CHOOSE TO CHANGE

Tuesday, 29th September 2020

Ephesians 4:22 – Throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception.

Change requires making choices. It’s not enough to dream of changing. It’s not enough to desire change. In order for you to change, you will need to make a decision. You must choose to change.

Change is intentional. Are you going to be better a year from now? Are you going to be wiser, and more mature? Are you going to be happier? Are you going to be less in debt? Are you going to be more like God wants you to be?

I can tell you the answer right now: It will only happen if you choose to change, because it isn’t going to happen accidentally. It requires a choice.

A lot of times we think we’re waiting on God to change us. No! God is waiting on you. He’s waiting on you to say, “Yes, Lord, I’m willing to make these changes.”

We have to make intentional choices in order to grow. There is no growth without change, there is no change without loss, and there is no loss without pain. If you are going to grow, you will have to change, and change means you let go of some old things in order to grab hold of some new things.

Some of you are stuck and you’re falling because you haven’t let go of the old patterns, the old habits, and the old ways of thinking. You have to let go of your old ways.

“Throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life” (Ephesians 4:22). In other words, let it go. Those old habits, those old hurts, those old patterns, those old sins in your life— let them go. You need to throw them off and trust that God is working in you “to will and to act in order to fulfill His good purpose” (Philippians 2:13).

REFLECTION
_ – What change have you been waiting on God to make in you? What do you think your responsibility is to make that change happen?_
– What do you need to do once you make the choice to change? What steps will help you move forward?

Day 65

TO CHANGE, FACE THE TRUTH

Monday, 28th September 2020

Ephesians 4:21 – You have heard about Jesus and have learned the truth that comes from Him.

The secret to personal change is not willpower. The secret is to know and face the truth. You must know and face the truth about yourself and your nature if you want to change.

Nothing will change in your life until you know and face the truth about your weaknesses, your relationships, your successes and failures, and your past and future.

Why is it necessary to learn the truth before anything can change in your life? Here’s why: Behind every self-defeating habit in your life is a lie that you believe. If you get in debt, it’s because you believed some lies like “I can spend and get away with it” or “I can always pay it back.” Are you absolutely certain that what you believe you’ve said about your finances is true?

What about your relationships? What about the things you say to yourself about yourself? Is the way you think about your past or about some event the truth, or is the truth what God says about it?

The Bible teaches that personal change starts with truth. It is the truth that sets you free. The apostle Paul says, “You have heard about Jesus and have learned the truth that comes from Him” (Ephesians 4:21). Who is the truth? It’s Jesus, and because Jesus is the truth, He will always tell you the truth. His word is the truth. The Bible is His Word, and that means the Bible is truth (2 Timothy 3:16-17).

What you hear on television or read in books isn’t always going to help you, because it’s not always the truth. But what God tells you is always going to be the truth. God’s Word shows you how to get back to the life you were created to live, and then it shows you how to stay on God’s path.

Nothing will change until you get the truth into your heart. As long as you build your life on a foundation of lies, misconceptions, deceptions, or half-truths, you will never change. But when you face the truth and respond to the truth, you will begin to see changes in your life.

REFLECTION
– Have you ever taken the time to think and pray about your weaknesses? Why is this an important thing to do?
– Why can you trust that the Bible is God’s Word?
– What do you need to change about your schedule and priorities so that you can spend time every day reading God’s Word?

Day 63

THE DECISION MAKING TREE

Saturday, 26th September 2020

Psalm 37:23 – The Lord makes firm the steps of the one who delights in Him.

Wise decisions are hard to make.
Most often decisions first start with us asking a question: What is best for me? This is the lowest level of decision making. So, unfortunately, this is really where our world lives. People usually only care about themselves.

The next question we usually ask is, What is right or wrong ? Many people see God as a great umpire in the sky and all He cares about is what is right. Well, that is true, but He also cares about your heart. He loves you; He does not want you to do what is right as a robot. He wants you to do what is right because you love Him and you want to obey Him. So it is not just about what is right or what is best for me.

The next question is, What is wise? Something may be legal and not wise. For instance, gay marriage is legal in some parts of the world but is a very unwise way to live.

The 3 questions seen above are good but the ultimate place for decision-making, the highest place, is What glorifies God? Therefore, to make decisions, it is not just “What is best for me?” nor “What is right or wrong?” It is also “What is wise and what glorifies God?”

Well, here’s the secret: if you and I ask first, “What glorifies God?” Then we’ll get all these other things in the right place because what glorifies God is going to be what is wise. What glorifies God is going to be right, He is the King of righteousness. And what glorifies God is going to obviously be the best for you. It might not be what you want, but it will be the best for you because He has come to give us life and give it abundantly.

So, the most immature place to make a decision is, “What is best for me?” We should start asking “What glorifies God?” Because in that way we will be seeking first His kingdom and righteousness and all the other things – what is wise, what is right, and what is the best – will be added unto us (Mathew 6:33).

Have a splendid weekend.

AVAD 60

LOVE AND OBEY WISDOM

Friday, 25th September 2020

Proverbs 4:6 – Do not forsake wisdom, and she will protect you; love her, and she will watch over you.

In Proverbs, Solomon encourages us to not abandon wisdom because she will watch over us. We must love her, and she will guard us.

He also tells us to love wisdom and obey wisdom. When you say you are going to love wisdom, that shows desire; but when you say that you are going to obey wisdom, that means discipline.

In 2 Chronicles 1:7, the Lord comes to Solomon and says: “What do you want?” What would you say to God if He said to you: “What do you want?” Many of us would say, “I want a good paying job,” a single person would say “I want to get married,” a businessman would say “I want to make huge profits,” and none of those would be good enough.

However, Solomon says, “I want to be wise,” so he chooses and desires wisdom. That is a desire and a love for wisdom. We must choose to be wise.

To be wise requires discipline, and not only the desire. Sometimes what is wise, and what your emotions say, may be at odds. You may emotionally feel something, and that might not be a wise decision. The secret is that we don’t just live by our feelings, and that takes discipline. We live by the Word of God, and we walk in wisdom.

So, when you are feeling something, and you want it intensely, you had better step back and think whether that is really wise, because many of us get in trouble because we walk on what we feel instead of doing what is wise.

REFLECTION
– Does your decision-making process begin with the desire to glorify God?
– Are you obedient to your emotions or to wisdom in your life?

Relationship killers

QUALITIES THAT MAKE YOU WISE

Thursday, 24th September 2020

Proverbs 9:10 – The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

There are some qualities that will bring wisdom into our lives.

1. Reverence is one of the requirements for gaining wisdom. Therefore, I acknowledge God and I revere God. I fear the Lord. I say, “You are higher, you are better.”

2. Humility is something that garners wisdom; it is a requirement for wisdom. You cannot be proud and wise. Humility brings wisdom. Proverbs 11:2 says “When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom.”

3. Teachableness: we need to be teachable and willing to learn.

4. Diligence: diligence is the precursor of wisdom because you need to be careful, persistent, consistent and a hard worker to be wise.

5. Righteousness: you need to be morally right to act wisely, and

6. Faith: to receive wisdom from the Lord (James 1:5-6).

All these ingredients go together. So if you love wisdom and desire wisdom in your life, you will cultivate and use them.

Wisdom is the key to any ride you are ever going to be on in your life. It is the key to parenting. It is the key for singlehood. It is the key for marriage. It is the key to joy. It is the key for a decision in a business. It is the key to choosing what career you will pursue. Etc.

Proverbs 9:9 says “Instruct the wise and they will be wiser still; teach the righteous and they will add to their learning.

Keep going after wisdom, keep developing and keep growing those qualities that help you gain wisdom.

HOW DO I GET WISDOM?

Wednesday, 23rd September 2020

Proverbs 15:22 – Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed.

Yesterday we were answering the question “How do I get wisdom?” We said they’re 3 major sources but we saw only 1 which is from the Lord. Today we shall be looking at the other 2.

2. We get wisdom from others:- Wise counsel is greater than today’s thought. You can look at the world and get many opinions about many things. You can see ideas come and go, but society never apologises and says, “Hey we had a bad idea about 20 years ago.” Instead they just shove the next idea in.

Wisdom comes from wise counsel. Do you have men and women in your life, people surrounding you, from whom you are able to get wise counsel from?

There should be people in your life for when you come to a place where you do not know what to do. You should be able to pick up the phone and say, “Can I ask you a question? What do you advise or recommend I do in this situation? I’m stock.” Because wise counsel is better than today’s thought.

3. You get wisdom from life:-: You learn from your mistakes, and you learn from the mistakes of others. Often you make good decisions by first making bad decisions. Life many times will teach you lessons, because none of us is perfect. We feel so guilty when we fail: “Why did I do that?” “Why did I not do that?” “How did I not see that coming?”

However, here is what you have to understand: God is using those things to teach you. That is why the Word of God says that gray hair is the crown of wisdom (Proverbs 16:31). Experience comes from what we have done, and wisdom comes from what we have done badly. A wise man learns by the experience of others, an ordinary man learns by his own experience, and a fool learns by nobody’s experience.

We want to learn from the Lord. We want to learn from other people, even in bad stuff. Pay attention when somebody has an affair—how did it go? Learn from that. Look when somebody makes a bad decision—learn from that. Learn from others’ faults. Learn from other people’s failures and other people’s successes, and learn from life as life teaches you.

REFLECTION
– Are there people in your life on whom you can count?
– Are you paying attention to the lessons of life? – What lessons have you learned from the mistakes, failures and successes of those around you?_