Change Needed

Love you all, praying for you,
 
I just love God’s Word – it tells you what needs to change.  Have you ever sensed a need for change in your life?  Maybe not drastic, just important?   Maybe some things you’ve slipped into that aren’t the best for you.  Have you ever noticed how the devil works?  He doesn’t start you out as an ax murderer, just a drifter.  You don’t suddenly reject God’s Will or His Word, you stray first, first in your mind & heart, then in your life.  That’s why PiVAT and PRISM are so important.  His plans and His Word daily, they keep you from straying.  Several kinds of changes in life.  Your very first one was a diaper change.  Have you ever needed a change, but didn’t know it?  Something in your life, that you don’t recognize… you’re happy as a clam, but other people notice.  That’s why David said, Search me O God, and know my anxious thoughts, see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.  (Your way not mine.)  Wicked isn’t always evil, it’s just your way, instead of God’s – slightly different, seems good, but isn’t - it leads you down the wrong path.  It’s a different destination, with consequences.  You might need a change of direction, a change of heart, a change of friends, or a change of environment.  You might just need a change of mind.  That’s actually what repent means.  To think differently about something… No, it’s not OK, I need to change that.  Maybe it’s just that your schedule needs adjustment, or God is calling you to begin a new season in your life – whether school or work or workouts or diet or relationships or developing new skills that are important for your future.  It starts with vision – God’s, not yours.  You need to know what He is calling you to change, and calling you to do.  And then you need to decide if you will do it.  Or not.  When you change something, you need to replace it.  If you don’t do something different, you’ll end up doing what you did before.  No matter what the change in your life, big or small that God is leading you to - it will require a change of time.  PiVAT is important – it’s really a change of direction from your way to God’s way for you.  For any change to remain and produce fruit - a focus on some new things at the appointed time is required.  It starts with the beginning.  Sleep.  You need rest to function at your best.  They say the best hours of sleep are before midnight.  If you’re not up early, the day can easily escape you, and you’re stuck in the same cycle.  Here’s a nugget.  If you are convicted in your spirit that your schedule is a little off, maybe staying up too late, and sleeping in to late… What is the secret nugget of wisdom to get back on track?  They say go to bed on time, and you’ll get up on time.  But which comes first, the chicken or the egg?   You can’t go to bed on time.  You’ll just lie there awake – your mind racing.  You can go to bed on time, but that doesn’t mean you’ll sleep, you’re not tired, you slept in too late.  Or you took a nap in the afternoon, or evening, and now you’re awake…  The only way to break out of this rut, is to set your alarm, and get up when it goes off.  You will be exhausted for a day – but by the time its time for bed, you’ll fall asleep immediately – because by then, you’re really tired, and in one day – (as long as you get up at your alarm tomorrow) the cycle has been broken and a new cycle has started.  Habits are interesting.  They are hard to form, easy to break.  They’re only hard when you’re forming them… after that – they’re easy.  But also easy to break – you can drift if you’re not careful.  Praying that you will ask God for any change that He wants in your life.  You might not want to… or you’d already be doing it.  It will take some humility, or you won’t do it.  And it will take vision – so you see the light at the end of the tunnel, and it will take resolve until that habit is formed.  Maybe share it on your Daily Call.  So you can give that person you’re “iron sharpening iron” with - a chance to stand with you and pray for you.  So your change becomes your testimony each day – that you overcome with.  God wouldn’t put in your heart a need for change, unless He wants to bring wonderful things in your life through it…  Make sure it’s His idea, not yours… But praying that you ask Him, and be willing, and then just do it!  His grace is waiting for you… it’s enough.  This is going to be good! 
 
Love you all,
dad