Change

God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.  Philippians 2:13

For any parent, there surely are some behaviors in your children you would change, if you could.  For instance our youngest son is a 'chip off the old block'...silly, mischievous, and stubborn to say the very least.  

Last Saturday, he found the fuse box on the side of our house and proceeded to shut off the power to the dryer and oven.  It took me a while to figure out what exactly was going on and when asked if he had anything to do with the power not working, Elijah told me a ‘white lie’ and then ran outside and then shut the rest of the power off in the house.  I am laughing about this now, but I was pretty frustrated on Saturday, to say the very least.  I am sure that he will outgrow this, after all, he is still young and curious, but it would be nice to let the boys play around the house for more than fifteen minutes at a time without wondering what they are doing to be disruptive.  Even if I could change some of the boys’ less desirable behavior, I have to continue to just love them and lead them in the ways of the Lord to the best of my ability.

Just like a parent, God will not force change on us, either.  When we invite him into our lives, we give him the permission to use his almighty power to change us.

If we try to change on our own, we are likely to fail because of our very limited strength and power.  Instead, we must move aside and let God himself begin the work of transformation in us that will last a lifetime.

Let God do his work in you and see the dramatic and healing power of the Holy Spirit!