Jesus in You

       If someone from my past met me today I know I'd seem pretty different; for the first time in my life I have confidence, I like me, and now a days I am more often sweet than surly. If they asked me what happened to me, how or why I changed the only answer I can give is 'Jesus in me'. See, it was when I started to read the Bible everyday and I started applying it to my life that I changed. Jesus showed up then and started to fix what was broken in me. When I showed Him I was seriously, passionately in love with Him, everything in my world changed, my entire perspective on life, my future, and my purpose changed. I say this with all sincerity, Yeshua changed me, and He can you too.
        It will take total surrender, total devotion, and a deep knowing in your heart that you can't do it on your own. You have to want to give up the life you're in, and you have to be willing to do whatever the Lord asks of you to change it. You have to be willing to commit yourself to something more than yourself. You have to decide everyday to live for Him. And I don't mean that in the false way it is often stated by some where it's actually more like 'I'm saved and living for Jesus, but I'm living my life as I please and doing whatever I want because Jesus died for me.' No, I'm talking about actual salvation where you wake up every day with this prayer in your heart and on your tongue, 'Lord let me be used to turn them to you, let them see you in me, Lord let my heartbreak for them as yours does, and let it lead me to action.'
       Why do I say in that prayer for your heart to break and lead you to action? Because of the words of our Messiah in John 14:15-23; and John 15:1-17.  The repeated command here to prove that we are His is to love, Jesus says it is by our love that we are recognized as His but we cannot fulfill that command unless we allow our actions to show that love. We need our hearts to break for them, we need to be compassionate, and show that compassion by what we do. We need to be wearing our hearts of compassion on our sleeves for the world to see. Yes that means being vulnerable, yes that means you will be taken advantage of at times, and yes that means you need to forgive them anyway yes it will hurt at times, and it will be hard, and your flesh will fight you every step of the way because it loves rebellion, but with the Holy Spirit and Yeshua in your heart the flesh can be overcome and when it is the spiritual fruit that the battle bares will leave you humbled, grateful, and changed.
       Something I learned and am really still learning on this journey, that I was never actually taught in church, is that salvation isn't really a one time deal, its a daily way of living. It's an all day, everyday battle of spirit and flesh. And it is a constant coming back to the Lord, coming back to the cross. A constant refocusing of the mind on higher things than on the distractions that are surrounding us. It is an everyday deepening of the relationship between you and God, and you and His children. That is how you know you have salvation, and that is when you will see the changes in yourself and in the world around you. That's when you know you have Jesus in you. Be blessed in Yeshua's name.

Psalm 103:1-5

1 Praise the Lord, my soul;

all my inmost being, praise his holy name.

2 Praise the Lord, my soul,

and forget not all his benefits—

3 who forgives all your sins

and heals all your diseases,

4 who redeems your life from the pit

and crowns you with love and compassion,

5 who satisfies your desires with good things

so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

Romans 12:1-2
1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

2 Corinthians 3:18
And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

2 Corinthians 5:17
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
 
Galatians 2:20
I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Colossians 3:10
And have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.