Our transformation is a journey

Your transformation as a believer is not sudden or over night. It’s a journey and a progression of change.

First you have to be willing to change. If you made the decision to accept Jesus as Lord, but don’t feel the need to change your life, then you won’t. Everything that the Holy Spirit has to offer will be wasted.

Change begins when you move from willingness to desire. When you really want the things that God has for you, you put yourself in God’s hands. You get hungry for more of His presence and the blessing that He brings.

Once you begin to walk with new understanding of your place in the kingdom, you begin to commit yourself to God’s ways. We’re not perfect so when the slips happen, it takes commitment to stay the course and be who you are called to be.

Over time, that commitment becomes a lifestyle. You don’t have to remind yourself to live righteously, because God is in you. Your relationship with Him becomes second nature. You talk to Him and hear His voice on a daily basis.

As long as we live and breathe, the journey of transformation will continue. No matter how old you become, you’ll still be tweaked and changed by Him. The closer we get to Him, the more we’ll look like Him.

Gideon didn’t have dreams of being a great leader, but God needed him to be. God needed someone who would step up and obey what the Lord told him to do. I think Gideon was successful because he was humble. He didn’t feel qualified. He questioned God because he felt so unqualified. And that’s the heart that God can trust with authority.

The ones who feel qualified are usually too full of themselves. They may need to let go of arrogance or pride. They need to let go of how they think they should lead and let God be the one with vision.

Jesus said, When you are invited by anyone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in the best place, lest one more honorable than you be invited by him; and he who invited you and him come and say to you, ‘Give place to this man,’ and then you begin with shame to take the lowest place. But when you are invited, go and sit down in the lowest place, so that when he who invited you comes he may say to you, ‘Friend, go up higher.’ Then you will have glory in the presence of those who sit at the table with you. For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted. (Luke 14:8-11)

Jesus modeled a life of service. He showed us that He expects humility from us. When we can live in humility, He can promote us to where He needs us to be. You ability to live greater in the kingdom corresponds directly to your ability to live humbly. It’s a mindset you have to be willing to take on. It’s a lifestyle that will change everything.

I love how God used Mary, an unwed teenager; Gideon, a timid man from an insignificant family; David, the least in his father’s house, possibly illegitimate. God spoke to kings, but most of the time He used the ones who didn’t feel qualified. So why do we think that we aren’t important enough, or smart enough, or valued enough for God to use us?

One person can change history. All it takes is a willingness to obey, especially the commandment to love God and people. Once we get that down, He can use us. It doesn’t always have to be dramatic fire from heaven. He can be very subtle, but effective to establish His kingdom.

Let it be you. You be the one He uses to touch your family, your workplace, your city, your nation. Be like Samuel and say, Here am I. The humble will inherit the earth, so let humility direct your heart.

We don’t know why God chose to use us, but He does. The mess we see in society is largely due to the church not stepping up to love people the way we’re told to. Don’t wait for your friends to agree with you. Don’t wait for leaders to lead the way. God is calling you. The fields are white for harvest and there are very few laborers. Make a difference. Be the one.

Our capacity to love other people comes from God. We have to connect with His love or we’ll never love with the depth that we’re called to. We have to see people through His eyes, and He sees everyone as His precious ones.

Think about the people in your life that you love the most — a spouse, a baby, a dear friend, or even a pet. You love them more than anyone. They truly are precious to you. Now think about the strangers at the grocery store that you pass by without a second look. They are precious. They are dear souls that God loves and wants in the kingdom.

To see other people, whether you know them or not, as precious to you as they are to God takes a willingness to love deeply. You have to want to, it won’t just happen. Press into the love that God has for you and allow Him to soften your heart. Ask Him to give you His eyes and His heart. Ask Him to help you love.

Loving others will be the great key that opens all of heaven for you. Be kind. Be nice. But, above all, love His precious ones.

What happens when someone in the church falls? Do we ream them, or are we there to help them? Most of the time, people who fall are bludgeoned without mercy. We want to see repentance, and we want to see it now. When it doesn’t come, we dust our hands off and say we tried, then turn our backs. It happens more times than you’d imagine.

But Jesus has a different perspective on how we should act. What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them goes astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine and go to the mountains to seek the one that is straying? And if he should find it, assuredly, I say to you, he rejoices more over that sheep than over the ninety-nine that did not go astray. (Matt 18: 12-13)

The one that went astray used to be in the flock. It was missed. The shepherd went out of his way to go find it and bring it back. He didn’t lecture the sheep about being disobedient and deserving to be eaten by wolves.

And after this parable, Jesus talked about the servant who refused to forgive a fellow servant. (Matt 18: 21-35) It doesn’t matter what the person has done. It doesn’t matter if they repent or not. It’s not our job to judge them, it’s our job to love them, for as long as it takes. It may take years of loving and reaching out and offering help. How else will the sheep be brought back? They need to know they are welcome back, without reproach.

Let’s be a loving church. We’ve been forgiven so much ourselves.

Forgive and bless

People make mistakes. People fail. They will never be perfect. We should never hold anyone up to the perfection scale and expect them to be 100%. It’s never going to happen. The good news is that God knows that and and He’s okay with it.

Through our weakness, He is made strong, Our leaders may fall. Don’t abandon them. We are all imperfect and will all make mistakes. That’s why we’re encouraged to pray for those in authority. Pray for your leaders in the church and government. Ask God to keep them safe from harm and evil influence. Bless them with grace and wisdom.

And if they do fall, bless them. Love them. Be patient and let God do the work that needs to be done in them. Our job is to love people, not judge them. Forgive and bless. Forgive and bless.

God’s plan to use imperfect people is hard to understand at times, but it’s His way. He is able to do so much with a willing heart, even one that is still on the path to holiness.

The kingdom of God is about showing kindness.

Keeping love as our focus helps us see people as we should. People with other lifestyles and opinions are not the enemy. God loves them. He died for them, and for us to badmouth or abuse them is an affront to God’s love.

Our enemy is Satan. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age,[a] against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. (Eph 6:12)  When we remember that, it makes it easier to love people, despite our differences.

The Roman soldiers were not anyone’s favorites, but Jesus said to not only extend them courtesy, but do more than they asked. Bless those who persecute you. Stop seeing them as the enemy and start seeing them as being loved by God.

You’ve been given all the grace you need to love. You can do it. Love is a choice. Kindness is a choice. It’s who we are as citizens of the kingdom.

Humility helps you hear God.

There are two things that are vital to our life in the kingdom: loving God (and each other) and hearing the voice of God personally.

If we don’t love God first, above all things, then our priorities are misaligned. And if we’re not loving each other, we’re not obeying God. We need love filtered glasses to view everything in life. And it has to be genuine.

If we’re not hearing the voice of God personally, it means that we don’t have a relationship with Him. Jesus said, My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. (John 10:27) You have to hear Him. That means that you have to know Him and He has to know you.

How do you hear Him? You listen with your heart. Still nothing? The key to everything in God is love.  It’s the secret sauce that runs everything. Love makes you humble. Repent for being selfish, arrogant, angry, rude, fearful–everything that you know you need to repent of. Be humble before God and receive His love and forgiveness.

Suddenly the lines of communication open up and you begin to sense His presence and His voice. And the more you hear Him, the more love grows in all the ways you need it. Stay on top of it. Humility is a lifestyle. Don’t allow your communication with Him to get clogged with things you need to clear out.

Once you start hearing the voice of God personally, your life takes on new meaning and direction. Now you’re living in the kingdom with real purpose. So, what’s He saying today?