Idleman speaks of the “distant country” and uses one of the most famous Bible stories known to man, the prodigal son story in Luke. Maybe that is what has happened to me this past six months. Maybe this is what Idleman means when he says “At just the right time, a person’s life collides with God’s Word and the power of the Holy Spirit, and everything changes.”. You made me God You change me.” He said at that moment he felt his life begin to turn. I know You don’t want me to be the way that I am because my behavior makes me distant from You. He has changed… but how? I remember his comments one day in a group setting when he said he got tired of trying to change himself and he just prayed to God “You know who I am you made me. Yet he speaks of his past as the truth and his friends and family members vouch for him that he was the man he said he was. It seems unbelievable when I compare the man he is now to the man of his past that he describes. Recently, I was so blessed to be in the presence of a man I greatly admire who has gone through miraculous changes in his life. Oh I hate to write this but within the last six months or so, I have had some success with change. I have tried so many things, so many times, all in the effort to change myself. I am not going to confess my sins on a blog but I have had an ongoing problem for many, many years and I have been at a loss to change it. In fact on page 13, the author says “This journey begins with a rejection of your self’s offer to help.” What does he mean? What does sudden recognition or Awakening, Honest movement and lasting change or Action mean? To me, it means that we can’t institute real change ourselves… God has to do it. Rats, I was hoping for guidance about how to get my resolutions going. Then Idleman drops the bomb: AHA is not a self help book. When are we ever in a perfected state? Never. In short, I need to make changes, just like you probably need to. I know I need to exercise more, read more, learn Spanish and the list goes on and on. Reading the first pages of AHA sounds exciting. On the Rachel Ray show this morning, she said that the number one resolution is starting an exercise program to lose weight and the number two resolution is getting organized. Pastor Idleman comments on the obsession that our culture seems to have about change, especially “self-change.” I guess he is right that self-help literature is a 11 billion dollar business and we currently have 45,000 self-help books in print. Wow, what a way to start the new year! When the TV is full of ads about losing weight, smoking cessation products, exercise equipment and people who are into making an effort to bring resolutions into reality, we start St.
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