To cause to turn or pass from one state to another; to alter, or make different; to vary in external form, or in essence; as, to change the color or shape of a thing; to change the countenance; to change the heart or life; To put one thing in the place of another; to shift;
Do you like where you are and what you have become?
Have you ever wished that your life was better?
Can your relationships improve?
Are you producing the results that you want?
Why do you do what you do?
What triggers you to produce your behavior?
How do you reach the top rung and achieve success?
You have to have a plan for your personal development and growth. And then take consistent and continuous actions.
You will do better if you work on yourself instead of worrying about your conditions. If you work on yourself, your life will change.
You have the choice to grow, to learn, to CHANGE and become the person God wants and needs you be. You can choose to stagnate, to hesitate, and remain fearful and doubtful and live in mediocrity.
You are responsible for your frustrations, indecisions and lack of progress.
When You Change You Grow.
Some people are Thermometers. They merely register what is around them. If the situation is tight and pressurized, they register tension and irritability. If it’s stormy, they register worry and fear. If it’s calm, quiet, and comfortable, they register relaxation and peacefulness. Others, however, are Thermostats. They regulate the atmosphere. They are mature Change-Agents who never let the situation dictate to them.
Jesus was a Change-Agent sent from God!
Easter Changed Everything!
Why do we struggle so with Change?
Why do we resist it?
Then again is “All” Change Good?
Deb & I want to help you to make whatever Change God wants in your life.
"We can never really change someone; people must change themselves. But we can help. We can be a resource." - Stephen R. Covey
See You In Church
For an in-depth Bible Study Click below….
Remember I NEED to hear your COMMENTS!!
Amazing Grace
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18 comments:
No person is your friend who demands your silence, or denies your right to grow.
Thanks Pastor Mark for "Pushing" us to Change!
The colossal misunderstanding of our time is the assumption that insight will work with people who are unmotivated to change. Communication does not depend on syntax, or eloquence, or rhetoric, or articulation but on the emotional context in which the message is being heard. People can only hear you when they are moving toward you, and they are not likely to when your words are pursuing them. Even the choices words lose their power when they are used to overpower. Attitudes are the real figures of speech. E.H.Friedman
People that are being changed can be like a lump of doe being lumped up, choked with flour, pounded out, rolled flat, shaped and baked before they can be used for any good and man that hurts.When we are motivated to change or even to seek the truth because most people do not usually care to hear the truth and if it can hurt them or cause their mask to slip or be exposed they usually will never change much anyway.Did you ever notice that people that can dish it out usually can not take criticism because their about as changed as they choose to be and think everyone else should be changed.Nobody is perfect and we all should be open to change.Sorry for being so critical but I'm being lumped up right now.Father God help us all that are changing for your glory in Jesus name.
Grace isn't a little prayer you chant before receiving a meal. It's a way to live. Jackie Windspear
Wow! Again. What a Study on “Amazing Grace”
Thanks PM for focusing on God's amazing Grace....wheeew!!
I find myself in prayer more and more during the day, just thanking Him for His mercy and grace that sustains me....I love knowing that He sustains and upholds me by His amazing grace.
That's why I love our worship song "At The Cross" we sing...."Oh Lord You search me you know my ways, even when I fail You I know You love me. You go before me you shield my way, Your hand upholds me and I know You love me.."
At this point in my life, God's amazing sustaining grace is everything to me.
John 1:16 (Amplified Bible)
16For out of His fullness (abundance) we have all received [all had a share and we were all supplied with] one grace after another and spiritual blessing upon spiritual blessing and even favor upon favor and gift [heaped] upon gift.
Psalm 54:4 (New International Version)
4 Surely God is my help;the Lord is the one who sustains me.
Thank you Pastor Mark for being such an amazing purveyor of God's word. I've never had so much spiritual nourishment in all my life. I love being at New Life...I thank God I found this place.
Ana and I thank you and Deb for Pastoring us the way you do.
Awesome !!!
Thanks for these Online Bible Studies.
But tonight’s study @ New Life “get out of Debt” Wow!!!
I only wish I knew this stuff 10 years ago.
Great Selah PM
This brought back memories from about 28 years ago when I was a version of "Jason" (a cappella song leader LOL!!)in my little congregation of 125 at the Bethpage Church of Christ on Long Island.....
The Wonderous Cross was one of my favorites...check this out...it's a current rendition.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skxiHGj6lIU
What a story....Thank you Father for that Cross!! \0/
He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our guilt and iniquities; the chastisement [needful to obtain] peace and well-being for us was upon Him, and with the stripes [that wounded] Him we are healed and made whole. Isaiah 53.5
1'st: What a marvellous example of God's Amazing Grace this morning (Resurrection Sunday) to see young Nazeem in Church! Not only was he able to stand, wave, and smile, he climbed the stairs into the balcony! I don't know of too many people who can do THAT only a week after major surgery! Praise the LORD for His healing power and answer to prayer! \o/
When I got to this blog, I was confused when I saw the title "Change"... having heard it described as being about "Amazing Grace". ;) Having read the attached Bible study, NOW I "get it"! ;)
Now to answer the questions in the blog! (It would take PAGES to answer the ones in the Bible study!) ;)
Do you like where you are and what you have become?
So far, yes. :) By the Grace of God, He has truly brought me a LONG, LONG way from where I was 23 years ago! Where I am, in Christ, is wonderful! Where I am in Life is good. Where I am in career/ministry, tho, is "on hold". That's the hard part.
Have you ever wished that your life was better?
Haven't we ALL at one time or another? :) The REAL question is HOW do we wish it was better. If we wish we had more THINGS, then that means our focus is wrong. As it is my Life's Verse, it fits so well, here: "Seek ye first the Kingdom of GOD ... and all these things shall be added unto you."
Can your relationships improve?
There is ALWAYS room for improvement, as long as we continue to dwell in these vessels of clay.
Are you producing the results that you want?
Not really, not right now. What I desire most, is to fill the airwaves of Fairfield County with Christ-centered, God-honoring music. \o/ It's going to take a bona fide MIRACLE to make that happen.
Why do you do what you do?Right now, it's because it is where I have been placed for a time. Back when I was doing Christian radio, it was because that is the purpose God preserved my life and keeps me here on the Earth. \o/
What triggers you to produce your behavior?
Hopefully, it is the leading of the Holy Spirit. \o/ Sometimes, the old flesh gets in the way, tho. :(
How do you reach the top rung and achieve success?
By remaining within the shadow of HIS Wings as much and as deeply as possible! Only by staying CLOSE to the Master, and being OBEDIENT to His Word, can anyone achieve TRUE success! \o/
TRUE success is that which, when we stand before Jesus, what we have done for Him stands with us... it passes through His holy fire, as gold, silver, precious stones... not as wood, hay, and stubble that burns.
When I was hosting the Morning Light radio program, my greatest JOY was knowing that God used this unworthy vessel to lead His people closer to HIM through that wonderful music that He allowed me to select and play on the air.
They say you can't take anything with you... but that is only partially true! You cannot take any material possessions with you... but you can take SOULS with you! Your children, and others whom you have led to Christ! How wonderful to stand before Christ, one day, and present them as jewels for His crown! \o/
OK, more questions to answer! :)
Why do we struggle so with Change?
We are creatures of habit. Some of us (like me) like to stay the course, and not have to deal with drastic change. We don't make changes just for change sake... and those who do that, drive us NUTS! ;) (Case-in-point: Rearranging furniture every few months - - WHY???)
Why do we resist it?
It is in our nature... and it's often an uncomfortable kind of change that we resist. Like losing a job. :(
Then again is “All” Change Good?
Definitely NOT! Although if we truly place it into God's hands, He CAN take that which was meant for evil, and use it for GOOD! \o/
OK, that's enough rambling! ;)
Happy RESURRECTION SUNDAY, everyone! \o/
Pastor Mark: Enjoy your well-deserved vacation! We look forward to your return, all renwed and refreshed! \o/
"Change" Wow! Another great blog Pastor Mark. This reminds me of how much my life has changed in the last 6 years. It was around Easter time when I gave my life to Christ. So much has changed, I can't even begin to list them but I thank God that He has chipped away of the old and molded me into the new. I can't imagine my life without Him. Thank you for all you do in New Life. Dawn Fontanez
God knows-
Even though I've changed and I'm struggling desperately to find my own place in the world, He knows that when the tears fall or the smile spreads across my face, we'll come to each other because no matter where this crazy world takes me, nothing will ever change so much to the point where we're not still friends. He is unchanged. He is always there.
Forever Yours. Forever Mine. My Forever Friend.
As I glimpse the reality of my lowly self, I can only glimpse quickly as I face the revulsion and wish for change.
But wishing gets me no where. Wringing my hands gets me no where. Running to a bottle of wine or pills gets me no where.
It is only when I run to the foot of the cross and apply the Blood that was shed for my sin that I have power and victory!
CHANGE! TURN AROUND! GET OUT OF THE MUD! WALK WITH CHRIST! WALK IN RESURECTION POWER AND AUTHORITY OVER SIN! SHAME THE DEVIL! PUSH ON! WORK IT OUT!
One thing I have experienced as a christian, Is you will go through changes. Old things In your life will be left behind,new things In your life will be presented to you. One thing I have learned,If we live according to gods word and he Is ahead of our lives. Even If we do not see It at the present time, whatever transformations god takes us thru will always be change for the better.
My life had it all now its all gone.How will I change? I asked to be heard but its deaf on their ears.How will I change?I was told to move on and I'm backed to a wall.How will I change? I did it all praised and gave and helped who I could I understood how will I change. People wont help me now tell me to go suck it up pal how will I change.lost my job and my home my wife's gonna go, my cupboards are bare, my kids just stare, my life is so tangled How will I change? The lord is my rock he knows my needs he has me at his mercy down on my knees,do I pray for myself or for someone who needs.How will I change? Is there someone out there who might pray for me or do I stay at the cross with all of my needs.Is there anyone left any at all who would help me any at all cause I might fall. How will I change with nothing at all? Did I do something wrong or what did i say can anyone hear me what can I say.I don't have all the words but I have how it feels and it is real.Feel pushed to the side and don't know the deal.60 days to get out no where to go How will I change where will I go? Will god come on through in this life maybee not, please pray that the gates of heaven will be my lot.
I think these "Studies" are just great!
Hey! why not leave a "Comment" ??
It does not have to be long! although some always "are!"
Just say you are BLESSED!!!
and be a Blessing....
God loves us too much to leave us the way we are, but yet we struggle so much with the changes. If God's way are so much better than ours, why do we struggle?
Father....change me....Amen
Great Blog Pastor Mark. This one is particularly full of some great soul searching questions. Thanx. I hope you're having some well deserved R&R this week (and Sister Deb too!).
Shane
hey guys Lee Strobel also made the movie, "A Case for Christ".
Fantastic
for those die hard apologists, Josh McDowell's "The New Evidence That Demands A Verdict".
"More Than A Carpenter" is also a great little book by Josh McDowell packed with evidence and common sense for the case for Our Lord.
\O/ Praise Him
...whether we choose to change and grow or not choose to change and grow change will happen often times it leads to retardation. Then we ask god why.
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