Everyone wants his or her life to go well. We want to be happy. We want to be successful. We want other people to think well of us. But life doesn’t always turn out the way we expect. Reality sets in and life is hard. People are difficult. What can we do? We look for change. We change the job or start a new relationship, which in its self can be good, but it won’t bring lasting fulfillment. Often enough, changing your circumstances or what is outside of you is just changing one set of problems for another. To make change effective starts in the heart. God isn’t interested as much in your circumstances as He is with the desires of the heart and your character development. Getting your heart right is believing right.
What’s the problem? What we usually think is the problem is actually a result of an underling problem called a root cause. The heart is naturally self-centered and we make life all about us. Who you really are and your motives are revealed from the heart. For example, your passion could be for music. You desire to become a successful singer. That comes from the heart. But the Bible says do not have any other gods before Him. Your desire for music should not be greater than your desire for God. Music is not the problem. God loves music and the praises of His people. The underlying problem is the music is more important to you than having a relationship with Him. “As water reflects a face, so a man’s heart reflects the man” (Proverbs 27:19).
What’s the answer? Change is good when it brings truth, healing, and fulfillment. We should want to know what is real and that which stands the test of time. The only change that is good and everlasting is when Jesus is in the middle of it. When we understand and welcome what Jesus has already done and accomplished for us, life has purpose. What counts is what we put our hope, trust, faith, and beliefs into. It’s not just about having faith; it’s what our faith is in. When we open our heart to God and put our hope and faith is in the meaning and purpose of the life of Jesus and His finished work on the cross, change is good. What we change is what we believe. We can change how we think by focusing on what we believe.
What do you believe? We think if just go to church, pray, read the Bible and do all the right things, that makes us good Christians. But being a Christian just isn’t about doing all the right things. If that were all there is to it, then Jesus didn’t need to die on the cross. You see, it’s not who we are and what we do; it’s who Jesus is and what He did. It’s all about Jesus, not you or me. “God is light; in Him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with Him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, His Son, purifies us from all sin” (1John 1:5-7.)
Believe that you are righteous. We are righteous because of the perfect life that Jesus lived. We cannot earn the favor of God. There is no merit system to get into heaven. Righteousness means you have been cleansed. We are not holy but Jesus is! God looks at us and doesn’t see our past. He sees us as a new creature in Christ. It’s not about what we have done; it’s about what Jesus has done. “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2Corinthians 5:21.) Righteousness comes by your faith and believing in Jesus.
Believe that God gives you His best. God is for you. He wants the best for you. It’s up to us to believe it, think it, and say it. When you pursue God with all of your heart, you cannot help but prosper. When the unmerited favor of God is upon you, you are like a rubber ball in a pool of water. Natural circumstances can try to push you down and keep you under the water, but God’s grace will always cause you to rise to the top. “But now you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life” (Romans 6:22.)
Believe that God has a deposit in you. Jesus promised “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you” (Acts 1:8.) You are never alone. God gave you a comforter. “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And He who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will (Romans 8:26-27.)
Believe that your success is in His grace. Grace frees us from sin, promises eternal life, gives us health, success, opens doors, empowers us, cleans us up, and makes us new. His grace is sufficient for all your needs. Because of what Jesus did, we are pleasing to God. “And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:6.) As Jesus is in heaven, so we are in this world today.
Believe it, think it, and say it: I will stop struggling to do it on my own. I will believe right so I can think right. I will speak and pray the promises of God. God is working in me, and He will finish what He started. I will trust the Word of God to give me the strength I need. God’s strength is working in me, even in my weakness. I will live by the Holy Spirit who is strengthening me today, in Jesus’ Name.
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