2 Chronicles 29:3-5
In the first year of his(Hezekiah) reign, in the first month, he opened the doors of the house of the Lord and repaired them. He brought in the Priests and the Levites and assembled them in the square on the east and said to them, “Hear me, Levites! Now consecrate yourselves, and consecrate the house of the Lord, the God of your fathers, and carry out the filth from the Holy Place.”

If you truly want your life to change, what are you doing to bring about that change? First of all understand this; you can’t change everyone around you, so you may as well give them and that idea up to God now. Let it and them go! The only person you can really do anything about is you, so what are you doing to bring about the change in you that you know needs to happen?

As you look at your life, what is it that you desperately want God to change? What have you done personally to bring about the change in you that will be necessary for other change to take place? Change begins with you. Is your marriage seemingly broken, are your finances broken, do you have a child that needs to be “fixed”, I hate to tell you this, but it starts with you! You can’t change anyone or anything else, it is a simple fact that we all struggle with at times. You can’t change your husband, your children, your parents, that lady that you are so overwhelmingly jealous of, you can only work on you and give everyone else to God!

When Bill and I first got married, I had a terrible time with jealousy. I was certain that every woman who met or knew Bill was after him and I literally lived in that fear. It was ridiculous! God finally really impressed on me that I was never going to change the behavior of other women in Bill’s life, I could only learn to trust God more and work on me! If you are struggling with jealousy in your marriage, you really need to work on it or it will eat you alive! Jealousy really comes out of a fear of your spouse not keeping you in the place of significance that you should have. If you trust your spouse, there is no reason to be jealous of another woman talking to Him. Now, you can trust all you may want but trust also comes with setting healthy boundaries! You and your spouse should have set boundaries for what you will and won’t do when it comes to the opposite sex! Boundaries add security to your relationship and it also protects it! Boundaries should include things like; not riding in a vehicle with the opposite sex (other than relatives of course) alone, not carrying on personal conversations with the opposite sex other than someone who is counseling you, not having lunch with someone of the opposite sex alone. Protect your relationship!

If you want God’s blessing and favor on your life, what are you doing to grow closer to Him? Over and over in the books of the Chronicles and the books of Kings you see how the King did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord or the King did Not do that which was right but did that which was evil in the eyes of the Lord and God disciplined or blessed them accordingly! You can’t just live however you want and expect God’s blessing on your life! God allows some things in your life to bring about repentance! How much time do you spend in your Bible? Are you just reading to go through the motions or are you reading in order to truly get to know Him better? Any relationship you want to grow requires you to spend time getting to know the other person and your relationship with God is the same way! You need to be intentional in getting to know Him more!

What about church? Do you have a church or godly gathering that you are faithful in? I have heard so many people talk about how they just can’t go to church anymore because they have either had a “bad experience” or they have some other silly reason! Let me tell you, I have had some serious “bad experiences” at the grocery store but I’ve never considered not going there because of it! Bill has bad experiences with the airlines all the time but he still gets on the plane, he hasn’t started driving everywhere. Have you visited the schools lately, and yet you still send your kids there! (there are other options) Church tends to be the only thing we just throw out because of a “bad experience”. Don’t allow Satan to win the battle because of some idiot in a church you used to attend! Let God deal with them and you focus on your spiritual growth, regardless of those around you and where they are!

I encourage you today to ask God what you can do to begin that change you are looking for in your life! Allow Him to work in and through you to bring about all that change that is necessary in your life and the lives of those around you!

Quote:
“Sometimes you can’t wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.” Jack London