What does it mean to have a life-changing experience?

When I first became a Christian many years ago, my life was filled with many dirty things that I knew were displeasing to God. My problem was that I did not have the power to change – even when I wanted to change. I tried to change things in my life a lot of different times and a lot of different ways, but nothing ever lasted. I kept going back to living the way I had always lived.

However, the night that I was saved and Christ became real to me, my heart radically changed. I immediately learned that God was willing to give to me both the desire and the power to change my life. The things that I used to hate, I now loved, and the things that I used to love, I now hated. For instance, before I was saved, I never wanted to go to church and after I was saved, you couldn’t keep me away from church. Before I was saved, I thought the Bible was boring, but after I could not stop reading it. Just like God had promised, the old things passed away and everything became new. It was literally life changing!

What does someone need in order for his or her life to change?

In order to change, a person needs two things – the desire to change and the power to change. If a man deeply desires to walk, but he is paralyzed in both of his legs, he is still not able to walk. Having the desire to change but not having the actual power to do so is very, very frustrating and makes it impossible to change. Applying this truth to the Christian life, the desire to change comes from within, but the power we need to change is only made available through the work of the Holy Spirit.

“… it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” (Philippians 2:13)

That means we need to receive the Holy Spirit in order to make true, lasting changes in our lives. The moment someone becomes a Christian, God the Father gives the Holy Spirit to permanently live inside of them, which gives them everything they need in order to make any change in their life:

“His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence” (2 Peter 1:3)

The Holy Spirit not only gives us godly desires, but He also gives us the power we need to help those desires be fulfilled in our lives.

How does the Holy Spirit help me make these major changes in my life?

When we give our lives to the Lord, the Holy Spirit immediately begins to give us a hunger for the truth. With the Holy Spirit living inside of us, our desire to know Christ begins to dominate and control our life. It is important to appreciate that this is a supernatural work of God when the Holy Spirit helps us understand what the Bible is saying in a simple way.

As we read the Bible more, we learn about the things that please God and the things that do not please Him. As we read, the Holy Spirit gives us a new desire to do what pleases God and to get rid of all that do not please Him. This time can be extremely refreshing to the new believer because they have never experienced it before, but now the Holy Spirit has made it amazingly real to them.

If I yield my life to the Holy Spirit, can I trust Him to make the right changes in my life?

“What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” (Luke 11:11–13)

Early on in my Christian walk, I noticed a pattern of the Holy Spirit: 1) He convinced me that something in my life was wrong, 2) I allowed Him to help me remove it and 3) He put something much better in my life to replace what He had removed. God never takes anything out of our lives without replacing it with something much better. Put this life-changing truth into practice in your life, and you will see how God makes you become more and more like His amazing Son. How extremely exciting!