When I try to change on the outside I often become more entrenched and resist change.
When I allow God to change me from the inside – then I experience true lasting change both
inside and out.

“Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me
from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me. Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will turn back to you.” (Psalm 51:10-13 /emphasis mine)

“First take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take out the speck that is in your brother’s eye.” (Luke 6:42b)

God heals and changes us into the image of Jesus and then (only by God’s power within us)
we can change the world.

Genuine heart and mind changes – the kind only God can effect in us (by the Holy Spirit) is
what Christ-centered change requires. Superficial half-hearted changes made to appease
someone else or to acquire selfish goals, rarely last and will ultimately be unfulfilling.

“Be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your minds in Christ
Jesus.” (Romans 12:2) Transformation means a true metamorphosis has taken place – that
the whole person has been brought into alignment with God’s indwelling presence.

Jesus said, “apart from me you can do nothing.” Yet we often try to force things to happen or through sheer determination try to change ourselves or others without first following God’s lead. Without Jesus’ help, our mortal flesh is incapable of producing God-honoring change in this world.

“’Not by might nor by power but by my Spirit,’ says the Lord Almighty”. (Zechariah 4:6)
What are you trying to force that may not be of God? Who are you trying to please instead of the Lord? Are you trusting the Holy Spirit to lead, and allowing for God’s timing, even when this requires patience and humility?

True God-wrought changes take time, and they often occur in stages. But when Jesus lives
within us and He is our guiding light, darkness must recede as God produces true inner
transformation and empowers us to be all we were created to be!