Title: How Does God Change Us?
Contents
How does God change us?
Genesis 32:24-32
Have you ever met a person who said, 'It's not good for other people to go to church, so I'd rather not come out' There are a lot of people around us who believe in Jesus and go to church, but do not live like a Christian at all. Also, there are often selfish people who do whatever it takes to achieve their goals. Jacob was that kind of person. But God did not give up on Jacob. God couldn't let Jacob go on living that way. It was the case of the Jabbok River Ferry that God intervened in Jacob's life and took his place. What method did God use to change Jacob? What method does God use to change our lives with strong ego without ever changing?
First, let him be alone.
But being alone can be very scary. It seems like the world doesn't recognize you and you may feel powerless. Some people cannot be alone. So we live with the Internet, we live with the TV, and we chat constantly. No time to be alone. There is no time for self-reflection and self-reflection. However, humans do not change unless they face themselves.
Man can change when he meets himself in the deepest. People are honest when they are alone. When you're with other people, you can wrap yourself up in a mask, laughing and chatting. However, if you are alone, you do not need to be conscious of other people, so you can remove your makeup and wear only your underwear. When you are alone, your true self is revealed. We usually play to some extent. The more people who make a lot of fuss when meeting people, the stronger their acting temperament. To some extent, when you meet people, you wear a mask. The word ‘personality’ comes from the Latin word ‘persona’, which means ‘mask’. Just as clowns who dance mask change their masks according to their roles, our lives are lived by playing plays according to the roles entrusted to them. The more you play, the more tired you become.
“I am having a hard time these days. My soul is not at peace these days.” These people have hope.
I want to find myself. If you want to meet your true self, you have to spend time alone. The English word for being alone is Solitude. This word means loneliness, not loneliness, which means loneliness. You can meet God in solitude.
When did you meet yourself? How has your ego been dealt with? The time to face God alone can be a time of change. That is why many people meet God in prison. There are cases where a person who has been declared dead in a hospital meets God. There are many people who meet God at the prayer center. In the middle of a noisy world, we cannot meet God. God told us to go into the closet. The closet is a place to meet God. Where is your closet? Do you go to your closet to meet God?
Jesus said that no matter how busy he was, he found a quiet place. He spent time alone with God in a place where no one needed to be conscious. Jesus did cutie. We need critical time. If you go before the Lord as you are, as you are in failure, with your bare face, as you are, the Lord will meet you. This is the starting point for change.
Second, you break my self.
Jacob is the epitome of a person who does not like to lose and leads a life of cruelty. They are twins, but they are the second. When I was born, I was born holding my brother's heel. He was trying to get his brother's birthright, but in the end he succeeded in taking the birthright. His father's last inheritance, the firstborn's blessing, was decorated as if he was Esau. Jacob was a do-it-yourselfer. Even after getting married, he worked for 14 years to marry the woman he loved, Rachel. In the end, he made Rachel his woman. He was an achievement-oriented person. He's led a life he'd never had a crush on. It seems that God did not invite Jacob to the Jabbok River to change him. Yabbok River was a ring of fate that could no longer escape. It was the best showdown. Someone came to the fight first. Who is this person? It was God or an angel of God. God came to Jacob. So he wrestled with Jacob. Jacob did not lose. As Jacob used a dragon, the opponent struck Jacob's vital point. It hit the hip bone. It hit the thigh joint. The fight is over.
Jacob asked. “Tell me your name,” God answered. “Why are you asking my name?” You know, why are you asking? Even though Jacob knew God, he acted and lived as if he did not know God.
Hold on to God with your last remaining passion. When God comes, reach out and take His hand. I won't let you go unless you bless me. Change me or take me, change me a little. Save it. It means that I can live without God.
Third, God's power finally transforms me!
God breaks our ego and gives us a new name. He takes off the physical Kim Yun-seop and transforms him into a spiritual Kim Yun-seop. You change me, who I don't think will ever change. A few days ago, when I was in college, I met the secretary who raised me. At that time, I gave the secretary a lot of trouble. I was not an obedient student. I've done a lot in my opinion. When I saw it a few days ago, I said thank you to the secretary.
Look at Genesis 32:27,28!
“The man said to him, “What is your name?” He said, “Jacob.
He said, "Your name will no longer be called Jacob, but Israel; for you have struggled with God and with men, and have prevailed."
See Genesis 32:30. He called the place Peniel because he had met the face of God. God changed Jacob's name. The word Jacob means ‘to steal’ or ‘to seize’. The word “Israel” means “God reigns”. God reigns. This is the moment when the dominion of your life is transferred from you to God. The moment has come for you to surrender to God in a life where your ego has ruled you and you have had to hold on to.
Paul Trunier said in his book:
The fundamental force that transforms us is the power of God, not our experience. The true meaning of the experience of faith is not in the changes that occur in our lives, but in the fact that we come to know God in those changes.
The Christian life is not a decisive and innovative experience that is completed all at once. The Christian life is an experience of constantly gaining new victories by the grace of God, no matter how frustrated or lost.
God's grace is beyond measure beyond our imagination. The sun was rising and the morning was bright. But Jacob is now a new person. Not the Jacob of the past, but Israel now. His legs were lame, but his soul was free. Decisively, his life changed at the Yabbok River. Take the initiative in a life that was now self-centered, self-centered, self-centered and self-centered, to a life in which God is now Lord and governed by God. Then a new morning will dawn in your life.