Moving from "want to" to "will do"

Psalm 101
I will sing of your love and justice;
to you, Lord, I will sing praise.
² I will be careful to lead a blameless life —
when will you come to me?

I will conduct the affairs of my house
with a blameless heart.
³ I will not look with approval
on anything that is vile.

I hate what faithless people do;
I will have no part in it.
⁴ The perverse of heart shall be far from me;
I will have nothing to do with what is evil.

 ⁵ Whoever slanders their neighbor in secret,
I will put to silence;
whoever has haughty eyes and a proud heart,
I will not tolerate.
 ⁶ My eyes will be on the faithful in the land,
that they may dwell with me;
the one whose walk is blameless
will minister to me.
 ⁷ No one who practices deceit
will dwell in my house;
no one who speaks falsely
will stand in my presence.
⁸ Every morning I will put to silence
all the wicked in the land;
I will cut off every evildoer
from the city of the Lord. NIV

The first thing I noticed as I read this Psalm was David's resolve. Ten times he uses the phrase "I will." Saying "I will" is resolve to actually do something not just talk about it, or a wish for something to happen.

If your like me, there is much you would like to see change in your life and in your heart. You realize that you are not living the full life that God intended for you. You catch yourself saying "I want to change" or "I wish I could change", but find yourself stuck in the habits and hangups.

People change because of inspiration or desperation. Most of the time it takes desperation for real change to take place. Desperate people move from “want to” to “will do.”

Eric LeGrand was a football player for Rutgers University. He was paralyzed while making a tackle last season. He has been told he will never walk again. As he received the ESPN ESPY award for courage he said he was desperate to walk again. He did not say he "wanted" to walk again, he said "I will walk again."

(Click here to read more about Eric LeGrand) http://goo.gl/R9gP6

Do I really want to change? If so, I need repentance to become a way of life. Repentance is when I was going in one direction, turn around and go in a new one. Repentance both a one time experience when I put my faith in Jesus and the Holy Spirit comes to live in me. I turn from sin and self and turn to Christ. However it is on ongoing experience as well. It is daily praying as David prayed:

 

 

Psalm 139:23-24
Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.
See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. NIV

Psalm 51:10,17
Create in me a new, clean heart, O God, filled with clean thoughts and right desires…It is a broken spirit you want-remorse and penitence. A broken and a contrite heart, O God, you will not ignore. TLB

 

Its moving from want to, to will do. Will you resolve with me?

Today through the power of the gospel and the Holy Spirit...

I will stop making excuses and blaming others for what is wrong and I will take responsibility for my life. (Psalm 51:3-6)

I will stop justifying my sin and I will call out to God and affirm my hope in the gospel. (Psalm 51:1-2)

I will stop looking to other sources for direction and I will take God at His word. (Psalm 119:6)

I will stop worrying about things that are out of my control and I will bring every thought under the Lordship of Christ. (2 Corinthians 10:5)

I will stop letting discouragement rule my emotions and I will bring my emotions under the Lordship of Christ. (1 Samuel 30:6, Proverbs 4:23)

I will stop letting selfishness run my life & I will use my life to serve others. (Philippians 2:3-4)

I will stop trying to please everyone & I will find my worth in Christ. (Galatians 1:10)

I will not let bitterness and un-forgiveness rule my heart. I will forgive as Christ forgave me. (Hebrews 12:15, Colossians 3:13)

I will stop cowering down to fear and I will remind myself that God is my defender and my strength in whom shall I fear. (Romans 8:31, Psalm 27)

I will stop apathetic in my relationship with God and with others. I will make it the priority of my life.

Lessons from the garden

Suppose you could change anything about yourself. Where would you start? Most people would start with things on the outside. They would be skinnier, taller, have different hair, or teeth. Their main concern would be on their appearance. I recently read a statistic that there is over $10 billion dollars a year spent on plastic surgery in the US alone. People will do anything to try and feel better about themselves.




Anyone who has ever tried to change their outward appearance and get physically fit knows that it is hard work. Ask those who actually had success at the P90X! As hard as it is to change outwardly it might be harder to change inwardly, which according to God is more important:




"...The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” 1 Samuel 16:7 NIV




The bad news is we can't change!




Can you ever change and do what’s right? Can people change the color of their skin, or can a leopard remove its spots? If so, then maybe you can change and learn to do right. Jeremiah 13:23 CEV




The good news is we can be changed.




“Humans give life to their children. Yet only God’s Spirit can change you into a child of God." John 3:6 CEV




Change is internal:

Recently my daughter planted her first garden. She prepared the soil then planted some seeds. Carrots, beans, and a raspberry bush.


Change began to happen underground. We could not see it happen, but the seed began to grow. Change for us happens first and foremost when we put faith in Jesus. It is the seed that begins to grow inside of us through the power of the Spirit.


“When God our Savior revealed his kindness and love, he saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He washed away our sins, giving us a new birth and new life through the Holy Spirit. He generously poured out the Spirit upon us through Jesus Christ our Savior. Because of his grace he declared us righteous and gave us confidence that we will inherit eternal life.” This is a trustworthy saying, and I want you to insist on these teachings so that all who trust in God will devote themselves to doing good. These teachings are good and beneficial for everyone. Titus 3:4-8 NLT




Change is intentional:

After my daughter planted the seeds she both fertilized and watered those seeds. If we are to really change we need to make a choice to cooperate with God to change. How do we do that? How do we water and fertilize the seed if you will?

Peter teaches us how:




“His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” 2 Peter 1:3-8 NIV


Change is gradual:

When we become Christians we should not look for perfection but look for growth.




What should I be looking for to know whether I am growing and changing or not? The fruit of the Spirit.

Galatians 5:16-25
Godward fruit...love, joy, and peace
Outward fruit...patience, kindness, and goodness
Inward fruit...faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control



Author John Ortberg teaches us to ask yourself the following questions:


Am I growing more easily discouraged these days?

Am I growing more easily irritated these days?

These are great indicators of what is going inside of our hearts.




Change is inevitable:

If I am a Christ follower and if I am abiding in Christ change will happen. I will bear fruit. Jesus said:




"I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.” John 15:1-4 NIV




As of today the beans and carrots are growing. We are looking forward to harvesting our little crop. The raspberry bush produced one little raspberry as well.




My prayer for all of us is that we through the power of the Spirit and the promise of the word would change and and become the people God intended us to be.




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