice. We want to be fixed, and want God to do it now. But the problem is that it has taken so long to develop the habits that have made us as “lame” as we are that it is going to take a whole lot of time to undo what we have built and start fresh on a new foundation.

Men, none of us has arrived. There is always more work to be done, more home improvement that can be accomplished, more areas in life that could be made better… don’t think so? Let’s go visit your wife! She will likely come up with a bulleted list, or pull out the hidden list she has been working on since you came back from the honeymoon!

God needs to work on each one of us. That should not surprise any man when he takes an honest look at himself… desiring to be the best husband and father he can be for his family’s sake. With all the mistakes of life, we should be grateful that God has kept us alive long enough so He can continue to work on us, in us and sometimes in spite of us. I’m personally grateful for what He has poured into me over the years.

Perhaps you can see God’s hand on your life. He’s brought you through some events in life that made you wonder why He ever saved you? Maybe at some point you were driving home drunk, just an accident waiting to happen… maybe you were arguing with your wife, just on the verge of getting physical… maybe you were friendly with a woman at the office and the flirtatious invitation to get a bite to eat after work was a bit too tempting. God was there, even when you did not realize it.

Some men are grieving over having already fallen, but remember God was still here, ready to forgive and help you get back on the right path. He continues to have you in His grasp. Pray as we have been directed in the Bible, “Lord, be merciful to me, a sinner” (Luke 18:13).

If God had not been merciful to us when we were sinners, we’d all be dead! Some men have been through so much that they are amazed that they are still alive. Other men would have self-destructed much earlier. Some men get depressed too easily. Others become discouraged too easily. A few become suicidal too easily. Men need to reach deep inside to find their inner Rambo! Put on your camouflage face paint, tie a bandana around your forehead, and grit your hunting knife in your teeth… it’s time to fight! Fight the enemy whose sole purpose is to see you fall. Seeking biblical support for all this fighting? Check out 1 Timothy 6:12, and 2 Timothy 2:3-4.

I am reminded of another man, in the Bible, whose life was spared… the wrestler, Jacob (Genesis 32:30). This is the story where Jacob wrestled with “God” all night, and he eventually dislocated his hip in the process. Jacob came away with a limp, but he also came away a changed man; this event had a spiritual impact on his life. The point is that Jacob needed God. His name meant “deceiver” or “swindler” and he lived up to it. His brother was out to kill him for his treachery. But God was not finished with Jacob yet. His name is changed to Israel, which is the name that is echoed throughout the Old Testament, representing the people to God, specifically the twelve tribe of Israel.

Are you ready to rumble? God has brought you this far for a purpose. He wants to spare your life, if only we will submit to Him. How often have you found yourself wrestling against God, and after it was all over you were amazed that your life was spared? Change may not come quickly, but hang in there; God is not finished with you yet.

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