A New Spirit and Heart

The great philosopher (my son) Harry Lloyd once said ‘You can’t recreate a thing without destroying it a little. Everybody wants to be different. Nobody wants to change.’

Einstein once said that the definition of insanity is repeating the same behavior over and over again and expecting a different result.

But often we are not really willing to change, yet we expect different results.

I have had many clients over the years. When I have set them homework, they have come back without doing the work.  

Some people would try, but, ultimately, pronounce that they could not do it.  

My question for you today is-

Do you want to change?

In my experience, almost everybody wants to change something.

What one thing do you want to change in your life?

Often when leaning into change, we have to destroy a little. That is to say, things often get harder before anything gets better.

Scott Peck has previously said change requires chaos to get to the other side.

With anything in life, it has to get worse and that pain is necessary.  

Most people, according to Scott Peck, go back to safety and comfort (regardless of whether that is what they want) to avoid pain. I.e. they seek pleasure and avoid pain.

In life, we are afraid to be uncomfortable; this fear prevents us from reaching our full life potential.   

I have previously discussed the essentials and life objectives that we need to put into our backpacks for our unique journeys through life.

Today I want to focus mainly on the essentials.

The first essential is from Ezekiel 36 in which God says ‘I will give you a new heart and spirit.’

In Samuel 10 it says that when Saul was becoming King of Israel, he tried to turn away and God gave him a new heart; he was transformed.

Ezekiel 11 said that God will give an undivided heart. He will take away your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh and a new spirit.

Scripture also says that this new heart will naturally obey God and mirror God’s heart.

This new heart gave Saul the ability to stand strong, be King, and live his best life.

The second essential is the mind of Christ.

Luke 19:10 indicates that the mind of Christ is to seek and save the lost.

Through the mind of Christ, we can discern the spiritual and understand, spiritually, all sorts of different situations in our lives. This includes prioritizing relationships and love.

If the ‘evil one’ snatches the truth away, all that is left is lies and fear. But with the mind of Christ, we can see the truth.

If you are able to correctly discern different situations in life, whatever they are, you are able to find the correct answers for change and follow your best life.

This is what the mind of Christ is. Without this, you can only discern wrongly and follow a path that does not serve you.

The third essential is the righteousness of Christ. This means being right-standing.

I believe there are 5 parts to this:

1. This righteousness (Romans 1-3) that God gives to us is revealed and manifested.

This means He makes us righteousness and gives us that power.

2. This righteousness is God’s righteousness and power to judge (Romans 1-16.)

      This means God gets to judge who has chosen to live in love.   

3. The righteousness of God to save.

This means He is actively saving us after revealing righteousness and giving it to us.

4. God’s righteousness comes through the person of Jesus in forgiveness and freedom. We are given freedom and forgiveness.

5. God’s righteousness produces grace. The miracle of all miracles.

The summary of these 5 points can be found in Romans 12-  ‘Be transformed by the renewing of your heart.’

These essentials, I believe, are much undervalued gifts that we can use to solve our problems and shift from the negative to the positive in life.

There is only one common thread in people who live to be an old age- they do not live in worry. They are not focused on seeking pleasure to avoid pain. Instead, they are seeking what is good and positive in life.

If we take God at his word and start to live our lives with understanding, knowledge, and intention for all these essentials that God intended to manifest in our lives, I believe we can go through chaos and pain and get to the positive on the other side.

I now want to take a deeper look at the first objective that goes into our backpacks:

WHAT IS THE MEANING OF LIFE?

I believe we all need to go on an inward journey to work out who we really are and what makes up our identities.

What is the truth for you?

For this week, I would like you to do a heart and soul search.

What is the meaning of life, according to you?

Is there a God?

In my own journey, I went on that very search.

I went to a lecture by a visiting NASA doctor and scientist where he told a story about a pocket watch.

He asked this:

If you went to the top of Mount Everest, broke up a pocket watch into tiny pieces, placed them in a bag, and then swung those pieces around and released them across the mountain- what are the chances of that watch sitting, intact, at the top of the mountain in 100 years?

The answer would be zero, right?

He went on to state that with all the data and math we currently have on the universe, the odds are more likely for the pocket watch to restore itself than for our world to be created out of nothing.  

For me, this was what I needed to believe. But then, what God did I believe in?

Stress and fear steal away up to 1/3 of our adult life span; all of the science indicates that we function in an optimal state when we live in positivity rather than stress.

So, if God exists then, it would have to be a God of love, truth, grace, and justice because these are the primary fundamentals that make us human.

As I have said before, the love of Christ compels us. And only love drives us forward!

So , what compels you?

Is it the love of Christ, or is it anything else?

If the love of Christ is compelling you, then you are declared righteous.

If you choose anything else, this could be plugging you into a power that takes you further into a fear-based life i.e. seeking pleasure to avoid pain.

Living in love

Being gifted a new heart and spirit

Finding righteousness and truth

Living in grace and justice.

All of these gifts allow us to follow our true paths and live our best lives.

But it needs to come from you. You need to do the searching and determine what you believe is going to provide you with the best life.  

Have a blessed, wonderful day!

Alex Loyd