heart transformation

The first semester of Link Year is over. I cannot believe how fast time flew by!! I could not have picked a better way to finish off the week than hearing from DA Horton. DA spoke to us while we were volunteering in Kansas City! I absolutely Love listening to him speak! He is very engaging and keeps you awake and thinking! DA grew up in inner city KC, so he knows the "hood language" if you will. So when he speaks he often flips back and from speaking ebonics to plain english. Its pretty amusing! So DA spoke to us on heart transformation and maximizing moments. Personally I took more away from the "heart transformation" section, so that is what I will be writing about today! I thought the timing of this topic is perfect. As we all head home for a month long break we will be faced with temptations the world will throw out. Now more than ever we need the constant reminder to focus on heart transformation. DA based his talk on Romans 12:2 and Psalm 51:10. He began by breaking down Romans 12:2. I love this verse, and its always been one of my favorites! Adam Donyes based Link Years purpose off of this verse as well. It reads "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." God calls us to be different. He calls us to renew our minds, and to not let the world influence who we are.  By doing so we can better understand His will for us. If we are caught up in the world and worldly thoughts and actions we are no longer focused on the Lord. When our focus is off God and put on the world, it's pretty hard to see God's will for our lives. If we refresh ourselves with God's word and renew our minds daily, God will slowly begin to reveal his good and perfect will. When we have all been in Branson surrounded by endless amounts of accountability for so long, it will be hard to go home and face all the worldly temptation. But if we fix our eyes on Jesus and focus on renewing our minds in Christ, we will be able to face them. Psalm 51:10 was the second verse DA talked about. Another one of my favorites. "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me." This verse is also perfect for our class and this point in our lives. We all desperately need Christ in our lives, and in the past 2 years it has hit me how dirty and full of junk my heart is. Only the Lord can give us a clean heart and a new spirit. So, as believers we have to ask for God to come in and remodel our hearts. Remodel them into hearts after Him. HEART. This process takes place in your heart. Not in your actions. You can talk the talk and not walk the walk. Me, I want to talk the talk and walk the walk with Jesus Christ my savior. I just love how straight forward these verses are. There is no mystery to what you have to do. DO NOT CONFORM. easy peasy. Do as Jesus does, not as the world does. Renewing your mind is done through asking God to clean out your heart and make it new.
Leaving to go home with these verses on the front of my mind will make life a lot easier when I am faced with new temptations in the next three weeks.