These 3 Words Can Change Your Life
Words have power. They have energy to build up and to tear down.
The Word of God is filled with life-changing words. Here are 3 dynamic ones that God will use to change your life. When we learn to implement these 3 words, our lives change and explode with growth and transformation.
Diligent + Shift + Surrender
Diligent
There are a lot of areas of life where we put forth effort and exertion. Look at your daily schedule and you will see what you prioritize and where you focus your time and attention.
We work hard in our careers, homes, and relationships - and we should. These are all good things, and the Bible teaches the importance of investing energy into each of those areas of life.
We also spend many hours and focus on activities that are not of eternal value and do not build up and strengthen our life.
How you prioritize today (whether you invest your diligence and effort in the things that will benefit your life or chip it away) will determine the quality of your life.
We need to spend our days with life in Christ as our top focus.
When we are diligent and centered on serving God and understanding his Word, everything else falls into place according to God’s plan.
In 2 Timothy 2 Paul teaches Timothy about diligence. He is encouraging Timothy to stand empowered by God’s grace and truth. Timothy is to keep his focus and ministry efforts on Jesus by being a soldier on active duty for God and a diligent learner of the Word of God.
Be a Soldier on Active Duty
Overcome every form of evil (hardship) as a victorious soldier of Jesus the Anointed One. For every soldier called to active duty must divorce himself from the distractions of this world so that he may fully satisfy the one who chose him. 2 Timothy 2:3-4 TPT
Be an In-The-Word-Of-God Hard Worker
Work hard so you can present yourself to God and receive his approval. Be a good worker, one who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly explains the word of truth. 2 Timothy 2:15 NLT
When you are diligent (having a steady, earnest, and energetic effort) about the things that matter to God, He smiles down on you.
Shift
This week the memory verse in the Rooted – Live Bible Reading Plan is Isaiah 43:19, I am doing something new. I have already begun. Can you see it?
After I read the Monday morning email and wrote the verse in my workbook, I asked God what new thing he was doing in my life. If he had already begun the new work, I didn’t want to miss it!
Nothing immediately came to my mind, so I tucked that question into my heart to wait for God’s answer.
Early the next morning I had a short dream as I was waking up. I don’t remember what or whom I was addressing, but I was standing in my kitchen and heard myself say, I really appreciate it when people notice the small things that I do.
Then I hear God say – me too!
I got out of bed, grabbed my cup of coffee, and went over to my morning devotional, comfy chair in the living room to talk with God about what I had just heard.
God, is the new thing you are doing, a small new thing?
In my heart I heard His response – it’s a shift in perspective and attitude.
You know, when God speaks like that, it can rock your world. That is, if you are listening, willing to learn and follow with obedience!
Divine shifts often take you by surprise. They make you turn around and bring you to the threshold of something new.
In Deuteronomy 2:2, Moses writes, then at last the Lord said to me, you have been wandering around in this hill country long enough; turn to the north.
The children of Israel were FINALLY going to head in a new direction after wandering in circles for 40 years. They were shifting toward the north – Canaan and the Promised Land.
Shifts in Perspective + Shifts in Attitude
When God appoints a shift in your life it is a supernatural move from one place to another.
It may be just a slight adjustment of position, direction, perspective, or attitude.
It might be God moving you from where you are to someplace you have been waiting to go.
I encourage you to be fully aware and watching with diligence for the new God shifts that are coming into your life. You don’t want to miss this!
Surrender
səˈrendər/verb = cease to resist and instead submit
Surrendering to the work of the Holy Spirit in your life is the true catalyst for change and transformation.
Surrendering to God means letting go of your plans and allowing Him to guide your steps and direct your decisions.
Living life and experiencing all that God delights for you happens with surrender.
Beloved friends, what should be our proper response to God’s marvelous mercies? To surrender yourselves to God to be his sacred, living sacrifices. And live in holiness, experiencing all that delights his heart. For this becomes your genuine expression of worship. Romans 12:1 TPT
It’s not going to be easy to surrender because your natural tendency urges you on to make your own plans and timetables, but learn to let go.
God cannot mold and shape our lives unless we’re willing to surrender and be transparent before Him. Tony Evans
Allow God to have His way in every aspect of your life.
