Living a Transformational Life

By Melvin Davis

Do you have questions about your faith? Have you been a Christian for quite some time but feel like you should be further ahead in your spiritual life? Do you feel like you are stuck in a rut? Have you had issues with allowing the thoughts of other people shape who you are? Have you been feeling like there is something missing in your life? Did you grow up in church, but for some reason, you have turned away from the church in your adult life? Have you found yourself going to church out of obligation rather than truly desiring to be there? Have you experienced hurt at church before?

If you answered yes to one or more of the above questions, then this book is an absolute must-read for you. Living a Transformational Life discusses all of these issues. Furthermore, the book will help you take an inventory of your life to determine the areas you are weak in, then walk you through ten principles to help you grow closer to God and become the best possible version of yourself.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Sep 5, 2023
• ISBN: 9798889433842

Book preview

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Living a Transformational Life

Melvin Davis

ISBN 979-8-88943-383-5 (paperback)

ISBN 979-8-88943-384-2 (digital)

Copyright © 2023 by Melvin Davis

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Christian Faith Publishing

832 Park Avenue

Meadville, PA 16335

www.christianfaithpublishing.com

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Preface

Accepting Jesus as Savior and Lord

Confront and Overcome Your Past

You Must Be All In

Change the Way You Think

Expect and Endure Adversity

Launching Out Into the Deep

Use Wisdom in Choosing Your Friends

Understanding the Importance of Forgiveness

Overcoming a Faith Crisis

Life Is Better When We Do It Together

About the Author

Preface

This book has been a labor of love that represents so many things for me. First, it was directly related to a sermon that I preached at St. Andrews Baptist Church in Cleveland, Ohio, as a guest preacher on August 14, 2022. The sermon shared the same title as this book. Ironically, I was prepared to preach a different sermon for that occasion that I had prepared earlier in the week. However, I attended a leadership conference entitled Lead Well at my church (New Community Bible Fellowship) on August 12–August 13. The conference was amazing, and during the second day of the conference during the first breakout session, I was listening to a lecture on spiritual formation, and the lecturer was speaking on Romans 12:1–2.

During that presentation, the Holy Spirit kept whispering to my heart about living a transformational life. I wrote the topic down, and within a few minutes, I had written down the three points I would utilize during the sermon. Second, the St. Andrews congregation was very receptive to the sermon that I preached that day, including a woman who told me at the end of the service that she had been struggling with her recovery process from drugs and alcohol, but my sermon had encouraged her and helped her understand that her recovery was a process that she can achieve if she just stays committed to the steps.

Finally, a few days after the sermon, my wife said, Why haven't you taken the numerous ideas and thoughts in your head and heart and written a book? Because I know you can do it. My wife was right, but I was making excuses about how busy I was with work and getting involved with the teen ministry at church.

Over the next two weeks, during my devotional time, the Holy Spirit started whispering the sermon title to my heart and proposed it as a book. I was surprised by the revelation but decided to be obedient to the Holy Spirit.

The purpose of this book is simply to help people live their best possible life by doing things God's way. Christians come from all walks of life, but the one thing we all have in common is that we are sinners who have been saved by God's grace because no one is worthy of salvation. However, many people who profess to be Christians often struggle with embracing the transformational power of Jesus Christ and end up settling for merely being saved rather than allowing the Holy Spirit to transform their lives. My sincere desire is that this book will help people do two things: (1) understand the importance of giving their life to Jesus Christ if they have not done so yet and (2) help people understand the importance of allowing the Holy Spirit to transform their life.

Chapter 1

Accepting Jesus as Savior and Lord

I'm forty-nine years old, and I have been part of the church for nearly my entire life. However, though I have always been part of the church, I did not always embrace what it truly means to be a Christian. At its most basic level, being a Christian means striving to be like Christ. Unfortunately, I look back on my college years and remember that I consistently went to church every week and enjoyed being at church, yet nothing about how I lived my life Monday through Saturday would have told anyone that I was a Christian. I did not know it at the time, but even during my undergraduate career at the Ohio State University, the Lord had his hands on me. One of the biggest lessons I have learned about God is that not even my foolishness can stop the plans he has for my life.

As I look back on the dual life I had during college of being a Christian