"You'll Never Change"

You have probably heard that lie, “You’ll never change”, about you in your life. Maybe from a parent or a coach or a teacher or even your pastor. You and I must discern between what is truth in our life and how the enemy lies to us about who we are. You and I must concede that God and his truth can and will set us free.

For several years, I was part of an American Civil War reenacting group called the Trans-Mississippi Rifles (that has nothing to do with gender identity, by the way). We were attached to the 3rd Louisiana infantry and “fought” for the South. Our U.S. Civil War pit us Americans against ourselves and for some reason we like to replay that.

We are spiritually in a civil war as well. We are fighting with who we are and whom God called us to be. Paul talks about his personal frustration with this civil war in Romans 7:15-19. You can just feel his frustration in the words he pens. “We don’t do what we want to do and the thing we don’t want to do, we do.” So how do we overcome this within ourselves?

Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 10 that we demolish the stronghold Satan has on us by taking our thoughts captive for Jesus Christ. We make our thoughts and then actions obedient to Jesus. And when we take every thought captive, the walls will fall. For some reason, we believe Satan and God are equally matched but NOTHING is equal to the power of God’s love for us.

Proverbs 4:23 says, “Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.” In other words, protect what you think about or dwell on each and every day. Whatever you’re allowing into your thinking will direct your attitudes, emotions, and behavior. Paul tells us in Romans 12:2 not to conform to the world’s way of thinking but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. So to do this, I want you to think about a couple of things.

First, think process, not perfection. Becoming more like Jesus doesn’t happen overnight. But use this metric…am I different as a follower of Jesus than one year ago? Since the first of 2024? Have a changed any since summer began? You’ll want to do some investigation in yourself to see if you are growing spiritually. We’re all in process. Even the Apostle Paul says that in Philippians 3 about himself.

Now we are justified or found to be righteous the moment we say “yes” to Jesus. But sanctification or becoming more holy and like Jesus is a lifelong process. We are made right through Jesus immediately upon making him our Lord and Savior but our journey is a life-long process.

Secondly, think God’s power, not your own. That word “transform” in Romans 12:2 in the original Greek is in passive form meaning we don’t do it to ourselves, it’s done to us. There is power with filling our minds with Godly moments and thoughts.

One final point. Paul tells us something so important in regards to power. Our enemy, Satan, gets us so busy and distracted we forget about the power of God in our lives. But Paul reminds us in Ephesians 1:19-20, “I pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of God’s power for us who believe him. This is the same mighty power that raised Christ from the dead and seated him in the place of honor at God’s right hand in the heavenly realms.” Wow! That kind of power lives within you if you’ve said “yes” to Jesus.

Jesus came to set us free. He’s come to give you life. He’s come to empower you. He’s come to change you. And if you will let him, your life will never be the same again. Blessings on the journey.

Beating Depression.

Elijah was one of the greatest prophets in Israel’s history. He saw God work by providing water and food when he was hiding out. He saw a little boy resurrected. He saw fire from heaven which melted his altar. Elijah saw prayer answered in the moment when rain came after a three year drought.

But even when you see power, position, and praise in your life, it’s possible to slip into a disappointed and a depressed lifestyle. When you read the story of Elijah (1 Kings 17-19), you see God’s power clearly in his life, just as he did. But in 1 Kings 19, Elijah makes some mistakes that lead him into a depressed state. We can learn from his mistakes and intentionally move into a healthy state of mind.

There are four things that lead to a depressed life and the first is that you can wear yourself out. We live today with no margin in our life. We hit the ground running in the morning and don’t stop until we drop into bed late at night. Each of us have our own burdens to bear along with our friends and family who want us to walk with them through their own difficulties. We try to balance our lives and do everything possible to not be left out or behind.

Secondly, we can shut people out. Many of us keep our closest family and friends at arms length, saying things like, “You’ll never understand what I am experiencing”, “I can’t tell you what I’m going through.”

We also tend to focus on the negative. Like Elijah, many of us dwell in self-pity. And we know self-pity exaggerates reality. We say things like, “I’m never going to get better”, “I will always have this addiction”, “I’ll always be stuck in this lifestyle.” Which leads us in the direction of the final idea…

We can forget all that God has done for us. God had provided Elijah with water and food. With God’s power, he had raised the dead. Elijah had seen fire from heaven convict an entire nation. But in chapter 19, Elijah thinks God is not going to help him anymore and he finds himself running away.

So, what is God’s prescription for our depression?

When you read 1 Kings 19:5-16, we see everything as God wants us to see. The first thing God calls us to is to eat and rest. For some of us, the most spiritual thing we can do right now is rest. Jewish culture was built around the 10 Commandments and one of those was to keep the Sabbath. Americans do not practice rest. We run all day long, seven days a week. God calls us to build in rest into our weekly calendar. God calls us to rest in order to be at our healthiest.

Secondly, God replaces our lies with his truth. Elijah says that he’s the only one who is left for God and that is not true. 7000 Israelites had never bowed down to an idol. Elijah is taking on responsibility that was not his to take. For many of us, we hear the lies our enemy tells us everyday and speak them to ourselves as if they were truth.

But Scripture tells us that all things are possible with God! That if we have the faith of a mustard seed, we can move mountains. Paul reminds us to take every thought captive for Christ.

God had showed himself to Elijah through fire and miracles but suddenly God appears in a still, small voice. Sometimes when we are at our lowest, God speaks the softest. Many of us are hurting today. We experience relational hurt; the loss of a life companion; the shortness of a bank account; the hurtful words of a co-worker. And in those moments, God is saying quietly, “I’ll never leave you”, “I am right here”, “You are enough.”

Finally, God gives Elijah something to do. You see, we are people who need a purpose. God tells Elijah to go back and do what prophets do. God is calling you into purpose as well. Each of us has a gift or talent and we are called to use it in Kingdom work. Whether it’s patience or mentorship or kindness or love, use it to the glory of God.

We beat depression by resting, replacing our lies with God’s truth, listening to God’s voice even when it’s quiet and discovering what God has called us to do. Alone, we are powerless. But with God we can do anything. Blessings on the journey.

God in the Flesh

I’ve been called lots of names over my lifetime. In a high school football game one Friday night, I got burned for a touchdown. The team called me “Toast” after that. It was just once! Sometimes names are hard on you. Sometimes they are wonderful.

Your own personal name is important. It’s yours. When people say your name, it’s special.

Jesus is called lots of names in the New Testament as well. He’s called Son of God, Messiah, teacher, rabbi, Lamb, Christ, Prince of Peace. One of the names Jesus calls himself and it’s used over 80 times in the Gospel accounts is the name “Son of Man”. That means something for us.

Son of Man indicates his purpose and identity. In Matthew 20:28, Jesus says, “The Son of Man came to serve others and give himself as a ransom for others.” In the Hebrew Bible, there are 250 prophetic sayings pointing to the coming Messiah and Son of Man. In Daniel 7, the prophet says that the Son of Man is coming and every race, language and culture will bow before him as the Name above all names.

Did you know the Son of Man was tempted just like we are? He fully understands what you are going through. He resonates with the difficult moments in our life. He acknowledges the relentless assault of the Devil as he tempts us everyday.

In Matthew 4, as Jesus, the Son of Man begins his ministry, he is led into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan. Jesus withstands every attack of Satan. Every temptation is warded off by using scripture and the Spirit. Jesus understands our desire to satisfy our appetites, achieving status, compromising moral principles. He’s gone through it all by verse 11 in Matthew 4.

It reminds me we have a Savior who fully understands our human-ness and loves us anyway. Jesus is God in the flesh. He believes in you as much as you believe in him. So take heart. While Satan shows no signs of ever giving up his hope to ruin our relationship with God in the Flesh, we can overcome whatever he throws at us be staying connected to and standing firm in the Name above all names, Jesus the Christ! Blessings on your journey.