In a daily reading by Bob Gass, I recently read of how God wants to change us. The inspirational message said that God doesn’t want to change our personality but rather change our character, as He’s not looking to produce clones.
“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who i have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.” Romans 8:28-29
Romans 8:29 tell us that God wants us to be changed; conformed into the image of His Son, and this all happens through the workings of the Holy Spirit in the circumstances of our lives. Amos 3:3 says;
“How can 2 people walk together accept they agree?”
How can we walk with God if we don’t agree with what He says? When you understand what God is doing in your life it makes things a lot easier, and you can then move a lot faster, and even run in the dark if necessary.
God is always wanting to change us so that we may bring forth more fruit for Him, and keep bringing forth more fruit. But this will only happen as we allow Him to prune us. Look at John 15:2.
“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.”
Pruning is from God but it can be hard to take at times. When it happens it’s not that He doesn’t like us, but that He is wanting us to bring forth more fruit for Him. Pruning is good for us, but it often hurts, and is always intended that we produce more fruit.
From the beginning of our Christian lives, God has wanted to train us to grow in a certain direction and will prune us back so that we end up going the way He has chosen for us. If you really want to walk with God then you need to agree with what He’s saying and doing in your life.
He is a wonderful Gardener and He is always busy in His garden day or night. The amazing thing is that He’s not only working around us but also in us. Did you know that you have someone working for you? It’s God who is working for you all the time and He isn’t working against you, as the Devil would have you think. Isaiah 64:4 says that God ‘WORKS’ for those who wait for Him. Its amazing that the God of the Universe works for us. He’s on our team.
“For since the world began, no ear has heard and no eye has seen a God like you, who works for those who wait for him!” Isaiah 64:4 NLT
It also says in Romans 8:28 that God is WORKING ‘all things’ together for our good’ - to those who love Him.
I often say to myself that the Council is working for me when they cut the grass on the Rugby Field and the workers in the Park are on my staff cleaning up the path and pruning the shrubs for me every day. All this is WORKING for ME.
He’s working for us and also in us. Look at Philippians 2:13
“For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.”
Do you believe this? The success of God working on the outside and the inside of us is determined by our attitude. Romans 8:28 says that all things are working for our good, (even the hot and the cold weather, and also the good the bad and the ugly.) We need to remember that it’s not just the apparently good things but also the bad things that can work for our good.
“Always be joyful. Never stop praying. Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.” 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 says that in all things we are to give thanks, for this is the will of God concerning us. We need to Praise Him even when it hurts, for “The Lord gives and the Lord takes away,” as it says in the Book of Job.
I remember when my dad died while I was overseas in Zimbabwe. I couldn’t come back to the funeral and hadn’t seen him for years. I was heart broken. God showed me a verse in the book of Acts where Abraham moved on into Canaan after his father had died. I felt the Lord was speaking to me and decided to thank God for the life of my dad and move on in Christ. A prop had been taken away in my life and I was now going to move on in God. I didn’t let this sadness hold me back from moving on with God into my inheritance. Now Father God was my only Father.
There are times when you will be rejected, lose your job, your car packs up, and relationships sour, but in all these things we must give thanks, for God has promised that He will work all things together for our good, and this is even the apparently ‘bad things.’ In these times lets show our love for Him by praising Him regardless. Offering the sacrifice of Praise.
“By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.” Hebrews13:15
If you decide not to praise God and just moan when things go wrong, then you are not agreeing with Him, and if that’s the case then you are not walking with Him, Amos 3:3. The Children of Israel perished in the wilderness with this kind of attitude, for they were moaning all the time and not trusting God and His word to bring them into Canaan Land.
Have you ever been on a Church Camp and the weather ended up terrible? You weren’t able to get outside as much as you had hoped? God says that in all things we are to give thanks for He is working everything out for our good. It’s on times like this, that our relationship with others can be developed for we are forced to spend more time indoors with people we would otherwise not have been with. When bad things like this happen, ask God to show you what He is doing, and expect to see some good come out of it.
The Bible says; “Blessed in the sight of the Lord is the death of His Saints.” Psalm 116:15
We often think this verse is just talking about when a Christian dies and goes to Heaven, but it means far more than that. Its speaking of how God wants us to die to self. He can either tell you what you are to do when it’s hard or He can shut a situation down without your approval. It’s not that God doesn’t like us, or that the things we are involved in are wrong. He just wants our strength to be in Him more and not in things, by taking away the props.
For instance, it’s not that money is evil. It’s the love of money that is the root of all evil. It’s the love of money that’s the problem not money itself. The bible says that we are not to love the world. It’s not that we are to shun the world, but to treat the things of the world lightly. Not to love it too much, for it’s all passing away, and we can’t take anything with us when we leave this planet.
When I was ‘Born Again’ in my early 20s, I ‘buzzed’ off my senses all the time. There was little depth in my life and the world meant a lot to me. As time went by God began to take away the ‘props’ that I had lent on for so long. He placed me far away from home in Rhodesia, which wasn’t as modern and high tech as the country I was from. In fact when I came to South Africa they still didn’t have TV back then. The Church I was part of frowned on movies and modern Christian music, so I ended up spending a lot of time in the word and prayer.
God worked this all out for my good, as this kind of lifestyle strengthened me in God. I had to go into the Army there too and came through it all a stronger Christian, while some other Christians around me fell away from their faith.
Later on He let me go back to some of those things I had left behind but they had no power over me anymore, I could now love them or leave them. God’s working in and around us is all to do with our affections and the things we love. When you love God more than anything else – then there is no end to what He’ll trust you with. So lets agree with the Lord and what He is doing in our lives for He is working all things together for our good. Believe it.