Forgiveness is

• A choice: It takes a strong decision to go against our feelings. It’s never easy, because you probably won’t ever feel like forgiving the other person.
• A principle: A successful life is one built on strong principles. Forgiveness is a powerful relational principle. Eph 4:32
• A discipline: Jesus tells us a number of times that we need to forgive again and again. It means forgiving despite strong emotions, such as anger and pain.
• A perspective – that because we as Christians have received God’s immeasurable forgiveness, we need to extend forgiveness to others. Any mistreatment we might receive pales in comparison to what Jesus suffered undeservingly on the cross in our place. I should always remember that I need forgiveness as much as anyone. And because I’ve been greatly forgiven, I should forgive others. Col 3.13
• Power. Forgiveness can bring reconciliation and healing beyond our understanding that no amount of counselling, drugs or therapy can match.
• Victory: many things today encourage us to see ourselves as victims, and many people go through their lives as victims. Sure, we’ve all been on the receiving end of some unfair treatment, and some have suffered great hardship; but going through life with a ‘victim mentality’ holds us back. Forgiveness actually releases us, lifting us above the negative emotions and making us victors – conquerors. It brings an inner victory that can strengthen every area of our lives.

This isn’t just about big issues; it’s about all the smaller challenges we all face from day to day – with our families and friends, at work and in church. Deciding to exercise forgiveness is like packing an umbrella – it will protect you when the storms hit.

We all need to ask ourselves: Am I easily hurt or offended? Am I quick to forgive, or do I hold onto grudges? Do I need to forgive someone so that I can find release?

The question we all need to answer: When offences come, how will I respond?

‘Forgiveness doesn’t make the other person right, but it sets me free.’

We’ve all experienced offence – being hurt by others. As young children we probably encountered it from siblings and in the playground. As adults we all experience unfair treatment from time to time. Forgiving others doesn’t come naturally or easily at any age. But unforgiveness can tear friendships apart and cause family members to avoid each other for years, even decades. Maybe you’ve seen this happen; or maybe you’ve experienced the release that forgiveness can bring.

In the book of Genesis – in the very first family – we see the very first murder, the result of Cain’s unresolved anger and jealousy arising from unforgiveness towards his brother Abel.

Offence is something we all have to deal with now and again – in fact it’s unavoidable:

Luke 17:1 Then He (Jesus) said to the disciples, “It is impossible that no offences should come… (NKJ)

What is ‘offence’? It’s when we feel hurt, humiliated or disregarded.

It’s the inevitable consequence of relationships that we will feel offended at times. Why? Because none of us are perfect, and we all have different viewpoints. We can respond to offence in the heat of emotion, letting our anger and disappointment take over; or we can decide on a set of values that predetermines how we will react when it occurs.

The whole theme of the Cross is one of love and forgiveness. If we strip everything back, the Easter message is all about God’s love for us – a love so deep it forgives us completely, giving us a fresh start – a whole new life. We should never take the Cross for granted. Easter is a perpetual reminder that no-one else could have achieved what Jesus accomplished on the Cross.

Easter is not an accident. It was in God’s plan before He even created the world.

1 Peter 1:18-20 For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, ¹⁹ but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. ²⁰ He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake.

It was prophesied in both the Old Testament:

Isaiah 53:4-7 Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. ⁵ But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. ⁶ We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. ⁷ He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.

…and in the New Testament:

John 1:29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!

In fact God’s love for us is so great it’s beyond our comprehension. No matter how far down life may take us, we are never beyond the reach of God’s great love and forgiveness. Many whose stories we read about in the Bible were greatly forgiven: Samson, David and Saul (The Apostle Paul) to name a few.

Jesus’ very nature is forgiveness. Even while dying on the Cross, His reaction is one of forgiveness and love for undeserving people. On the Cross He bore the weight of all our sin, sickness and sorrow. In those days many were put to death by crucifixion, including some of His followers, but He was the only one without sin – the only person in history who didn’t deserve to pay the price; and yet He willingly paid it for us.

Of the two thieves on either side of Jesus, one mocked Him and rejected Him – the other received His mercy and accepted His love.

Luke 23:39-43 One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!” ⁴⁰ But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? ⁴¹ We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.” ⁴² Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” ⁴³ Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.

To this day people are still divided in how they react to the Cross. Many people think they’re good enough to be acceptable to God on their own merits alone, but the Bible tells us otherwise – none of us make the grade. Jesus is our ultimate substitute – He payed the penalty for our shortfall.

The message of the entire Bible is one of love and forgiveness. The Father sent His Son on a rescue mission to:

• re-establish our connection with Him and restore life to our spirits – now and for eternity
• release us from the guilt and shame of our sinful nature  so we can experience His forgiveness
• free us from having to continually try to fix ourselves up in order to make ourselves good enough to be ‘presentable’ to Him
• help us gain freedom from and victory over destructive behaviours

…and more. The price for all this: Jesus’ death on the Cross.

We’ve already looked at the story of the servant, who, having desperately begged for the King’s mercy, was forgiven of a massive debt, but then demanded immediate repayment from someone who owed him a very small amount. When the king found out what had happened, he threw this man into prison.

Don’t forget this little story. It serves as a reminder that we, who have been forgiven an immeasurable debt through Jesus’ death on the cross, need to develop a healthy fear of getting caught up in the grip of unforgiveness. We don’t want to end up like this fellow, imprisoned by bitterness and tortured by pain.

On a small scale – having a spirit of forgiveness will help you to get along with people everyday. We all face small challenges in this area daily. We are all human – none of us are perfect in our dealings with each other. People will let us down, sell us short, treat us carelessly and fail to live up to our expectations – often without even realising it.

There will also be occasions where we face really big challenges in this area. Make sure you hang onto this thought for those times!

Our ability to forgive, especially when it concerns major incidents, needs to come from our understanding that God has completely released us from the debt we owed and offered us His undeserved grace. We need to learn to let go of hurt and offence, and extend the grace we’ve received from Him towards others. It’s easy to forget that we need to go beyond simply receiving God’s grace – we need to be able to pass it on.

How easily do we take offence? How hard we find it to release hurt?  If we lean towards carrying anger, harbouring bitterness and overreacting to small hurts we can easily end up losing perspective, becoming constantly grumpy and resentful.

Many major relational issues actually stem back to unforgiveness.  Unforgiveness never fixes the problem – it just holds us in negative thought patterns. It not only holds us captive, bringing us down and, torturing us with pain, but it can also spill out onto those around us – often hurting people who may have nothing to do with the original issue.

Heb 12:15 Look after each other so that none of you fails to receive the grace of God. Watch out that no poisonous root of bitterness grows up to trouble you, corrupting many.

Unforgiveness is like a seed of bitterness, often starting out as a relatively small thought in our mind. But can easily grow like a noxious weed to fill our emotions with hate and anger. If allowed to grow, it can take root in our spirit, expanding and multiplying, gripping our heart and ruling our lives. Like dealing with weeds – they are so much easier to get rid of when they first appear. Leave them be for some time and they take root, expanding and multiplying until they take over large areas, engulfing and destroying everything else.

In 2 Sam 13-18 we read the sad story of Absalom – a young man with plenty going for him – the King’s son, handsome and attractive. But as the story unfolds, we see his life go from bad to worse as he becomes consumed by anger and unforgiveness. He arranges the murder of his half brother, and later commits sexual sin – a similar act to the one that originally angered him, becoming the thing he hated most. Eventually he dies tragically, having threatened to kill his father and destabilise the entire kingdom.

What a vivid picture of a life consumed and ultimately destroyed by unforgiveness.

If we are living in unforgiveness:

1. We are living in contradiction to scripture. We can’t even get through praying the Lord’s Prayer or claim its promises, as it clearly directs us to forgive others, just as we ourselves have been forgiven by God.

Mat 6:15 If you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins.

The emphasis is on us forgiving others as we have been forgiven.

2. We imprison ourselves – holding onto grudges traps us in a prison of pain and anger.

If we allow a root of bitterness to take hold of our hearts it can actually poison our system, leading to emotional and physical damage. I’m the one who pays the greatest price, the one who suffers the most. Studies have shown connections between unforgiveness and the resulting long term feelings of anger and bitterness with depression, heart disease, immune system breakdown, broken families and dysfunctional behaviour patterns.

3. It can become a repeating cycle, even carrying over through many generations. You risk becoming the very thing you hate. Absalom repeated the action he deplored, continuing the cycle of abuse. Victims often end up becoming perpetrators.

Freedom is only found through forgiveness. It’s a ‘cycle-breaker’ – the only way out of the prison. Forgiveness doesn’t make the other person right; it makes me free.

4. Innocent people pay the price – the tendency is always for anger and bitterness to leak out onto those around us. You may think you’ve got it under control, but that’s not the way things usually play out – it tends to break out at some point, damaging others. This kind of hurt never limits itself to just one relationship.

We all need to remember this message – we will all have plenty of opportunities in life to apply this teaching!

Forgiveness is a major theme in the Bible, but it’s a whole lot easier to talk about than it is to do. As Christians, we need to learn to put it into practice. We all have times when we are unhappy with how others have treated us. There will also be times for all of us where we need to ask for forgiveness – and forgive ourselves.

Unforgiveness can destroy relationships, tearing families and friendships apart. It can also bind us in destructive holding patterns, sometimes even contributing to physical symptoms similar to those caused by excessive stress and anxiety.  People can remain bound up in bitterness and resentment for years, trapped in negative thought patterns that continually undermine their relationships.

But finding forgiveness sets us free, releasing us from the hold of destructive emotions and attitudes. That’s why Jesus taught about forgiveness a number of times. He wanted to help us avoid the pain and dysfunction caused by harbouring long-term unforgiveness in our hearts.

In Matthew 15:23-35 Jesus relates a story about a servant who, having been forgiven of a massive debt himself, promptly turns around and demands immediate payment from another servant who owes him a very small amount. We may think this is just a story about a mean-spirited man who acts in a very ungracious manner; but to really understand this parable, we need to realise that it actually refers directly to every one of us.

In this story the King represents God; the first servant refers to us; while the prison speaks of how unforgiveness can lock up our lives. Through Jesus, we have been forgiven of every wrong we will ever commit, every bad thought, and every time we miss the mark. Yet we can so easily get caught up in complaining about how we’ve been let down – often over quite minor incidents or issues. Shouldn’t we stop being so small minded?

Prior to this, Peter suggested we should be generous enough to forgive others up to seven times. But Jesus amazed them by declaring we need to forgive four hundred and ninety times!  In other words, we shouldn’t keep score of how many times we’ve been wronged.

Mat 18:21-22 (NKJV) Then Peter came to Him and said, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?” ²² Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.

Matthew 18:15 deals with an important issue: how we should handle personal grievances amongst church members.

Mat18:15 Moreover if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother.

If you feel you have been wronged by someone at church, do your best to sort the issue out with the other person in private. Don’t spread your discontent onto others by airing your grievances publicly.

‘Forgiveness doesn’t make the other person right, but it makes you free.’ Why should we forgive others even when what they did was wrong? Because of how much we’ve been forgiven of by God. Sometimes we may need to ask God to help us find the ability to forgive.

Are you hanging onto grudges that are tainting your life with bitterness and anger? Sometimes we can be clutching onto hurts from so far back we don’t even realise that they still have a grip on us, imprisoning us in pain and grief.

We all know what it’s like to be wronged. But have we learned to override our instinctive reactions and move into forgiveness?

Remember: If you carry unforgiveness, the person who pays the biggest price is you.

God’s Word tells us that as we put Him first and give into His house we will be abundantly blessed in return. Cindi and I have both experienced this time and time again, even since long before becoming pastors.

But let’s look beyond a ‘What’s in it for me?’ mentality. When we really think about the price Jesus paid for our salvation, the transforming work He does in our lives, and the blessings He’s already given us, doesn’t it make sense to just want to give back in return without actually looking for a reward, knowing that whatever we give will be used to help others?

Mat 21:2-3 “Go into the village over there,” he (Jesus) said. “As soon as you enter it, you will see a donkey tied there, with its colt beside it. Untie them and bring them to me. ³If anyone asks what you are doing, just say, ‘The Lord needs them,’ and he will immediately let you take them.” (Which is exactly what happened.)

Let’s focus on the donkey owner for a moment. When he heard that ‘The Lord needed them’, he instantly released the donkeys for his master to use as he wished. He didn’t ask questions or debate the issue. He seemed to have had a good understanding of ‘stewardship’ – that what he had been given charge over actually belonged to his master. He gave out of an obedient heart.

Giving into God’s kingdom is depositing into an eternal account. Giving financially helps resource the church in a very practical way. As a church we want to help people connect with God and encourage them in their walk with Him, but doing this requires finance.

For the church to be able to

• teach the word
• facilitate great worship
• be a place of spiritual refuge
• strengthen families
• be there for people going through a crisis
• build Godly character in the lives of our members
• disciple people and help them mature
• mobilise them in their daily lives and workplaces and
• raise up workers for Christ

each of us needs to be playing our part in supporting it financially.

Resourcing the church enables it to help more people receive salvation, healing, help, care friendship, guidance, transformation and training. It’s investing in people’s eternities.

The church is God’s way of reaching people and helping them live the life He calls us to. It’s Jesus’ great building project, and His word tells us it isn’t failing or going under – it will ultimately win through to be a glorious success story.

Our tithe is a tenth of our income, the portion specified by God as His part. An offering is something above that – a sacrificial gift, given in faith because we believe in the cause – the mandate of the local church to bring God’s voice to our community.

To think about: Would I still give, even if there were nothing in it for me other than the satisfaction of giving?

God wants us to live a favored life, but it’s our choice. Yes, it’s a gift, but there are requirements to qualify for receiving God’s favour. It is a partnership between God’s goodness and His desires for us, and our alignment to His ways and principles. It involves things like obedience, yielding, submitting, honouring and following.

God favoured Abel over Cain, Isaac over Ishmael, Jacob over Esau, Joseph over his brothers, Moses over Aaron, and David over his brothers.

We are all offered God’s favour, but we have to learn to live in it. Some people seem to live in constant conflict, loss, chaos or lack – the opposite of what they are actually entitled to.

So how do you live in favour? Here are a few keys:

1. Honour God with your life.
2. Make room for the Holy Spirit to direct you daily
3. Partner with Godly people

Proverbs 3:6 In everything you do put God first and He will direct and crown your life with success. (Living Bible)

It’s easy to forget the prayers we prayed in the early stages of an endeavour. Once we attain a certain level we can so easily fall into thinking we did it all ourselves, forgetting how much God’s favour helped us get there.

Proverbs 3:1–6 (NLT) My child, never forget the things I have taught you. Store my commands in your heart. ²If you do this, you will live many years, and your life will be satisfying. ³Never let loyalty and kindness leave you! Tie them around your neck as a reminder. Write them deep within your heart.

⁴Then you will find favour with both God and people, and you will earn a good reputation.

⁵Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. ⁶Seek His will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.

Favour is an added grace over our lives! Let’s pray and believe for:

• Open doors as we launch our community care
• Favour with our city
• Favour with finances so we have more than enough to passionately, and without limitations, pursue our vision, and bless others
• Favour with salvations
• Favour with growth in our services
• Favour with our ministries

Join us, as together we seek His favour on our lives and on our church this week!

We see many instances of the favour of God resting on people’s lives in the Bible. Whenever this happened, their lives changed for the better.

Noah and his family: Favour saves: Because of Noah’s steadfast faith, he and his family were favoured and given a plan which enabled them to survive a worldwide flood.

Joseph – Favour opens doors: Sold by his brothers as a slave, framed for adultery, and left to languish into a vile prison cell for years despite his innocence, Joseph maintains his steadfast faith throughout some of the worst circumstances imaginable. Jacob emerges from this difficult time to eventually become one of the most highly regarded officials in Egypt, and to rescue his family from famine.

Genesis 39:21 (ESV) But the Lord was with Joseph and showed him steadfast love and gave him favour in the sight of the keeper of the prison.

Samuel – Favour attracts: 1 Samuel 2:26 (NLT) Meanwhile, the boy Samuel grew taller and grew in favour with the Lord and with the people.

David – Favour promotes: David knew God’s favour from an early age. He was anointed to become King as a youth, even though at first when his father was asked to gather all his sons before the prophet, David was totally overlooked. (1 Sam 16:11-13)

Favour protects: Psalm 30:7 (NLT) Your favour, O Lord, made me as secure as mountain.

Favour covers: Psalm 5:12 (ESV) For you bless the righteous, O Lord; you cover him with favour as with a shield.

Favour helps: Psalm 106:4 (NLT) Remember me, Lord, when you show favour to your people; come near and rescue me.

Esther – Favour brings influence: Esther 7:3 (NLT) Queen Esther replied, “If I have found favour with the king, and if it pleases the king to grant my request, I ask that my life and the lives of my people will be spared.

Jesus Favour brings recognition: Luke 2:52 (NLT) Jesus grew in wisdom and in stature and in favour with God and all the people.

The early church – Favour brings growth: Acts 2:46-7 And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, ⁴⁷Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.

There have been many times in my own life where God has shut doors that I thought I should have gone through – and in hindsight I’m always glad He did! His favour has also opened up some amazing opportunities that I could never have brought about on my own.

Our prayer for favour:

“Lord, today I believe, receive, and declare I have Your favour in my life. I am strong, I am blessed, and I am a victor, not a victim. I am succeeding, and what I set my hand to do will prosper. I am a whole and favoured person because of Your grace.”

Let’s make this our prayer for the week and see God move in our favour!

In this world where daily headlines shout the bad news about crime, debt and dysfunction, it’s easy to get dragged down into negativity. But just as the word of God has a way of lifting us up, stirring our faith and giving us hope for the future, His favour on our lives is also very powerful. It opens doors and turns situations around, bringing change – and promotion.

After a year of unexpected disasters including a flood at our West End facility and a fire at our Carindale Campus Venue, I’m believing God for a year of favour on our church and our families.

We see many instances of the favour of God resting on people’s lives in the Bible. Whenever this happened, their lives changed for the better. Favour is Grace – an unearned gift.

Being favoured means you will:

• Be regarded as a special person, be treated with kindness, treated with care; be afforded advantage for success; have a special edge

• Have hearts turned toward you in approval; have a change of attitude in a positive and acceptable direction
• Be well placed, positioned for success

Finding favour doesn’t negate the fact that we still need to play our part by working hard, living by Godly principles, employing wise strategies and managing other aspects such as our health, relationships and talents well. But at times, even when people seem to be doing everything right, they still don’t really seem to find the fruit of their endeavours.

Just like a farmer whose newly planted crop gets destroyed by a storm, sometimes even when we do everything right, unforseen circumstances can arise and the outcome isn’t what we were after.  That’s when we need God’s favour. He can turn things around if we let Him move.

Joel 2:25-6 I (The Lord) will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter, my great army, which I sent among you. ²⁶ You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, and praise the name of the Lord your God, who has dealt wondrously with you…

Our prayer for favour:

“Lord, today I believe, receive, and declare I have Your favour in my life. I am strong, I am blessed, and I am a victor, not a victim. I am succeeding, and what I set my hand to do will prosper. I am a whole and favoured person because of Your grace.”

Let’s be sure to do our part, and then believe for God’s favour on all we do.

19.2.12

Vision Sunday

At Lifeplace, we are building from a solid heritage towards a bright future. The generous giving of many people over the years has set us in good financial standing to launch out with great potential to impact our city.

Mind you, last year certainly didn’t go exactly as planned, with major flooding at our West End premises followed by a fire which caused extensive damage to our Carindale venue. Yet despite the difficulty of coping with such events, God has been faithful, turning things around for our benefit, while our church has shown resilience by continuing to thrive and grow.

In the wake of the Brisbane floods in January, a hardy group of church members joined the ‘mud warriors’ and gave their time and energy to help a number of local businesses in the cleanup process.

Our downstairs area at West End was eventually restored, resulting in a brand new, purpose-built children’s facility.

We planned and recently launched our fourth Sunday service at six pm in Carindale.

Dedicated Campus Pastors were appointed at both Campuses.

We hosted various events, including our Carols nights.

As we look towards the future, we want to continue to be more than just a place where people meet at Sunday services. Our vision is to be the church ‘Beyond Sundays’. We are a community of people who enjoy ‘doing life’ together, building friendships and supporting each other.  Areas where you can connect with other members of the church other than our Sunday Services include:

• Home Groups that meet during the week in people’s homes, for discussion, prayer and friendship.
• Social Groups involving sporting and activity based themes.
• Courses – Curriculum based sessions which will run for a set time period. These include ‘Belong’, our Membership course, ‘Serve’, our training course for active participants in various areas of ministry; and ‘Lead’, our leadership training module. We will also be running various educational courses such as Parenting, New Christians, and Managing Your Finances.

We are all called to Ministry within our families, amongst our friends and those we meet, in our workplaces, and in the church. It takes a lot of work to run a growing church! Lifeplace relies on a growing team of willing helpers who contribute their time and energy by serving in many different areas. Various departments need extra workers, and we encourage every church member to find out how they can contribute.  No matter how busy we are, there will be something each of us can do to help out. Find out what you can do to contribute, whether it’s working in the Café, Children’s Church, Hosting, maintenance/cleaning, manning the Sales Desk, Worship, or maybe assisting with a group.

At present our website is functioning well. Most people who attend a service actually check us out online first, and a large number view our welcome video. Our newly updated video will give people an even better idea of who we are.

Our radio program and ‘one minute segments’ are already going national, and we are gearing up for TV.

We are looking into creating a ‘Global Online Campus’ for people who can’t actually attend one of our meetings. Think of the possibilities – Lifeplace going into prisons or nursing homes. It will also help you stay in touch if you are travelling outside of Brisbane. We also have a phone app under development.

We are working towards setting up a ‘Community Care’ support system, which will enable us to sow into various areas of need in our local community.

We will be praying and planning towards starting up another Lifeplace Campus in Brisbane.

Our vision at Lifeplace involves every one of us, and it will take all of us working together to see it fulfilled. Thank you for joining us on this life-changing journey as we work together to take Lifeplace into an exiting future. We are looking forward to an amazing year of favour!

Why do I often link finances, health and relationships into my messages? Because they’re things we all face when we get home from church – our daily challenges, the stuff we deal with when Monday kicks in, the topics we discuss around the dinner table. And they’re all areas that often present considerable difficulties.

We all know we have areas that need improvement, but changing our behaviour in order to achieve better results isn’t always easy. It can mean dealing with long-standing habits or behaviour patterns, some of which may have even been carried down through generations.

Rom 12:2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

This passage refers to the metamorphosis of a caterpillar into a butterfly – a picture of radical transformation. Mere surface level changes won’t cut it – we need to go deeper. For God to transform us we need to align our thoughts and our values with what His word says about us. It’s part of the process of moving forward into His calling for our lives. As we do so, we will achieve growth and find fruitfulness.

Being open to change is essential for learning how to live a Godly life. God wants to shape us, train us, and transform us. Yet in a world where everything around us seems to change so rapidly, why do we find real lasting change so difficult to sustain?

Deut 30:6 The Lord your God will change your heart and the hearts of all your descendants, so that you will love him with all your heart and soul and so you may live! (NLT)

Rom 12:2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

We are not to mimic the behaviour of the world but to let God transform us into someone new – by adjusting the way we think.

These scriptures speak of our heart and our mind, at the very core of who we are. We CAN create lasting changes in our behaviour, but only if we make some changes in our thought life and our core values.

We tend to run our daily lives on ‘autopilot’. It takes deliberate action to ‘press the pause button’, take  time out to examine our lifestyle, habits and behaviour in the light of God’s word and enlist the help of the Holy Spirit to actually make some permanent changes.

Most of us know we need to change some things about ourselves, yet very few of us even manage to stick to our New Year’s resolutions. Why do we find making changes so difficult? How do we change our values and alter the way we think?

Let’s look at where habits and behaviour patterns come from. They emerge from the deep pool of heart-level values we all have inside us. For radical changes to be made in a business, the whole value system and culture of the organisation needs to change, not just a few externals. It’s the same for us: we need to allow God’s word to come in and work on us at a heart level.

Our lives are a bit like icebergs. Others only see about one-fifth of who we are – our external values. These appear at a surface level, but another four fifths remains concealed: our hidden values. We tend to focus on the surface level – what others see. But there’s much more to who we really are. It’s these hidden areas that shape us and ultimately determine our behaviour. If you want to make real changes, you need to go beyond surface level.

I see many people focus on the externals. They think changing their hairstyle, getting a new job or even moving to a new location will drastically change things for them. Yet six months down the track, they’re still dealing with the same issues. Change actually requires YOU to change in the hidden areas of your life. This is why financial experts zero in on the way you think about money; why the best trainers, coaches and counsellors search out underlying issues that need to be addressed.

What values and habitual behaviours is God encouraging you to change right now?

• Believe God for healing.

We all need to call on God’s healing power at times. Though doctors do wonderful work, even they admit that there are limitations to their knowledge and sometimes they just don’t have all the answers. God created us – learn to seek Him for healing and apply His word to health challenges. Get hold of some of the many verses in the Bible about healing and speak them over your condition; use them to pray for the needs of others.

• Live a healthy lifestyle.

Even young children usually know which foods are good and bad for them – and how good the all bad stuff tastes! Lack of knowledge isn’t really the problem. It’s actually applying what we already know that’s the biggest challenge!

Here’s a key: God created us and wants us to be healthy – in spirit, soul and body. Your health is important.

3Jn 2:2 Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well. (NLT)

1Tim 4:8 Physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.

Paul indicates that although physical training is not as important as Godliness, it still has considerable value. You can do more for God if you’re fit and healthy!

1Cor 6:19 Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, ²⁰ for God bought you with a high price. So you must honour God with your body. (NLT)

With our busy lifestyles it’s easy to neglect our health, giving other areas such as our job, studies and daily demands priority over healthy living. Sadly, we may not realise how much our health affects every area of our lives until we lose it.

• Be proactive regarding your physical health. Just praying for healing isn’t enough – pursue a healthy lifestyle. How you live now will have a huge affect on your future. And remember, managing my food intake and exercise program is totally up to me – I can’t delegate it to anybody else!

• Have an exercise plan and stick to a routine. Find ways to get active. Program in some kind of physical activity at least three to five times every week – especially if you work at a desk job.

• Eat healthy food and avoid overeating. Learn about good nutrition. Don’t take in more in than you’re giving out.

• Have some form of accountability. Find a trainer, get with a buddy, or join a team. We all benefit from having people around us who will regularly motivate us and encourage us to stick with the program!

• Make friends with people who are healthier and fitter than you are. They will boost your motivation. Don’t spend too much time with those who aren’t – it’ll be even easier to get complacent!

• Push the momentum – get it working in your favour. If it’s taken years to get into the condition you’re in now, don’t expect to reverse it overnight. Think in years and commit to bite-sized adjustments that will keep you making steady progress.

We all find time for what we really value. Where does your health rank in your priority list? Put a high value on your health – it should be right up there with your top priorities. Change your values and you’ll see things start to change in your life.

This could be your best year – put a high premium on your health, make some wise choices and watch God move in your favour!

• It’s not just a one-off event – it lasts a lifetime. Change is a lifelong process, not a singular event – a journey rather than a destination. Don’t expect major changes to happen overnight; don’t give up if they take awhile to consolidate.
• It’s Scriptural: This is why we all need to get it happening in our lives. We need a steady input of God’s word to keep the changes flowing. Yes, His word is encouraging, but it’s also challenging! We need to be regularly reading and hearing the word. As we do, it won’t take too long before we get challenged to change! Come to church attuned to His voice, ready to be challenged. How’s the ratio of your Bible reading compared to input from other sources such as TV, internet, news, magazines?
• It’s directed by the Holy Spirit. He knows your ways and will tell you things, give you ideas and nudge you into action. God will put things on your heart and light up particular areas to you. Be open to His voice (which often just comes as an inner sensing than rather an audible sound) and learn to listen to His promptings.
• It involves every area of your life. It’s not just about your Sundays or even just spiritual areas. It applies to every area of your life, often in very practical, down-to-earth ways.
• Don’t expect it to be easy – true change never is. And God has a way of pinpointing the particular areas where we don’t want to change! We cry “I’m not ready” or “any other area than that one!” but the Christian walk is not always ‘a walk in the park’! Sometimes the seasons we’re finding the toughest are actually instigated by God. In fact God will use difficulty and challenge as catalysts for growth.
• God is creative – he can bring change in unexpected ways. He orchestrates circumstances that challenge us, encouraging growth. We can get complacent when things are going too easily! It’s easy to resist growth and get stuck in a rut. A key – learn to change quickly. We need to stay flexible, adaptable and teachable.

To think about: Have I made significant God-directed growth/changes in the last year? If not, am I really listening to what God is trying to tell me?

We all like asking God to change what we think He should – but are we asking Him what we need to change?

One of the things I love most about church involvement is seeing how God can transform people’s lives. Whenever God gets involved in someone’s life, changes start happening; from day one, our Christian walk is an ongoing, lifelong journey of dramatic change. It’s a foundational truth that God changes people.

God often uses commonplace, practical things to teach us things. In this story, God tells Jeremiah to watch a potter – an everyday artisan, a tradesman of the time – going about his daily work, and to learn about life from what he sees.

Jer 18:1-4 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD: ² “Go down to the potter’s house, and there I will give you my message.” ³ So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel. ⁴ But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him…

The raw material used by the potter is nothing fancy, just an ordinary lump of clay dug from the ground, something which would probably be discarded as having no value by anyone else.

First the clay needs to be washed with water to remove large impurities such as stones and plant matter – often a number of times.

Next it is thrown onto the wheel, where further work is done to remove any other impurities and inconsistencies. If it’s not working out as intended, the potter may squash the clay back into a lump and start the process again. As the wheel continuously spins, the pot is gradually worked into the desired shape.

Then it is allowed to dry, glazed, and baked in an oven.

You Can Change Your Life: The Potter’s Hand from Lifeplace on Vimeo.

How does all this apply to us?

God is the potter.

Is 64:8 Yet you, Lord, are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand.

Rom 9:20-21 But who are you, a human being, to talk back to God? Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, “Why did you make me like this?” ²¹ Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for special purposes and some for common use?

We like to think we are in total control but our lives actually belong to Him – He’s in charge. The clay doesn’t shape itself – the potter has sovereign power over the clay. We all need God to shape us.

Clay itself has very little value until it has been processed into something useful or attractive. Like the work of a talented artist, the finished product has much greater value than the cost of the raw materials used to create it. The potter has a plan – a vision of what he wants to produce – a finished product in mind. God has a clear plan for who He wants you to be.

The wheel is like the ‘daily grind’ – the repetition of life. Imperfections are smoothed down. Form begins to take shape. It’s the constant motion that makes the process possible. God moulds us on the wheel of life. We need to be in motion to be in the process.

The oven strengthens the vessel. Even after it’s been shaped, the clay is of no use until it’s been heated and hardened, giving it strength and durability. The oven represents difficulties and pressures in our lives. Feel like you’re in a tough time or maybe even a crisis? These are the times when we need to remind ourselves that God is still at work on us, even though things seem difficult. In fact God uses these times to give us the incentive to change.

Change is hard. But never forget that God is at work on our lives fashioning something attractive and useful. Notice that the potter didn’t discard the clay because of faults and imperfections. In fact God NEVER gives up on us – we are the ones who tend to give up on ourselves (or others) too easily. No matter what season of life you’re in right now, God is at work in you, helping you to change and grow, creating something incredible. You have never been shelved for good – you are not forgotten.

We all have many opportunities for dynamic, powerful, life-transforming change in every area of our lives – our family/marriages, careers, finances, relationships, and church involvement.

What’s the condition of your ‘clay’? Is it soft and pliable? Or has it gone dry, setting hard to become tough, and unworkable? Are there impurities, inconsistencies or cracks? Are you resisting the changes God wants to make in you? Unwillingness to change can close the doors on your future potential. The more we give ourselves to the change process, the more useful we become. And remember, church is ‘The Potter’s House’ – the place where the transformation begins.

What’s the potter working on in you right now? Whatever this week holds for you, be attentive to what the potter is doing in your life. Decide on a few areas and make these your points of faith for the next few weeks. Open up the door to change, and refuse to give up on yourself. If you really want God to move on your life in a big way this year, make it the year you allow Him to make big changes in YOU, and get ready to see the amazing plan He has for your life unfold!