Changed from the Inside Out

Changed from the Inside Out   
by Max Lucado    

When you believe in Christ, Christ works a miracle in you. You are permanently purified and empowered by God himself. The message of Jesus to the religious person is simple: It’s not what you do. It’s what I do. I have moved in. And in time you can say with Paul, “I myself no longer live, but Christ lives in me” (Gal. 2:20).

If I’m born again, why do I fall so often?

Why did you fall so often after your first birth? Did you exit the womb wearing cross-trainers? Did you do the two-step on the day of your delivery? Of course not. And when you started to walk, you fell more than you stood. Should we expect anything different from our spiritual walk?

But I fall so often, I question my salvation. Again, we return to your first birth. Didn’t you stumble as you were learning to walk? And when you stumbled, did you question the validity of your physical birth? Did you, as a one-year-old fresh flopped on the floor, shake your head and think, I have fallen again. I must not be human?

Of course not. The stumbles of a toddler do not invalidate the act of birth. And the stumbles of a Christian do not annul his spiritual birth.

Do you understand what God has done? He has deposited a Christ seed in you. As it grows, you will change. It’s not that sin has no more presence in your life, but rather that sin has no more power over your life. Temptation will pester you, but temptation will not master you. What hope this brings!

Hear this. It’s not up to you! Within you abides a budding power. Trust him!

Think of it this way. Suppose you, for most of your life, have had a heart condition. Your frail pumper restricts your activities. Each morning at work when the healthy employees take the stairs, you wait for the elevator.

But then comes the transplant. A healthy heart is placed within you. After recovery, you return to work and encounter the flight of stairs—the same flight of stairs you earlier avoided. By habit, you start for the elevator. But then you remember. You aren’t the same person. You have a new heart. Within you dwells a new power.

Do you live like the old person or the new? Do you count yourself as having a new heart or old? You have a choice to make.

You might say, “I can’t climb stairs; I’m too weak.” Does your choice negate the presence of a new heart? Dismiss the work of the surgeon? No. Choosing the elevator would suggest only one fact—you haven’t learned to trust your new power.

It takes time. But at some point you’ve got to try those stairs. You’ve got to test the new ticker. You’ve got to experiment with the new you. For if you don’t, you will run out of steam.

Religious rule keeping can sap your strength. It’s endless. There is always another class to attend, Sabbath to obey, Ramadan to observe. No prison is as endless as the prison of perfection. Her inmates find work but never find peace. How could they? They never know when they are finished.

Christ, however, gifts you with a finished work. He fulfilled the law for you. Bid farewell to the burden of religion. Gone is the fear that having done everything, you might not have done enough. You climb the stairs, not by your strength, but his. God pledges to help those who stop trying to help themselves.

“He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus” (Phil. 1:6.) God will change you from the inside out.

From Next Door Savior
Copyright (W Publishing Group, 2003) Max Lucado

When Faith Wavers   

Dr. Charles Stanley    

James 1:5-8

If we believe that God is who He says He is and will do what He has promised, why do so many of us habitually waver in our prayers? Instead of exercising bold faith, we come to the Lord “hoping” He will hear us and answer our requests, but we’re just not sure He will. With this kind of thinking, we cannot expect to receive anything from Him.

One reason we are so prone to doubt is that we fail to see God at work in our circumstances. We asked, and nothing happened. But the Lord is not some cosmic bellhop who jumps in response to our requests. He sees past, present, and future and knows the right time for every answer. His invisible hand is already at work on our behalf—arranging situations to accomplish His will, opening hearts,
and preparing us to receive what He wants to give.

Another cause for uncertainty is ignorance. If we don’t know God’s ways, we will be disappointed in His response. All too often our prayers are accompanied by expectations of how He will work. When He fails to intervene according to our timetable or anticipated method, we start to doubt. But placing our faith in the Lord and trusting in His good and perfect ways gives us stability as we wait for His answer.

To overcome doubts, spend time in the Word to learn God’s principles and ways. Then you’ll begin to grasp what He wants to achieve in your life and how He goes about it. Examine your past from a biblical perspective—faith will grow as you see the unexpected ways He answered your prayers.

Keep in Touch   

Greg Laurie    

Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. (Romans 8:34NKJV)

When it comes to prayer, we can get hung up on strange things. Maybe it’s on the structure of a prayer or the verbiage we use. Maybe it’s the posture and whether we need to close our eyes or be on our knees. We can become fixated on those things and miss the big picture of prayer.

Prayer is communication with God. When we pray, God is looking at our hearts more than anything else. That is His primary concern when we come before Him. We may think God doesn’t know what is going on and that we have to bring Him up to speed. But prayer is not informing God; prayer is inviting God. Jesus said, “For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him” (Matthew 6:8 NKJV).

Prayer is really like the relationship of a father and child. The value of prayer is that it keeps us in touch with God. And God wants to stay in touch with us.

Sometimes people will ask me to pray for them, and I try to do it there on the spot, because sometimes I’ll forget afterward. So I’ll say, “Let’s pray right now.”

It’s good to ask others to pray for you, especially if you have a problem, a challenge, or a need. We’re even encouraged to pray with each other. Jesus also said, “Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven” (Matthew 18:19 NKJV). There is power in unified prayer.

We need to pray about everything, and we should pray for one another. But even if we forget, Jesus Christ Himself is interceding and praying for us. And that is no small thing.

Copyright © 2019 by Harvest Ministries. All rights reserved.

Longing for the Last Trumpet   
by Mike Pohlman    

Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. - 1 Corinthians 15:51-52

 Jesus says, “Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death” (Jn. 8:51). A staggering promise, indeed.

For the last trumpet is what announces the second coming of the Lord Jesus. This trumpet will herald the return of the King of kings and Lord of lords—the time when the dead in Christ shall rise to sing, “Death is swallowed up in victory!” What a choir this will be! It’s the sound that will usher in the new heavens and the new earth, and that climactic moment when every knee shall bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. This is the trumpet sound I long to hear.

Ask yourself some probing questions today like, “Am I viewing my current circumstances in the light of eternity?” “What things in my life might be hindering me from longing for the last trumpet?” “What am I doing to help others see life in the light of eternity?”

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