By Treva Susuras

You have accepted Jesus as your Lord and savior. Praise the Lord. Congratulations!! Welcome to kingdom living, to having hope, love, joy, peace, and so much more. The before and the after salvation is like night and day. Thing is, now you will have to make some changes to your everyday life. Not hard or impossible but can be challenging. Nothing is worth having if its easy to get.

Life is about to change for you, that is if you want the change. Sometimes we want to change and live the kingdom life but we don’t want to put in the time or the effort. It is hard to believe we can change or that Jesus loves us. News flash, Jesus loves us very much. If we don’t believe it , we can’t feel it or accept it.

You may in addiction, or living with strongholds. A stronghold is just what it sounds like. Something that has a strong hold on you or on your life. Maybe you’re living in guilt and condemnation. Or could even be that you are having fun and just don’t feel like changing. If that is the case maybe you’re not ready for this message or ready to change. What ever the case may be, if you don’t want change in your heart, you may not get it. You have to desire it. Even if you are not seeing the change, keep trying.

There are some things you will need to do to get the changes you need. First, you will need to ditch the old thinking,  habits,  or attitudes. An attitude is a pattern of thinking, or a habit. Not so easy you might say and you would be correct.

Everything you have learned in the past is like a video that plays over and over in your head. It tells you how to react to things now from our from past experiences.

When we start out, we are new and life teaches us how to act, or so we think. We react according to what we think. Now its time to react according to what God thinks. And how will we do that you might ask? We read the word of God. You see the bible is not just a bunch of interesting stories to entertain us. It is a life application book. The New Testament gives us instruction straight for Jesus’ mouth. The Old Testament gives us examples and prophets to learn from. You will not have a question that the bible can’t answer. Problem is we spend ample time on TV, on our phones and games but we can’t seem to find the time to read God’s instructions on how to live a life full of victory. That’s what I mean when I say kingdom living.

We have to change our way of thinking before we destroy ourselves. Take the old videos our of our minds and set new ones in place. How do I know that?  I have read 2 Corinthians 5:17

Let me give examples of good and bad attitudes. We all have attitudes some are good and some are bad.

1.We get up in the morning and think, great, another stinking day. I’m so sick of this life I live. There is no hope, no joy, I don’t even want to get out of bed. Wonder what disappointing things are going to happen today.

a.We are going by what has happened in the past. Something seems to go wrong on a daily basses. Our pattern of thinking has taught us that everyday is the same. Negative things will always happen. When it rains it pours… bla, bla, bla...OR….

b.Today is going to be a great day. This is the day that the Lord has made and I will rejoice and be glad in it! (Psalm 118:24)

Use your scripture to fight the negative thoughts. Do this every morning and you will see such a change in your life. Things around you may not be changing but your attitude will change, and Joy will begin to sink in. Before you know it you will be living a life full of hope and peace. People will enjoy being around you because they will want you have.

2.You may be feeling like you live under a curse, like you have done too much to be forgiven. Like there is no way God could forgive you, or set you free. Guilt and condemnation rule your life. You may even find yourself parenting through guilt. I felt so bad at one time about the way I treated my first 2 kids before salvation that I parented out of guilt. I let them get away with things out of the guilt I felt from before. I blamed myself for all of their shortcomings. If I had only… I was so… I didn’t …. Then one day I realized, I’m not suppose to walk around playing that video in my head of what a horrible parent I was. It was time to set myself free from guilt and shame. I did the best I knew how at the time. I was not a Christian; I had no book like the bible to tell me anything. Did not know anything about the bible. I was lost and searching until I found Jesus. He was ready to forgive all my sin. He paid the price for what a lousy person I had been. I got a new slate. It was clean. All I had to so was to start over. 

 I ask Jesus into my heart and then every time the video of what a horrible person or parent I was would play in my mind I would kill it with the word.

a.My head would say ya, but you have done too much to be forgiven.  I would say, “according to the word of God I am forgiven. Not because of who I am but because of the grace and mercy of God. He sent His Son to pay my debt. I am forgiven and I have a new slate, that is clean and white. So, I will no longer walk in guilt and condemnation. How did I know that? Read it in the bible. 

You see, if we read the bible, we know how to get rid of the negative videos playing in our heads. The answer? The word of God! If we don’t know it, that is what makes it hard to overcome.

Whatever it is you are struggling with, see what the word says about it. Then next time it comes into your head rebuke it with God’s word. You will see a change in your life like you have never seen before. If you would like more info or need help or someone to talk to please let us know. IHHM has people standing by to pray with you or minister to you. We are here to help in any way we can. Our phone number is 281-868-0537

There are confessions you can read on this website. Go to confessions and pick out the one that fits what you are going through. Like I said, if you want the change, it is here for you. We offer everything you need according to the word. You may need more like a rehab facility,  or one on one biblical counseling, let us know we will do our best to help you .