CHANGE

Snippet

The gospel is absurd and the life of Jesus is meaningless unless we believe that He lived, died, and rose again with but one purpose in mind: to make brand-new creation. Not to make people with better morals but to create a community of prophets and professional lovers, men and women who would surrender to the mystery of the fire of the Spirit that burns within, who would live in ever greater fidelity to the omnipresent Word of God, who would enter into the center of it all, the very heart and mystery of Christ, into the center of the flame that consumes, purifies, and sets everything aglow with peace, joy, boldness, and extravagant, furious love. This, my friend, is what it really means to be a Christian.” ― Brennan Manning, The Furious Longing of God

Scripture

What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2 By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? 3 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with,[a] that we should no longer be slaves to sin— 7 because anyone who has died has been set free from sin. Romans 6:1-7 NIV

Song

I'm Not Who I Was

 by Brandon Heath

http://youtu.be/K1ZgtCRO-KY

I wish you could see me now

I wish I could show you how

I'm not who I was

I used to be mad at you

A little on the hurt side too

But I'm not who I was

I found my way around

To forgiving you some time ago

But I never got to tell you so...

I found us in a photograph

I saw me and I had to laugh

You know I'm not who I was

You were there, you were right above me

And I wondered if you ever loved me

Just for who I was

When the pain came back again

Like a bitter friend

It was all that I could do

To keep myself from blaming you

Thinkin' its a funny thing

Figured out I could sing

Now I'm not who I was

Write about love and such

Maybe cause I want it so much

I'm not who I was

I was thinkin' maybe I

Should let you know

That I am not the same

That I never did forget your name

Hello...

Oooo Nah nah nah nah nah

And the thing I find most amazing

In amazing grace

Is the chance to give it out

Maybe that's what love is all about

I wish you could see me now

I wish I could show you how

I'm not who I was...

Sentence Prayer

God, it wasn’t so long ago that we were mired in that old stagnant life of sin.  We let the world, which doesn’t know the first  thing about living, tell us how to live.  We filled our lungs with polluted unbelief, and then exhaled disobedience.  We all did it, all of us doing what we felt like doing, when we felt like doing it, all of us in the same boat.  It’s a wonder, God, that you didn’t lose your temper and do away with the whole lot of us.  Instead, immense in mercy and with an incredible love, you embraced us.  You took our sin-dead lives and made us alive in Christ.  You did all this on your own, with no help from us!  Then you picked us up and set us down in the highest heaven in company with Jesus, our Messiah.  Amen!

(Praying from Ephesians 2:1-10 Message Eugen Peterson Practice Resurrection Study Guide Pg 23)