Many people think that their lives are suppose to instantly change for the better once they receive Christ into their lives. They feel that Jesus is suppose to make all their troubles go away and that all their bad behavior and habits are suppose to disappear. But that is not how it goes at all. When we receive Christ we are receiving extra power that we did not have before to be able to endure our troubles and make it through them maintaining our peace. We have extra strength inside of us to change our behavior and our bad habits. There are cases that God will do miracles in our circumstances but for the most part we still have to walk threw the valleys and the storms. We still have to form self discipline and make the changes neccessary to have good behavior and habits. Having Jesus in our heart does not mean that we do not have to fight for a better life or for a better self, it means that we have the power to do what we could not do before.

I have noticed with my own life that I face even more temptations than I did before. I face the same choices, but I have different thoughts about the choices. I still have problems, but I have saved myself from may problems because of the different choices that I now make. My life has changed because I have a different way of looking at it and I also have a new knowing that I was stronger and more capable of making the best choices and decisions because I have Jesus to help guide me. He wouldn’t take all my problems away and take away all the temptations to think, act, and speak the way that I had been, but, He would offer me a different way of doing them. I had to choose rather I was going to continue to live the way that I had been living or if I was going to make the changes needed to make for a better way of living, which is the way of living that Jesus calls us to live. He shows us the way to peace and joy but we have to make the choice to do it. He tells us what will be best for us to do in the long run, but it is up to us to do it. He gives us the knowledge that we need to make the best choices but it is up to us to make the choice.

When we receive Jesus into our hearts we get to choose if we are going to live for him or if we are going to continue to live for ourselves and the world. I don’t think that having a negative mindset is going to keep us out of heaven, but it will make our lives on this earth much less joyful and peaceful. When we except Jesus we have our ticket into glorious heaven but how we choose to live on the earth will dictate the amount of joy and peace that we have. Jesus wants us to enjoy our lives on the earth and just when we reach heaven and that is why He tries to guide us down the paths that we should take. What are some things that you feel Jesus tugging at your heart to do or not do? What are somethings that you have on your to change about yourself? If you want to enjoy your life on this earth decide today that you are going to do what Jesus is telling you to do and experience the life that He died for you to have.