James MacDonald - Lord Change Me

H i! Thanks for picking up this copy of Lord Change Me. I know youre very busy and there are a lot of different books to choose from. This book is not for everyone, so please let me show respect for your time by helping you decide if this book is really for you.

The following explanations should help you settle quickly whether you need a book like this. Read each explanation and then answer the question that follows it.

First, this is a book to help people actually change. This is not for people who want to debate different strategies for change. It is not a book to argue about how to do it best and why the other guys are doing it wrong. Its not for the professor or pastor or counselor who wants to debate how change happens. Its for people who desperately want to change. In other words, this is a practical how-to manual, not a philosophical discussion of how people can change.

1. Do you want to change? Yes or No (circle one)

Second, this is a book about you changing, not others. Its about personal transformation. Its not intended to give you ammunition against the character flaws of those around you. It is a manual for a kind of do-it-yourself surgery. Lord Change Me is about locating and removing the tumors in your own life that are keeping you from the joy and happiness that your Creator longs to give you.

2. Do you want to change? Yes or No (circle one)

Third, this is a book about change, not growth. Growth is like a ship on a voyage: slow, steady progress toward the distant land of maturity. Change is much more radical. Its like the captain shouting: Quick, start bailing; were taking on water and if we dont fix the gash in the boat were gonna go down! Growth deals with increasing the strengths of who we already are, improving who I already am. Change is about becoming differentradically different as soon as possible! Change requires the elimination of character traits and patterns of behavior that are doing damage to my life and those around me. Growth is about health and happiness and someday and steady. Change is about critical, now, I have to be different or the fallout will be big. Growth is about reformation; change is about transformation.

3. Do you want to change? Yes Or No (circle one)

Fourth, this book is about change according to Gods Word, the Bible, not about personal reformation. With truckloads of self-help books and articles published calling for personal transformation, there is hardly a person among us who does not know the pain of trying and failing with a self-help methodology. If changing ourselves were possible, everyone would be doing it. Fact is, only God can change us! This is a book that explores Gods pattern for people changing as found in the Bible, and excludes all other man-made plans. So much of so-called self-help is really just surface adjustment, a makeover that leaves the heart unchanged. Man looks on the outward appearance, but the L ORD looks on the heart (1 Samuel 16:7).

4. Do you want to changeGods way? Yes or No (circle one)

Finally, this is a book about how to change; it spends little time on what you must change or why. If you have a hard time locating anything in yourself that really needs transformation, this book is not for you. If you know something is wrong, but youre not sure what, there are other books to help you locate the problem. This is a book for people who know what they need to change and are willing to do whatever it takes. They truly want to change.

5. Do youwantto change? Yes or No (circle one)

If youre still reading, there is at least a big part of you that really wants to change. Maybe right now youre feeling the weight of your own character deficiencies. Maybe there is a sin that seems to keep coming back, that you think you have defeated, only to see it reappear in your life. Maybe your marriage is in trouble. Maybe you are enslaved to a habit and feeling the pain of falling flat on your face after you vowed (and really meant) you would never do it again. Maybe youre deeply wounding those you love and want to stop. Maybe you have a way of relating to people that pushes them away and causes you both much hurt. Maybe your life is turning out far different than you had thought and you want to get it going in a better direction before it is too late.