HelpFinder Bible - Flipbook - Page 52
page A50
Change continued
can be described as a process of continual change. Some changes are positive: a new
friend, a new house, a financial windfall; others are negative: a tragic loss, a job layoff, the
upheaval of natural disaster. Either way, change produces stress. The Bible teaches two
great truths about change. The first is that despite the changing world around us, God is
changeless and dependable. The second is that God calls for an inner change of heart,
called repentance, which produces an outer change of lifestyle, called obedience.
With all the change in my life, how can I keep it all together?
• PSA L M 5 9 :1 0 | In his unfailing love, my God will stand with me.
• H E B R E W S 1 :1 2 | “But you are always the same.”
You can trust the character of God to be unchanging and reliable.
• H E B R E W S 1 3 :8 | Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
You can place your faith in Jesus Christ, whose love and grace are eternal.
• MA R K 1 3 :3 1 | “Heaven and earth will disappear, but my words will never disappear.”
You can build your life on God’s Word because its truth is changeless.
• G E NE S I S 3 7 :2 8 ; 4 1 :4 1 | So when the Ishmaelites, who were Midianite traders, came by,
Joseph’s brothers pulled him out of the cistern and sold him to them for twenty pieces of
silver. . . . Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I hereby put you in charge of the entire land of Egypt.”
(See note on page 40.)
C
• R O MA NS 8 :2 8 | And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of
those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.
HelpFinder
God can work his will even through traumatic, unpredictable, and unfair change.
• MAT T H E W 1 :2 0 -2 4 | An angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. . . . When Joseph
woke up, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded.
When neatly laid plans are changed by circumstances, you can still find peace in obeying
the call of God.
I know there are things in my life I should change, but how?
• A C T S 9 :4 -5 | He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul! Saul! Why are
you persecuting me?” “Who are you, lord?” Saul asked. And the voice replied, “I am Jesus.”
Change comes as the result of a personal encounter with Jesus Christ.
• A C T S 3 :1 9 | “Now repent of your sins and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped
away.” (See note on page 983.)
Change begins with honest repentance.
• L U K E 1 9 :8 | Zacchaeus stood before the Lord and said, “I will give half my wealth to the
poor, Lord, and if I have cheated people on their taxes, I will give them back four times
as much!”
When we recognize who Jesus truly is, our hearts begin to change, and then our behavior
will begin to change as well.
• J O H N 8 :1 0 -1 1 | “Didn’t even one of them condemn you?” “No, Lord,” she said. And Jesus
said, “Neither do I. Go and sin no more.”
We do not change in order to receive God’s approval, we change as a response to God’s
love.
• MA R K 4 :2 0 | “The seed that fell on good soil represents those who hear and accept God’s word
and produce a harvest of thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times as much as had been planted!”
The truth of God’s Word produces change only when it is allowed to penetrate deep into
our hearts.
Does God ever change?
• L A ME NTAT I O NS 5 :1 9 | But Lord, you remain the same forever! Your throne continues
from generation to generation.