Scripture Reading: Acts 5:17-25

“Go to the Temple and take your stand. Tell the people everything there is to say about this Life.” Acts 5:20

Step 12: Having gone through these steps and discovering the importance of an individual relationship with God through Jesus, I will try to live according to His principles and to lead others to a personal relationship with Him.

Today I want to think about the message the angel spoke of. A new life that is available to us all. A new life of change.

Change comes to us through faith and the way we obtain faith is through the Word of God. The Bible is full of stories of people who through faith achieved great things. Another reason they achieved great things is that they were open to allowing God to change them. I believe one of the major stumbling blocks in us achieving great things is ‘PEOPLE TODAY ARE TOO PROUD TO ALLOW GOD TO CHANGE THEM. We get too comfortable in what we know and understand and are afraid to try new things. We need to humble ourselves before God.

No-one in this world, to my knowledge, ver achieved God’s will without humility. Jesus in John 13 washed the feet of His disciples, then ordered them to wash each other’s feet so they would learn a lesson in humility. He also wanted them to learn the importance of following his examples In order to change and become the people God wants us to become He expects us to also learn to follow the examples of Jesus. We have to learn to worship and praise Him, to serve Him with all our hearts in confidence and adoration.

God can and will use every one of us. If we let Him. We have to be prepared to change our attitudes and our actions. Wh have to take responsibility for our behavior. we have to face up to life, accept it and decide how God would have us live it differently? God keeps His promises to us. He promises nothing will ever be put in front of us we are unable to overcome with His help. Unless we are willing to open our hearts and lives to Him we have little or no chance of overcoming the problems of this world. He commands us to confidently follow Him. Love, Trust, and obedience to Him secure us a place in His Kingdom. If we are truly His children nothing on this earth will ever hurt us so bad we cannot recover from it.

I believe today I am a fairly confident, competent individual, not because I have any special talent but because I am a child of God and my chief aim in life is to glorify Him and do His work. I know that no matter where I am or what I am doing He is there with me. He guides me and protects me in every situation. I haven’t always felt that way. A few years ago I believed my only purpose in life was to get drunk, take drugs and cause trouble. I went out of my way to destroy relationships I had with other people because I felt I was not worthy of other people’s attention. I didn’t like the person I allowed myself to become through the life I led and I thought the rest of the world didn’t like me either.

Through the Salvation Army and The Bridge Program, I met Jesus and experienced the message of new life first hand. In John 2:28 the Bible tells us to continue in the ways of God, so on the day He appears to us we can face Him with confidence without shame. everything we need He supplies, if He is not then maybe we are seeking the wrong things. in his book ‘Prisoner of hope’ Barry Goode says “Prayer it seems is one of the most difficult pursuits for Christians. Yet it is most necessary and rewarding.” “You can find stones and rocks anywhere.” he says “but if you want something really precious like diamonds, gold or silver it takes time, effort, patience to unearth it.”

Everything God makes, He makes for a purpose. I am sure we are all aware of the verse in the Bible that says “Faith as small as a mustard seed can move mountains.” God brings in His Kingdom by the mustard seed method. When we feel weak, ineffective, and inadequate as long as we have faith, even a minimum of faith God can use it.

When we feel weakest is usually when we are most open to the message of Jesus and the need for change in our lives. “Go stand in the temple courts and tell the people the full message of new life.” That’s the message the angel delivered to the apostles so long ago.

Today I would lie to say I believe only God knows the full message of new life. Only He knows how much can be achieved through faith in Him. And, the only way for us to find out His plan for us is to step out in faith, To let Him change us and lead us to new life so He can be glorified and we can be reconciled to him through the blood of Jesus.