Tag: Transformation

How to Make Lasting Change

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We are often perplexed on why we make commitments to change yet fall miserably short of success. One essential start is to make your life based on the Bible:

“If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine.” (John 8:31b NASB)

One cannot stress enough how important it is to make a commitment to reading the Bible regularly. Jesus said, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine” (John 8:31b NASB). It’s a long-term commitment to learn from Jesus and his Word that makes us his disciples.

How do you continue in the Word and stay connected with Jesus through his Word for the long-term?

1. Make the decision. It starts with your commitment to actually do it. Don’t wait for a better time to make God’s Word a regular part of your life. Start your commitment today.

2. Make a declaration. Announce your intentions to others. Hold yourself accountable and allow yourself to be held accountable by others. If you keep your commitment to God a secret, it’s easier to slip up.

3. Make a determination. Don’t allow anything to knock you off your commitment. Absolute determination can make this a permanent habit in your life, particularly in the early months. If you start skipping days, it will be much harder to stay committed to God’s Word.

4. Double up. Get a spiritual partner to come alongside you for support and encouragement. This is someone with whom you can share what you learn in your quiet times. It could be someone in your small group, a friend, or a family member. The Bible says, “Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed” (Ecclesiastes 4:9 NLT).

[print_link] [email_link] [Based on a devotion by Rick Warren]

Remember Failure is not Final

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Take a moment and think about some of the familiar stories we heard as children (like “Cinderella” or “The Ugly Duckling”). What do they have in common? They are stories of transformation.

There’s a story of true transformation you will find in Genesis 28, where Jacob turned out to be one of the brightest stars in the Hebrew heaven, but he didn’t start out that way. He began as a failure with so much going against him.

Jacob had a lot of family problems. His father, Isaac, loved God, but he was a very sensual man. His mother, Rebekah, was a scheming woman who helped Jacob deceive his father (Genesis 27:5-17). Jacob’s twin brother, Esau, was a self-sufficient, self-centered brute who didn’t care at all about the things of God.

Jacob also had internal problems. His name originally meant “trickster” or “liar,” and that’s what he was by nature. It was hard for him to do right. He was just moving through life from one failure to another, but I want you to see God’s grace in Jacob’s life.

With all Jacob had against him, he did have a couple of redeeming factors.

The first thing he had going for him was that God loved him. The Bible tells us clearly in Romans 9:13 that God said, “I loved Jacob.” He didn’t love him because of his faults, but in spite of his faults. God didn’t change him in order to love him. God loved him so he could change him.

The second thing Jacob had going for him was that he had a spiritual hunger; he wanted to know God. Early in his life, he had cheated his brother out of the birthright which was the spiritual blessing (Genesis 25:19-34). Although Esau didn’t really care about the spiritual blessing, Jacob wanted it, but went about getting it in the wrong way.

Because of these two factors, Jacob experienced a transformation in his life (Genesis 28:10-22). Jacob had left his home because Esau was trying to kill him. He had been gone for many years and on his return trip he spent the night in the desert and had a dream about a ladder that came down from heaven with angels ascending and descending on it.

Up to this point, Jacob had been a religious man, but I don’t think he was a saved man. He was like a lot of people: he knew ABOUT God, but he didn’t KNOW God personally. He was separated from God, separated by his deceitfulness and sentenced to death.

New Consciousness: God began to reveal Himself to Jacob, and suddenly he had a new consciousness of God. Genesis 28:16 says Jacob awakened out of his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I wasn’t even aware of it!” God revealed himself to Jacob but he almost missed him!

New Communion: Along with a new consciousness, Jacob also had a new communion with God. Genesis 28:17 says he was afraid. He said, “What an awesome place this is! It is none other than the house of God, the very gateway to heaven!”

Then Jacob rose up early in the morning, took the stone that he had used for his pillow and set it up for a pillar. He poured oil on the top of it and worshiped God. Jacob then changed the name of the place as it’s told in Genesis 28:19, “He called the name of that place Bethel: but the name of that city was called Luz at the first.”

  • Luz means “separation,” which is what it used to be.
  • But now he calls it Bethel, which means “the house of God.”

Bethel is the place where he met the Lord. Meeting God at Bethel transformed Jacob’s life.

Do you have a Bethel? Do you have a place where you moved from separation to fellowship with God? From failure to success? God loved Jacob, and he loves you. Even though you may see yourself as having so much against you, you have the same thing going for you that Jacob did, and that is that God loves you.

Do you have a hunger for God? God would not just let things go. He saw in Jacob a hunger for himself. It was likely there all along, but God had to awaken this knowledge in Jacob. Do you have a hunger for God?

Do you have the ladder? There’s a ladder that goes from Earth to heaven and his name is Jesus. He said, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.” (John 14:6) and he wants to transform you from a failure into a success.

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Everyone Needs Recovery

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I’ve been thinking about how our church might better reach into the neighborhood, what needs to we see? Marriages need to be strengthened, kids are involved in recreational drugs, pornography attacks half of the male population (according to the national average)… what is a church to do in order to impact our community with the gospel?

The Home Run movie came out on April 19 this year, and I sense THIS is the next wave of hands-on help that can make life transformation practical and possible for so many people.

Here is some introductory research into that which Celebrate Recovery is based:

The Eight Principles of Recovery:

1.   Realize I’m not God. I admit that I am powerless to control my tendency to do the wrong thing and that my life is unmanageable. — Happy are those who know they are spiritually poor.  (Matthew 5:3)

2.   Earnestly believe that God exists, that I matter to Him, and that He has the power to help me recover. — Happy are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. (Matthew 5:4)

3.   Consciously choose to commit all my life and will to Christ’s care and control. — Happy are the meek. (Matthew 5:5)

4.   Openly examine and confess my faults to myself, to God, and to someone I trust. — Happy are the pure in heart. (Matthew 5:8)

5.   Voluntarily submit to every change God wants to make in my life and humbly ask Him to remove my character defects. — Happy are those whose greatest desire is to do what God requires. (Matthew 5:6)

6.   Evaluate all my relationships. Offer forgiveness to those who have hurt me and make amends for harm I’ve done to others, except when to do so would harm them or others. — Happy are the merciful. Happy are the peacemakers. (Matthew 5:7, 9)

7.   Reserve a daily time with God for self-examination, Bible reading, and prayer in order to know God and His will for my life and to gain the power to follow His will.

8.   Yield myself to God to be used to bring this Good News to others, both by my example and by my words. — Happy are those who are persecuted because they do what God requires. (Matthew 5:10)

The Twelve Steps with Biblical Comparison:

1.    We admitted we were powerless over our addictions and compulsive behaviors, that our lives had become unmanageable. — I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. (Romans 7:18)

2.    We came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity. — For it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose. (Philippians 2:13)

3.    We made a decision to turn our lives and our wills over to the care of God. — Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. (Romans 12:1)

4.    We made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves. —  Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the LORD. (Lamentations 3:40)

5.    We admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs. — Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. (James 5:16)

6.    We were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character. — Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up. (James 4:10)

7.    We humbly asked Him to remove all our shortcomings. — If we confess our sins, he is faithful and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)

8.    We made a list of all persons we had harmed and became willing to make amends to them all. — Do to others as you would have them do to you. (Luke 6:3 1)

9. We made direct amends to such people whenever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others. — Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift. (Matthew 5:23-24)

10.   We continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong, promptly admitted it. — So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall! (1 Corinthians 10.12)

11.   We sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and power to carry that out. — Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly. (Colossians 3:16)

12.   Having had a spiritual experience as the result of these steps, we try to carry this message to others and to practice these principles in all our affairs. — Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself or you also may be tempted. (Galatians 6:1)

God’s Unique Design

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This is the third study in the series about Decisions: Seeking God’s Guidance:

Because each of us is different, God’s plan for each of us is also different. If we are to know that plan, we must know ourselves; our gifts, talents, strengths and shortcomings. So, if we want to make better decisions based on God’s will, it is a good this to look at how we are wired.

In the first eleven chapters of the book of Romans, Paul tells about the facts of the gospel. Beginning with chapter 12, he speaks of the practical implications of the gospel for our behavior. His words have much to say about God’s plan and direction for our lives.

1. After reading this chapter, how would you define a “living sacrifice?”

John Stott makes the following comments about the living sacrifice: It is not to be offered in the temple courts or in the church building, but rather in home life and in the marketplace. It is the presentation of our bodies to God. This blunt reference to our bodies was calculated to shock some of Paul’s Greek readers. Brought up on Platonic thought, they will have regarded the body as an embarrassing encumbrance. . . . Still today some Christians feel self-conscious about their bodies. The traditional evangelical invitation is that we give our “hearts” to God, not our “bodies.” . . . But Paul is clear that the presentation of our bodies is our spiritual act of worship. It is a significant Christian paradox. No worship is pleasing to God when it is purely inward, abstract and mystical; it must express itself in concrete acts of service performed by our bodies.

2. Romans 12:2 says that being “transformed by the renewing of your mind” will allow us to “test and approve what God’s will is.” What is a renewed mind? How does it differ from a mind that has been conformed “to the pattern of this world?”

“These two value systems (this world and God’s will) are incomparable, even in direct collision with one another. Whether we are thinking about the purpose of life or the meaning of life, about how to measure greatness or how to respond to evil, about ambition, sex, honesty, money, community, religion or anything else, the two sets of standards diverge so completely that there is no possibility of compromise. No wonder Karl Barth called Christian ethics ‘the great disturbance,’ so violently does it challenge, interrupt and upset the tranquil status quo” (John Stott).

3. How do our minds become either conformed or renewed?

“Because human beings are inveterate conformists, the temptation to simply fit into the picture and fade into the scenery can be practically overwhelming. The committed life, however, is shown by the degree in which the believer stays in the secular world without being trapped by it and without failing to be a witness to it. The tension is aptly described by the Master’s words explaining that we are ‘in the world but not of it'” (Stuart Briscoe).

4. What disciplines are helping you to renew your mind?

5. What responsibility do you have to “test and approve what God’s will is”? How can you take this responsibility seriously?

“[Paul] does not promise that the careless, the casual, and the uncommitted will somehow land on their feet and find out that they did God’s will by accident. Rather he states that those who genuinely do what is required will find in their own experience the reality of the sweet will of God” (Briscoe).

6. What does Romans 12:3-8 teach about God’s plan for the Christian community?

“Diversity, not uniformity, is the mark of God’s handiwork. It is so in nature; it is so in grace, too, and nowhere more so than in the Christian community. Here are many men and women with the most diverse kinds of parentage, environment, temperament, and capacity. Not only so, but since they became Christians they have been endowed by God with a great variety of spiritual gifts as well. Yet because and by means of that diversity, all can co-operate for the good of the whole” (F. F. Bruce).

7. What is meant by making a “sober judgment” of yourself (Romans 12:3)?

“By this expression Paul means that God equips each believer for a particular task and expects him to discover and fulfill his special role in the context of the believing community. Once this is understood, the believer is delivered from a number of potential miscalculations. He will not aspire to be more than God intends him to be, but he will not settle for being less than he was created and redeemed to be. Accordingly, he will be delivered from an arrogance which is destructive of harmony in the body of believers and will be content to make a ‘sober’ evaluation of his own gifts and calling” (Briscoe).

8. How will failure to do this lead you off track in understanding God’s will?

9. As you look at yourself with “sober judgment,” what do you believe to be your function and gifts in the body?

10. How has an understanding of your gifts helped you to “test and approve what God’s will is?”

11. How does Romans 12:9-21 tell us that we should be treating other people?

“Mutual love, sympathy and honor within the brotherhood of believers are to be expected, but something more is enjoined here love and forgiveness to those outside the fellowship, and not least to those who persecute them and wish them ill” (Bruce).

12. Why would it be futile to seek God’s will if we are not being renewed in our love for others?

13. Continue to make a sober judgment of yourself by evaluating whether you have been conformed or transformed according to each of the ethical instructions in Romans 12:9-21.

Read Romans 12:9-21 aloud, pausing after each phrase to respond silently to God. Your response should be either, “Thank you, Lord, for the transformation in my life,” or “I confess that I have been conformed to the world.”

Ask God to continually renew your mind, and confess to him where you have been conformed to the pattern of this world.

Now or Later: Make a list of the spiritual gifts that are mentioned in Romans 12:6-8; 1 Corinthians 12:7-11, 27-31; and Ephesians 4:11-13.

1. Write out a definition for each of these gifts.

2. Which of these gifts has God given you? Remember to take the free online inventory at www.TeamMinistry.com

Warren Wiersbe Writes About Romans 12:

The biblical pattern is to relate doctrine and duty, for what you believe must determine how you behave. In these closing chapters, Paul discusses your relationship with the Lord (Romans 12:1–2), yourself (Romans 12:3), the church (Romans 12:4–16), and your enemies (12:17–21).

Transformation (Romans 12:1-2). The Spirit of God transforms your life by renewing your mind (2 Corinthians 3:18), but He cannot do this unless you give Him your body. When you give yourself to God in spiritual worship, you become a living sacrifice to the glory of God.

Evaluation (Romans 12:3). To think more highly of yourself, or less highly, is sin, so have a proper estimate of who you are and what God has given you (Galatians 6:3–5).

Cooperation (Romans 12:4-16). You are part of the body of Christ with a ministry to fulfill, so do your part lovingly and joyfully.

Vindication (Romans 12:17-21). If yours is a godly life, you are bound to have enemies (Matt. 5:10–12; 2 Tim. 3:12); but leave all judgment to the Lord. If you let the Lord have His way, He will use your enemies to build you and make you more like Christ.

Conclusion:

Believers are not of the world any more than Christ is of the world. However, they are sent into the world to testify that its works are evil and that salvation is available to all who put their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. We should not only be separated from the world; we should be transformed by the renewing of our mind, which means that we should think the way God thinks, as revealed in the Bible. Then we can experience the direct guidance of God in our lives. And we will find that, instead of being distasteful and hard, His will is good and acceptable and perfect.

Here, then, are three keys for knowing God’s will.

  1. The first is a yielded body
  2. The second a separated life
  3. The third a transformed mind

Take a look at the document on the Spiritual Gifts Descriptions found in Romans 12. If you’re up to it, I designed an Spiritual Gifts Discovery inventory years ago, a PDF document that ads your score on the tally sheet at the end.

Transformational Churches

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I have known about the book, but it is funny how something really grabs your attention after a while. I found this information online and have moved this book to the top of my reading list. How has the church gotten away from the original mission of making disciples, and growing an “army” of disciple-makers? And how do we measure our success, certainly it can’t be by the standards of the world. Take five to see this video. Who is doing this, and how has it worked?

Transformational Discipleship, by Eric Geiger, Michael Kelley and Philip Nation

A Christian’s desire to grow in faith is beautiful and biblical, best illustrated in Jeremiah 17 where Scripture describes “The man who trusts in the LORD” as being “like a tree planted by water… It will not worry in a year of drought or cease producing fruit.”

But how do people really grow spiritually? Transformational Discipleship describes the process that brings to life that kind of person described in the Bible. There’s no magic formula or mantra to recite here, but rather a substantive measure of research with churches and individuals who have wholeheartedly answered the call of Jesus to make disciples.

A compilation of their wisdom and stories, it guides church leaders and members to practice the intentional efforts needed to foster an entire culture in which people grow in Christian faith.

And people will grow, not because of human research, but by the power of God’s Word and of the Holy Spirit working through the church; the same way disciples have always been made. When the people of God engage in the mission of God through the Spirit of God, lives are transformed.

The Transformational Discipleship Assessment: The TDA is an online assessment tool that helps individuals and churches assess spiritual strengths and weaknesses. The goal is to help churches in the process of making disciples.

Anyone who would like to understand better where they might begin to grow spiritually should use this tool. The TDA was designed so that a small group, Sunday School class, or even an entire church could participate in the assessment.

Here are the eight discipleship attributes:

  1. Bible Engagement
  2. Obeying God and Denying Self
  3. Serving God and Others
  4. Sharing Christ
  5. Exercising Faith
  6. Seeking God
  7. Building Relationships
  8. Unashamed (Transparency)

Transformational Church: by Ed Stetzer and Thom S. Rainer

How are we doing? The church, that is. And how are we doing it? Congregations have long measured success by “bodies, budget, and buildings” (a certain record of attendance, the offering plate, and square footage). But the scorecard can’t stop there. When it does, the deeper emphasis on accountability, discipleship, and spiritual maturity is lost. Ignoring those details, we see fewer lives transformed, Christian influence wane, and churches thin out–a situation that is all too familiar across North America today.

It is time to take heart and rework the scorecard. According to Ed Stetzer and Thom S. Rainer, “Too often we’ve highlighted the negative realities of the declining American church but missed the opportunity to magnify the God of hope and transformation.”

Based on the most comprehensive study of its kind, including a survey of more than 7,000 churches and hundreds of on-site interviews with pastors, Transformational Church takes us to the thriving congregations where truly changing lives is the norm.

Stetzer and Rainer clearly confirm the importance of disciple making for all through active biblical engagement and prayerful dependence on God alongside of ever-increasing, intentional participation in mission and ministry activities. As the church engages these issues, the world will see the change:

  • More people following Christ
  • More believers growing in their faith
  • More churches making an impact on their communities

The transformation starts now.

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