Faithcast

Forgiveness is an essential principle to the Christian faith and characteristic of God, yet is often overlooked by believers. Forgiveness must be given, received, and offered first by God, and then ourselves and others. How do we get rid of un-forgiveness and trade it for the empowerment and liberation of forgiveness?

As believers, we rejoice in the fact that the gospel has been revealed to us, and we are now found in Christ. But what about 5.6 billion people in the world who do not know Jesus? God is stirring in us a heart that burns for what He does - the lost to be found, souls to be saved. It is our great privlege and duty to share the gospel to everyone around us.

How does one person carry all the weight of life, alone? We need people to come along side of us to bear our burdens, and in turn we lift the load for others. In doing so, we fulfill the law of Christ.

The first problem in Creation was solitude, not sin. God's design for humanity is for us to have deep, meaningful community with other people. When we confess our sins to one another, we are healed and set free.

Identity is one of the biggest points of confusion and contention in our culture. Who you believe you are affects every area of your life, and does not go untouched by our adversary, the devil. We have to know who God says we are, or we will easily be confused, distracted, and misguided in all our ways.

We are all responsible for what we ruminate on. The key to winning the battle in the mind is replacing lies, anxieties, or earthly matters with the pure, righteous, and holy Word of God. What we set our minds on drives our behavior.

For many of us, the biggest war is the one waged in our own minds. Fear, doubt, confusion, insecurity - all are lies that if undealt with, they give an open access for the enemy to wreak havoc in our lives. The truth of God manifest in the word of God is the strongest weapon of our warfare.

Anyone in a battle knows they need to be aware of their adversary, and the same goes for Christians as we come against the enemy and his schemes. We cannot resist what we do not recognize. And the ultimate reality of our enemy is that he has been defeated by Christ on the Cross.

God remains entirely undefeated, yet many Christians today live defeated lives. The problem lies in how we view God. God wants to reveal Himself to us as the Lord of Hosts, fighting the battles of life for us and through us.

Everyday, we are living in the midst of a spiritual war. Our adversary is real, and comes only to steal, kill, and destroy. But darkness has been defeated by Jesus on the Cross, forever. As believers, we do not war for victory, but from the victory that Jesus has already won for us.