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Length: 10 minutes | Download >

In our last part, we showed that Jesus delivered us from everything we could be afraid of. Therefore, if we are still afraid, we are only afraid because of what we’re not seeing of Jesus’ provision. That is a universal truth that applies to every person, in every situation. You are not the exception. People only fear because of what they’re not seeing about Jesus. That is the only source (Isaiah 26:3).

Let me give an example. Listen very closely:

Let’s say a doctor tells a man that he has a terminal illness and he’s going to die inevitably. The man is terrified. What the doctor doesn’t tell him is that, on the nightstand next to him there is a cure for that illness. The cure works every time and would cure him this very day. Sort of an important piece of information the doctor left out.

If that man continues to be terrified of his illness, is he terrified because of his circumstance? Or is he terrified because he doesn’t know what’s sitting on his nightstand? I’ll tell you, if that man goes another minute terrified in fear, it would only be because he’s ignorant of that cure sitting right next to him. I think everyone could agree with that. Ignorance is what caused his fear.

Likewise, if a doctor gives you a diagnosis, most people would feel perfectly justified in being afraid. But if you’re afraid of a diagnosis, you’re only afraid because you don’t realize Jesus provided a powerful, all-encompassing cure, and placed it right inside of you. Like that man, you’re not afraid of your circumstance. You’re afraid because of what you don’t know about the cure. And the doctor probably left that part out.

Let me give you another example:

Let’s say a woman is already in overwhelming debt, and an unexpected bill comes in that will likely leave her and her family homeless. She is terrified and can’t sleep that night. What she didn’t know is, sitting in her mailbox that night was a multi-million-dollar check from an inheritance she received from a rich relative. 

When she couldn’t sleep that night for fear, was it really because of her circumstance? Was it really because of her bills? Or was it because she was ignorant of the inheritance sitting in her mailbox? I’ll tell you, that fear was only because of her ignorance. She could have slept soundly that night had she known what she had from the death of her rich Relative. 

Likewise, God has already provided for every area of your life at the cross, whether that be financial or otherwise. You’ve got an inheritance sitting right inside of you, ready to be used, ready to rectify whatever it is. If you can’t sleep at night for fear, it’s not because your circumstance is so bad. Like that woman, you’re afraid because you don’t know your inheritance through the death of Jesus. This is not applicable to some people. This is applicable to every person that has so much as a butterfly in their stomach. Jesus provided so much, we could not fear except for ignorance.

If that sick man realized the cure was sitting on his nightstand, his terror would turn into hope as he gobbled down that cure.

If that woman realized the inheritance in her mailbox, her fear would turn to excitement, dreaming about all the good things she would do with that money.

An anxious, negative view of your future turns into pure excitement and hope when you get a hold of what you have access to in Jesus. Nothing can get you down when you’re perfected in His love. You’re too rich for fear. Fear is for poor people.

Psalms 112:7 (NKJV) He will not be afraid of evil tidings; His heart is steadfast, trusting in the LORD.

Your cure is not on your nightstand. Your inheritance is not in a mailbox. It’s closer and more powerful. Your answer is living right inside of you. It’s Jesus. His power is in you, in the spiritual realm, but it manifests into the physical realm if you’ll just learn about it. It’s not a fantasy. It’s not too good to be true. It’s a real life, practical solution, that makes tangible change.

The problem is, most Christians don’t realize what they have because it’s unseen at first (Ephesians 1:3). And if they don’t see it, most don’t believe it. But God wants to open the eyes of your mind to what you have (Ephesians 1:18). He wants to show you the provision He made for you. And when you truly see what you have access to, it will cast out all fear, leaving nothing but perfect peace and joy. It’s not far-fetched. That can be you. You’re an eyeful-of-Jesus away.

Let me give you one last example, but this one is from scripture. It’s one of the best pictures of how fear leaves.

There was a prophet named Elisha, who was staying in a particular city with his servant. The king of Syria sent an entire army which surrounded the city where they were, intending to capture Elisha. The servant rose up early in the morning to find they were surrounded. Not the best way to wake up. He came to Elisha very afraid, but look at what Elisha did:

2 Kings 6:15-17 (NKJV) And when the servant of the man of God arose early and went out, there was an army, surrounding the city with horses and chariots. And his servant said to him, “Alas, my master! What shall we do?” So he, [Elisha], answered, “Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” And Elisha prayed, and said, “LORD, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.” Then the LORD opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw. And behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.

Curious. Elisha and his servant saw the same Syrian army. Yet, Elisha wasn’t afraid and his servant was. What was the difference? Elisha saw something that his servant didn’t. It wasn’t that Elisha was braver. It wasn’t that Elisha was focused on others more than himself. It wasn’t that Elisha was being optimistic and making the most of it. No, Elisha had his eyes opened. That’s why he wasn’t afraid. 

And when his servant was afraid, what’s the only thing that Elisha prayed for? Did he pray that his servant would stop fearing? Did he pray for his servant’s emotions? Nope. He simply asked the Lord, “Open his eyes that he may see.” And the servant saw the heavenly army surrounding Elisha. It was already there a moment ago, but he just wasn’t seeing it. The thing that cast out that servant’s fear was his eyes being opened to what he already had.

When that servant first saw the army surrounding them, I’m sure he felt justified in his fear. After all, look at the evidence! But his fear was completely unjustified because he was misinterpreting the evidence. He wasn’t seeing the whole picture. He wasn’t seeing the scene in light of the provision of Jesus. Facts weren’t causing his fear. Ignorance was causing his fear, as always. Therefore, the only thing he needed was to have his eyes opened, and voilà, he wasn’t afraid anymore. That easy.

If you’re ever afraid, it’s because you see a physical circumstance, but you’re not seeing the spiritual provision for it. You’re seeing yourself surrounded by this problem, but you’re not seeing the “chariots of fire,” so to speak. You’re only seeing the physical. You’re not seeing all the spiritual blessings inside of you. You’re not seeing Jesus’ once-for-all provision for your circumstance.

Sure, if you’re only looking at your physical problem, it probably looks scary. Just like that servant. When he only saw the physical problem, it looked pretty scary. But once his eyes were opened and he saw into the spiritual, his fear just melted. He realized that his problems were overwhelmed and outnumbered by the provision of God! What looked scary a second ago, now looked kind of funny. The Syrian army looked so small. It looked so harmless. It looked so finished. That poor Syrian army. They didn’t realize what they had coming! And your poor problem, it doesn’t realize what it’s got coming to it. That is, if you’ll start acknowledging what you’ve got.

The story ends with God blinding the Syrian army, and Elisha led them by the hand, fed them, and then sent them home with their tails between their legs. Guess how the story ends up in your circumstance when you choose to lift your eyes, and see more than the physical? Exactly.

Jesus provided more than enough for you and qualified you to access it (Colossians 1:12). It’s so vast and overwhelming, you couldn’t be afraid without lacking knowledge of it. Sometimes, you need to learn it for the first time. Sometimes, you just need to remember what you know. Regardless, the answer is, “LORD, I pray, open my eyes that I may see.” And then start learning.

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Length: 5 Minutes

In the church, Halloween is something of a controversial holiday. But many of the reasons Christians give for their skepticism are not well founded. This is a simple and biblical way to see it.

One big reason for why many Christians don’t celebrate Halloween is because of its origins. Of course, if you trace it back far enough, it has its origins in pagan traditions. I won’t go into that now, but I don’t think that’s too much of a leap for one to believe. While this may sound like a good reason to not celebrate Halloween, according to scripture, that’s not well-founded. Paul addresses something similar.

In Paul’s time there was a dispute about whether it was wrong to eat meat if that animal had previously been sacrificed to an idol, in a pagan tradition. It bothered the conscience of many Christians to think of partaking of meat that had been previously used in a demonic ritual. But Paul’s advice might surprise you. Paul essentially tells them that meat is just meat. The meat is not evil in and of itself regardless of what it was used for previously. He tells them that, of course, he doesn’t want them partaking in idolatry or demonic activities, but as far as they are concerned, they should be able to eat any food without question to their conscience. There’s nothing wrong with any food, even if it was used for something evil previously (1 Corinthians 8 and 10).

Likewise, we should not cite the origin of something to say that it is evil today. Just because something was used for a pagan activity in the past does not make it evil today. If you stay with me through this whole article, you’ll realize this is not an advocacy for Halloween, but quoting its origins is not what makes anything good or evil.

Just like meat sacrificed to idols, Halloween may have had a satanic origin but what something was used for previously does not make it evil now. It’s just not a good reason to abstain from something. Christmas is a good example. Christians will ardently defend Christmas, but many of the traditions in the Christmas celebration originally revolved around pagan activities as well. That doesn’t make Christmas evil. Not by far. Just like meat sacrificed to idols, it’s OK to use something for a good purpose now, even if it was previously used for a demonic one.

So let’s not talk about something’s origins. It’s only important what it is today. And, as we know, Christmas is quite a different celebration than Halloween. While we live in an increasingly secular culture which does not acknowledge Jesus to great degree, Christmas is generally understood as a celebration of Jesus’ birth. Not everyone’s vocal about it, but it’s just about the only time of year you’ll hear music on mainstream radio, speaking about the Messiah saving us from Satan’s power when we were gone astray. Not bad.

Halloween on the other hand, regardless of its origins, is a celebration that revolves around fear and death. I don’t think that’s even an exaggeration. Walk into a store in October and you’ll see what I mean. Walking through those Halloween displays starts triggering my resurrection reflex to put some plastic sinews and skin on those plastic dry bones.

Now, I’ll address the candy aspect in a moment, but Halloween is a celebration that revolves around witches, evil spirits, dead people, and fear. I’m certainly not saying that’s why everyone celebrates it, but that’s the theme. It’s pretty hard to argue that when the holidays motto is “Boo!”

Then again, I don’t need to tell you this. We all understand that. But many people are just dressing up because it’s fun to get into costume. They’re going door-to-door to get free candy. Who doesn’t want free candy? 

So what’s the verdict? What Halloween used to be doesn’t matter. Neither does it matter what Christmas used to be, any more than it mattered to Paul the origins of that meat. What matters is whether the thing we are partaking of is agreeable today. 

If you go out for candy on Halloween you’re not suddenly defiled. The candy isn’t evil. Dressing up isn’t evil. All of that can be totally innocent. But I’ll tell you, the more I grow in the knowledge of the life and peace that Jesus has given me, the more distaste I have for anything that advocates for fear and death. The free candy simply isn’t worth it. It’s not because I’m not allowed to. It’s because I don’t relate to it. So I don’t want to participate in a celebration that has its basis in everything I’m not. 

I don’t want to look at your decorations of dead people. I’ll be home learning how to raise that kind of stuff.

I don’t want to attend your haunted house. I prefer to clear those out.

And as for your demonic looking porch prank, in the real world, demons are scared of me. 

I just don’t relate to it, so thanks anyway. I’ll be buying my kids some clearance costumes when Halloween is over, treating them to whatever candy they want, and then we’ll heal the sick, raise the dead, and cast out devils on the way home. I like that better.

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Length: 12 minutes | Download >

Some people say that fear is an acronym for “False Evidence Appearing Real.” But that’s not necessarily so. The evidence you’re looking at may be very real. What isn’t real is your interpretation of the evidence. I can prove that to you from scripture.

If a child sees a jacket hanging on the closet door, they may think it’s a man standing there, so they are afraid of it. Is that evidence false? No, the evidence is real. They’re seeing something, but it’s their interpretation of the evidence that isn’t real. Therefore, what they fear is not real. It’s not that they don’t see that jacket. It’s there. But what they’re fearing isn’t real because they are interpreting the evidence wrong. They are believing a falsehood about that jacket which causes them to be afraid.

I’m not saying that you may not be going through something. You may see evidence right in front of you or feel it in your own body. What I’m saying is, you are misinterpreting the evidence. You are not seeing it in light of Jesus. Therefore, the evidence in front of you may be real, but you’re misinterpreting it, and that’s why you may be afraid. In truth, there is no fear, worry, or anxiety that you can ever have as a born-again believer, that has any basis.

Before we go any further, that should comfort you immediately — to know that no fear or worry has any basis for a believer. Before you even see the reality of your situation, it should relieve you to find out that your fear is not based in reality. God just wants to show you your reality in Christ, so that you don’t have to fear anymore.

Just like a parent would come into a child’s room and flip the lights on, to expose that what the child was fearing was never real, so we will show you today that none of your fears have any basis whatsoever. So, how about we flip those lights on? 

Psalms 34:4, 6 (NKJV) I sought the LORD, and He heard me, And delivered me from all my fears… This poor man cried out, and the LORD heard him, And saved him out of all his troubles.

This verse is referring to the provision of Jesus. It says that Jesus has delivered us from all our fears. That means that whatever it is that you could possibly fear or be worried about, Jesus has already delivered you from it. And if Jesus has truly delivered you from everything that you could possibly fear, then how could your fear be based in reality? If Jesus delivered you from everything you could possibly fear, that would mean that you’d have to believe a lie to feel any fear at all.

The word of God has said that Jesus delivered you from all your fears. So, if we fear, either God isn’t living in reality or we aren’t. If you think you have something to fear and God says Jesus delivered you from it, someone isn’t realizing the truth. And I don’t think it’s God. 

The shortest way for me to show you that Jesus delivered you from everything is to tell you that all your problems can be categorized as either sin or death (Romans 5:12), and when Jesus “died for sins,” He was actually delivering you from every problem you could ever fear (see our Exit Earth article for more).

Some examples are below (these are just examples. Jesus provision encompasses every single problem, without any exception).

Sin problems:
Broken relationships (lack of love)
Addictions
Wrong desires
Debate
Envy
Unforgiveness
Any lack of godly actions, thoughts, or emotions 

Death problems:
Lack or loss of finances/possessions (because it is lack of power – Deuteronomy 28:30-32, 30:15)
Injury
Pain
Sickness or disease
Aging 
Mental illness
Fatigue
Decease
Any lack of power or inability

There is scriptural proof for everything above, but suffice it to say, whether your problem was listed there or not, all your problems fit under sin and death and Jesus came to defeat sin and death.

Do you realize what this means? That means there’s nothing you go through that Jesus did not provide deliverance and a solution to. This pulls the carpet right out from underneath your fears. You’re not trapped, you’re not stuck, and your problems are not inevitable. Jesus provided protection, safety, and the cure to everything. He’s given you access to all this grace, so you can partake of as much as you want (Romans 5:2). 

If Jesus really delivered us from everything we could fear, the only possible way we could still fear is if we have some lack of knowledge of how well Jesus already delivered us. It is lack of knowledge of His deliverance that fosters fear. In fact, let me put it this way: You cannot fear something without lacking knowledge of what Jesus has done. It is the only cause of fear. The second you get a glimpse of how Christ already delivered you, that fear will dissipate faster than you can pronounce it. It is genuinely that easy, but you need to start learning it (or continue in it).

If you’ve been struggling for years to get rid of certain fears, it’s not because the fear is hard to get rid of. It’s because you’ve been trying to get rid of it the wrong way. It is knowledge of Jesus’ deliverance that will dissipate that fear completely. You do not have to live in that anxiety anymore. You can live completely free of it. It just takes a healthy dose of knowledge of your Deliverer. That’s exactly what 1 John explains to us here. 

This is important: Notice how John describes God’s love. He says that God’s love for us is manifested in how Jesus was sent to provide life and a payment for sin. (or you could say, righteousness).

1 John 4:9-10 (NKJV) In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him… and sent His Son to be the propitiation [amends maker] for our sins.

First of all, remember how we said every problem can be categorized under sin and death? Well, no wonder God loved us by giving us life (which is the opposite of death) and righteousness (which is the opposite of sin). Here this very carefully: John is defining God’s love for you, in that He sent Jesus to defeat all the problems in the whole world (sin and death). 

Knowing this, let’s keep reading:

1 John 4:18 There is no fear in love…

Pause for a moment… John says that there is “no fear in love.” What does he mean when he says “love”? It’s more than God’s affection. It’s how he demonstrated that affection. Verses 9 and 10 defined God’s love as Jesus fixing every problem. So, when he says that there is “no fear in love,” he’s actually saying, “There’s no fear in Jesus’ provision!” There’s no fear left, because God loved us and delivered us from everything we could ever fear! That’s what he’s really saying, if you define the word “love” correctly.

Let’s keep reading:

Verse 18) There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.

This is vitally important. This says “perfect love” cast out fear. That’s not talking about God’s love being perfect. That’s talking about your understanding being made perfect in His love. When he says “perfect love” that’s talking about a maturity in your understanding of the love of God. It might be better said, “perfected love casts out fear.”That’s why he goes on to say that “he who fears has not been made perfect in love.” In other words, if you’re afraid, it’s your mind that has not been made perfect in the love of God. Your mind is not perfectly seeing what Jesus provided.

Knowing this, when he says, “perfect love cast out fear,” he’s not just saying that if God loves you, it will cast out fear. God loves everyone. God provided for everyone. And there’s a lot of people living in fear, even believers. Why? Because it’s not God’s love and provision that casts out fear. It’s our understanding being perfected in it that casts out fear! Fear will not leave because Jesus delivered you. Fear will leave when you realize it. And while you are still fearing, you have still not realized it. That’s a principle that applies universally to every person, in every situation.

But you may say, “How am I already delivered from this thing? I see it in my life. I feel it in my body.” You’ve been delivered from that because Jesus already took that problem on Himself, at the cross. He felt your problem. He made it His own. You’re already delivered on God’s end, but it takes us learning these things for us to experience them in our life. God is waiting for you to understand what He did, so that you can start living in it. With some learning, that problem would disappear out of your life, and you’d see protection from it in the future as well. That’s what it’s like to be delivered.

Why should that sound too good to be true? We say we have an Almighty God. We say He loves us so much. We say that he accomplished a finished work, through Jesus, at the cross. But what’s the use in having all of that if we’re only going to expect natural results for our life. You could’ve done that without Jesus! God really has defeated all your fears. You can truly start experiencing that victory in your life. 

If you’re afraid, you’re not afraid because of the evidence you see. You’re afraid because you’re misinterpreting it, not seeing it in light of Jesus’ victory. You’re not seeing that physical evidence in light of what Jesus has done for it. 

If you sensed pain, but saw it in light of Jesus, you’d be confident that it’s finished and on its way out, instead of fearing it. 

If you saw aging in light of Jesus, you would laugh at it, knowing it’s defeated, with an excitement for all God is working in your body!

If you saw a family member suffering, but saw it in light of Jesus, you wouldn’t approve of it, but you’d realize that the provision of Jesus is so great, their problem is not worthy to be compared to it. 

If you saw financial lack in light of Jesus, you would rise up in confidence of the power of God, rather than shrinking back, knowing this is not staying the same. You’ve already been provided for. It’s too late!

Fill in the blank. If you saw it in light of Jesus, you wouldn’t be afraid. He’s delivered you from it and you can see that reflected in your life.

You’re not afraid because of the evidence you see. You’re not afraid because of the circumstance you’re going through. You’re afraid because you’re not seeing straight. There’s something you don’t know about Jesus, and you need to find that out. But before you even find out, it’s pretty amazing to know this fear has no basis in reality. We just need to know why.

You may be seeing that jacket hanging in the closet. You may think it’s some formidable foe. But when your Heavenly Dad comes in the room and turns the light of Jesus on, it turns out it’s just a jacket. It’s not the big deal you thought it was.

You know what’s a big deal? The cross is. Until you can look at your problem and know in your heart and confess with your mouth that, “This is not a big deal,” then you haven’t seen it in light of Jesus yet. It only looks like a big deal when you look at it in the darkness. The solution? Flip the lights on. 

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Length: 6 minutes

In recent years, talk about aliens and UFOs has come up a lot. What does the Bible actually say about these things? A lot of people assume that if we really discovered there is intelligent life out there in the universe, this would crush people’s faith and discount the Bible. But not so. Actually, all the contrary. If we didn’t believe in aliens, we wouldn’t be believing the Bible. The Bible just doesn’t use the word aliens.

I think many Christians feel conflicted about even considering whether there is extraterrestrial life out there, but the Bible says clearly that there is. He calls them “messengers” (or “angels” in many of our English translations). And “messengers” may only be a segment of these spiritual beings that the Bible says Jesus created, but it certainly accounts for intelligent life outside of the earth.

I’m not saying that all the “alien talk” is legitimate. I’m sure most of it is not. People make up stories and misinterpret evidence all the time, but it certainly doesn’t contradict the Bible. In fact, the Bible accounts for many times that angels came to earth. Some of them were of God and some of them were not, but interactions with angels is something that has happened many times before and continues to happen today. They are just other people that God created. 

Hebrews 13:2 (NKJV) Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some have unwittingly entertained angels.

In addition to visible interactions with angels, you’ve got angels that watch over you right now (Psalms 91:11). Even the book of Daniel accounts for certain angels being entrusted with the oversight of certain people (Daniel 10:21, 12:1). Not to mention all the demonic activity amongst the unbelieving, which the Bible records, and we have authority over.

Now it’s true, angels are said to be spiritual in the Bible (Hebrews 1:7), but to be honest, I don’t know exactly what the composition of a “spiritual” being is, and neither does anyone else I have heard. Of course, there is an unseen element to the spiritual realm, but clearly angels can reproduce, as they did with human women in the book of Genesis (Genesis 6:2). Angels can have children. While people say that’s just because they took human form, that’s interjecting a whole lot into that verse that isn’t there. The Bible doesn’t claim that they took human form. It doesn’t even allude to that. 

Now, when people talk about aliens in silver saucers, flying through the sky, is that just absurdity? Well, probably. But if people discovered beings flying around in a vehicle, it’s not as if it would contradict the Bible. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that angels fly around in silver saucers. I’m simply saying that it wouldn’t crush anyone’s faith or discount anything in the Bible. It’s not something I see any evidence for in scripture, but it certainly wouldn’t contradict it.

But what about aliens living on other planets? Any merit? Well, we know that there are angels in God’s heaven, but I’ve never heard anyone who’s actually sure where that is. We’re told that it’s above the Earth, but is it in this universe? Is it outside of it? I don’t know, but it’s a big universe. Regardless, we know that there are angels that live on planets today, because there are angels that live on the Earth right now. The devil and his fallen angels dwell on the earth and under the earth currently (Revelation 12:12, which calls the underworld “the sea.” See our glossary.).

Why do I bring all this up? Well, the purpose is two-fold. 

On one hand, we need to know that none of these things are faith-crushing, Bible-disproving concepts. In fact, to say that there are not aliens or extra-terrestrial intelligent life out there would be to contradict scripture. God created lots of different beings, different races of beings, that have different jobs and tasks, with different ranks; some that are upon the Earth and some outside the earth. And because we have been seated with Christ, who has the name above every name, we have authority over all of them.

On the other hand, I’m also addressing this so that you will be careful about the “alien talk” you hear. A few years ago, when the talk of UFOs started ramping up, I innocently started watching something about aliens. Very quickly I realized this was demonic and turned it off. The encounters that people were describing were clearly demonic. Some people think all the alien talk is just silly, but a lot of it is legitimate. I’ve even heard of many people having these so-called “alien encounters” and the encounters stop when they call on Jesus. It’s not little green men. It’s just demonic. And as usual, they flee with their tails between their legs when people seek salvation from Jesus, because they’re defeated.

I would caution you with what kind of “alien” commentary you listen to. Some of it is silliness and some of it is based on true encounters, much of it being demonic. And we don’t want to associate with the spiritual liars in this world. I’d rather hear God’s commentary on the devil, telling me how that coward was disarmed and defeated, than to hear commentary from humans that have been influenced by the Liar. Even if someone truly had an encounter of this type, you don’t want their perspective on the situation, which is almost certainly untrue. You want God’s perspective on everything! What He says is sound, pure, and true. He won’t lead you astray.

None of this is to feed into the silliness on TV and online. We should not be gullible, giving attention to rumors and conspiracy theories. But these things are good to know, so that you never feel that your faith has been challenged with all this “alien talk.” There’s nothing faith crushing about it at all. While you don’t have to start wrapping tinfoil around your head, you have a biblical foundation to approach this conversation.

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Length: 7 minutes

“Wait on the Lord.” Some people love the term. Some people don’t. Either way, the term is usually misunderstood.

There is a crowd that believes God controls everything. When they hear, “Wait on the Lord,” that falls right in line with their doctrine. They’re always waiting on God because they believe He controls everything. They don’t have any say. They’re just waiting (though this is not true).

There is another crowd that’s realized the truth that Jesus finished everything. We are merely responding in faith toward the work Jesus has already done. When that crowd hears, “Wait on the Lord,” they do their best to try and reinterpret it. “Perhaps it doesn’t really mean to wait, but more to serve, like a waiter would.” They know that Jesus finished everything, and they don’t want people to be passive, just waiting around for God to do something, because they know God has already done everything! And that’s true! So, what’s up with the term “wait on the Lord.” The Bible is full of this term. 

We don’t need to try and re-interpret the word “wait.” It means just what it sounds like. It’s talking about waiting for God. But why? Jesus already finished everything. That’s true today, but that wasn’t true in the Old Testament when people were talking about “waiting on the Lord.”

Today, when we believe in Jesus it’s just called “faith” or “belief.” We’re believing something that Jesus already did. But in the Old Testament, while their belief could be called “faith,” it was also called “waiting” or “hope,” because the Messiah they were believing on was still to come! We don’t need to re-interpret the word “wait.” It’s incredibly important.

When the Bible says that Old Testament saints received from God by “waiting” on Him, it’s that word “waiting” that shows they were receiving through the Messiah, because He’s the one they were waiting for! They were waiting for salvation. They were waiting for freedom from sin. They were waiting for the payment to be made. When we reinterpret the word “wait” we’re taking away the part of the verse that is referencing the Messiah! 

The word “hope” is also commonly used for how Old Testament saints received from God, because “hope” means “expectancy.” This fits perfectly because they were expecting the Messiah!

Lamentations 3:26 (NKJV) It is good that one should hope and wait quietly For the salvation of the LORD.

Also, here in Isaiah it says people can receive strength by “waiting on the Lord.” This is Old Testament language for saying that they could receive strength by looking forward to the Messiah!

Isaiah 40:31 (NKJV) But those who wait on the LORD Shall renew their strength…

For the Old Testament, the term “wait on the Lord” is beautiful! It shows that they were seeing Jesus ahead of time. It shows that the reason for all their receiving was Jesus! The problem is, it’s not applicable today. It would be incorrect for a New Testament saint to say that they receive strength when they “wait on the Lord,” because the Lord already came and provided the strength! We’re looking back on it now. We’re not waiting anymore.

This is why, when Paul quoted an Old Testament verse about “Waiting” on the Lord, he updated it by the Holy Spirit to speak of loving the Lord. And if you’ve heard our teaching, you know that loving the Lord is faith (Matthew 22:37-39; 1 John 3:23)

Isaiah 64:4 (NKJV) …Men have not heard nor perceived by the ear, Nor has the eye seen any God besides You, Who acts for the one who waits for Him.

1 Corinthians 2:9 (NKJV) But as it is written: “EYE HAS NOT SEEN, NOR EAR HEARD… THE THINGS WHICH GOD HAS PREPARED FOR THOSE WHO LOVE HIM.”

You see? Paul, as a New Testament Saint would not tell the Corinthians that they should wait on the Lord for provision. That would be incorrect in the New Testament. To wait on the Lord would to be to not acknowledge that our salvation and full provision is in the past at the cross. There’s nothing more to wait for.

It would also be incorrect to say that Christians receive by “hope” today. Hope is a belief for the future (Romans 8:25). Since Jesus is the object of our belief, we’re not believing for provision in the future, like Old Testament saints. We’re believing a provision 2,000 years in the past, at the cross! We receive through faith in a past tense work. We don’t receive by hope (a belief for the future).

I’m not saying that a believer shouldn’t have hope (or an expectancy). We certainly should. But we shouldn’t be hoping for God to provide for us. The only biblical hope there is for a believer today, is a hope that what we have inside us will manifest (Romans 8:19, 25). That is an entire teaching in and of itself. 

If you read Romans 5:2, it speaks of both faith and hope, though it makes it very clear that today we receive through faith in Jesus. Hope is not how we access.

So, we receive by faith, not by hope, but for Old Testament saints, funny enough, their faith was also called hope. 

Faith is just a belief about spiritual things. Hope is a belief for the future. But in the Old Testament, the spiritual things they were believing were in the future! They were still to be provided! So, it would be accurate to say that their faith in Jesus was also called hope, because Jesus was still on His way!

If I lost anyone along the way, what should we gather from all of this? Whether people in the Old Testament or people in the New Testament today, the object of our belief is Jesus! That is how everyone receives! They were waiting and hoping for that salvation. We are believing His salvation which has already come!

Jesus said that Abraham saw the day of Jesus (John 8:56). Moses and the prophets prophesied of the coming of Jesus (John 5:46). Elihu said to magnify the work of the Lord, but they were still seeing it afar off (Job 36:24-25).

The thing we should learn when we see Old Testament saints receiving from God as they “waited on the Lord,” is not that we should still be waiting. All the contrary. We should learn that even the Old Testament saints received from God by looking at Jesus. They were waiting for Him, but for us, He’s already arrived. 

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Length: 32 Minutes

In this training we discuss eternal righteousness, confessing sins, the difference between forgiveness and cleansing, and how righteousness affects our receiving.

This article summarizes many hours of teaching from Reform Church and is taken from our Journey Bible Curriculum (available on our store).

When Jesus died, He died for sins forever. That means sin in the past, present, and future. He was paying for your sin even before you were born. So yes, He was paying for future sins. Now, when you receive Jesus’ “forever-atonement” how many sins do you think you’re forgiven of? How many sins do you think you’re cleansed of? All of them, forever! After all, that’s the atonement you received!

This notion that you can be in and out of righteousness, needing to be forgiven repeatedly, doesn’t make sense when you realize that you received righteousness through Jesus’ work, and His work took care of sins forever! 

In the Old Testament, when a sacrifice was made for a particular sin, it was that particular sin that was forgiven (Leviticus 4:27, 35). So, to think that you received a “sins-forever-atonement” and were only forgiven of partial sins just doesn’t mesh with scripture.

Hebrews 10:12-14 (KJV) But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down… For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.

Hebrews 10:10 (KJV) By the which will we are sanctified [lit. made holy] through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

Jesus’ sacrifice was for sins forever, so we get perfected and made holy forever when we receive that sacrifice. Our identity in righteousness does not fluctuate for any reason, and certainly not because of our works.

In the Old Testament, God offered temporary forgiveness for specific sins with animal sacrifices because they were a symbol of Jesus. Those sacrifices had to be repeated again and again, every time someone sinned (Hebrews 10:1-14). When someone realized they had sinned, they needed to confess it, and they would only be forgiven of the specific sin they confessed (Leviticus 5:4, 10). This was repeated whenever they sinned. Does that sound familiar? That’s how most Christians live today — constantly confessing and thinking they’re being forgiven repeatedly. But this “on again, off again” forgiveness is a characteristic of the Old Testament, not the New! 

If an animal sacrifice, as a mere shadow of Jesus, could provide temporary forgiveness for particular sins, how much more can the forever-sacrifice of the True Lamb offer eternal redemption from sin to everyone that believes?

Hebrews 9:12-15 (NKJV) …with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption [from transgressions, v.15]… And for this reason He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.

Jesus’ sacrifice for sins forever has eternally redeemed us from sin and given us an eternal inheritance, therefore! We can never lose it because it’s not through our work, but through faith in His! Even Daniel prophesied of the coming Messiah, who would provide everlasting righteousness to us (unlike the Old Covenant he was living in).

Daniel 9:24 (NKJV) …To make an end of sins, To make reconciliation for iniquity, To bring in everlasting righteousness…

If you have truly put faith in Jesus, continue in that faith. The righteousness you have received is not partial, incomplete, or subject to change. When you sin, you sin contrary to your nature. When you sin, you don’t get stained or defiled. You remain clean and pure, without blame before God. 

1 John 2:1-2 (KJV) My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: And he is the propitiation [amends-maker] for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.

When a Christian sins, that is not evidence that they are defiled again. All the contrary! The Bible says that when you find yourself sinning or without virtue in your life, it’s not evidence that you’re unrighteous, but that you have forgotten your righteousness! You have forgotten that you are clean!

We read this passage in our last lesson plan, but let’s draw a new point from it.

2 Peter 1:5-9 (NKJV)  …virtue… knowledge… self-control… perseverance… godliness… brotherly kindness… love.

Verse 9) For he who lacks these [virtuous] things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins.

Wow, God says that if you lack virtue in your life, it’s not because you lost your righteousness and need to be cleansed again. Quite the opposite. He says that you’re just shortsighted or have forgotten how clean you are! 

When many Christians sin, they believe it’s time to ask God to cleanse them again.

According to Peter, when we see a lack of godliness in our life, that’s simply a time to remember that we are clean, because we have forgotten! That is the proper response when a Christian sins. Our cleansing is from sins forever!

1 John 1:8-9 (NKJV) If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

When this verse says, “if we   confess our sins” this is not talking about an ongoing reality in a believer’s life. You don’t need to keep confessing and getting forgiven. Before you were saved, you needed to acknowledge that you had sinned, so that Jesus could forgive and cleanse you. Of course, if someone doesn’t acknowledge that they have sin, why would they need cleansing? But all of this is something that an unbeliever does once, when they first believe, and no more. After that, they are eternally righteous. No need to get forgiven and cleansed again!

Notice, it says “from all unrighteousness!” How much is “all”? Well, how much unrighteousness did Jesus pay for? Sins forever! So, how many sins are forgiven and cleansed? Sins forever! 

People may argue, “But John, a Christian writing this, says ‘If we confess our sins,’ including himself.” But John is no more including himself as someone that confesses his sins, than he was including himself in the previous verse when he said, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” He said “we” there also. But you’ll also notice another word. He said “if.” That means he’s giving a theoretical scenario. He’s saying, “If we were to say that we had no sin, we deceive ourselves.” But “If we were to confess our sins, then God would forgive and cleanse us.” These are theoretical scenarios he’s laying out, about a group of people that may say they have never sinned, and another group of people that admits they have sinned, so they can be cleansed. 

John did confess that he had sinned one time, but after receiving Jesus, he was forgiven and cleansed forever, without need to ever repeat it. When John says, “If we confess our sins” he is not including himself in that statement any more than when he said, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” 

We are forgiven and cleansed once for all. But what does that mean? Well, forgiveness and cleansing are two beautiful aspects to our righteousness we have through Jesus. 

Forgiveness is also called “imputed righteousness” (Romans 4:5-8). It’s like saying “counted righteousness.” We’ll see that forgiveness is an accounting type of righteousness.

The Books

Firstly, it’s important to know that there are books and written records in Heaven. The Bible accounts for many things being recorded, even the tears that David cried (Psalms 56:8) and the speech and thoughts of believers when they think on His name (Malachi 3:16). There are many books the Bible speaks of, and one specific book that will decide whether someone is saved or not in the next age – the Book of Life (Revelation 20:12, 15). Most importantly for today, there are books that account for the things people do. The following was written under the law:

Isaiah 65:2-7 (KJV) I have spread out my hands all the day unto a rebellious people, which walketh in a way that was not good, after their own thoughts…

Verse 6) Behold, it [their sin] is written before me: I will not keep silence, but will recompense, even recompense into their bosom, Your iniquities, and the iniquities of your fathers together…

Notice, it says that Israel’s wrong deeds were “written before the Lord.” Remember that term “before the Lord.” That will be important later. This shows that this book or record of sins was in front of the Lord. In justice, it was a remembrance to the Lord of what they had done. And well, God didn’t like that. He wanted these reminders of our sin gone. So, He sent Jesus for the forgiveness of sins. Forgiveness is the clearing of these records.

Clearing The Records (The Reminders)

Stay with me. We’re going to build an understanding of what forgiveness is step-by-step.

In Hebrews, it defines forgiveness as the Lord “remembering our sins no more.” 

Hebrews 10:17-18 (YLT) and ‘their sins and their lawlessness I will remember no more;’ 18 and where forgiveness of these is [referring to that lack of remembrance], there is no more offering for sin.

Similarly, Psalms says that forgiveness is the opposite of observing sin.

Psalms 130:3-4 (KJV) If thou, LORD, shouldest mark [lit observe, watch] iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? But there is forgiveness with thee [the opposite of observing sin], that thou mayest be feared.

Now, let’s look at how God went about “not remembering our sins anymore.” This next verse says God would not remember our sins because He has “blotted out (erased) our transgressions.”

Isaiah 43:25 (NKJV) “I, even I, am He who blots out [lit. wipes, erases] your transgressions for My own sake; And I will not remember your sins.

So, forgiveness is God not remembering our sins, but the way that God is put away the remembrance of our sins is by erasing them. This is referring to God erasing the record of our sins from before Him, no longer being reminded of our sins!

In this next scripture, look at where the remembrance of their sin was. It says their iniquity was remembered “before” God. Why “before“ Him? Because that’s where the record was located.

Psalms 109:14-15 (NKJV) Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered before the LORD [where the book was – Isaiah 65:6], And let not the sin of his mother be blotted out [erased]. 15 Let them be continually before the LORD…

There was a book of sins continually before the Lord. That is where the remembrance of our sins was coming from. It was a continual reminder to God of what we were doing wrong. Forgiveness is when God blots out those sins from in front of Him – no longer witnessing those records.

Jeremiah 18:23 (KJV) …forgive not their iniquity, neither blot out their sin from thy sight…

You may have to read those verses again, but when you put all those pieces together, this is powerful. Forgiveness is the blotting out of records. God has cleared all your sins from the books in front of Him. That means, according to God’s accounting, it’s as if we have never sinned in our life! There’s no trace of it on the books. No wonder forgiveness is called “the Lord not remembering our sin anymore” because it’s literally the erasing of the record of our sins, that was always in His sight. 

(More scriptures: Isaiah 44:22; Psalms 51:9; Psalms 90:8; Nehemiah 4:5)

Jesus has provided this to everybody, but only believers have received it (Acts 2:38, 3:19). God isn’t judging the world, He’s not angry at the world (2 Corinthians 5:19), but only believers have the forgiveness of sins.

Forgiveness is an accounting type of righteousness. It’s righteousness on the books. This is why forgiveness is called “imputed/counted righteousness” in Romans 4:5-8. The books have no record of you having ever done anything wrong. God has erased it all from the records. Not to mention, He has thrown out any angel in Heaven that would ever try to remind Him of your mistakes (Revelation 12). And people think God is the judgmental type? 

It’s because of forgiveness that God can continue to work in your life, bless you, prosper you, and heal you. When you do something wrong, He doesn’t skip a beat. He just continues to work in your life as you believe, because Heaven holds no record of you having ever done anything wrong. That’s thanks to Jesus.

The question then comes, does this mean that God doesn’t remember our sin in His mind? I don’t have all the details, but the Bible does say that He remembers our sins no more. We know for a fact that He has nothing in front of Him to remind Him of our sin. At the same time, we know that God’s eyes are always upon the righteous (1 Peter 3:12; Psalms 11:7). God always watches over us, and if we make a mistake, He must know that. Otherwise, He would not be able to guide us into truth to help our mistakes. So, it seems God just doesn’t bring to mind that the nature of anything we do is a sin against Him. I believe He sees what we do and therefore sees if we do something wrong, but he doesn’t bring to mind that any of it is an offense against Him. He does not remember it and there is no book in front of Him reminding Him of it. The only things written before Him is your faith and the good things you’ve done by the Spirit (Malachi 3:16). Some of that is opinion, but regardless of how God does this, we know He doesn’t remember our sins, and we are fully forgiven. That’s a fact.

What does this do to your friendship with God, to know that every time you talk to Him, He’s not remembering your sin? That’s love you can’t get anywhere else.

1 John 1:9 not only says that we are forgiven, but we’re also cleansed. While forgiveness is “imputed/counted righteousness,” cleansing can be called “created in righteousness.” This is important: You could say, “Forgiveness is a change that God makes on His end (to the records), but cleansing is a change that God makes in you.” 

I will tell you from the start that cleansing is bigger than what we’re going to discuss here, but we are going to stick with the basics that we know.

Unlike forgiveness, cleansing is something that the Holy Spirit does to you, by re-creating your spirit (inside your flesh) to look just like Jesus (John 3:6). In your spirit, there is no sin found. You have been washed of sin, re-created in true righteousness! 

(For those interested, this directly correlates with our teaching on the Baptism (Washing) Of The Holy Spirit)

1 Corinthians 6:11 (NKJV) And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified [made righteous] in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.

Titus 3:5 (NKJV) not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit,

It’s not just that God calls you righteous or sees you as righteous in His eyes. Many Christians feel that they are truly flawed or sinful, but all God sees is the blood of Jesus covering them. That is not correct. You are created in true righteousness and holiness! Not just figurative! You have the thoughts, personality, and pure desires of God now! But this rebirth, this washing, happened in your spirit (John 3:6). So, you won’t see this in your actions or in your physical thoughts at first. That is, until you begin to acknowledge these things. Then they will manifest on the outside, but you are as pure, holy, and righteous as God is in your spirit right now.

Ephesians 4:24 (NKJV) and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.

2 Corinthians 5:17-18 (NKJV) Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. Now all things are of God…

Both scriptures say that we have been re-created, but how have we been re-created? Both say that we have been re-created like God. I don’t mean this in the sense that God created human beings in His image in the Garden of Eden. That image was tarnished when Adam sinned. I’m not talking about that former creation. I’m talking about a new creation that you have been made. In your spirit, you have the real righteousness of God! You’ve been made holy and without blame in Jesus (Ephesians 1:4).

You have not only been forgiven, therefore having right standing with God according to the records, but you’ve also been washed inside and created with the beautiful and pure attributes of God. You have no flaws inside (Song 4:7, 1:22). You are pure, not according to what you’ve done in the past, but according to the death of Jesus! There’s nothing to improve upon. It’s all in your spirit! If you’ll acknowledge these things, it will manifest to change your thoughts and actions as well! 

This is where the fruit of the Holy Spirit comes from. Those fruits aren’t coming from nowhere. They are inside of you first. That’s how God can be so pleased with your condition right now. He sees all those attributes in you before they ever manifest. Then, as we acknowledge these things, this fruit comes out. Things like love, joy, peace, patience etc. While those are wonderful qualities, they are just manifestations of the good, pleasing, and perfect things that are already inside of every believer. 

Most Christians are told that they are impure until they’re bearing this kind of fruit. All the contrary. It’s because believers have been made so pure, that they can bear all this fruit. It’s coming from inside of them! They had it all along. If a believer sins, they’re simply not expressing what’s inside of them. It’s not that they are impure. Romans 12:1-2 says that if a Christian is living like the world, they’re just taking the “form” (or appearance) of the world, not that they’re like the world. It says that we need to renew our minds to who we are in Christ, and when we do, we will “prove” (give evidence of) the good, pleasing, and perfect things that are already on the inside!

You, see? This is how you can be perfect and pure even when your actions are still a mess — because it’s all inside of you, in your spirit. That good, pleasing, and perfect only needs to give evidence (be proven) through you.

You don’t need to improve. You only need to prove (give evidence)!

Before Jesus

Before Jesus died, they didn’t have this cleansing (also called baptism – Matthew 3:14 – see our teaching on baptism). Before Jesus died, people could only be imputed righteousness (forgiven) like Abraham (Genesis 15:6), if they were believing. Because they weren’t re-created with a new nature, there was no permanence to any of this. They were sinful but forgiven. And if they stopped believing, they would stop working in the power of God, return to the way of the world (Hebrews 11:13-15), and it seems they would not be imputed righteousness anymore (until they believed again).

For instance, David was already a righteous man before he sinned with Bathsheba, but after this he still asked God to blot out his sin, showing that their forgiveness back then was sort of “as you go.” As long as they were believing they were continually forgiven, and thus, the Holy Spirit continued working through them. But when David sinned, he even asked God not to take his Holy Spirit from him, because the Holy Spirit had not become one with their spirit (1 Corinthians 6:17). The Holy Spirit could come and go. The Spirit had not re-created them. They were still the same inside. They were still sinful. This also seems to be why David prays for God to wash him of his sin, because that was coming in the New Covenant (Psalms 51).

In summary, before Jesus died, people could be forgiven as they believed, but they were not re-created or cleansed.

These were some of the limitations of the time because Jesus had not died yet. They had limited forgiveness, with no cleansing, but we have both in full today. We are of God’s kingdom and can no longer return to the earth because we have been re-created with a new nature (Romans 6:1-2; Hebrews 9:12, 15; Daniel 9:24). You can’t lose your righteousness. If someone seems to accept the gospel and then reverts to rejecting it, the Bible says that they were never saved to begin with (1 John 2:19). They accepted the seed but never grew in it to maturity, to their salvation (Luke 8:11-15 is a salvation parable).

So, forgiveness is a change God makes on His end, in Heaven, to the records. Cleansing is something that happens to us. We have both.

As we read before, we have now been created “according to God,” in His likeness. There’s a term for this. The Bible calls this the “divine nature.” “Divine“ just means “like God.” So, we have God’s nature.

The nature of the world is sin and death (or lust and corruption). The divine nature, the nature of God, is life and godliness! They are opposites. But the Bible says that we have the divine nature and can partake of it too!

2 Peter 1:3-4 (NKJV) as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness… by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature [referring to that life and godliness], having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

If you read this scripture carefully, he calls life and godliness “the divine nature,” and says that we have been given all these things! Everything that pertains to life and godliness (the divine nature) has been given to us! We’ve been re-created, having escaped the world’s nature and given God’s. 

Many Christians are taught that they have a sinful nature. Even many paraphrase translations of Galatians 5:17 (like NLT, (Pre-2011) NIV, GW, and MSG) paraphrase the word “flesh” as “sinful/corrupt nature” or make it sound like we have a sinful nature. This demonstrates the importance of reading a word-for-word translation (NKJV, NASB, KJV). The Bible doesn’t say that we have a sinful nature. All the contrary. We just read that we’ve been given God’s divine nature! It’s not your nature to sin and decay. It’s your nature to be godly and to live!

We do not have a sinful nature, neither are we called sinners in the Bible. The Bible says that we all weresinners but have now been justified (righteous). You can’t be a sinner and created in righteousness at the same time.

Romans 5:8-9 (NKJV) …while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Much more then, having nowbeen justified by His blood…

If we don’t have a sinful nature, how can Christians still desire and do the wrong thing? Christians don’t do the wrong thing because of an unclean nature, but because of an unrenewed mind (Romans 12:2; 2 Corinthians 3:18).

It’s true. Christians have a flesh (a body and a mind) that, left up to itself, wants to do the wrong thing. But it’s not left up to itself! God put His life and righteousness in you and that is taking over and transforming your flesh as you believe! That is your true nature.

Whatever you see on the outside is just what’s left over to be transformed, as you renew your mind. But it is passing away and has already begun from the first day you believed. 

It’s not a believer’s nature to sin. A believer has the propensity to do what is right inside of them. That is taking over their outside from glory to glory, as they realize this truth from faith to faith (Romans 1:17). Sin is only a lingering side effect of an unrenewed mind. 

Lastly, once you know you’re righteous through Jesus, this will have a profound effect on your receiving. This is an exciting thing. Righteousness is the qualification for you to receive from God! So, if you don’t know you’re righteous, that means you don’t know how qualified you are to receive.

The Bible says that Abraham received from God through the righteousness of faith. That means righteousness was what qualified him to receive.

Romans 4:13 (KJV) For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law [through his works], but through the righteousness of faith.

Righteousness doesn’t cause you to receive, but it’s the qualification for you to be able to receive. In other words, you’re not going to automatically see things changed in your life because you’re righteous. It’s knowledge of what we have that gets the juices flowing (2 Peter 1:2; Philemon 1:6). Nevertheless, righteousness is a vital component because it’s our qualification, and God couldn’t work through us without it (Romans 8:30)!

If we could receive by the rightness of our works, our receiving would be up-and-down, here-and-gone again. It would fluctuate with how good our works were every day. The wonderful thing about having this gift of righteousness, is that it is stable and eternal, through Jesus. That means our qualification to receive is stable and eternal. It does not fluctuate. When we sin, the Holy Spirit just keeps on moving. When we think a sinful thought, the Holy Spirit doesn’t skip a beat. He’s moving through you, not by the righteousness of your works, but through the righteousness of God.

The reason the Holy Spirit can give life to your body, for instance, is because you’re righteous through Jesus!

Romans 8:10-11 (NKJV) And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness… He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies…

Again, the Bible says that the grace of God can reign through us because of righteousness, resulting in everlasting life (to our circumstances and our bodies).

Romans 5:21 (NKJV) so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Faith is how you access and use what you have, but righteousness is what qualifies you for what you have (Romans 5:1-2). It makes it fitting and proper for you to have it! It assures our heart that these things should flow through us! It’s your worthiness to receive from God. (Revelation 3:4, 19:8 (KJV only)).

You can believe in healing, resurrection, wisdom or a host of other things, but if you don’t understand righteousness, you will still hinder your receiving. You’re believing in an inheritance without believing in the qualification to receive it.

Colossians 1:12 (NKJV) giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light.

Imagine you are the manager of two employees. You promise fair pay based on worthiness/merit. If both of those employees show up at the exact same time, do the exact same job, and hold the exact same position, what’s fair to pay them? Well, if their worthiness is the same, then they get paid the same, right?

Thanks to Jesus, we now have the same righteousness (worthiness) as God Himself. Of course, not by our works, but if we have the same worthiness that God and His Son have, how could we receive anything less than what is theirs? It’s the same pay for the same worthiness. This is why we are called heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. Having the same righteousness makes this just!

Romans 8:17 (NKJV) and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ…

Some Christians think it’s crazy to say that we have all the same things as God! Once you realize you have His righteousness, through Jesus, you’ll think it’s crazy to have anything less than God! The same inheritance from the same worthiness will make perfect sense to your conscience!

Knowing you have God’s righteousness will make you confident you can access whatever power you need, at any point in time. Some Christians believe in healing, resurrection, etc. but they just can’t envision themselves producing it in their life. Many times, this is nothing more than a “knowing-righteousness problem.” When you believe in the inheritance, but can’t see yourself producing it, it’s because you don’t see yourself as qualified to produce it. You see yourself as common, instead of clean (Acts 10:15). It doesn’t make sense for a commoner to produce the inheritance of God in their life! But you are not common. You are clean through Jesus. If you knew how righteous you were in Christ, you’d realize that you are, in fact, the kind of person that produces the power of God. When you know you have God’s righteousness, you’ll start thinking, “How could the power of God not flow in my life?” You have God’s righteousness. Therefore, it is just and sensible that you would produce the inheritance of God! 

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Length: 11 minutes

People often believe that if a Christian sins, that leaves them susceptible to the Devil, to bring trouble or sickness into your life. While I don’t agree with sin, if that is true, none of us have any surety of protection.

It is true that being in sin was the initial problem that kept us bound under the Devil’s power. I don’t mean just “sinning” (the verb, the action). I mean “sin” (the noun). Everyone was born sinful and that did keep us in the Devils power, but Jesus has already provided the fix to that problem. It’s called forgiveness and cleansing!

The new covenant way that God fixes sin (which gave the Devil power over us) is not by telling us to not sin anymore (which would have been impossible), but by forgiving those sins!

1 John 3:5, 8 (NKJV) And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin.
Verse 8) For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.

Notice how John first states that “Jesus was manifested to take away our sins,” but then just a few verses later says, “Jesus was manifested to destroy the works of the Devil.” That’s because the way that Jesus redeemed us from the Devil’s power is by dealing with the sin that gave him power over us to begin with. 

Sin gave the devil power over us. True. But God’s answer was not to tell us to stop sinning. Then, if we don’t sin, the devil won’t have influence over us! God’s answer was to take away our sins Himself, through the cleansing of His Holy Spirit, through the forgiveness of sins!

Colossians also ties Jesus’ triumph over demonic powers to forgiving us all our trespasses and removing the law (which also gave fallen angels the right to accuse and punish, but that’s for another time).

Colossians 2:13-15 (NKJV) And you… He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us [the law], which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. Having disarmed principalities and powers [the Devil and his angels], He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.

This verse speaks of the forgiveness of sins and the removal of the law. Then, it directly ties it to how Jesus disarmed the devil!

Then again, in Colossians 1, God ties our freedom from the kingdom of darkness (the kingdom of the devil) with the forgiveness of sins!

Colossians 1:13-14 (NKJV) He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.

What are all these verses saying? Sin did give the devil power over us, but God’s answer to the sin problem was not in telling people to not sin anymore, but through forgiving their sins, thus freeing us from the devil!

In all of this, I’m not saying that sin is good or acceptable. If it was, why would Jesus pay such a high price to redeem us from it? Sin is inherently destructive and unprofitable, but for those who have received Jesus, sin does not give the devil some spiritual door into your life. Why? Because you are forgiven of those very sins, effectively making them as if they’ve never been done.

In John 5, Jesus heals a sick man by the pool of Bethesda. People will use the scripture to show that “sinning makes you vulnerable to the devil.” This takes place in the temple, after the man had already been healed. Let’s take a look:

John 5:14 (NKJV) Afterward Jesus found him in the temple, and said to him, “See, you have been made well. Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you.”

Jesus clearly tells a sick man to not sin anymore so that something worse wouldn’t happen to him. Doesn’t that imply that sinning would make us vulnerable to the devil? Or at least vulnerable to sickness? 

Let’s compare that with another verse. Look at how Jesus healed a paralytic man. When He saw the paralytic, He certainly dealt with this man’s sin, but He didn’t deal with it by saying, “Sin no more.” He dealt with his sin by saying, “Your sins are forgiven.”

Matthew 9:2 (NKJV) Then behold, they brought to Him a paralytic lying on a bed. When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Son, be of good cheer; your sins are forgiven you.”

Why did Jesus tell the man by the pool of Bethesda to, “Sin no more,” but told this paralytic man, “Your sins are forgiven you.” The important part here is that “Jesus saw their faith.” That is vital. Jesus saw faith in this man, which is necessary to forgive someone’s sin, thus freeing them from all sickness and the power of the Devil.

Regarding the man by the pool of Bethesda, I don’t know the condition of his heart, but I do know that the Bible doesn’t say Jesus saw faith present for him to receive forgiveness. If Jesus had seen faith, things would have been different. 

Under the law, the best thing you could do to keep yourself from something bad happening to you is to not sin anymore. I don’t believe for a second that Jesus thought this was possible, but God had given a law prohibiting sin (to show people they couldn’t keep it). Jesus was being true to that law (as He always was) and told the man without forgiveness, “You better not sin anymore, because if you don’t clean yourself of it, something worse is going to happen to you.”

Sin does give sickness, disease, and the devil, power over you. That’s the truth. So, with both men, Jesus dealt with their sin. He told the believing one his sins were forgiven. He told the other not to sin anymore. Why? If you’re not going to be forgiven of your sins, not sinning anymore is your only option. But if you realize that’s impossible (and it is), then you need to go to Jesus and get forgiveness. 

The real point here is this: If, as born-again believers, we can allow the Devil an inroad into our life by sin, then no believer ever deserves any surety of safety, at any point in time. We likely sin every day, even when we don’t realize it. That Is, unless we’re only going to count the “big sins.”

Let me put it to you this way. Who is it that protects us from the devil? Of course, it’s God. God’s power protects us from the devil. If sin makes us vulnerable, that means God must withdraw His protection when we sin. And if that’s true, we are receiving protection from God by our works. There’s no other way to see that. If God releases or withdraws protection and redemption based on our works, then you are receiving by your works. You are trusting your own holy living as the surety of your protection, rather than Jesus (Hebrews 7:22).

If God only protects me from the Devil until the next time I sin, how am I not buying the blessings of God with my own holy living (Isaiah 55:1)? If God’s shield lowers when I sin, how am I not maintaining my protection by my works? But none of our salvation was gained by our works, neither is it maintained by our works (Ephesians 2:8-9).

Thank God, in this new covenant, holy living is a fruit, it is not the prerequisite for anything we receive from God. We receive, not through works of the law, but because we put faith in Jesus (Galatians 3:2-5).

Here’s the truth:

For an unbeliever, unfortunately, they already belong to the Devil, but they can leave at any time. Forgiveness has been offered to them.

For a believer, your sin doesn’t open the door for the Devil to make you sick or bring calamity into your life. God fixed your sin problem by forgiving it, not through you not sinning anymore. 

When a Christian has a problem, it’s not because they’ve been left vulnerable to the Devil due to sin. It’s because of what we don’t yet know, or aren’t remembering, about Jesus (Romans 8:6). 

Just a quick story in closing. For many years I believed that when I sinned, God still loved me, but I left myself vulnerable to the Devil. At the time, I was dealing with dizzy spells. I would feel like the room was spinning around me and I would have to lay down. These dizzy spells would last hours and sometimes linger for a couple days. 

When this would happen, I would feel sick because of the dizziness. I just remember crying many times saying, “Lord, I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry,” because I thought my sin was letting this happen. This happened once when I was out with some friends at a diner. I had to go lay down in the car, where I continued to tell the Lord how sorry I was.

All this time, I was still rebuking and trying to believe that I was healed; even tirelessly. Then one day I was driving to my house, praying about this, and the Lord said, “Chalice.” One word. I looked that up and realized that it’s a word for the cup used in communion, especially in the Catholic Church. I realized that the Lord was telling me that my issue was not with belief in healing, but with belief in the forgiveness of sins. I knew Jesus said that the cup represented His blood, being shed for the forgiveness of sins (Matthew 26:27–28).

I eventually realized that, if I believed my sin lowered God’s shield toward the Devil, then I believed my holiness was keeping it there. In essence, I realized I was trying to receive from God by my works, instead of faith in the work of Jesus. I was trusting my abstinence from sin, rather than God’s forgiveness of sins, through His Son. I was trusting my own efforts, rather than trusting His blood… the chalice!

After I started to realize this, I had one last dizzy spell. I continued in this truth and never had another, in the many years since.

I thought I was sick because my sins were allowing the Devil in. I didn’t realize that this wasn’t an attack of the Devil. My own ignorance of my forgiveness was allowing sickness in. I was ignorant of what I already had. And isn’t that always the case with our receiving? We receive by simple knowledge of Jesus. It’s only ignorance, through religion, through wrong teaching, and the like, that holds us back. Just stick with the pure knowledge of Jesus and lean on Him for all your receiving. You will always be on the right track! Quite literally, because Jesus Is the only way. 

Your works never said, “I am the Way,” He did.

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Length: 8 minutes

We’ve spoken a lot about how Jesus makes us righteous, blameless, and free from guilt (Colossians 1:22). I would encourage you to get a thorough training in those truths. But sometimes, even when you know these things, if you do something wrong, you still have a nagging negative emotion. What is that?

When you do something wrong and are still feeling this emotion, sometimes you simply aren’t established in the condemnation Jesus already took for you. You may need further meditation on His righteousness that you now have. But some people may be meditating on these truths, and it doesn’t seem to be doing the trick. That may be because the negative emotion you’re feeling is not guilt or shame at all. That emotion may be a sadness over damage caused by that sin. 

For instance, you may say something wrong to someone. Perhaps you lose patience or hurt someone’s feelings. So, you meditate on how Jesus was condemned for your sin and made you righteous (as you should). That gives great consolation, but something is still nagging at you. It may be that, although you know you’re righteous, you have a concern for the person you hurt. You know you are righteous inside, but you have a bitter sorrow for the things you have damaged on the outside. 

Simply knowing that you are righteous will not fix this sorrow because you’re not feeling unrighteous. That’s not the problem. You’re feeling concerned about something you damaged – whether that be someone’s feelings, their livelihood, or even their life. You think, “I’m so glad I’m righteous, but that doesn’t change what I did. I still damaged things.”

Here’s what you need to know: You are not only cleansed and made righteous on the inside, but every good, pleasing, and perfect thing in you is intended to come out and make things right in your life as well — even heal things in other people’s lives. Romans 12:2 calls it “proving” the good things in us.

What I’m saying is, the right things you have inside also make things right on the outside. Jesus didn’t just make you righteous for intangible benefits. He intended that righteousness to overflow out of you and rectify real, physical, tangible things in your life or in others.

Knowing this is indispensable. Knowing you’re righteous and perfect in Jesus takes care of guilt and shame, but knowing it comes out to fix everything around you removes the sorrow over anything you’ve damaged. I’m not saying we should approve of sin or any damage it causes. I’m saying that it removes sorrow and instills the courage to look at the situation and say, “The righteousness and perfection of God within me is able to heal that thing. As I believe, righteousness and life flow out of me to make everything right on the outside as well.” 

Through Jesus, God has quite a knack for making wrong things right. The same way that we were full of sin, but God came inside of us and made everything right, so it will be in your life, as you believe. The Lord can manifest this on the outside to rectify anything you may have damaged. 

For instance, if you say something that hurts someone. It’s true you are always righteous and accepted before God. You need to know that. But that righteousness is also able to come out and produce love and gentleness in your words — not only to avoid hurting people’s feelings, but even to reconcile relationships that have already been damaged (Galatians 5:22-23). He can even supernaturally work in their heart to give you favor with them (Acts 2:47, Luke 2:52). I can’t promise you that every person will always accept your love, but that is their choice. You cannot force them. That is between them and the Lord. But as far as you are concerned, God can rectify everything in your life. Why? Because the righteousness and power that God has given us was not intended to stay inside. It comes out!

Another example is, so many Christians have lived destructive lifestyles in the past. They’ve hurt their body through drinking, drugs, or sexual sin. Even if that Christian knows their righteous, many still have a sorrow over the damage that was done. But God didn’t just make everything right inside of you. All of that is intended to come out to fix the damage that was done by sin. He can heal your body, renew your youth, and prosper you with opportunities you may have wasted (3 John 1:2). Jesus is a Savior from both sin and its effects! Sure, you don’t deserve it. None of us do. But we don’t need to. His work earned it for us, so receive this grace!

Another example is, there are people who have had abortions in the past. When they come to know the Lord, they may realize that this was a human baby, not just a clump of cells. That Christian may realize they are accepted and forgiven, but in their mind they say, “That doesn’t change what I did.” But oh… it does! It does change what you did. Being righteous and perfect is not just an intangible thing. It comes out and makes everything around you wonderful. 

I’m not saying you didn’t do it. I’m saying that you’re now righteous and alive, and that certainly changes what you did. There is not a single baby that has ever been killed that cannot be raised back up (John 11:25). You may not see that all right now, but that is a promise through the atonement of Jesus. Yes, you did it, but Jesus carried that sin, made you perfect inside, and that changes everything! Yes, it absolutely changes what you did, if you’ll believe it. 

This goes for all of us: What we made wrong; the cross makes right. There are no exceptions to that statement. There is resurrection, restoration, healing, and prosperity for every part of your body, life, and relationships. Each person must receive it for themselves, by faith, but there are no exceptions to that. God has given you nothing short of perfection inside. You are guiltless, blameless, and perfect through faith in Jesus, and it doesn’t want to stay inside. This changes everything.

I could go on and on with examples:

You may have made poor money choices and put your family in a bind. If you’re in Christ, you’re already righteous and guiltless, but God has also given you empowerment toward wealth, including financial wisdom and temperance, to fix any damage that’s been done (Deuteronomy 8:18, Psalms 112:3-5). You don’t need to deserve it. Jesus carried your folly and gives you what you don’t deserve. If you trust the work of Jesus instead of your own, the Lord will make you so rich, you’ll forget you were ever poor. Yes, knowing Jesus does change what you did.

You may have hurt someone. There’s healing for that. You may have even killed someone. There’s resurrection for that. You may have stolen from someone. There is financial enrichment unto all generosity for that (2 Corinthians 9:8-11). 

I may not have named your circumstance, but it doesn’t matter. Jesus thought of your circumstance and became the damage you and I caused, to give us the solution. 

I’m not saying we should approve of any sin we have committed. I’m not saying we should excuse the damage that was caused. I’m saying you don’t need to worry anymore. You don’t need to sorrow anymore. Wipe your tears away and only believe. What you did wrong, Jesus makes right. What a lovely person He is! And yes, that does change what you did.

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Length: 8 minutes

Apart from Jesus, how does a human body get tired? By doing hard things over and over again. How does a human soul get tired? By looking at hard things over and over again. How do you strengthen a tired soul? By looking at lovely, easy things in Jesus.

This certainly does not need to happen and shouldn’t be something that any believer should identify with. It will also become the exception, rather than the rule, when you grow in Jesus. Nevertheless, sometimes Christian’s find their mind is just tired. It’s not so much that their body is tired because of busyness or hard work. Their mind just feels weary. Why does this happen? The same way that a human body can get tired when it’s carrying something heavy over a long period of time, likewise, your mind (your soul) can get tired when it’s carrying something heavy over a long period of time. What I mean is, your mind will get tired when you are thinking on things that are hard to think on. 

For instance, the law, which is described as a yoke that no one can carry, is said to trouble and unsettle people’s souls when they think on it (Acts 15:10, 24). You see, it affects your soul when your mind is carrying something too heavy for it.

People get tired in their mind by thinking of suffering in the world, turmoil in their household, or how long they’ve been going through a particular hardship. All these things are thoughts that are too heavy for your mind to carry. If you continue to look at these things, without the context of Jesus, your mind will grow weary quickly. And truthfully, it should, because everything in this world is too heavy for our mind to carry. That’s why Jesus did what He did.

Because Jesus has redeemed us from everything in this world, given us complete rest from our works, fixed every problem, and bore every burden Himself (thus taking it away from us), we can meditate on these things instead.

You need to see the world in a truthful light, rather than how it looks physically. These “Jesus-thoughts” are so incredibly light, they will ease your mind. When you look at Jesus, you’ll find no burden left for you to carry. That will encourage your mind. That will strengthen your mind. You’ll find that you can carry these thoughts forever without feeling any weariness whatsoever. You won’t break a sweat! That’s not too good to be true. It’s just true.

Look at what Hebrews 12 says about fixing a weary soul.

Hebrews 12:1-3 (NKJV) …let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross…

This says we run with endurance when we’re looking unto Jesus.

Let’s take a pause for one moment. What does “run with endurance” mean? In the Bible, the terms “race” and “running” refer to us keeping faith (Galatians 5:7). This is saying we can run with endurance in our minds when we are looking unto Jesus. 

Of course, when he says, “looking unto Jesus,” he is not referring to seeing Him physically. He is referring to seeing Jesus in our minds (Hebrews 11:27).

He says we find endurance when we look at Jesus. In other words, looking at Jesus is not tiresome. If it is, you’ve been preached the wrong Jesus. Thoughts of Jesus are not heavy thoughts. They are easy and light thoughts (Matthew 11:30, 1 John 5:3). They are thoughts you can carry in your mind forever and will never weigh you down. They will strengthen your heart.

Let’s continue reading in Hebrews:

Verse 3)
For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls.

This says you will not become weary or discouraged in your souls when you “consider Him!” That means, when your mind is weary or discouraged, it is considering something that is not of Him. A weary soul comes from carrying a mental weight that’s too heavy for you. But Hebrew says, an enduring soul that is not weary or discouraged, comes from looking at Jesus, who endured all things for you! 

Take your eyes off the deception of how circumstances appear, or how long something is taking to manifest, and lock your eyes on the One who already did the hard part for you. Strength comes to your soul when you set your eyes on Jesus, Who would not allow you to be burdened. He took the fight, the struggle, and the weight upon Himself, bearing it for you. 

In 2 Corinthians 3:6, Paul says he was a minister of the new covenant, not of the old. Then, in chapter 4, verse 1, he says “seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not.” Do you know what that means? He’s saying that if we were under the old Testament, it would be hard, and we would grow faint, but seeing that we have this new covenant, seeing all the mercy we have received in it, we faint not. This is talking about mental weariness. He’s saying that when you look at the new covenant, there’s nothing that would cause you to grow faint. Therefore, if your heart is burdened or weary, you need to fill it with the mercy of the new covenant. There is mercy that directly applies to what you’re going through.

Jesus finished everything at the cross. That includes what you’re looking at in your life right now. He has rendered you victorious over all of it, without any fight from you. He has put the solution to all these problems inside of you, by His Spirit. Not only so, but He has given you complete rest from manifesting these things. What’s in you will manifest effortlessly, if you let these truths sink in. You don’t have to worry about how much time has passed! When you believe, you can have a sure expectation (called hope) that you will certainly see the glory of God manifested in your life. 

You see, these are beautiful thoughts — thoughts of the generosity of God, thoughts of the burden He has taken, thoughts of the purity we have in Him (Philippians 4:8). These thoughts cannot wear you down, because these are thoughts that aren’t requiring any more struggle from you, only your consideration. 

I’m not talking about positive thinking. This world’s positive thinking has no basis or surety. It is an attempt to paint an evil world as prettier than it is. The gospel is certainly positive, but we have a surety in Christ for all these claims. It’s not positive because we’re seeing the cup half-full. It’s positive because He’s filled us up, and there’s nothing left undone.

If your soul feels tired, it’s always because your mind is carrying something too heavy for it. But if you don’t see how Jesus already carried that thing, you’ll be left with no one to carry it but yourself. This is why it is important to expose yourself to the gospel! You need to mature in the truth of what He bore for you at the cross, before your mind will relinquish it. 

Whenever your mind feels tired, ask yourself, “What am I looking at?” I can assure you, it’s never the true Jesus. It might be a false version of Jesus that you heard preached before. It might be a false assumption you made about Jesus. It might be a host of other things, but you can be sure that you’re not looking at the true Jesus, because He’s not putting anything heavy on you. He carried everything heavy for you. 

What’s the solution to a weary heart? Carry something lighter! There’s one yoke, one service, that Jesus has given your mind to carry. This one thing is to learn from Jesus everything He has done for you — not what you can do, but what He has done. It will strengthen your mind and rejoice your soul (Psalms 19:8). It’s the only thing you can carry that will give you rest. 

Matthew 11:28-30 (NKJV) Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

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Length: 5 minutes

Sometimes, when people picture having a “Jesus-conversation” with someone else, they think it needs to look like a Bible study or traditional witnessing. Actually, you could be talking about any given subject with someone and still be talking about Jesus. 

The more you mature in your knowledge of Jesus, the more you realize that Jesus fixed every problem, provided every solution, and changed how we relate to every single thing in this world (or outside of it). Jesus finished work is so complete, there is not a single area of life that it does not touch. When you get to know Jesus, you will see everything differently, no matter what it is. You see everything in life from a completely different perspective. 

For instance, when it comes to mundane conversations, there is nothing quite so mundane as talking about the weather… or so they say. People use that as a cliché for a boring conversation – “just shooting the breeze about the weather.” But when you really know what you have in Christ, you can’t even talk about the weather the same.  Even the weather is under your authority, in Christ. 

I was at a park with someone one time and the clouds started rolling in. They said, “Well, knowing our luck today, it will probably rain.” And I said, “Knowing how blessed we are, it will probably just pass and the sun will come out.” That’s ministry.

I didn’t have to pull them aside. I didn’t give them a tract. I didn’t even have to make a big deal about it. I just smiled and reminded them how blessed we are.

I know that I have influence over the weather, as much as Jesus had influence over that fig tree in Matthew 21:19. It turned out, it started sprinkling for a minute and then stopped. We had no more rain that day, but that’s totally beside the point. The point is our thinking.

Knowing Jesus will change your mentality about things like healing, raising the dead, and godliness, but there’s nothing in life that Jesus work didn’t touch. He came and redeemed us from everything in this age (Galatians 1:4). He literally re-created our spirits within us, to be in the likeness of Heaven now (Hebrews 12:23). That changes how you relate to everything around you.

You could be having a discussion with another parent about your kids, and Jesus did something about that. While they complain about their kids, you know that yours are sanctified and blessed, because you’re blessed and they belong to you (1 Corinthians 7:14, Psalms 112:2, Deuteronomy 28:4). 

You could be discussing food, and Jesus did something about that. While people joke about how they can’t resist eating the wrong thing and the adverse effects it has on their body, you don’t need to relate to that, being free as you are. While we should eat the right thing to help our bodies as we grow, you can talk about the kind of health that exceeds even what you eat, so that even consuming deadly things doesn’t harm us (Mark 16:18). 

You could be discussing this life in general, and while they express how much joy and sentiment they have for things in this earth, you can express the sentiment you have for the things of Heaven in you (Colossians 3:1-2)

While people laugh about age, you can laugh about youth. While people talk about hurt, you can talk about health. While people carry on about how broke or rich they are in this world, you can carry on about how rich you are in the kingdom, which adds all things to you!

It doesn’t matter what it is. Discussions about anything — from the weather, to fixing a leaky pipe, to doing dishes in the evening — Jesus changes it all. When you’re someone that has authority over the universe, knows the future by the mind of Christ, has a God who works all things out for your good, and an unseen river flowing from you that gives you life and makes you glad, it tends to change your perspective on how you operate in this world. The cross has application to everything.

The reason witnessing is so hard for your average Christian is because many think that Jesus only effects their forgiveness of sins and eternity in heaven or hell. When you’re talking about food, parenting, or the weather, how exactly do you segway into talking about their eternal fate? It’s not always easy. And the only reason it’s not easy is because they don’t see any direct correlation between the cross and the subject at hand. So, bringing the cross up in conversation is usually a hard pivot rather than a natural response. But you don’t even have to change the subject to bring up the cross. Whatever it is, Jesus did something about it.

Try to find something that Jesus’ work didn’t affect. You simply can’t. You show me a circumstance and I’ll show you how Jesus touched it. There is no detail, no miscellaneous category, that the work of the cross did not affect. That drastically changes how you have conversations. The witnessing opportunities just come to you when, no matter what someone says, Jesus did something about it. There’s good news to offer everyone for anything they’re going through, but you have to know it to speak it. 

If you find yourself carrying on from the same perspective as the world, it’s because there’s something that Jesus did that you simply haven’t learned yet. Rest assured, no matter the area, Jesus definitely did something about it. And if you’re willing to learn, He’s happy to show you every bit of it.

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