“Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure<\/em>” (Philippians 2:12-13).<\/p><\/blockquote>\nNotice how often God tells us what we need to do and that when we put His teachings into practice, He tells us how those actions change us. “Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy–meditate on these things. The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you<\/em>” (Philippians 4:8-9).<\/p>\n“Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does”<\/em>\u00a0(James 1:21-25).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Question: I prayed to God to change my heart but nothing has changed my way of thinking or my attitude to show love and not anger. I tried to read the Bible, but I don’t feel anything. Please help. Answer: It appears that you are looking for something outside of you to change you, instead…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[390,54,1510],"class_list":["post-42946","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-conversion","tag-obedience","tag-prayers"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":14195,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-a-change-in-the-law-mean-god-changes-his-mind-a-lot\/","url_meta":{"origin":42946,"position":0},"title":"Does a change in the Law mean God changes His mind a lot?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 15, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Since God changed His Law, then apparently God changes His mind a lot. Answer: Actually God planned the change all along. The Law of Moses defined sin and bound it to mankind, but it could not in itself save. It spoke only of future salvation. \"For the law made\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":53425,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-wrong-to-change-your-mind-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":42946,"position":1},"title":"Is it wrong to change your mind? (2)","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 7, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hey Jeffrey, I was reading Psalms 15, I noticed it speaks of a man who walks in integrity, and he \"changes not his mind.\" Does that mean it is wrong to change plans or reschedule with a friend or change one's mind about doing something? My friend and I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":35124,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/my-boyfriend-has-been-cheating-on-me-but-now-he-wants-to-get-married-and-i-dont-know-if-i-should\/","url_meta":{"origin":42946,"position":2},"title":"My boyfriend has been cheating on me, but now he wants to get married and I don’t know if I should","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 11, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: How do I continue with the father of my two children, with whom I've been in a relationship for 13 years and just found out he might be the father of a baby whose mother is the person I found him cheating on me with two years ago? Do\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9476,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/isnt-it-a-contradiction-when-god-changed-his-mind-about-the-eating-of-animals\/","url_meta":{"origin":42946,"position":3},"title":"Isn’t it a contradiction when God changed His mind about the eating of animals?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 17, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I read\u00a0your article\u00a0about contradictions in the Bible, and I agree most are silly ones and, unfortunately, usually malicious.\u00a0 However, I feel I have something rather genuine to present to you.\u00a0 (Yes, I am a vegan. This will clarify a few things about my perspective.) At the beginning of Genesis\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":36270,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/i-want-to-change-from-being-a-sinner-to-living-a-holy-life-but-i-dont-know-when-or-how-to-start-can-you-help-me\/","url_meta":{"origin":42946,"position":4},"title":"I want to change from being a sinner to living a holy life, but I don’t know when or how to start. Can you help me?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 26, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello, I want to change from being a sinner to living a holy life, but I don't know when or how to start. Can you help me? The thing is I've asked God for repentance two or three times before, and then there comes along a test, and I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12592,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/where-does-the-bible-say-the-priesthood-is-given-to-all-men\/","url_meta":{"origin":42946,"position":5},"title":"Where does the Bible say the priesthood is given to all men?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 26, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have seen the Scripture in the Old or New Testament which states that the priesthood is to be given to all men. \u00a0However, I don't remember where I found it. Would you please help us to locate it? Answer: \"Therefore, if perfection were through the Levitical priesthood (for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42946","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42946"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42946\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42946"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42946"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42946"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}