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Change & Growth

September 20, 2010

Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. 2 Corinthians 5:17

The change agent—Jesus—makes us different than we were before. We were all without hope, but Jesus came on the scene—not to condemn or reinforce failure, but to become a sin substitute for us (2 Corinthians 5:21).

When everything else wears out, when ideas are blurred, when vision gets disrupted, when momentum gets crippled by hurts, challenges, and trials, it’s important to remember that God does not grow weary or tired. It is God who is at work urging and helping us to put off the old ways and keep putting on the new (Philippians 2:13; Ephesians 4:22-24).

One thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:13b-14

Could it be that all the demonic pressure and satanic bombardment hitting your life have been designed by the devil, who knows his days are numbered and is trying his best to hinder the ministers of reconciliation and grind to a halt the mighty moving force called the Church? Don’t miss what could be by looking only through the lens of your present circumstances. Instead, “lift up your eyes and look on the fields, that they are white for harvest” (John 4:35b). Resist the devil and fortify yourselves by taking up the whole armor of God and conforming to the image of Christ.

The path of the righteous shines brighter and brighter until the full day (Proverbs 4:18). Yes, you can change. Yes, your marriage can get better. Yes, you can grow in God, bear more fruit, prosper, be healed, be more effective, be more on fire, change the world, and contribute to the harvest. Yes, you can alleviate suffering. Yes, you can be the encouragement that might keep someone on his feet. We are to keep growing and growing and growing. The best is yet to come.

Press on!
Pastor Jeff

Copyright © 2010 St. Louis Family Church. All rights reserved. No part of this article may be reprinted or distributed in any form without prior written permission of St. Louis Family Church. Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture references are from the New American Standard Bible (NASB) Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation.