The LIFE CHANGING POWER of the Holy Spirit

I was praying for Ragan and she left to go back to Tech this afternoon and as I prayed I thanked God for the way he changed her life when she heard him speak to her at Student Life camp in 2005... He spoke this word to her heart

He who conceals his sins does not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces
them finds mercy. Proverbs 28:13

When she heard the Lord speak this to her heart, she was immediately convicted of the sins of her past, and believe me, as a 14 year old then, she had A LOT of sins to confess... No child is perfect and the fact is that most 13, 14, and 15 year olds make a lot of mistakes in life as they try to figure out who they are and exactly who they want to be... Ragan was no different. But when I tell you that the summer God spoke to her and she HEARD him...WOW what a changed life she has had. So this post is about the Life changing POWER of the Holy Spirit.

What makes every other religion similar to Christianity, but what is the element that is left out of those religions? I am not that knowledgeable about other religions, because I only REALLY study the Bible, so if I'm speaking out of place, well just consider this post a random thought from an incredibly proud and happy Mom of my daughter, Ragan... but since her actions prompted this prayer and post today, I'll go out on a limb and state my claim...

We can sit in a circle and sing "Kum-ba-yah" like The Hare Krishnas(?) spelling?
Or we can go "Door to Door" with tracts and do good works like the Jehovah's Witness...
Or we can worship rocks, trees, animals and other inanimate objects like the Hindu...
We can pray and fast and travel to the Holy Land as the Muslim do...
What exactly do Buddhaist do? I don't have a clue... but I'm sure we could do it also...

There are many WAYS to worship and feel good about ourselves and our hopes to gain eternal life as I'm sure even the most atheistic person on earth has at least thought about, whether they admit it or not... But there is only ONE WAY that includes Jesus Christ in the form of the Holy Spirit who takes up residence in a persons life and because of that indwelling spirit on the inside of us, we are miraculously changed on the outside. Our lives are different because of that Holy Spirit that is GOD... He lives in us and guides us and changes us to WANT to be different...

I am a believer in once saved always saved, because once we have asked the Holy Spirit to live in us, he never leaves us... Others would like to debate that...but this isn't a debate, it's about the Life Changing Power of the Holy Spirit... And either you have it, or you DON'T...

If you are a believer, and this is ONLY for those who believe in Jesus Christ as your savior... Is your life different today than what it was before you asked Jesus into your heart? If you can say, "Yes", then thank God for the Life Changing Power of the Holy Spirit... If others around you say, "You're Different than you used to be." Then thank God for the Life Changing Power of the Holy Spirit...

If you can look at the hurting people around you and feel no compassion for them; If you haven't felt convicted about doing things that you know are wrong; if you haven't HEARD the voice of God, then I ask you to examine your life, ask a close friend in all honesty to speak up about what they think of you, if you know a Christian that you respect and who knows you well then ask them what they think about you and if the answer isn't "You're different than you used to be" then PLEASE stop right now and ask the Lord Jesus to save you and change you by the power of the Holy Spirit....

Oh my, I went off on a preaching moment, because I was actually bragging on my daughter, and thanking God for her... This weekend Ashton and Keelea were in a 50's dinner theater and Ragan came home to watch and I was so proud of their performance... They are all such Hams...(I was NEVER that way as a child, I was always so shy in front of people...) and after the show, they decided to have an impromptu party at my house... These are always better than the planned kind, because it's in the moment and all the parents are happy and they say yes to their kids coming over. We had around 30 kids and they decided to play "Capture the flag" in our neighborhood around 11pm last night. What we didn't know was that there was a party two houses down for a graduate and the parents had bought a lot of alcohol for the kids... Now we have our party with 30 from church playing and having a good time, and they had their house full of kids who were playing and having a good time (Same thing right?) Except one of the kids decided to drive drunk and almost hit one of our kids and my dog... ( I think that upset Ragan more than the kid, but I won't tell the parent) anyway, she marched up to the door and asked who the person was that drove the Silver PT Cruiser and the other kids didn't hesitate to say, "that's Matthew Meyers" and she marched right into the house and asked him to come out... He thought it was to move his car that he parked haphazardly on the street, but she said stand right here in front of me and let me tell you what you almost did. He didn't even see the kids in the street and she told him that one STUPID act like "Killing someone" would change his life forever because he chose to Drink and Drive... She said it's so simple but true, Don't Drink and Drive, you idiot... He said he was sorry and that he was giving his keys to one of his friends and she came home...

The greatest thing about that story, was there were 30 junior and senior high school kids that were watching how she handled that event... WOW, what a witness... She may have even saved a child's life by confronting that boy... Who knows, maybe he even saw something in her that would want to make him do things differently...

Again, it's back to the "WAY" we do things... We can do things differently than we used to because of sheer willpower, or we can be Changed by the LIFE CHANGING POWER of the Holy Spirit...Jesus Christ is the WAY, the TRUTH, and the LIFE... Let GOD change us through the same power that raised Jesus from the dead... WOW... is all I can say... I'm so proud of her...

I have one more quick story of how she is witnessing to a boy at Tech. He has a couple of classes with her and he hasn't had a "Life Changed" experience yet... Oh, he thinks he's a Christian because he doesn't worship another God or anything, but he doesn't have a personal relationship with the Lord, Jesus Christ... YET! He is 20 years old, just broke up with his girlfriend and basically thinks his life is over because of that... He drinks every weekend and is basically just existing.. Ragan suggested that he hang out with her for a weekend and not drink and they did. On Thursday, she invited him to a concert on campus for extra credit in the class they both attended, and he went. A lot of kids from Calvary were there because they were music majors, including their College director... Talk about timing and intervention... You just can't help but be drawn to Kathy Nelson from Calvary... She reminds me of Paula Dean... Wonderful woman of God... Ragan invited him to church on Sunday but she had been up with Ryan all evening and night on Saturday because he had a stomach bug and she slept in on that Sunday... But this guy called her on Sunday morning and said, "Hey, are you picking me up for Church?" Oh, my goodness... It will have to be next weekend because she came home this weekend and it may have been a missed opportunity, but do you see how she is witnessing to others and leading them to Christ? It makes me so jealous, in a good way, that I want to follow her example.. I want to be that kind of Christian... One changed by the Life Changing Power of the Holy Spirit... (Sorry, didn't mean to go on again... I just get caught up in the moment...)

I didn't have a single camera at the dinner theater, but some of my friends said they would share their pictures with me, so I'll post those later of Ashton and Keelea...
I hope you've had a blessed day... I did...
Love you all,
Lea Anne