6 Miraculous Changes I Have Experienced Thus Far
After much consideration, I finally resolved within myself to come back from hiatus. It's been about seven months since my last post and I intended it to be the last.
At that point, I decided to bury this blog and never speak of it again. But here I am, writing once more. You may ask, "Why? What triggered you to return?" or maybe not.
Simply put, things have immensely changed for the past few months and quite recently I have created new blogs besides this one so that I can at least do something with my spare time since I am currently having a month-long semestral break. Now, on with the topic at hand.
As I have said, over the past few months, many things have changed and I believe for the better. However, these changes were anything but ordinary and the only word that would describe them is miraculous.
Often, we would associate the word miracle with the supernatural and divine power of God interceding in the lives of His people, making even the most humanly impossible into possible things.
When miracles happen, we feel genuinely astounded and tend to respond enthusiastically toward them. That's exactly what I experienced. Let me share the backstory on how these changes became possible in my life.
Flashback...
About five months ago, during the summer, I decided to be more serious with God. This meant that I would devote my time and effort to get to know more of God by reading and studying His Word, the Bible, and by spending quality time with Him in prayer.
I made a regimen so that I can manage my time efficiently and I was able to do this for about two weeks.
Then I started to slip up. I became more focused on less significant things (mainly online games and Facebook) than my fellowship with God. I began to procrastinate on my study of the Word and I prayed my "routinary" prayers again.
One night, I was engaged in a strong spiritual battle. I was being tempted but I kept pushing the thoughts aside. After the tempting thoughts stopped bombarding my mind, I was able to sleep.
Little did I know, the battle wasn't over. I had experienced a troubling nightmare, one that I haven't experienced before and far scarier than my previous nightmares when I was a kid.
Usually, nightmares would involve monsters, ghouls, and other sinister entities. But in this nightmare, I faced their leader. When I awoke, I felt traumatized and I was afraid to go back to sleep so I woke up my parents and relayed the nightmare.
After a while, my father told me a pretty big revelation. He revealed to me that I wasn't Christian yet. I actually agreed with him and I felt that it was the right time that I come to accept Christ personally in my life and to have a relationship with Him.
The Sunday of that week, at church, I went to the altar on my own for the first time so that I may accept Jesus as my personal Lord and Savior.
My life has never been the same ever since and I never had that nightmare ever again! This is God's promise to us, that He will enter into our lives and make us a new creation and we will be filled by His Spirit and He will start to change our lives.
No longer are we victims of the enemy's attacks and no longer are we bound to our sins.
The changes in me
1. No more negative thoughts and feelings.
I am no longer subject to guilt, fear, anxiety, worry, doubt, frustration, discord, and especially angst (which is why I changed the title of this blog but I can't seem to change the domain name though).
From the moment I accepted Christ, I felt peace that only God can give. The Bible says that this peace is incomprehensible. There are no words to express it, you just experience it.
God also took away my fears and worries. I never had to worry about my grades, scholarship, academic life, social life, physical health, social status, and every other need.
I never had to deal with my problems alone anymore because God is in control of my life and He gives me His strength and power to overcome all problems and struggles in my life.
To be honest, I felt a few pounds lighter, as if God had taken a very heavy burden from my shoulders.
2. Broken relationships rebuilt.
During my senior year, I experienced some of the biggest problems I had to face in my life. Every day I get home from school, I felt so much distress and I was always frustrated with my parents.
Over time, I felt that I was distancing myself from my parents and that I tried to drown out their commands and advice. I simply didn't want them to keep intruding in my business.
But the most amazing thing happened even before I came to Christ. The Saturday after my birthday, my mother and I had a really long talk concerning a sin that I have committed behind their back for so long.
I believe that it was at that moment that the changes in my life began to take place, all because my mother didn't want me to go on the path of destruction.
Well, actually it was God who revealed that to my mother because He knew I was already going too far and He didn't want me to go on further along that path.
From that point on, it became easier for me to obey my parents commands and to receive their advice and criticism with humility. I sensed God had broken my hardened attitude toward my parents and rebuilt my relationship with them in love and respect.
It was at that moment when I first realized that God sees and knows everything about us and He will make ways to discipline us when we simply cannot control ourselves anymore.
3. Freedom from sin, victory over temptation.
After Jesus came into my life, that was it - I was free from the clutches of sin. Before that, I had been struggling with a few sins that even though I asked God over and over again to help me overcome, I was never able to break through it.
But just as God rebuilt my broken relationship with my parents, He was able to bring down the stronghold of the enemy in my mind, emotion, and will. He made me whole.
He filled the void in my heart and I was satisfied and fulfilled with His presence and His overflowing goodness and mercy in my life. I was free from sin and temptation never had a hold on me anymore because of God's power.
Jesus had given me the same power He used to tear down the enemy's temptations on Him and I was able to bring those sins captive into the obedience of Christ.
Though this doesn't mean that I was never tempted ever again but simply that I had the power to avoid and ultimately to emerge victorious over temptation by God's grace and faithfulness in my life.
4. Confidence in Christ.
Witnessing for Christ is the sharing of one's faith to others and giving them the opportunity to experience Christ in their lives by bringing them into the decision to accept Jesus in their lives.
Before, I felt so hesitant and intimidated when sharing about God, now I feel more confident and motivated to do so through God's power in me. Knowing that Christ is in me and that He empowers me has definitely helped me in this aspect.
I also felt that it is God's will that I became part of the Campus Crusade for Christ because their mission is exactly what I wanted to be able to do in my life and that is to share my faith to others and to undergo discipleship.
I am doubly grateful that God has enabled me to share Him to my friends and that they were willing to accept Him.
5. Continuous spiritual growth.
As I study God's Word and pray earnestly to Him each day, He reveals things to me that I have not known before. He reminds me of certain things that I often forget. He brings me into new and deeper understanding of Him and myself.
I believe that as I prayed that God would increase my faith and bring me into newer heights of experiencing His power in my life.
He is doing just as He had promised that when we call to Him, He will answer and show to us great and unsearchable things that we have not known before. I also believe that God is continuously teaching me lessons on love, faith, patience, obedience, trust, and much more.
6. Rekindled fire.
The amazing thing about coming into a personal relationship with Jesus is that you become so passionate, enthusiastic, and "on fire with God" that you feel that you could do just about anything by God's power.
The Bible speaks about tongues of fire that came upon the apostles and the other followers of Jesus and that they were filled with the Holy Spirit and His power.
Once this happens, you would notice that your prayer life becomes more intense, more specific, and more keen to the will of God that it is as if God is right beside you, listening to your every word, and He, in turn, would speak to you and sometimes even speak through you in a language no man has ever spoken.
Also, you would notice that your worship becomes more than just lip service; it becomes more genuine and it reaches the heavenly realms. The feeling is like you are worshiping God along with the heavenly hosts. It is as if you are actually being lifted up into the heavens.
All this is possible when, after accepting Jesus, the Holy Spirit enters and dwells within us. He infuses Himself into our spirit so that He is living in us and that we have the unlimited power of God at our disposal. That same fire is what pushes people even to their own deaths to proclaim Jesus to the world.
I have been able to taste and experience the joy of worshiping God but you see, I want more of Him each day and I pray that He will continue to fill me with the passion and desire to have a more intimate relationship with Him and that I may know Him in a deeper level.
Moving forward
I am really thankful for the miraculous changes that have happened in my life and I realize that these things would never have happened by my own abilities or by my self-will but only through God's power in my life.
I do hope that this might be an encouragement for you to make your resolve and to choose to live a victorious life in Christ.
You see, I tried to do things my own way but I kept failing. Only when I resolved to give my life to Christ and to ask Him to enter in my life, that's the time when things started to change for the better. God bless!
At that point, I decided to bury this blog and never speak of it again. But here I am, writing once more. You may ask, "Why? What triggered you to return?" or maybe not.
Simply put, things have immensely changed for the past few months and quite recently I have created new blogs besides this one so that I can at least do something with my spare time since I am currently having a month-long semestral break. Now, on with the topic at hand.
As I have said, over the past few months, many things have changed and I believe for the better. However, these changes were anything but ordinary and the only word that would describe them is miraculous.
Often, we would associate the word miracle with the supernatural and divine power of God interceding in the lives of His people, making even the most humanly impossible into possible things.
When miracles happen, we feel genuinely astounded and tend to respond enthusiastically toward them. That's exactly what I experienced. Let me share the backstory on how these changes became possible in my life.
Flashback...
About five months ago, during the summer, I decided to be more serious with God. This meant that I would devote my time and effort to get to know more of God by reading and studying His Word, the Bible, and by spending quality time with Him in prayer.
I made a regimen so that I can manage my time efficiently and I was able to do this for about two weeks.
Then I started to slip up. I became more focused on less significant things (mainly online games and Facebook) than my fellowship with God. I began to procrastinate on my study of the Word and I prayed my "routinary" prayers again.
One night, I was engaged in a strong spiritual battle. I was being tempted but I kept pushing the thoughts aside. After the tempting thoughts stopped bombarding my mind, I was able to sleep.
Little did I know, the battle wasn't over. I had experienced a troubling nightmare, one that I haven't experienced before and far scarier than my previous nightmares when I was a kid.
Usually, nightmares would involve monsters, ghouls, and other sinister entities. But in this nightmare, I faced their leader. When I awoke, I felt traumatized and I was afraid to go back to sleep so I woke up my parents and relayed the nightmare.
After a while, my father told me a pretty big revelation. He revealed to me that I wasn't Christian yet. I actually agreed with him and I felt that it was the right time that I come to accept Christ personally in my life and to have a relationship with Him.
The Sunday of that week, at church, I went to the altar on my own for the first time so that I may accept Jesus as my personal Lord and Savior.
My life has never been the same ever since and I never had that nightmare ever again! This is God's promise to us, that He will enter into our lives and make us a new creation and we will be filled by His Spirit and He will start to change our lives.
No longer are we victims of the enemy's attacks and no longer are we bound to our sins.
The changes in me
1. No more negative thoughts and feelings.
From the moment I accepted Christ, I felt peace that only God can give. The Bible says that this peace is incomprehensible. There are no words to express it, you just experience it.
God also took away my fears and worries. I never had to worry about my grades, scholarship, academic life, social life, physical health, social status, and every other need.
I never had to deal with my problems alone anymore because God is in control of my life and He gives me His strength and power to overcome all problems and struggles in my life.
To be honest, I felt a few pounds lighter, as if God had taken a very heavy burden from my shoulders.
2. Broken relationships rebuilt.
Over time, I felt that I was distancing myself from my parents and that I tried to drown out their commands and advice. I simply didn't want them to keep intruding in my business.
But the most amazing thing happened even before I came to Christ. The Saturday after my birthday, my mother and I had a really long talk concerning a sin that I have committed behind their back for so long.
I believe that it was at that moment that the changes in my life began to take place, all because my mother didn't want me to go on the path of destruction.
Well, actually it was God who revealed that to my mother because He knew I was already going too far and He didn't want me to go on further along that path.
From that point on, it became easier for me to obey my parents commands and to receive their advice and criticism with humility. I sensed God had broken my hardened attitude toward my parents and rebuilt my relationship with them in love and respect.
It was at that moment when I first realized that God sees and knows everything about us and He will make ways to discipline us when we simply cannot control ourselves anymore.
3. Freedom from sin, victory over temptation.
But just as God rebuilt my broken relationship with my parents, He was able to bring down the stronghold of the enemy in my mind, emotion, and will. He made me whole.
He filled the void in my heart and I was satisfied and fulfilled with His presence and His overflowing goodness and mercy in my life. I was free from sin and temptation never had a hold on me anymore because of God's power.
Jesus had given me the same power He used to tear down the enemy's temptations on Him and I was able to bring those sins captive into the obedience of Christ.
Though this doesn't mean that I was never tempted ever again but simply that I had the power to avoid and ultimately to emerge victorious over temptation by God's grace and faithfulness in my life.
4. Confidence in Christ.
Before, I felt so hesitant and intimidated when sharing about God, now I feel more confident and motivated to do so through God's power in me. Knowing that Christ is in me and that He empowers me has definitely helped me in this aspect.
I also felt that it is God's will that I became part of the Campus Crusade for Christ because their mission is exactly what I wanted to be able to do in my life and that is to share my faith to others and to undergo discipleship.
I am doubly grateful that God has enabled me to share Him to my friends and that they were willing to accept Him.
5. Continuous spiritual growth.
I believe that as I prayed that God would increase my faith and bring me into newer heights of experiencing His power in my life.
He is doing just as He had promised that when we call to Him, He will answer and show to us great and unsearchable things that we have not known before. I also believe that God is continuously teaching me lessons on love, faith, patience, obedience, trust, and much more.
6. Rekindled fire.
The Bible speaks about tongues of fire that came upon the apostles and the other followers of Jesus and that they were filled with the Holy Spirit and His power.
Once this happens, you would notice that your prayer life becomes more intense, more specific, and more keen to the will of God that it is as if God is right beside you, listening to your every word, and He, in turn, would speak to you and sometimes even speak through you in a language no man has ever spoken.
Also, you would notice that your worship becomes more than just lip service; it becomes more genuine and it reaches the heavenly realms. The feeling is like you are worshiping God along with the heavenly hosts. It is as if you are actually being lifted up into the heavens.
All this is possible when, after accepting Jesus, the Holy Spirit enters and dwells within us. He infuses Himself into our spirit so that He is living in us and that we have the unlimited power of God at our disposal. That same fire is what pushes people even to their own deaths to proclaim Jesus to the world.
I have been able to taste and experience the joy of worshiping God but you see, I want more of Him each day and I pray that He will continue to fill me with the passion and desire to have a more intimate relationship with Him and that I may know Him in a deeper level.
Moving forward
I am really thankful for the miraculous changes that have happened in my life and I realize that these things would never have happened by my own abilities or by my self-will but only through God's power in my life.
I do hope that this might be an encouragement for you to make your resolve and to choose to live a victorious life in Christ.
You see, I tried to do things my own way but I kept failing. Only when I resolved to give my life to Christ and to ask Him to enter in my life, that's the time when things started to change for the better. God bless!
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