Don’t Stay Stuck

Kathy and I have always been interested in One thing in ministry - changed lives. We want to see lives changed by the Power of the Holy Spirit every day and every week.

That’s what God does. God is in the Life changing business… He’s transforming lives.

Romans 12:2 NLT

2 Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

Paul says not to copy the culture of the day, but to let God transform us by changing the way we think. We literally become something different… something new when we change the way we think.

It’s like a caterpillar that goes into a cocoon and comes out a beautiful butterfly. PIC

Solomon said,

Proverbs 4:23 NLT

23 Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.

I want to talk a little bit about Transformation. Transformation doesn’t happen from the outside in, it happens from the inside out. And God will often use 4 steps to that process.

4 Steps of Transformation

1. God will get you through a crisis.

Are you in a crisis today? If you are not, you most likely soon will be. And God can take that crisis and transform it into something good in your life.

My biggest struggle in life isn’t with kids, grand kids, work, relationships… culture. We often think that’s where our struggles are but they are not.

Our biggest struggle is with God.

IOW, we struggle with God because we want to be God in our lives. At least we act like we want to be God, or play the role of God in our lives.

So today we will look at Bible character who struggled with God.

Genesis 32:24–25 NLT

24 This left Jacob all alone in the camp, and a man came and wrestled with him until the dawn began to break. 25 When the man saw that he would not win the match, he touched Jacob’s hip and wrenched it out of its socket.

Here is the situation. Jacob is afraid, with good reason, of Esau so he sends his wife and kids ahead to meet Esau while he stays behind. Maybe he thought that Esau would not kill them. But the truth is, Jacob was afraid and he did not like confrontation. I suspect that most of us don’t like it either. Jacob had bee running all of his life.

Now he alone and a man shows up and begins to fight him. How may of us dread something like that? Who was this that wanted to fight with Jacob?

Hosea answers that question in Hosea 12:3

Hosea 12:3 NLT

3 Even in the womb, Jacob struggled with his brother; when he became a man, he even fought with God.

Jacob had fought and deceived all of his life. He wrestled with Esau in the womb. When Esau was born, Jacob was holding onto his heal trying to exchange places with him. When Esau was the first born, Jacob tricked him out of his birthright. He struggled through out his life with people… his brother … his uncle, but his biggest struggle was with God.

Think about your biggest conflict… the toughest problem you are facing right now. Not matter what the problem is… financial, physical, relational, social, career wise… no matter what it is, it comes down to two things. Will I obey God and do the right thing whether I like it or not and will I trust God to handle the outcome for me?

The real problem is will I trust and obey God.

That’s pour main struggle. If the truth be told, we all want to be god of our own lives. We have to stop trying to play God. Here is what God does when we play God. He will allow us to control stuff until it comes to a boiling point. At that point we usually find ourselves at a crisis point.

God will use a crisis to get our attention.

Jacob was having a crisis. He has been attacked and is fighting with the man who attacked him. It’s a wrestling match and the objective is to win… to get the other person to surrender or pin him on the mat… to gain control over him.

Maybe you have been having this same wrestling match with God in your life. You are fighting with God for the control over your life.

Genesis 32:25 NLT

25 When the man saw that he would not win the match, he touched Jacob’s hip and wrenched it out of its socket.

Jacob thought he was doing ok and then the man touched his hip and dislocated it. Jacob found himself in a no-win situation.

Have you ever been in a no-win situation? Maybe god is behind that because he is trying to get your attention.

All of a sudden you are laid flat on your back and you are forced to look up. He wants you to trust him to make the changes in your life to get you through the crisis.

You have heard me say, God loves you just like you are… right where you are. But he also loves you too much to leave you the way you are.

God is a renovator. He renovates our lives. He wants to transform our lives.

Maybe you are like me and you wonder, ok, God wants to change me, but why does he use a crisis in my life? They are usually painful.

God uses a crisis because we very rarely change until the pain become greater than our fear of change.

For some reason, most of the time, we don’t change until the warning light comes on.

2. God will us a crisis to bring us to a commitment.

He wants us to get to the point where we ill not give up… where we will not let go of him… where we will not let go of our faith.

Genesis 32:26 NLT

26 Then the man said, “Let me go, for the dawn is breaking!” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”

Jacob was holding onto God for dear life. He wasn’t letting go until God blessed him. Just so you know, God could have over powered him at any time and ended the wrestling match… why didn’t he?

When God allows a crisis into your life, he doesn’t solve it instantly.

Why is this? He wants to see of you really mean business. If you are all in on your commitment to him.

If God answered all of your prayers instantly,

You would be spoiled.

God is not a genie in a bottle where we rub the side and our wishes are granted. god handles each of us differently so often we struggle as he helps us through it.

God wants to build your character.

If he bailed you out every time, you would never learn to relate to people… you would never learn to learn to not spend more than you make… you would never learn work through problems.

God wants to build your character.

A lot of people miss God’s best because they give up too soon.

People will say they prayed and God didn’t’ answer. Most of the time, they prayed once or twice and gave up. God wants you to be persistent in your prayers.

Galatians 6:9 NLT

9 So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up.

If you are in a crisis, keep doing the tight things. sales… struggling with addiction? problems? do the next right thing…

You didn’t get into this mess overnight and you will not get out of it overnight. It took you a while to develop the bad habits you have and it will take some time to develop good habits.

Sometimes it takes a while for us to completely surrender to the Lord.

God allows a crisis in our lives, then he brings us to a place of struggle with God and then…

3. God will bring you to recognize that the real problem is you.

this is where we make a breakthrough. We stop blaming other people and admit that “I am the problem in my life”. Until we get to this step, we will not experience transformation in our lives.

Genesis 32:27 NLT

27 “What is your name?” the man asked. He replied, “Jacob.”

God knew his name, but he wanted Jacob to own up to his name. In many cultures, your name meant something. Jacob’s name meant deceiver or trickster.

He was the guy who would cheat you out of your last dollar. He was not a good man. He lied to his blind, dying father so he could cheat hs brother out of his inheritance. He used everyone in his life.

God wanted Jacob to admit who and what he was. He wants you and me to do the same.

You will never be able to change until you admit your sin & weaknesses to yourself, to God and someone else.

You may be thinking, why do I have to confess to someone else? When you confess to God, he forgives you. When you confess to someone else, you are setting aside you your pride and God opposes pride.

James 4:6–7 NLT

6 And he gives grace generously. As the Scriptures say, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” 7 So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

James 5:16 NLT

16 Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.

We we humble ourselves God grants us grace. We confess to the Lord, it’s freeing.

What do you need to confess to the Lord? worrier… domineering, conflict avoider… etc Stop making excuses for your sin and own up to it. God already knows. All you have to do is to own up to yourself and others.

When you do this,

4. God will bring us to the point of conversion.

In our conversion, we are given a new name… a new identity.

Genesis 32:28–30 NLT

28 “Your name will no longer be Jacob,” the man told him. “From now on you will be called Israel, because you have fought with God and with men and have won.” 29 “Please tell me your name,” Jacob said. “Why do you want to know my name?” the man replied. Then he blessed Jacob there. 30 Jacob named the place Peniel (which means “face of God”), for he said, “I have seen God face to face, yet my life has been spared.”

Three things happen at conversion

1. You get a new identity.

God changes his name from Liar, trickster… to Israel… Prince with God. That’s an upgrade in case you drifted. God said that even though everyone else sees (trickster, liar, manipulator) I see a prince.

God would tell some of you today… beneath all of your hang-ups, I see a prince / princess. Despite all of the sin you have committed in your life, I see something great in you. Just own up to it.

In the Bible, God often changed names to signify the change.

Simon - Peter; Abram - Abraham; Sarai - Sarah; Saul - Paul

He gets a new identity and then

2. He blesses you.

then he blessed him there

If you want to be blessed, you have to put yourself in a place where God can bless you.

3. God will give you a reminder of the experience.

Jacob was given a reminder he would never forget.

Genesis 32:31 NLT

31 The sun was rising as Jacob left Peniel, and he was limping because of the injury to his hip.

God left him with a limp. For the rest of his life, Jacob walked with a limp. It was a reminder of the night he spent wrestling with God.

Listen, when you encounter God - for real - you will never walk the same again. You cannot meet and experience God without your desires … your life being changed. Jacob never walked the same again.

What was the significance of the limp Jacob came away with?

It ended a life-long pattern of running away.

Jacob had spent his life running from trouble that he created. He would create a problem and then run. Esau… Laban… He was the most irresponsible person you can imagine. God wanted to make sure he did not return to that way of living, so he gave him something to remember it by - a limp.

It is never God’s will for you to run from a problem. If someone at work you can’t get along with and you leave… guess what, someone just like them is waiting on you. God wants to build your character.

It was a daily reminder to depend on God.

Your thigh muscle is your largest and strongest muscle and God touched Jacob at his point of greatest strength and created a weakness out of it. From that point on, Jacob had to stand in God’s strength, not his own. He leaves this encounter with God stronger and weaker… he is not the same anymore, there has been a conversion. Weaker because now, instead of fighting God, he will depend on God daily.

Listen, God’s deepest work in your life is what he does with your identity. The way you see yourself affects everything in your life. It affects the jobs you do, the people you spend time with and those you don’t. shy… outgoing… loser… bad parent… You will always tend to act according to how you see yourself.

So, God gives you a new identity and begins to change the way you see yourself. He tells you today, let me show you what I think about you. When you see yourself as God sees you, it’s going to change your life and you will act differently.

For lasting change, we have to change our perception of ourselves, of our sin and of God and How he sees us.

Only Jesus can transform who and what we are. Counseling will not. Books will not… Nothing is going to change until you get Jesus Christ into your life.

I want to ask you 4 personal questions...

What are you struggling with?

Where do you know the right thing, but keep ignoring God? You know what you need to do, but you keep fighting it. Surrender!!! Stop being afraid of allowing God to Control your life.

Are there any areas of your life where you feel like giving up?

It might seem easier to walk away from something, but you better ask God first. I have no doubt that there are people here or who will listen online who want to walk out of a marriage - don’t do it. Give ti to God and let godly people help you.

What do you need to admit about yourself?

When are you going to have the courage to share it with someone else? That’s the beginning of healing.

Will you let Jesus give you a new identity today?

God knows all about you, but still sees a prince or a princess. He sees your potential, not your past. Step across that line.