Change Within Your Heart - Part 1 — K.P. Yohannan

Changing for the better. That's our focus today on the road to reality. As believers, we want to change and be more like Christ. But perhaps you're a bit frustrated right now, as it's just not happening like you'd like it to.

So how does change occur? Let's talk about that today on the road to reality, shall we? A ministry of gospel for Asia. Brother K .P. O 'Hannon turns our attention to the feeding of the 5 ,000 today. He reveals how to have a changed heart that leads to a changed life.

Here he is now in John 6 and Mark 6.

The two passages of scripture we want to look at, there's one in John's gospel, chapter 6, beginning with verse 1, and then in the gospel of Mark, chapter 6, starting with verse 30. Now these two passages are dealing with the same subject, feeding of the 5 ,000.

As a matter of fact, in all the four gospels, we read about this event. Feeding the 5 ,000, we see the miracle of Jesus walking on water. Verse 45, Now immediately Jesus made his disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to Bethsaida.

While he dismissed the crowd, after leaving them, he went up on a mountainside to pray. Notice that verse, 46. He went to the mountainside to pray. When evening came, the boat was in the middle of the lake, and he was alone on the land.

He saw the disciples straining at the oars because the wind was against them. About the fourth watch of the night, he went out to them walking on the lake. He was about to pass by them, but when they saw him walking on the lake, they thought he was a ghost.

They cried out because they all saw him and were terrified. Immediately he spoke to them and said, Take courage. It is I. Don't be afraid. Verse 51,. Then he climbed into the boat with them, and the wind died down.

They were completely amazed. Verse 52,. For they had not understood about the laws, their hearts were hardened. Their hearts were hardened. Life transformation is the goal that God has on his mind when he invites us to study his word.

Now, transformation means change, changing for the better. That's what God wants. If the hearer or the participant in that particular event or the miracle or the observer will not engage their mind, their thinking faculty, the ability to reason and process information, if they do not engage a deliberate choice to be within the information and the event and say subjectively, This is for me.

What must I do with it? Because God is speaking. Unless you engage, you know, you drive a car. There's first gear, second gear, third gear, fourth gear, then reverse and all that. But there's a neutral zone.

How many of you drive a car or a jeep? Would you raise your hand? Or learned driving? Quite a few, at least. For you, you'd understand that. You saw a car. How many of you have ever been in a car or in a bus?

Everybody. All right. So you can have the stick shift. You know, it's not any gears but the neutral. You can make all the noise in the world. You can give gas. You can put the pedal down and the engine rolls.

But the vehicle or the car or the bus goes nowhere. Unless it is on a slope, the brake is off, it'll go. So it is with our mind. Jesus said, Those who are ears, let them hear. He was talking to people who could hear.

They were not deaf people. And the Bible says, Satan, demon, seek always to blind the eyes of people that they may not see the glory on the face of Christ. Why? 2 Corinthians 3, verse 18 says, As we see His glory in the world, then transformation, change take place within us.

Now, here's the thing you must keep in mind. I can change my mind, but I cannot change my heart. You ever thought about that? I can hear, I can participate in an event, then I can change my mind. But my heart, the inner being, my spirit, cannot grow or change because only God can do that.

But God will not change my heart unless I choose and agrees with Him, with my volition, with my own choice, because He will not force anyone to change. Only I can make changes in my mind. But if I do that, then God responds and He changes my heart.

This is the reason why there's a chorus, Change my heart, O Lord. Change my heart, O God. In my own life, I can tell you, many incidents, experiences, I knew the truth, I knew the facts, I was emotionally moved, but truly there was no inner change.

I was still bitter, I was still having anger, and memories still would cause pain because they did something wrong to me or something bad about me. I didn't want to be like that. I didn't want to be angry or unforgiving.

I didn't want to live with pain, but I could not help. This is where the Lord began to teach me, some years ago, that I must choose to repent from what I am holding on to, then God will respond and bring about the inner change, which is not a behavior change, rather a true change with life, transformation within.

You see, when people go and join the Army, Air Force or Army, or any of those places, can be a son or a daughter of a multimillionaire, from a rich family or from a poor family, you know, people go and join the Army, you know that.

You know what they do? They actually put them through a system of militant discipline. They cut their hair very short, and they all wear the same uniform, and there's a code of behavior they have to adhere to.

So, people can change their behavior according to the circumstances or requirement. For example, many students study here on the campus. There is a requirement. You have to do certain things, you cannot do certain things.

Now, you have to go by the rules in the book. You can copy those behaviors, but that is not what God is after, because the Pharisees copied behavior. They looked at the scripture, they said, if I do this, do this, do this, do this, do this, then I'm okay.

And God said, you are doomed. There is whitewash so clean outside, but inside it is all rotten. The Pharisees were pretenders. They were people who are copying behavior that make them look spiritual. Now, many people are like that in church also.

Have you heard people go to church and they have a fantastic emotional worship, but the Ammachi's life never changes? Still the gossip, still the anger, still loving money, still all other things. What happened?

The emotional staring and the embracing of the event they participated in actually helped them temporarily within their soulish part of life, in their mind, but it never went deeper to change their character, because only God's word can bring change on the inside of us.

I pray that you will think one of the reasons I'm taking time to say this slowly and deliberately, because most of us are wanting to learn and change and grow and become like Jesus Christ, but there's a responsibility on our part.

That's what I'm trying to get at. So, what other people think about me is not the primary importance or concern.

Don't we find ourselves consumed more and more with what others think of us rather than what God thinks of us? A good reminder of what should be our perspective and mentality in Christ. Brother K .P .O. Hannon will be right back as the road to reality continues.

As Christmas draws near, no doubt you'll be out shopping for gifts for your family and friends. How would you like to give a gift that has the power to change lives? Hundreds of families were so blessed with gifts from our Christmas catalog last year and through the gifts they learned more about the life-changing love of Christ.

So we'd like to do that again this Christmas. If you'd like to learn more about giving a gift to bless a Dalit, untouchable family that is, or a native missionary with a tangible expression of the love of Jesus, just visit winasia .org.

Again, our web address is winasia .org or we can tell you more as you call us toll-free at 866-WIN-ASIA. That's 866-WIN-ASIA. As we return to Brother K .P. now, he recalls a recent board meeting.

I was in Bangalore yesterday for a board meeting. I'm part of something that I need to be there today. So we were 15, 20 people talking about some major issues. And toward the end, my heart began to feel troubled.

And I said, Lord, what must I do? We are discussing on certain issues which I don't have to discuss here with you, but there was not absolute honesty and truth in some of the discussions going on. So in the end, I said to myself, I cannot get in the flesh and get angry and upset all these things, but then I began to pray quietly while discussion was going on.

Lord, if you are sitting here, what would you do? If you are sitting next to me, Lord, what do you want me to say? What would you whisper in my ear? Please, Lord, speak to my heart. And you know, the amazing thing, when I chose to stay with the truth, when I chose to see what Jesus would do, the Lord began to speak to my heart.

And I shared my thoughts. And later, many of them said that was the most significant thing happened in today's board meeting. It had nothing to do with my cleverness or my ability to find right answers.

It was rather more of what Jesus and his nature that I want to manifest for that particular event and incident. So it is true, my brothers and sisters, you can go through 50 years of Christian life or you are a born-again person, yet your life will not change while you may have all the information in the head.

Now, Jesus did not have a seminary, did not have a setting like we have to teach his disciples. He taught them with life incidents and events. Always he did like that. That which happened in the normal life, he took it, something tangible, something temporary, something earthly, and he taught them eternal spiritual truths with those events.

Jesus taught not just words but life. He said, follow me and I will make you. Gospel of Matthew chapter 11, toward the end of the chapter, Jesus invites again, come, take my yoke upon you and learn of me.

The word in Greek language used there, it is not just listen and get information, rather you participate in the change, in the transformation. That is you become like me. That is the whole thing. It is not mere imitation but rather change that you become like me.

So this particular incident, while he was feeding the 5000, it's wonderful, he was helping and huge miracle taking place and caring for the poor people and the hungry people. Yet, you must keep in mind, Jesus was always seeking to teach his disciples because they are the ones that must go later and bring change for millions of people in their generation and the generations to come.

And that is an important factor we need to keep in mind. Now, let's look at this passage and go through this carefully and find some applications. In the Gospel of Mark, and you will find reading from verse 30 on, Jesus' invitation, look at verse 31, Gospel of Mark chapter 6 verse 31.

Then, because so many people were coming and going and they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, come with me by yourself to a quiet place and get some rest. So they went away by themselves in a boat in a solitary place and so on like that.

Now, here's the thing. For the Lord Jesus to do anything significant in the plan of his Father, you find him taking time to be alone to pray. For example, to decide about picking the disciples that must follow him.

He spends the whole night in prayer and waiting. Now, keep in mind, here is God in flesh. He lived as a man on earth, demonstrating to us, we as normal human beings, how we must live. This is an example that the Lord has given to us.

So, here is a huge need, tremendous opportunity. 5 ,000 men, of course you can take a lot more people into consideration here because a lot of women, a lot of children, they all came. Here is a huge miracle that is going to transpire.

That which will be talked about for generations to come. What is Christ doing? There is a going away, to be alone, taking time to spend in prayer, to be alone with his Father. The scripture says, those who know their God will do exploits.

In the book of Daniel, knowledge of the Lord, understanding my God and his ways, becomes the foundation for me to do the works of God. So, as we go through life, 50, 60, 70 years, what are we doing with our life?

Hopefully, we are impacting other people's parents, training their children, the next generation, leaders influencing people around them, pastors, their congregation, neighbor, their neighbors, teacher, their students, their friends.

We never live by ourselves on an island. We are always influencing others. What huge significance when you think about that. But here is the thing, unless there is a commitment, we have, to be with the Lord and take time, we will not be prepared to do what God actually want and intend to do through our life.

Philippians chapter 3, Paul talks about it. He says, I gave up all the other stuff. I mean, if you translate that into our time, you can say, you know, I have so many other things to do. I'm so busy, so busy.

I have no time for anything else. And some people say, I'm sorry, I didn't have time to read the Bible or pray and on and on, things like that. Paul says, I said no, to so many good things. So many good things.

I said no to it. That I may know Jesus Christ. That I may know the Lord. My brothers and sisters, no one can make you spiritual. No one. No one can change you. Only as you spend time alone with the Lord, you will find God working deep down and you change.

Information is good, but it must lead us further to be alone with God. This is what Jesus had to do. I want to ask you a very simple question. I don't need anybody to raise your hand. Do you pray? Do you wait upon God?

If you do, how much time a day? Is there a time in 24 hours you are alone? At least one hour, you and your Lord. No one else. Think about it. Sobering thought maybe, but only the Lord can give you understanding.

But I can assure you, much of God's precious dreams and plans are never accomplished because the man is not prepared. Moses had an assignment, huge assignment, but 40 years it will take before he's ready.

40 years to learn. First of all, that he's a nobody. Second, that he will hear God. See how God works? There's no magic. Today we have microwave ovens, you know, you take a glass of water, I make tea for myself sometimes, and also I have a little coil I carry when I travel, you know, in a place I have, I cannot get a tea or coffee, I take my little, you know, heater, what do you call thing?

Immersion heater, the tiny thing, and you plug in the wall and get a glass of water and put it in. Within 30 -40 seconds, ooh, the water boils, and I take my tea bag and put there my sugar and make my tea.

But it don't work like this in Christian life. There's no instant Christianity. Today the curse of Christianity, people learn by reading books and get information, they think just like that, it will never happen like that.

It takes time. But you must choose to be alone with God for Him to prepare you for the work. Moses, it took 40 years. Some people look at what I do. All they can see is the campus, the building, or the ministry, this and that, or the books I have written.

My brothers and sisters, my journey only began. But I began at the age of 16. Most of the things I have done, only I was doing in the last 14, 15 years. I'm still learning and trying to understand the ways of God in my own life.

So I encourage you not to look at some other people and say, wow, I can do this if only I had the money, if only I had this. No, it don't work like that. Let God prepare you for Him to do the work through your life.

Now, a lot of people just want to find some shortcut. And we all are tempted because we hate to waste time. But it don't work like that. I just want to read to you a quotation from A. W. Chaucer. If there are books in the library by him, I encourage you to read his writings.

A. W. Chaucer. This is what he said. I read. There are certain things that you will never learn when others are with you. Did you hear that? There are some things you will never learn when your friends are with you.

There is no question but that part of our failure today is religious activity that is not preceded by an aloneness and inactivity. I mean the art of getting alone with God and waiting in silence and in quietness until we are charged and then when we act, our activity really amounts to something because we have been prepared for it.

We can go to God with an activity that is inactive. We go to God with a heart that isn't acting in the flesh or in the natural trying to do something but going to God and waiting and waiting. It just means that within our inner spirit is seeing and hearing remember that seeing and hearing and mounting up on wings while the outer, the physical person is inactive and even the mind is to some degree suspended.

There is an inactivity which paradoxically is the highest possible activity. There can be a suspension of the activity of the body as when our Lord told His disciples to tarry until they were filled with the Holy Spirit and they did.

They waited on God.

In this fast-paced fast food society we hate to wait but we've been reminded of just how important it is that we wait upon God and spend quality time alone with Him. You're listening to The Road to Reality from Gospel for Asia.

Brother K .P .O. Hannon has unveiled how we can experience a change within our hearts. As we leave you today please allow me to tell you briefly about our Christmas gift catalog in case you missed it at the mid-break.

In it are a number of gift ideas to bless and encourage a Dalit family or native missionary. And through these gifts you'll be expressing the love of Christ as well. We'd be happy to send you our new Christmas gift catalog if you'll call us at 866-WIN-ASIA or you'll find it at our website winasia .org.

You can't miss it right there at our home page. Again, it's winasia .org and that phone number is 866-WIN-ASIA. Would you please keep us in your prayers as we continue proclaiming God's good news? We thank you for that.

And then if you can be with us next week for another Road to Reality broadcast with K .P .O. Hannon. The Road to Reality is brought to you by Gospel for Asia.

Get some rest. So they went away by themselves in a boat in a sultry place and so on like that. Now here's the thing. For the Lord Jesus to do anything significant in the plan of His Father you find Him taking time to be alone to pray.

For example, to decide about picking the disciples that must follow Him. He spends the whole night in prayer. And waiting. Now keep in mind here is God in flesh. He lived as a man on earth demonstrating to us we as normal human beings how we must live.

This is an example that the Lord has given to us. So here is a huge need. Tremendous opportunity. 5 ,000 men. Of course you can take a lot more people into consideration here because a lot of women, a lot of children, they all came.

Here is a huge miracle that is going to transpire. That which will be talked about for generations to come. What is Christ doing? There is a going away to be alone taking time to spend in prayer to be alone with His Father.

The scripture says those who know their God will do exploits in the book of Daniel. Knowledge of the Lord. Understanding my God and His ways becomes the foundation for me to do the works of God. So as we go through life 50, 60, 70 years what are we doing with our life?

Hopefully we are impacting other people's parents training their children. The next generation. Leaders influencing people around them. Pastors, their congregation. Neighbors, their neighbors. Teachers, their students.

Students, their friends. We never live by ourselves on an island. We are always influencing others. What huge significance when you think about that. But here is the thing. Unless there is a commitment we have to be with the Lord and take time we will not be prepared to do what God actually wants and intends to do through our life.

Philippians chapter 3 Paul talks about it. He says I gave up all the other stuff. If you translate that into our time you can say I have so many other things to do. I'm so busy, so busy. I have no time for anything else.

Some people say I'm sorry I didn't have time to read the Bible or pray and on and on. Things like that. Paul says I said no to so many good things. So many good things. I said no to it. That I may know Jesus Christ.

That I may know the Lord. My brothers and sisters no one can make you spiritual. No one. No one can change you. Only as you spend time alone with the Lord you will find God working deep down and you change.

Information is good but it must lead us further to be alone with God. This is what Jesus had to do. I want to ask you a very simple question. I don't need anybody to raise your hand. Do you pray? Do you wait upon God?

If you do how much time a day? Is there a time in 24 hours you are alone at least one hour you and your Lord? No one else. Think about it. Sobering thought maybe but only the Lord can give you understanding.

But I can assure you much of God's precious dreams and plans are never accomplished because the man is not prepared. Moses had an assignment. Huge assignment. But 40 years it will take before he is ready.

40 years to learn first of all that he is a nobody. Second that he will hear God. See how God works? There is no magic. Today we have microwave ovens. You take a glass of water. I make tea for myself sometimes.

And also I have a little coil I carry when I travel. In a place I have I cannot get a tea or coffee. I take my little heater. What do you call thing? Immersion heater. The tiny thing. And you plug in the wall and get a glass of water and put it in.

Within 30 -40 seconds the water boils. And I take my tea bag and put there my sugar and make my tea. But it don't work like this in Christian life. There is no instant Christianity. Today the curse of Christianity people learn by reading books and get information.

They think just like that. It will never happen like that. It takes time. But you must choose to be alone with God for him to prepare you for the world. Moses it took 40 years. Some people look at what I do.

All they can see is the campus, the building or the ministry this and that or the books I have written. My brothers and sisters my journey only began. But I began at the age of 16. Most of these things I have done only I was doing in the last 14 -15 years.

I am still learning and trying to understand the ways of God in my own life. So I encourage you not to look at some other people and say wow I can do this if only I had the money. If only I had this. No it doesn't work like that.

Let God prepare you for him to do the work through your life. Now a lot of people just want to find some shortcut and we all are tempted because we hate to waste time but it doesn't work like that. I just want to read to you a quotation from A. W. Chaucer.

There are books in the library by him. I encourage you to read his writings. A. W. Chaucer. This is what he said. I read. There are certain things that you will never learn when others are with you. Did you hear that?

There are some things you will never learn when your friends are with you. There is no question but that part of our failure today is religious activity that is not preceded by an aloneness and inactivity.

I mean the art of getting alone with God and waiting in silence and in quietness until we are charged and then when we act our activity really amounts to something because we have been prepared for it.

We can go to God with an activity that is inactive. We go to God with a heart that isn't acting in the flesh or in the natural trying to do something but going to God and waiting and waiting. It just means that within our inner spirit is seeing and hearing remember that seeing and hearing and mounting up on wings while the outer the physical person is inactive and even the mind is to some degree suspended.

There is an inactivity which paradoxically is the highest possible activity. There can be a suspension of the activity of the body as when our Lord told his disciples to tarry until they were filled with the Holy Spirit and they did.

They waited on God.

Well in this fast paced fast food society we hate to wait but we've been reminded of just how important it is that we wait upon God and spend quality time alone with him. You're listening to The Road to Reality from Gospel for Asia.

Brother K .P. O 'Hannan has unveiled how we can experience a change within our hearts. As we leave you today please allow me to tell you briefly about our Christmas gift catalog in case you missed it at the mid break.

In it are a number of gift ideas to bless and encourage a Dalit family or native missionary and through these gifts you'll be expressing the love of Christ as well. We'd be happy to send you our new Christmas gift catalog if you'll call us at 866-WIN-ASIA or you'll find it at our website winasia .org.

You can't miss it right there at our home page. Again, it's winasia .org and that phone number is 866-WIN-ASIA. Would you please keep us in your prayers as we continue proclaiming God's good news? We thank you for that.

And then if you can be with us next week for another Road to Reality broadcast with K .P. Yohannan. The Road to Reality is brought to you by Gospel for Asia.