The Power to Change // When You're Sick Of Being Stuck // Ps Sean Stanton
I am convinced and sure of this very thing that He Who began a good work in you will continue until the day of Jesus Christ, developing and perfecting and bringing it to full completion in you. Philippians 1:6 (AMP)
WHEN YOU’RE SICK OF BEING STUCK
I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate.Romans 7:15 (NLT)
I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway. Romans 7:19 (NLT)
Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me? Romans 7:24 (NLT)
Real change is not behaviour modification.
Real change involves spiritual transformation.
Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. Romans 7:24–25 (NLT)
Three Mindsets
1. God, Then Me
You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? … Are you so foolish? After beginning by means of the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by means of the flesh? Galatians 3:1, 3 (NIV)
2. God, Not Me
Faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. James 2:17 (NIV)
Use your heads! Do you suppose for a minute that you can cut faith and works in two and not end up with a corpse on your hands? James 2:20 (MSG)
3. God Through Me
By the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me. 1 Corinthians 15:10 (NIV)
Real change is God through you.
Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away. Each time He said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. 2 Corinthians 12:8–9 (NLT)
Spiritual Transformation
Continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfil His good purpose. Philippians 2:12–13 (NIV)
4. God’s Love For You — The Spiritual “Foundation.”
We know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. 1 John 4:16 (NIV)
To the praise of His glorious grace, which He has freely given us in the One He loves. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that He lavished on us. Ephesians 1:6–8 (NIV)
Hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. Romans 5:5 (NIV)
Prayer — God, reveal Your love for me.
5. God’s Purpose For You — The Spiritual “Why!”
“What are the two most important days in my life?” THE DAY YOU WERE BORN, and THE DAY YOU REALISE WHY YOU WERE BORN! Rev Ernest T. Campbell
For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. Ephesians 2:10 (ESV)
I will cry to God Most High, Who rewards me and Who brings to pass His purposes for me and surely completes them! Psalms 57:2 (AMP)
Prayer — God, reveal Your purpose for my life.
6. God’s Power In You — The Spiritual “How”
“Not by strength and not by power, but by my Spirit,” says the Lord who rules over all. “What are you, you great mountain? …you will become a level plain! …with shoutings of ‘Grace! Grace!’ ” Do not despise these small beginnings, for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin. Zecheriah 4:6, 7–10
Prayer — Come Holy Spirit and fill and empower me.
Sick of being stuck? With God’s help, make a quality decision to change right now!
Continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfil His good purpose. Philippians 2:12–13 (NIV)
