How do I let God change me?

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dizzy_dave

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This may sound stupid but HOW do I allow God to make the changes in my life that need done. I always hear people say what you need to do but HOW do I do it. I guess what I’m asking is how do I cooperate with God’s Grace, if I don’t even see it?
 
Dearest dave

My best guess is that you surrender you own will to God’s will . Total trust and obedience. Easy to say, not easy to do! Ask for His graces in abundance , ask Him to take your whole life and remould it to His will, then allow Him to do it.

When you come across a temptation or a situation that can prompt you to certain emotion or desire to move away from God’s will, call upon Him for His help, He won’t refuse you…

Doing all of this has certainly changed me.

God Bless you and much love and peace to you

Teresa
 
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dizzy_dave:
This may sound stupid but HOW do I allow God to make the changes in my life that need done. I always hear people say what you need to do but HOW do I do it. I guess what I’m asking is how do I cooperate with God’s Grace, if I don’t even see it?
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Get out of your own way…let go…just give into Him and let His Grace work in you. We can be our own worst enemy. You can say , Oh, yes I want God to change me…but are YOU willing to change? Give it all up to HIM? Only then can He really and truly get through to you/me…
I’m not saying this is going to be easy…but it’s a start. Hope this helps, Annunciata:)
 
Another excellent question from you, Dizzy! Theresa9’s suggestions are really fine, and I think she is totally right.

Surrender is key, I think. I know it is for me. Surrender to His Love. Surrender to His Will. *His Will, not mine, be done! *

I ask Him for help all the time, because I need it and He gives it! So I pray as often as I remember, which is more often than it has ever been in my life. I thank Him all the time–this seems to really help me to change for the better, when I am grateful to Him for all His blessings. I try to keep an attitude of gratitude, because when I am not grateful I tend to sin.

There are certain things only God can change. I ask him regularly to change those things. Again, it is His time, not mine!

You’ve asked some really important questions today, and thank you for giving me so much to ponder on! Hang in there, fella!

And God bless!
 
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Annunciata:
Get out of your own way…let go…just give into Him and let His Grace work in you. We can be our own worst enemy. You can say , Oh, yes I want God to change me…but are YOU willing to change? Give it all up to HIM? Only then can He really and truly get through to you/me…
I’m not saying this is going to be easy…but it’s a start. Hope this helps, Annunciata:)
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Surrender ask for grace, and beg, and plead for obedience to his will.
Let go let God! Pray Pray pray.
 
once again, i recommend good reading.

one of the main ways God has changed me over the years is through reading great christian books, especially cs lewis. every time i read ‘the chronicles of narnia’ or ‘til we have faces’ or ‘the great divorce’, i am changed.

confession, the Eucharist, prayer (esp the rosary), etc are also great ways to be changed over time, as well as spending time with people you want to be more like.

but the main way i’ve changed in my life is through reading.
 
Surrender ask for grace, and beg, and plead for obedience to his will.
Let go let God! Pray Pray pray.
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That is exactly the key! Pleading for God’s will in your life and setting your’s aside…then listening.

But what you hear and what God may ask of you may be very hard.

I needed a big change in my life so I pleaded for His will. It has been a slow process, but little by little God gives a challange and I try and follow it. Little things like, going to Sat mass and Adoration more often.

Then after some time passed, I felt God lead me to daily mass and more Adoration. Then He added the daily rosary and made some other requests of me.

The biggest one recently has been letting go of worries and casting my care. When I find myself fretting over things and anxious, I actually sense Him asking me to cast my cares and not worry - but to TRUST, TRUST, TRUST.

Trust has been my biggest problem, coming from a bad marriage of distrust, addictions and lies so God is dealing with me here to get all my trust.
 
For me, it was prayer. I had to change the way I looked at everything. I use to pray for what I wanted, not what God wanted. I now ask the Lord to hear but answer as HE sees fit, not me. It helped me realize He is in control, not me. I tell myself often during the day…Sacred Heart of Jesus, I trust in you.
Peace
D
 
Surrender in every aspects of your life. Any area that you do not permit God to work on, limits the overall effect. Pray for conversion. Love God. Trust in God.
 
What inspiring posts, thank you! I think reading is a really great way to open up to God, too, to open up to Him in a new way that I may not have thought about before on my own. Luckily there are many, many great books out there by Catholic authors!
 
For me it was by prayer. For a long time I tried to control my own destiny, but when I realized that I had to surrender to God by praying is when everything changed for me. I went from drinking everyday to praying everyday. What an amazing difference and how much happier I have become. I am a better wife, mother and all around person. Good luck and God bless you. Puppy
 
Ask The Holy Spirit to lead your way. Read your bible begining from new testament, then Old Testament. Just choose one book that interest you the most.

When I read my bible for the first time (at that time I was familiar with New Testament because I was baptised as a child and went to catholic shool all my life. I also had a little bit of interest with New Testament reading in Sunday Mass. So I felt like I knew the New Test), I was interrested with the book of Daniel. I was interested with the “story”. Then I couldn’t stop reading other books as well, and I read them as if they were “story books”.

After a while I began to “spot” Jesus in Psalms. From then on I traced the whole bible looking for Jesus in all of it’s verses (In the Old Testament). Long after, then I started to read Pauls letters. The letters of Paul are the most difficult ones : it requires us to have read the whole bible (OT and NT) once (or at least most of them as to have a good idea about them) before we can figure the “idea” of what Paul is trying to say. The letter of Paul has a lot of important teachings about FAITH, about how we hold fast on it.

From The Word of God (the Bible) one can grow in faith, because it is writen that “Man does not live from bread alone, but from every Word that comes from God as well”. It is writen everywhere in the bible that “The Word of God gives man life and hope”. The Word of God is Jesus, and is also The Spirit that gives us eternal Life.

John 6:63
"It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the WORDS that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.

John 6:68
Simon Peter answered Him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life.

John 1 and 1John 1 also tells us that Jesus is The Word.

So if we want to know about God’s Grace, we must read The Word of God (in the bible). Because Jesus is The Word, it is impossible to understand Him without the bible.

On the other hand, one can’t read bible without The Holy Spirit guidance. The Holy Spirit gives us desire to read bible and receive The Word. In my opinion, it is very difficult to rely on “mere self dicipline” to read bible. Besides if we rely on only “self dicipline” we can’t understand what the bible says, and therefore we do not have any desire to read further. So bible reading has to go with Holy Spirit guidance. Ask for God the Father to send The Holy Spirit to guide you in your way to Christ’s WAY.

Psalms 119:
49 Remember the word to Your servant,
In which You have made me hope.
50 This is my comfort in my affliction,
That Your word has revived me.
76 O may Your lovingkindness comfort me,
According to Your word to Your servant.
81 My soul languishes for Your salvation;
I wait for Your word.

May God bless you and God the Holy Spirit guide you.
 
I heartily agree with everything already said. What I can add is to repeat the most practical advise on this subject I have ever heard. It starts with a question. “What is your role right now?” Husband? Father? Single? Employee? Employer? Given that, what is the best way you can reflect Jesus while you fulfill that role? Self giving, gentle, kind, honest and fair are some things that come to mind. Then what are the sacrifices needed to wipe out any sin that stands in the way of doing these things perfectly?
 
I also ask the Holy Spirit to guide me and I pray…“teach me Jesus” …show me your holy way, make me part of your life so that I can serve you the best way I know how.
this was not easy for me…because i really didn’t know how to pray until I kept asking the Holy Spirit to intervene and to help me put all my trust in the Lord…somehow things just work work if you keep the your faith.
 
Quick n easy answer: Let Him into your heart and fill that God-shaped hole/gap.

Change does not happen overnight, I would suppose as well.
T.A.Stobie has it right when he said “surrender”. Surrender yourself to God.
 
I am a husband, father of 4 and a employee.
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davidv:
I heartily agree with everything already said. What I can add is to repeat the most practical advise on this subject I have ever heard. It starts with a question. “What is your role right now?” Husband? Father? Single? Employee? Employer? Given that, what is the best way you can reflect Jesus while you fulfill that role? Self giving, gentle, kind, honest and fair are some things that come to mind. Then what are the sacrifices needed to wipe out any sin that stands in the way of doing these things perfectly?
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I firstly acknowledged that I own nothing on this earth and since it is His, God gave all to me my life all that I have, all that I am. Then I offer it back to God the way I am. I surrender all to God and allow Him to take from me what ever He wishes. I keep on asking Jesus to help me repeatedly even today, years latterEspecially those who are the unlovable.
I got to a stage in life where I asked Jesus how I love the way He does.
He said to me. Do yo love your parents?, Yes said, do you love your brothers and sisters the same way?, I think so I said, do you love your cousins the same way he asked?, I don’t know some of them I replied. Do youlove the mungrel mob and the black power gangs He asked? I don’t knkow them I replied.
What would happen to how you love others if you took my Mother as your mother and Me as your Father He asked? I thought for a while
then I smiled and said I would Have spiritual parents, and my love for others would be equal. And now I smile at everyone the first hurdle over. To love one another the way Jesus does.
Next I asked for some one to teach me to love the way Jesus wanted me to love Him. He sent me St Therese, the little flower. I realised that self denial was the trick at that time then years latter adding to that what ever Jesus wished of me.
That’s a start.
God bless.
 
I agree with all that has been said.

Also, ask God to lead you to learn from whomever He wants to lead you by reading their book(s). And, when you read, don’t just read, but examine your conscience to see if you’re measuring up. The saints can truly help you, if you are open to what they are instructing you by their lives.

Example: I remember reading somewhere that a saint said it is a good thing when invited to eat with someone, you should humbly accept whatever it put before you. I remember this once when something I really disliked was served, so I silently offered this to Our Lord and ate my meal with delight.

I guess what I’m saying is to put into practice what ever you learn. God will see your intentions are good and will shower you with the graces to be closer to Him and you will change.
 
I always wanted Love above all it was all I ever thought was pure and must be like a circle with no begining and no end. Complete and could never harm a person, would always be there at all times offering me complete unity with God who I believed is LOVE.
I believed that the Bible said God made us to His own likeness, and because we don’t look the same it had to be in the spirit. So if He made us to His likeness then I could if I have faith do anything in God’s name, relating to God’s own rightsiousness.

In St Therese I found that in complete forgiving of others the way Jesus did I would be set free to love. Therese little asperations shon on me and I found that if I could denigh my humanness then I would live thinking only of Jesus, cold showers even in winter, shave without cream, eat what others wouldn’t, cloth myself only to have clothing on without showing off, or allowing others to see me as different. Without letting others see what I do ruining my food. toiletting with the seat up (excuse me).

All these and more can only be acceptable if they are done in LOVE. Firstly I have to love others with NO reserve. Forgive others with no grumbling, Be ready to forgive even though you might not have done anything wrong. When something goes wrong between you and others to ask forgiveness for mercy sake and for peace sake. Believe me the miracls that happen through forgiveness are huge.

When I was young in the spirit I started reading the Bible, I started on the new testement because I thought that If Jesus is the fulfillment of the old testement then I should read about Jesus. One day I believe that Jesus was telling me to read the Gosple to choose which ever and read it thoroughly.
I did this and then I believe He said to read it again and that Jesus would direct me through.
So I read the new testement again and again just releasing all of myself, hoping that Jesus would change me through reading, and with the Holy Spirit.
I also learned through St Therese that God accepts our frealties and His mercy shines on them, when we have a pure heart. I also realised that every person has a different level or amount of faith and love given them to fulfill the wish of God and to fill the garden on earth. we the children of God are to love and to nurish each other so that our Father in Heaven can look upon us and be pleased with what He sees.
Therefore the foot is equal to the hand. For God is the gardener.

I hope this helps a little.
 
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