Life’s Most Important Questions: Can I Really Change?
Will-power plans rarely work. God-power plans are much more likely to work.
Will-power plans rarely work. God-power plans are much more likely to work.
The Plan Only Works If You Work the Plan
No discipline is enjoyable while it is happening—it’s painful! But afterward there will be a peaceful harvest of right living for those who are trained in this way. –Hebrews 12:11
Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment. –Jim Rohn
If you are an undisciplined person…
1. Accountability alone will not create a lasting change.
2. An increase in will power from within isn’t likely to help either.
3. Grace needs to be present in the situation for change to occur.
It is the same today, for a few of the people of Israel have remained faithful because of God’s grace—his undeserved kindness in choosing them. And since it is through God’s kindness, then it is not by their good works. For in that case, God’s grace would not be what it really is—free and undeserved. –Romans 11:5-6
Yes! You can really change. Here’s how.
1. Play the movie
The three motivators of the Bible
a. What you want and desire
b. What you love
c. What you have to lose
Anyone who builds on that foundation may use a variety of materials—gold, silver, jewels, wood, hay, or straw. But on the judgment day, fire will reveal what kind of work each builder has done. The fire will show if a person’s work has any value. If the work survives, that builder will receive a reward. But if the work is burned up, the builder will suffer great loss. -1 Corinthians 3:12-15
2. Life only changes when we bring in structure and discipline from the outside.
What was once external can become internal
If you reject discipline, you only harm yourself;
but if you listen to correction, you grow in understanding.
-Proverbs 15:32
We must find external structure to help us accomplish change
1. Get a group together that is committed to a goal
2. Get a regular time to meet together that you never miss
3. Join an already structured group
4. Get consequences
5. Get a set schedule
3. You must have support and healing for the stuff that drives you to medicate
Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed. If one person falls, the other can reach out and help. But someone who falls alone is in real trouble. Likewise, two people lying close together can keep each other warm. But how can one be warm alone? A person standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back-to-back and conquer. Three are even better, for a triple-braided cord is not easily broken. –Ecclesiastes 4:9-12
4. Quarantine your weaknesses
People will fail in predictable ways
Three reasons we fail
a. Our own self-destructive behaviors
b. External environments
c. Interpersonal challenges
5. Learn the Gift of Process
I will bring that group through the fire
and make them pure.
I will refine them like silver
and purify them like gold.
They will call on my name,
and I will answer them.
I will say, ‘These are my people,’
and they will say, ‘The Lord is our God.’
-Zechariah 13:9
I guess that's what grace is. The refinement of your soul through time.
-Jewel
Change doesn’t happen in a day. It happens daily.
Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment. –Jim Rohn
If you are an undisciplined person…
1. Accountability alone will not create a lasting change.
2. An increase in will power from within isn’t likely to help either.
3. Grace needs to be present in the situation for change to occur.
It is the same today, for a few of the people of Israel have remained faithful because of God’s grace—his undeserved kindness in choosing them. And since it is through God’s kindness, then it is not by their good works. For in that case, God’s grace would not be what it really is—free and undeserved. –Romans 11:5-6
Yes! You can really change. Here’s how.
1. Play the movie
The three motivators of the Bible
a. What you want and desire
b. What you love
c. What you have to lose
Anyone who builds on that foundation may use a variety of materials—gold, silver, jewels, wood, hay, or straw. But on the judgment day, fire will reveal what kind of work each builder has done. The fire will show if a person’s work has any value. If the work survives, that builder will receive a reward. But if the work is burned up, the builder will suffer great loss. -1 Corinthians 3:12-15
2. Life only changes when we bring in structure and discipline from the outside.
What was once external can become internal
If you reject discipline, you only harm yourself;
but if you listen to correction, you grow in understanding.
-Proverbs 15:32
We must find external structure to help us accomplish change
1. Get a group together that is committed to a goal
2. Get a regular time to meet together that you never miss
3. Join an already structured group
4. Get consequences
5. Get a set schedule
3. You must have support and healing for the stuff that drives you to medicate
Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed. If one person falls, the other can reach out and help. But someone who falls alone is in real trouble. Likewise, two people lying close together can keep each other warm. But how can one be warm alone? A person standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back-to-back and conquer. Three are even better, for a triple-braided cord is not easily broken. –Ecclesiastes 4:9-12
4. Quarantine your weaknesses
People will fail in predictable ways
Three reasons we fail
a. Our own self-destructive behaviors
b. External environments
c. Interpersonal challenges
5. Learn the Gift of Process
I will bring that group through the fire
and make them pure.
I will refine them like silver
and purify them like gold.
They will call on my name,
and I will answer them.
I will say, ‘These are my people,’
and they will say, ‘The Lord is our God.’
-Zechariah 13:9
I guess that's what grace is. The refinement of your soul through time.
-Jewel
Change doesn’t happen in a day. It happens daily.
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