In Luke 19:1-10, Ephesians 1:20, Romans 12:2, Luke 12:7

When I was in school, I was bullied for several years. After three years, I began to think and act like a victim. It became a habit to me. I was used to thinking like a victim. I was used to behaving like a victim. But God spoke to me & reminded me that I was NOT THAT man! It was a life changing word from God to me. But nevertheless, I had to change my habit of thinking as a victim. I had to change my mind!

Repentance is exactly that. To repent does not just mean to say sorry, it means to turn around to change - to live different! That is exactly what Zach did in verse 8.
Perhaps you need to change your mind today. Why not change your mind & change your actions - it is step number three in living the different life you know you need to live. Ask God to help you to live out these new actions. Tomorrow I will show you what Jesus does to help us live a different life.

Day 5

Over the next three days I am going to show you the three things Jesus did to change Zach's life! The first thing Jesus did, was HE was prepared to be interrupted! In Luke 19:1, it says that Jesus was 'passing through' Jericho. He was on His way to somewhere. He was busy, but not too busy for Zach.

Amazingly, the majority of the miracles that Jesus accomplished in His 3 years of ministry took place while He was on His way somewhere. He would travel to a place, and whilst traveling stop and do great things for people He met along the way.

The reason Jesus did this, is because the nature of God is that He is prepared to change his schedule according to your needs. Jesus had not planned to stay in Jericho that day (Note from verse one that He was just 'passing through'). He was passing through Jericho to get to another destination. However something about Zach (perhaps His desire to see / have something new) caused Jesus to stop and say, 'Come down immediately. Today I must stay at your house!' Wow, God changed his plans for a little man!

Wherever you are in life, you have to understand that God is not too busy for you. There are 6 billion people on the planet & God is interested in you. You are not just a face in the crowd. You are not just a number in heavens roll of honour. You are someone whom God is passionately committed to. The bible says that 'God knows all about a sparrow's life -but you are worth far more (Luke 12:7).

The point is quite simple, if God has the capacity to know about the life cycle of a bird, HE is more than capable of having more than enough time for you. In fact that term 'El-Shaddai' means - 'More than enough'. God is not too busy, why not have a talk with him for a while today, you will find that HE is more than ready to listen AND talk back.

Day 6

The second thing Jesus did to change Zach's life was 'He threw his lot in with Zach!'
In verse 5 Jesus says, 'I must come to your house today!' Zach was a man despised above most others (see day 3). Jesus didn't mind what 'other' people thought about Zach. Jesus wasn't like some who associate with people because it makes them look good. Jesus wasn't so concerned with how He looked, he just wanted to make sure that Zach looked good & felt fulfilled in everything!

Today, Jesus would associate with, Marilyn Manson, Eminem, your church pastor and everyone in between.

Zach didn't have the ability to change his life on his own. No amount of self help books could help him enough to change his life substantially for eternity. The only way he could truly have his life changed was to connect with Jesus, to let Jesus spend time with him, change his mind on his lifestyle & act accordingly.

The best thing you can do for a changed life is 'let Jesus' throw His lot in with you. You can change certain areas of your life without Jesus' help, but for a true life changing experience that lasts on into eternity, Jesus is your best bet.

What does it mean for you personally, to respond to the words, 'Let Jesus throw His lot in with you?'