The gospel changes everything.
Whether you have followed Jesus for a few days or followed him for thirty years, you know that he is our hope and our salvation. But when you wake up and look in the mirror each day, how do you change into a person who lives and looks more like Jesus? How does your day-to-day spiritual growth happen?
This is where we’re headed with this six-week study. And let’s be clear. This isn’t a self-help study. There’s no checklist of things for you to strike off that will take you from point A to point B. The gospel is what changes you. The work of the Holy Spirt in your life changes you. So, what does it look like to let the gospel transform you every day? We’re going to discover that we don’t work for our salvation. We work out our salvation.
There is a big word we use for working out our salvation called sanctification. It just means the process of becoming more like Jesus every single day. We love him. We have a relationship with him. Now how do we live like him?
We want to change, but we cannot do it our own. Does that make you feel free or like a failure? For those of us who like control and being able to do everything on our own, the need for help feels uncomfortable. But an artist does not stare at his paint brushes and expect them to create by themselves. He picks them up. He combines them with paint. He cleans them. He creates. In the same way, the Holy Spirit works in us and through us. Another one of our studies, Enjoying Jesus, states: “Jesus doesn’t call us to simply put his teaching into practice by our own willpower. If we try to do that, we will fail. We will be utterly unprepared to turn the other cheek or to love our enemy if we haven’t spent time with Christ in the unseen, everyday things.”
We were made to reflect our savior, but we don’t do that on our own. We become more like Jesus when we surrender and let him work in us. You are his creation, and he has a great plan in mind for you. When you get to know him more, it becomes so much easier to see that his way for you is better than your own way. Take a deep breath knowing that.
There is hope. You can change because Jesus and the work of the Holy Spirit changes you. Praise be to God. Hope is alive.
Stop being controlled by addiction, fears, anxiety and life factors that I have no control of and to start living free.
I have been a Christian for most of my life, quite miraculously- I am 53, and my story, like everyone’s is full of struggle. I long for a deeper understanding and a ‘knowing’; a clearer ‘hearing’ from God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit; more discernment, more connection, I suppose. I know the gospel, have a very basic grasp of His Word, some parts more than others, but I desire more. You may have heard the saying that if you were put on trial- accused of being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict? I want there to be absolutely no doubt, not just circumstantial evidence. I desire to reflect more of Christ. Ultimately, I want a comfort level of Jesus in my life, a freedom to talk about Him and share about Him in a way that He feels natural in my own skin and personality, not awkward. I have been drifting through most of my life, and very stuck for the last 4 + years, lots of trauma. I am ready and know there is a ‘next’. A next purpose, a next level of intimacy with God, a next? I desire the freedom to let Jesus have His way in and through me, and the courage to move in whatever He has next for me. Well, that was a lot. For not knowing what to write- I have been doing lots of studying during this covid time, work part time from home, and was drawn to this study quite by God… Beth Moore mentioned IFLEAD 2020, and here I am!
I love your openness and honesty Wendi
I too want to be able to listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit instead of quenching it. This world has a way of taking the forefront and we unwittingly push the Holy Spirit to the back ? I want to try to make the Holy Spirit the first place I go and I’m so guilty of not doing that.
I’d love to rely ONLY on God, not lean on my own understanding. I need to listen for the prompting of the Holy Spirit in everything. We are waiting for the healing of my high school senior daughter from anxiety and depression.??
I want to truly lean into the power of the Holy Spirit that has been made available to me! I want to live and speak and love radically because I am relying on God’s power in me instead of attempting to do all those things in my own strength.
I would like to spend more time reflecting and spending time in the word.
I really struggle with impatience and frustration in how far I feel I am in my sanctification process. I would like to be content and trusting in God’s timing for my sanctification.
Amen, Hannah!
To want God more than I want my own way.
Be unstuck. Knowing the Lord better & let the Holy Spirit lead me
I want to be more in tune with the Holy Spirit HE has the still small voice speaking to me when I get in situations. Instead of relying on my own wisdom.
I want to believe that Christ makes me new and my worth will never change. I am secure in Him. I want to leave the self-hatred, hurt and self-pity at the foot of the cross. I want to grieve the hurt while letting my spirit heal and learn to rejoice.
I would love to grow in knowing that some things aren’t in my control & to feel that gods help is something I would want every single day. I want to know that I am secure in him.