I WANT WHAT BLEEDS OUT OF ME TO BE WHAT GOD WOULD WANT!!!

One of my favorite statements this past weekend! What do other people see “bleeding” out of me…is it forgiveness or condemnation…is it patience or contrariness…is it kindness or callousness? I want what pours out of me to represent GOD and not my own nature or tendencies! It takes WORK, that’s for sure, but the effort is SO WORTH the outcome!

This past weekend it was so fun to get to hear from three of our leaders at Alive! We focused in on changing some of our bad habits…replacing them with things that will help us represent GOD better in our everyday lives! I believe that the difference between success and failure in life is directly correlated to our habits so this series “Make it a Habit” is hugely important to me! I know, some habits are hard to break, there’s even songs written about that, but if we can consistently focus on those changes we think God is asking us to make WE WILL be successful!

The key verse for this series gives us the KEY to making these changes happen, you can read in Ephesians 4:23-24. “Let the spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. Put on your new nature, created to be like God-truly righteous and holy!” God is His great wisdom knew that we would struggle to make right choices, be confident in who we are, or walk the path Jesus gave us an example of without a little help! He sent the Holy Spirit to guide us on our journey, and if we LET the Spirit renew our thoughts and attitudes, our new nature will shine through!

How do we LET the Spirit renew our thoughts and attitudes and break some of our bad habits? One, let’s replace a bad habit with a GOOD one, choose something you feel the Spirit may be prompting you to change and decide on a good habit to replace it with. A great place to start is to be persistent and consistent in COMMUNICATION with God!

Prayer! Sometimes it feels like a four-letter word! It seems scary and foreign and like maybe there is a certain way it needs to be done, or only certain people can do it right, or you have to learn certain mantra’s to really be effective. THIS IS NOT THE CASE! There is NO special formula to communicating with God. He just wants to hear from you! Talk to Him like He is your friend, the more you communicate with him about ANYTHING that’s in your heart or on your mind the easier it will get! If you don’t know where to start, just talk about what’s happening in your life, or go to the Bible and open up Psalms and start reading. Most everything in that book is prayers!

Another way to develop better habits is by putting in the GOOD HABIT of studying God’s Word! Reading and Studying are TWO different things. Right?!? When we think of reading…we just want to get through something, or we are being entertained by the story line. When we STUDY something, we want to understand the importance of what we are reading and the value!

2 Timothy: 3:16-17 says “All scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work.” WOW! So pick up that Bible, if you don’t have one WE WILL SEND YOU ONE, just contact Alive Church! Pick a section and STUDY it…ask questions, how does it apply to your life, how is this going to change the way you think (about work, yourself, your interactions with others, etc)

Lastly, a great way to put on a good habit, is through meditation! Not the mystical, empty yourself of all thoughts, type of meditation BUT meditating on the word of God. When you are busy studying NOTICE what sticks out to you, or grabs your attention! Write it down, take a screen shot of it, go back to it over and over throughout your day! FOCUS your attention on the word of God, or perhaps a worship song, and think about that whenever you feel stress or worry, or the desire to “go to” your old habit! You will be surprised by what the Spirit does in your life if you re-direct your thoughts to something that is good and pleasing in God’s eyes! Those old habits will shrink away while you NEW HABITS blossom!

And, what will BLEED out of you will CHANGE! And others will notice and then you can share this same message, the message of HOPE in the BIBLE with them!

Click here to watch the talk from this past weekend!