Help! I’m Stuck!

What is? What is? What is biblical counseling? biblical counseling will grow you from brokenness to wholeness. Light bulbs are going off in my head. This is like deep. I just haven't thought about that way. It's mind blowing to me. I don't know if I've ever had a vibe I put it that plainly. Two people for all this time I've been here. No one to church. This never resonated with me. This is Transform. And now your host, assistant professor of biblical counseling at the Masters University and certified biblical counselor, Dr. Greg Gifford. This is Dr. Greg Gifford and I'm here on our show, Transformed. Perhaps you've heard of the series, it's live biblical counseling with those in the real world who are experiencing God's transformative word applied to their life. Today we're going to discuss the question, how do we change? Many of us are at a stage in our life where we just feel stuck. It feels like we've battled this thing forever. Our circumstances are somewhat bleak and change seems really out of reach. And for those of us that have been in that situation, we know that change, we believe there can be change, but at times it doesn't always seem like change is possible for us. I want to point your attention today to a strategic passage in the scripture about change and what it means. At the show transformed, we use that term transformed because that's a biblical term. And, biblically speaking, you can change. I'm going to read from 2 Corinthians 3, if you have a copy of your scriptures, I encourage you to grab it. But Paul is going to use an idea here to communicate change, and in so doing to reassure that the Christian can genuinely experience, not just circumstantial change, not just change in the pressures of their life or interpersonal change or personal change, but genuine transformation. That you are made new. That no longer is it that changes just happened in incremental ways, but you're a totally different person. And God has done something significant to accomplish that in your life. 2 Corinthians chapter 3, Paul is going to refer back to the Old Testament. In so doing, he appeals to a time when Moses would commune with the Lord. Maybe you recall this situation, but Moses would actually go commune with the Lord, come down, speak with the children of Israel, and then have to cover his face with a veil. The scripture literally says that his skin shone. The glory of God was so radiant that Moses in some miraculous way was glowing. So bright that they had to cover him up. That's verse 12 of chapter 3. Since we have such a hope, we are very bold, not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face, so that the Israelites might not gaze at the outcome of what was being brought to an end. Moses had to cover his face as he's continuing to deliver the law and to share what the Lord has told him. And Paul uses that analogy to say, "This is now what it's like for those who do not follow God, that there is a veil that lies over the heart of the person that rejects Jesus Christ." That's verse 15. That when an individual does not follow Christ, one of the realities is that they just simply don't see him for who he is. If you are saved as an adult, I'm convinced you can recall that in your own life, where you distinctively remember thinking Jesus was just this okay historical figure. That Jesus was just part of like Gandhi, part of some Protestant group. I don't know, maybe he's connected in some way to the Greek philosophers, but you didn't see him as the excellent supreme Messiah. But when the veil is removed, according to the scripture here in verse 14, but their minds were hardened for to this day when they read the old covenant, that same veil remains unlifted, because only through Christ is it taken away. Yes, to this very day, whenever Moses has read a veil lies over their hearts. But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. You've experienced that on a wedding day where you'll see maybe the father of the bride uncover the bride? You've experienced that in our own culture where we would wear sunglasses or visors, things to prevent us from being blinded by the sun, things that kind of cast a little bit of shade to protect us from direct sunlight. The veil is removed from the heart of an unbeliever at the moment of their conversion. When you became a Christian, one of the things that Christ did in you, verse 17, is going to say, through the work of the Spirit, is that God took the veil off of your heart so that you could see him. That's fundamental here. When one turns to the Lord, verse 16, the veil is removed. Now the Lord is the Spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. You, when you started following Christ, you had the veil removed from your heart. For the first time in your life, you could actually see Jesus and all of his glory. And he is glorious. Chapter 4, verse 4, is going to say that the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, Christ is glorious. Just very practically speaking, listener, that you now not only behold Jesus and think, "Well, that's an interesting historical figure." I'm sure he's got some wise principles that I could follow. Where's Nostradamus? Where's Aristotle? Where's some Gandhi readings? Let me just mash all these together and start to come up with good moral principles. But what happens when God, the Spirit, removes the veil from your heart as for the first time in your life, you behold Jesus and you behold his excellency. You see him is better, practically. I can distinctively remember growing up in church. It was a great church, a great opportunity to be exposed to the scripture, to hear preaching, to focus on missions and evangelism. I remember that since a young age, but Jesus was not glorious to me. He wasn't glorious to me until roughly my high school years. That's when I would say that the Spirit removed the veil of my heart. And for the first time, I wanted to read my Bible, not because I knew that's what good Christians did, but because I saw that that's what Jesus used to communicate to me. That's how I learned about God was through the scripture. That's how I discerned his will was through the scripture. So no longer was it now me as a roughly 10th, greater 16 year old individual saying, "Well, good Christians go to church." It was me saying, "I love the bride of Christ. I want to be part of church because that's better to me." How did that happen through the work of the Spirit revealing Jesus to me? So when I see Jesus, I see Him as better. And when you see Jesus as a follower of Christ, you see Him as better. Now, what does that have to do with transformation? I started this episode saying, "Hey, look, if you feel stuck, don't be discouraged because change and transformation can happen." What is beholding Jesus and the veil thing have to do with transformation and change? We'll look at verse 18 of chapter 3. So this is 2 Corinthians 3 verse 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. This is why it's instrumental to understanding beholding Jesus. When you behold Jesus, that is the foundation for your transformation. I'll tease this out in another episode about a sin-focused verse, a savior-focused sanctification. But here I want you to see that foundationally, who is it that changes you? It's God. How is that change in transformation happening as you behold God, as God reveals Himself to you? At times, we're looking for change and we're looking in places that will never provide change. You go to your doctor and you think, "Doctor, all I need is just a new medication," and that's going to fix all of this. You go to a relationship and you think, "If I can just find a new relationship, get out of this one, find a new one, and that's going to bring the change that I need." If I can get out of this job, it's laborious, difficult, my boss is Cantanchris, whatever it is, I just need a new job and that's going to bring the change that I need. What the Scripture teaches is what you need to facilitate genuine and lasting changes you need to see God for who He is. You need God to reveal Himself to you. Practically speaking, I need to know more about God, I don't need an immediate job change to bring about transformation. I need to know more about God, I need to behold God, and maybe medications can be helpful in facilitating change, but that's not the most fundamental aspect of my change. I need to behold the Lord. God revealing Himself to us and us now beholding God is so. central to our transformation. So no wonder why at times we're not changing because we're not actually beholding God. No wonder why we're not changing because we're not seeing him. We're frustrated in our disappointment. We're frustrated and discouraged. So we fail to behold God for who He actually is. And thus we don't change. A friend of mine, Tim Bryant, councils at the Low Country Biblical Counseling Center and he said it like this, that it's a cause and effect when you see the glory of God, that is the cause and what is the effect. I'm transformed. I'm transformed into that same image. God does bring about transformation in my life whenever I behold Him for who He is. We're going to take a quick commercial break here and when we come back, I'm going to continue to tease out how God revealing Himself to you is integral to your change. We'll be right back. Master's University offers a credited undergrad, masters and doctoral degrees in Biblical counseling. You can learn more about our in-person or online programs at masters.edu. Master's University also offers over 150 additional programs. Please visit our website to learn more or come and visit us. We would love to spend a day with you introducing you to Master's University. Are you struggling with anger, lust, OCD, anxiety, depression or other issues? The association of certified Biblical counselors would love to walk alongside you, listen to your struggles and walk with you to overcome those issues and to grow you more in Christ's lightness. We would love to be a part of that journey. To find a Biblical counselor near you or via Zoom, please visit us at BiblicalCounseling.com. Old habits die hard but through the application of Scripture change is possible. In his award-winning book, Dr. Gifford shows how art motivations and godly practice are critical for growth in Christ, available now at transform.org. Welcome back to Transborn. The world's definition of beauty is simply not found in the Bible. Instead, the Bible informs us that true beauty is defined not by this world but by God himself. And now your host, Dr. Greg Gifford. Welcome back to Transformed. We've been talking about how do you change? What happens when you get stuck? Is it circumstances that need to change? Is it relationships that need to change? Is it medications that need to change? How does God bring about true lasting and genuine change in our life? In the last segment, I said that God brings about change according to 2 Corinthians 3 through him revealing himself to us. God reveals himself and that is a fundamental aspect of us changing. So if you're not there, I'll go back to 2 Corinthians 3. Verse 18 said, "And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image." Verse 18 is emphasizing that at the moment that you became a Christian, God did something different in your heart. And for the first time, you were able to see Jesus and to see the glory of Jesus. Look down at verse 4 of chapter 4. This is just 5 or 6 verses away. In their case, the God of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. What Satan has done as he has tampered with your spiritual eyesight, so to speak, that you cannot see God in part because you're blinded, apart from the work of the Spirit. So sure you know Jesus was a historical figure. Sure, you might think he had some great moral principles to live by, but you do not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ. Yet when the Spirit changes that, he removes the veil so that you, for the first time, can see God because God has revealed Himself to you. It's almost as if we were physically blind and then now physically we have the ability to look. And as we behold, we see Jesus for who he actually is. God does that revelation. Now inevitably you're thinking Dr. Gifford, hook me up how is God revealing Himself to me? How do I learn more about who this God is? If God revealing Himself as transformative, well then how do I practically see God? Let me start by maybe some ways that we don't do that. If God has to reveal Himself, then I know that this is not something I can find within me. As if I now need to find some sweet meditation plan, I'm going to incorporate that into 30 minutes of every day and start to think about my life, myself, my problems, my successes, and somewhere in there I'm going to learn more about God by my own meditation plan. I'm not going to go to myself when trying to figure out who God is. I'm going to go where God reveals Himself to me. How does God do that? He was the listener thinking, yeah great, sounds great. How do I do that? How does God reveal Himself to you through the Bible? And I don't want to be tried and I don't want to minimize the role of the Scripture in your life. Sometimes we have these good Christian answers like Bible, go to church, Jesus, and is that what I'm saying? No, I'm saying literally the Bible is God's self-revelation to you. Did you know that? Some of us have approached the Bible as a means of good Christians, read their Bible chapter one. But we also have to recognize that the Bible is not the list that I should read of good moral code and an ethic I need to develop. Rather, the Bible is God's self-revelation to me. How does God reveal Himself to you? Christian, it's through His word. Now you're sitting at your breakfast table, your dinner table at 6 a.m. every morning, not because there's a list you need to check, but because you need to behold who God is. And God is showing you in the pages of Scripture. So why do you spend an hour, 30 minutes of every part of your day sitting down in front of the Word? It's not to only check off the list, it's not to only practice that discipline, and those can have a place. But the point is that you would sit down and behold God as He reveals Himself to you. You're going to study the gospels and watch the life of Christ unfold. You're going to start with His early ministry and His crucifixion will be the finished and you're going to learn about the glory of God in Christ as seen in the gospels. You see the character of God is revealed to you in the Scripture. So when you're doing devotions, you're seeing the character of God. Why must you be a part of a local church? It's not because the local church just needs more bodies and we got to be there to keep the lights on. It's not just so that I can show up and continue to tie than to give and I should do those things. Why do I need the local church? I need it in part because on Sunday morning, my pastor is going to open up his Bible and he's going to teach me and show me who God is based off of how God reveals Himself in the Scripture. I need that and you need that. The danger of not being part of a local church is not only that you're failing to be connected to the body, not only that you're failing to have a network of community around you that's going to support and encourage. The dangers that you're going to stop seeing God for who He really is. God's revelation as taught in the Scripture is going to be dimmer and dimmer and dimmer to you. You need your quiet times. You need your sermons, Sundays, maybe Wednesdays, maybe you have a Bible study you go to throughout the week. You need episodes like these. You need shows like these to help communicate what the Bible says. So you're driving in your car and you're listening to the Bible. You're listening to others teach you the Bible. You're going to watch a YouTube video about the Bible. All of those are a means of you beholding who God is. How do you change? You change by beholding who God is. You change by beholding the character of God. What does that mean if I'm not changing? Oh no, you guys know I had to ask that question. You know I had to ask if I'm not changing what does that say about the means by which God reveals Himself. Am I accessing it regularly? Am I not accessing it regularly? I'll find that as a biblical counselor that many times those that are going through the pressured circumstance, the heat, the difficulties of life that they are distancing themselves from God's revelation to them, their Bible. I'll ask questions like how often do you read the box? Are you connected to your church? Do you go into any Bible studies? Do you have accountability groups that you're part of? And regularly I'll find that those that are going through the deepest trials are the most isolated from who God is. They need God's revelation. Perhaps the most, if I can say that, and yet they don't get it, it's exacerbating the problem and stunting change in transformation. In order for me to be changed and transformed, I should not lean out of the Bible, lean away from places that are going to teach and share the Bible. I should lean into them, perhaps now more than ever, if I'm stuck, if I'm overwhelmed, if I'm frustrated by this lack of change in growth, I need more revelation from God. And as I behold God, the transformation comes. So if I'm not seeing the transformation, I really do have to ask, am I beholding Him? Let me give you a couple of practical thoughts. Oftentimes I'm benefited whenever people give me just practical implications of what that looks like. When you're reading your scripture, I encourage you to ask, what does this passage say about God? What does it say about God? And I'm reading in 1 John, and 1 John chapter 1 is going to start with something like God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. I'm going to make note of that. What does this passage say about God? As I'm now seeking to practically apply this, in light of who God is, what is He calling me to do? So when I behold God accurately through His Word, what's He calling me to do? So I'm reading the scripture looking for what the scripture says about God in particular, and then how has God calling me or who is God calling me to be in light of His own character? There are passages in Scripture like 1 John, where the light of God, the purity of God means that we should be pure. Or in chapter 4 verse 7, we're going to see that because God is love, you should be more loving. I'm answering that question in light of the character of God, how am I supposed to reflect Him? How am I supposed to image Him? How will my life look like Him? In your scripture reading, ask yourself those things. Maybe it's time for you to do a study of the attributes in the character of God. A.W. Pink has a great book, it's short, it's sweet, there's even a free open source version to go study the different attributes of God. Maybe I want to get my hands on RC sprawls, the holiness of God, where I want to get my hands on togers, the knowledge of the Holy, but I'm going to find good resources that are exposing me to the character of God. I would even encourage you to go to the transformed website and we have books there on the character of God that you can look at and seek to utilize and beholden who God is. Lastly, I'll encourage you to meditate on the attributes of God. I don't mean you have to be cross-legged and humming the whole time. I'm the love of God. I mean simply that you're going to think about God's faithfulness throughout your day. You're going to meditate on His mercy and His kindness. That you're going to take an attribute of God and that's going to be what you're dwelling on, reflecting on and percolating on throughout your day. How do I practically apply this? I'd take this truth from 2 Corinthians 3, 18 that in order for me to change, I need to behold God. And if I'm not beholding God, conversely, I will not change. So I need to behold the Lord and I need to do that in practical ways. Let me pray for you as we close that God would reveal Himself to you and that you would be transformed in light of that. Lord, I pray for those that are listening now, that you would genuinely reveal yourself to them as your children, that those that are your kids would see you and perhaps see you in new ways that they've never considered. Some need to see your mercy, your love, your sovereignty, your holiness. May you reveal yourself so that they may be transformed, genuinely transformed into your lightness. We need help in this and we ask for in Christ's name. Amen. Hello, this is Dr. Gifford. Would you please consider supporting our ministry financially so we can continue to bring you transformed? We would love to produce even more programs that show how the Bible can straighten out our crooked thinking and conform us more to the image of Christ. But we can't do that without you. Your financial support will allow us to continue creating transformed to reveal how amazing grace is. If you're interested, you can do that at transform.org. [Music]