Intro - Lord I Want To Change - plus chapter 1

The information provided presents a biblical point of view and is provided for educational purposes only and represents the opinions of it’s author alone. It is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment regarding general or specific medical, psychological or physiological conditions. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health care providers with any questions you may have regarding a condition. Never disregard professional medical, psychological or physiological advice, or delay in seeking it, because of something you have read in this article.

There is no doubt a significant amount of pressure is being placed upon our lives in the twenty first century. There are social ills, media hype, legal tussles, financial woes and any number of organizational battles causing us contention; all of which make us want to retreat from a demanding and oppressive world. There are also personal hurdles that come about through family exchanges, job or academic obligations, as well as the weight of worldly commitments. Pressure is not only measured by what comes at us from the outside; but it also consists of internal struggles affecting the mind and heart. This can also include how we deal with the effects of traumatic events or the effects of dark circumstances.

To resolve this pressure cooker lifestyle what we need is a Savior that knows how to be human, but also knows how to be bigger than our problems. Of course, with our initial acceptance of Jesus as Savior we did gain a wonderful reprieve from life as usual. He became for us a source of peace as well as the purveyor of true freedom and rest. By His hand of mercy, He freed us of every ill-conceived compulsion still rooted in the ways of the world. In so doing we entered into a relationship with the King, who to this day, offers us continued care, compassion and supernatural support. The result has been an opportunity to know new life and be able to function as a “new creation”.

Now if this fellowship in Christ is ever broken it is often the result of having walked away from that sweet spot with God. When we choose to give ourselves over to the ways of the world we are making choices that remain binding. This broken condition involves our participation in fallen agendas and subservience to any number of other masters. Such choices end up interrupting new life with Christ and we can suffer needlessly.

Maybe you can relate to being a casualty of fallen circumstances. Certainly you love God with all your heart, but for some reason you just can’t get past certain points of dysfunctional living. At times like these it may feel as if your whole person has been drained of any strength and the more you try to conquer your problems the more you fail at them. This scenario conjures up a recollection of an old TV commercial I once saw. In that commercial a dieting woman is seen flying through the air and being helplessly pulled into her refrigerator. Does this image illustrate how hopeless you might feel? Do keep in mind that you are not alone in your predicament. Though humanity’s problems are vast and varied, the good news is there remains a revived path to freedom found in Christ. Jesus in His brilliance has provided us away to break free of every worldly stronghold. Based on His way to freedom we can resolve any physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual predicament that currently interrupts healthy living. Answers come and breakthroughs are realized when we set our sights on Him as Savior and Deliverer.

Let’s look at some of the issues we will be covering:

There are common origins to bondage that affect us all.

• There our basic principles in the gospel message that let us gain freedom.
• By understanding personal authority in Christ it helps us avoid matters that lead to bondage.
• There is a spiritual foe in the world that tries to hinder our victory in Christ.
• There are times that the family inspires us, but also interrupts healthy development.
• Spiritual bondage can come through family ties, and territorial influences.
• We can have a divided mind and heart which often holds us captive to a conflicted lifestyle.
• We can use and misuse the power of our human spirit.
• We can miss out on a true and abiding peace in God.

These many issues can be compounding. Since we think linearly (in a line moving through time) we often allow one experience after another to have a say in our development. With each experience added to the mix we begin to form an opinion about life that is not always true. Hence to partake of a series of wrong experiences or wrong choices means we will accept a lie regarding life, love and commitment. Then again when we finally realize how often we have made erroneous decisions in life we come to realize how desperate we are for a valid means of escaping the past. No, we can’t change the past, but we can certainly change how we relate to it.

As we will discover in the pages ahead Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection was, and still is, an essential key to bringing about proper change to our lives. In fact it remains the way in which we can return to that sweet spot with God. For this reason a remarkable way of transformation is waiting for us in the pages ahead.

Keep in mind that no two people are the same in how they have become burdened; so not everything we say will directly apply to your particular circumstances. However what we can provide are talking points that reveal humanities most common roadblocks to freedom. For this reason we will want to look at the history of mankind, his fallen motives, and many of his most common agreements with the flesh, the world and the Devil. Not surprisingly much of this pattern of defeat can be traced back to the beginning of time.

In fact; Everything we want to know about bondage can be traced back to that historical mishap in the Garden.

Such a defining moment of failure has fueled humanities misery ever since. Yet in contrast;

Everything we need to know about freedom can be traced back to the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus.

A remarkable journey of personal discovery is just moments away!

CHAPTER 1

What does Salvation have to do with it?

It is assumed that if you are reading this book you are a believer in Christ. Somewhere in your life span you made the decision to accept Jesus as Savior. In that moment an agreement was reached which confirmed that He would be your God and you would be His child. By inviting Him into your heart you gained eternal life and a significant amount of transformation took place. It didn’t depend on you having your act together, but instead you came to the conclusion that all your natural ability couldn’t save you and it was now up to Him to offer you a better salvation.

If you think about it, every pursuit in the world is usually about finding something or someone to save us. On a good day our personal goal might be to improve our quality of life. However what often occupies our time and attention is a lifetime search for something, often anything, to satisfy an itch. Yet our efforts are still inferior to God’s ability to save our bacon.

You see, the kind of salvation that works depends solely upon the nature and character of God intervening on our behalf. Here are some of His attributes that come into play when we ask Him to come save us.

• Since God is eternal and has existed without beginning or end His salvation comes by way of His uncreated nature. God is above creation and if you are so incline as to want answers from Him then there is freedom to look outside the box. In other words permanent solutions must carry us beyond what humanity presently thinks is the standard for life, love and commitment in order to see things from God’s perspective.
• Secondly, God is supernatural and by His Holy Spirit He transports us out of the limitations of our fallen humanity and into His marvelous kingdom. He makes us new and we become one with Him in Spirit.
• Thirdly, this unseen God is willing to be personal. When we first asked for salvation we entered into His kingdom all by our self. It was our singular cry that God heard and He responded to us with personal attention and support.

So God is in the business of saving, but is it only about securing us for the afterlife?

That is certainly an important foundational aspect of His grace, but it’s not the only one; salvation is bigger than that. The Greek word for salvation is “soteria” and translates into four principle benefits; deliverance, preservation, health and safety. Thus the most effective type of salvation allows God to continue to renew us from the inside out. That means as long as we are in our physical bodies He will provide us ways to be delivered, preserved, made healthy and safe. So even as God’s supernatural qualities came into play on the very first day of salvation, they are still living and active in the present. What we have at our disposal is a relationship with the Almighty that is eternal, supernatural, personal and always available.

Jesus, I believe in You and Your eternal, supernatural, and personal nature. I also believe in your complete power to save me; not just once, but every time, and in every way, I need to be saved.

This is our place of spiritual victory and refuge. As we trust Him to be constant in His ways we come to rest in the finished work of Christ. In other words, He alone is our source of wholeness and happiness and the standard by which we gauge newness of life.

For this reason our journey is not just about resolving a single glitch in our behavior, or defeating one issue of bondage; it’s about becoming more like Him in so many ways. In this respect our Savior is committed to seeing our whole person brought to a place of liberty as well as to a place of maturity. Think of it as a life long journey where every request of God leads us into greater freedoms and awareness of His marvelous ways.

With that having been said, we should take into account that letting go of past struggles requires that we be honest with Him and with ourselves. In fact we should get used to opening up to Him and sharing the good, the bad and the ugly. Such a move towards honesty begins with four simple words;

God, I was wrong!

You name the issue; this simple confession humbles the heart and readies us for a changed life. As we confess our weakness and our inability to hold things together we are finally choosing to yield into His strength.

You may have noticed I haven’t used the word “sin” yet. That’s because not all of our issues are a matter of having sinned against God. Instead we are often simply confronted by human attitudes and actions that are the result of having rubbed shoulders with a fallen world. However let’s make room for the subject.

We have a tendency to avoid talking to God when we are steeped in sin, yet the provision for approaching Him has been provided in Jesus.

Romans 8:10 But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness.

What we discover is God the Father sees us through the blood of Christ; He sees us as righteous even though our actions have yet to follow suit. So presently you may think that you are nothing more than a “sinner”, yet if God offers you His grace and calls you up into His righteous life then sinful actions can begin to fade away.

This point is significant; until worldly woes are resolved at our very core, we should get used to resting in His marvelous grace. In other words don’t give up trying to resolve personal issues due to a few set backs. Yet by keeping our eyes on Him and having a heart towards God grace covers a multitude of personal blunders.

For this reason we are encouraged to freely talk to Him about the failures that so easily plague us; bring them out into the light. And we should do so because they don’t properly describe who we are in God. Our issues of sin and poor behavior speak more to who we once were in Adam.

Keep this in mind, there is an “old man” and there is a “new man” vying for control. For this reason think of the old man (sinful man, old man, fallen nature, human nature, Adam or Adamic nature.) as the true instigator of bad behavior. He is the one conditioned to seek after lust, pride and greed and he is the one that entangles us in questionable practices.

However our new man lives forever in the presence of Jesus (Yeshua) and participates in His ongoing plan of salvation.

For this reason God is the one that we need to be most candid with when in the midst of temptation. In other words, be willing to tell on the old man every time he comes up with one of his evil plans.

So what does freedom actually look like once it is acquired?

True freedom in Christ is about regaining the ability to say “no”. A person subject to bad behavior or sin can’t say “no” to a worldly temptation. It’s simply because they have already given their authority away to the flesh, the world and the Devil. So true transformation is about restoring a person’s sovereignty in Christ and allowing them the freedom to choose whether they want to be new in their actions or be moved by worldly woes.

We can add that a choice to embrace freedom in Christ provides us the added benefit of no longer being driven, hounded, seduced, pushed, pulled, prodded or manipulated by any defeating agenda. That also includes freedom from regret, guilt and worldly obligation. By honestly talking to God about our human condition we can finally shed light on the things that have hindered wholesome living and good fellowship with our Savior. But this is also the moment that the Cross of Christ becomes important in our quest for freedom.

God’s Way of Escape

Did you know that there are two types of prayer? There are prayers that will be answered as we seek God’s face and then there are prayers that have already been answered.

The prayers that have already been answered are the result of something God has done prior to us recognizing our need. Salvation is a good example; prior to us asking for God’s eternal help He went to the Cross, was buried and rose again. That progression of events is what we rely upon to determine the true meaning of salvation. But that progression is also where we gain freedom from worldly struggles; let me explain.

There are a number of things that took place at the Cross of Christ. First and foremost, Jesus shed His blood in order to pay the penalty for our sins. This action provided us a way to be restored to fellowship with the Father.

Ephesians 1:7a In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins…

But on further inspection we find that there were other advantages that the “death” of Jesus offered us.

• The Curse - We were freed from the curse once imposed upon man for failing to live up to God’s standards.

Galatians 3:13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.”

• The Serpent - The Serpent once had control over Adam’s race, but he lost power over humanity the day that Jesus died.

Colossians 2:15 And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.

• The Law - The Law of Moses was moved out of the way as our chief standard of performance.

Colossians 2:14 having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross.

• Sin nature - Sinful behavior gets removed at the Cross.

2 Corinthians 5:14-15 For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.

This last verse makes another important point; unbeknownst to many Christians, it wasn’t only Jesus that died on the Cross; it was also the place of our death. No, we didn’t die physically; instead Jesus supernaturally invited us into His own death so that we could come to know His life. In this way everything that may still be holding us captive to a fallen and dark world can be moved out of the way. Consider the following:

Romans 6:6-7 For we know that our old self (old man) was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.

7:5-6 For when we were controlled by the sinful nature, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our bodies, so that we bore fruit for death. But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code. Romans 6:1-3 What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?

Even today there is no limit as to how many ways our lives can be changed at the Cross of Christ. This process can be summed up in one simple statement:

Jesus died for your redemption; but you died with Christ to gain transformation.

Think about this for a moment; if you had an OFF switch how many ways would you want to use it? What attitudes and actions would you want to escape? How many bad choices in life would you want to leave behind? How many ways would you want to separate from improper ownership, obligation or faulty thinking? By dying to what once bound us we gain proper release from our old man’s ways.

This process of change doesn’t end there. Once we let Jesus separate us from our former way of life, the resurrection power of God begins to move in our hearts, minds and actions. Jesus raises us up into a new and living way which is empowered by His Spirit.

Colossians 2:12 having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through your faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.

What a wonderful gift! Our present and future lives can now be free of all sorts of added clutter and the things that have lied to us about genuine life, love and commitment.

Romans 6:4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

The miracle of the gospel (the good news) is it remains self correcting. If everything we believe and do is allowed to first pass through death, then the only remaining way to explain the meaning of life comes from Jesus alone. This is how we were born again and it is also how we continue to walk by the Spirit; we let God do the renewing. OK, so how do we get this ball rolling?

The Purpose Driven Death

1 Corinthians 1:18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

When we agree with what Jesus did for us two thousand years ago, we are setting aside our subjection to this fallen world and being made new in the attitudes of our minds and hearts. The old way of living has died and a new purpose and perspective has been established in the resurrection life of our Savior. This sounds so elementary yet it is actually the determining factor in whether we are held captive to Adam’s folly or finally at rest in God’s marvelous Kingdom.

Certainly all believers experienced supernatural transformation at the time of salvation. This was a genuine introduction to how Jesus makes all things new. However if we were never told about the work of the Cross or the way in which we have passed from death into new life, then it is likely that we are still making choices subject to the old man’s ways.

If we didn’t know we could leave our fallen humanity, then we simply kept playing by the world’s standards.

So how do we believe and properly respond? Well, it goes back to trusting in that eternal, supernatural, personal and complete Savior. As is the case;

Our only true means of making the gospel work is to agree with the One that provided it without defect.

Romans 10:9-10 That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart a person believes and so is justified, and with the mouth he confesses and confirms salvation.

In the Greek, the word “confess” is “homologeo” and is defined as: saying the same thing as another, i.e. agreeing with; conceding to confess, declaring; professing to declare openly, speaking out freely; praising and celebrating. (Other scriptures that bring forth the same parallel are: Matt. 10:32, 1 Tim. 6:12, Heb. 13:15, 2 Cor. 4:13.) The emphasis on agreement with God is alive throughout the scriptures, and if we want it can be alive within each one of us.

Paul the Apostle trusted in this very thing; he believed that a new life was available by agreeing with God’s work on the Cross. Let Paul’s confession be a precursor to your own declarations of freedom. (Galatians 2:20)

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Simply stated, if we don’t allow Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection to resonate within our faith, then there is nothing that can properly carry us on to completion. Paul expounds upon this very subject by saying:

Romans 8:11-14 And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you. Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live. For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God.

How do we resolve issues?

We talk to God and agree that His Spirit knows how to put to death our misdeeds. Which ones? Well, every matter that we are willing to bring to the table. In this way;

1. We can ask God to “test” by the Cross the quality of our previous choices in life; choices that have bound us to the world and to an old man’s lifestyle.
2. Secondly, based on Colossians 2:15we can also ask God to judge by the Cross any demonic interference related to the same subject.

The truth is we can’t fight our way out of a troubled past and we certainly can’t thwart an ethereal Devil. However we can let death, burial and resurrection do the work it was intended to do. It is in that moment of agreement that God brings change to our lives. Here’s an example of how to talk to Him whenever actions have created various forms of bondage:

1. First we repent of our sin or our fallen actions.

Jesus, forgive me for my sinful actions and my poor behavior; I repent.

2. Secondly, we identify with the Cross (our death with Christ) as a means of letting the Holy Spirit know that we want freedom from an issue.

Jesus, by your Holy Spirit (God), “test” by the Cross where I have been a slave and a willing participant in this sin and worldly behavior.

3. Thirdly we recall how Jesus overcame the Devil and his minions by what He did on the Cross.

God, on my behalf, “judge” by the Cross the spiritual realm associated with this issue.

4. Finally we confess that Jesus (Yeshua) is our source of resurrection life.

Jesus, based on your resurrection power save me and make me new.

For the duration of this book we will use variations of this basic declaration, but I want to stress that this is not a “formula” for success. The declarations being offered have no power in themselves and are not a substitute for how you personally communicate with your Savior. These are simply templates that allow you to understand many of the facets that may be present in any particular form of bondage or sin.

The beauty of this gospel message is that it allows us to bring change to our lives in countless ways. It’s not about fleshly attempts at redeeming ourselves; it’s not about being nicer, working harder or completing five steps to a better disposition. Instead it’s about a simple point of agreement. We take our hands off of the healing process and let Jesus unravel the mystery of our former way of life.

From heavens point of view the kingdom of God is still waiting to see how each man will respond. By allowing Jesus (Yeshua) to be our source of change we gain a perfect mix of freedom as well as a renewed sense of authority. The next chapter has much to say on this very subject.

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• Lord I want to Change = Lwc