Are You Responding To God?

Fresh Manna
by Pastor Tim Burt

I want to begin writing today with the definition of a word I’m sure you know but don’t commonly use. The word is amend. The dictionary definition says: to put right; to change or modify for the better: to improve a situation; to alter formally by modification, deletion, or addition: to reform oneself.

The definition of amend makes this a good word for Christians to add to their vocabulary. Our lives should be under a fair amount of personal scrutiny and amending as 1 Corinthians 11:31 (NLT2) says, “But if we would examine ourselves, we would not be judged by God in this way.”

When we receive Jesus Christ as our personal Savior, the Word of God tells us we become new creations or new persons. Romans 12:2 tells us to be transformed. The Apostle Paul tells us to Put off the old man and put on the new. These all refer to making changes from within—our old nature being transformed to our new nature in Christ! 2 Corinthians 3:18 (NIV) “And we… are being transformed into His likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”

I was reading from Jeremiah chapter 7. God had given a strong word of correction from Jeremiah to the people. He had brought them to a place of great blessing but over time they had backslidden from God and His ways. They had walked away from an intimate place with Him, instead becoming cavalier and disrespectful— nearly putting Him out of their lives. They were backslidden and God instructed Jeremiah to speak these words to them: “…Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place.” Jeremiah 7:3 (NKJV)

The second I read those words, they jumped out at me. I knew the Lord had been talking with me about certain changes in my life for some time, and He wanted me to deal with them now! It was like a warning to me! I don’t want you to get the impression that I was backslidden or living some wrong way. That wasn’t it. It was simply about changes He wanted me to make that would help me draw even closer to Him that would ultimately impact and increase my leadership influence. I could not stop thinking about those words, “Amend your ways and doings…”

Day after day I those words kept rising up in my heart! I know from experience, when that happens, the Lord is dealing with me to make the change now! I also knew that if the Lord was instructing me to do something now, then the grace of God was present within me to do it. I put a dagger in procrastinating and instituted it that day. I was going to “amend my ways and doings” knowing it would draw me closer to God. I leaned on God to be consistent and with His help, I was. Within a month, that change rippled and impacted many areas of my life. It led to other wonderful changes that would not only bless me, but lead to greater godly influence with others.

There are many things the Lord desires to help us amend in our life. Why? Is it because He’s mad at us or disgusted with us? Of course not. It’s because His love for us is so great, and He knows that changes He helps us make will make us feel so much better about our life and relationship with Him! They’ll create greater intimacy with Him and lead us to greater places of blessing. He’s our Heavenly Father and like any good father, His motivation is His love for us—wanting His best for our lives. And it’s critical to know that He’ll never lead you to amend or change a part of your life without giving you the grace, (His supernatural help from within,) to do it. So when He does speak to your heart, listen! And amend your ways!

Jonah 2:8 “Those who cling to worthless vanities forfeit the grace that could be theirs.”

In His love,
Pastor Tim Burt

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