Have you ever wanted to change but felt like you couldn’t? That’s called being stuck.
You recognize that something is wrong; you may even be able to pinpoint exactly what it is. You want to change. You start working toward change but then you find out change isn’t as easy as you thought and you feel stuck – putting up with things you’re tired of in yourself or other people.
To change means to make or become different.
Changing the garments of your heart, taking off the things that bind you and putting on your beautiful garments, is just that, becoming different from what you once were. The Bible says that’s the same things as repentance. A lot of people think repentance simply means to say you’re sorry or ask forgiveness. That’s what I thought and that how I “repented.”
True repentance means to change the way you think and the direction of your life.
Repentance also includes feeling guilt for sin, understanding with your heart the consequences, and therefore reversing your decision to do, act or be a certain way. Any lasting change begins in the mind and continues until it affects the way you think in your heart and the way you live your life. Proverbs 23:7 says, “For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.”
(Food for thought: sin means to miss the mark that God has set, to err, to stray in your heart, to trespass outside of the boundaries God has set for YOU. You can sin inwardly and nobody but you and God will know it.)
Some things are easy to change and some things, even as a Christian, when you’re used to them, even if you don’t like yourself for being a certain way or allowing certain things to happen, require that you be fed up before you change yourself or your circumstances.
(Food for thought: Even if bad things happened to you that were not your fault but in turn you go down a path of hurting yourself through the sins you begin to commit against yourself, in the end it’s still you who must decide to change.)
When I found out what repentance means I still acted like saying sorry was enough. Maybe because nobody ever really explained to me how to change, just that change is necessary. I did not have the understanding of how to go beyond mere words to achieving real change.
Yes, I knew what the Bible says but I did not understand the commitment and sacrifice it takes to apply the instructions that bring change to the mind and heart. It’s like Jesus warned, I did count the cost of change (Luke 14:28).
The commitment is this: Obey. Do what God tells you. Obedience get’s the blessing.
The sacrifice is this: If God tells you to do something, don’t change what you are doing until change happens or He tells you to do something else. I don’t care if things look like they are getting worse first. Have faith and keep doing what He told you unless He gives you new instructions! Real change takes time.
As it relates to changing the garments of your heart: Whatever lies you’re wearing on your heart, whatever sins, whatever is holding you in bondage to a false identity and telling you that you can’t change; I want you to know that you can change if you’re willing to do the work.
You disrobe the lies attached to your heart by applying the truth. Truth will set you free and change you into the woman God created you to be.
To disarm lies you can use the three “D’s.” They are: decrees, devotions, and declares. They hinge on God’s promises and our prayers.
1. Find God’s promises and declare them into your heart and over your life. God’s promises can be considered His decrees. A decree is God’s law or ruling about a matter. It is what He says about you. His promise is that all Heaven will back whatever He decrees if you will declare it.
2. After you find the promises that speak to your heart devote time to mediating on them. This will disarm the lies.
3. Finally, declare the promises until you become what they say you are. Psalm 2:7 says, “I will declare the decree the LORD has said unto me.”
Beloved, you can change the garments of your heart!
[…] When you cultivate inner-beauty and merge into one existence who people see on the outside with who you really are on the inside then your mindset, your mantra, and the measure by which you judge yourself and others will change. […]