It would have been amazing if at the moment of our justification from God we entered into a state of glorification with God. In glorification, the Christian will become fully whom God has destined the Christian to be. No pain. No sickness. No sorrow. And NO SIN. As Jesus-followers, we should long for the promised day of our perfecting. Until then, we will need to be prepared to make war - especially against temptation to sin. We are not slaves to our flesh. We are not pawns of the devil. The tempting world around us has zero authority over us. Why then do we still sin? The primary reason is because we live unprepared for the moment of temptation. This episode of Truth Shots equips us to be prepared when temptation comes, crush it when arrives, and to bounce back in those moments where we succumb to any temptation.

There are two dangerous ditches into which many Christians fall as they consider the nature and activity of demons. The first ditches is to disregard the demonic realm. They do not believe that there is any authority, power, or agendas that are facilitated by demons. These Christians are terribly, dangerously wrong. The other ditch that Christians fall into is the idea that a demon is behind everything. These Christians fail to account for anything proceeding from the flesh, from poor decisions, or from the natural orders found within a sin-cursed earth. This episode of Truth Shots examines some foundational teaching from Scripture about demons and how Christians can oppose them and, sadly, how some Christians cooperate with them.

God’s people, who had almost zero knowledge of who He was or how He worked on their behalf, now needed to learn how to win. Though they had seen Him work miracles to separate them from enslavement in Egypt, they still had almost no real history with Him. They did not understand that there was tremendous power in the covenant He had made with their ancestors. To bring Israel out of the mindset of slaves and into the reality of sons, God had one more mighty miracle for them. The crossing of the Red Sea was meant to remove all doubt from a people group that seemed reluctant to operate in an expectation for victory. The modern followers of Jesus sometimes suffer today from this same disease. God desires for all of His children to learn how to win through the foundation of Truth and the power of the Spirit. Now is the time to move out of low-level expectations from God and into the abundant life experience that Jesus declared He came to give us.

There is an aspect of the Kingdom wherein much growth is still needed by the Church. In our endlessly hostile world, has it occurred to you lately that Christians in many places are less like Jesus and more like the culture when it comes to how we treat those who are fragile, fallen, and failing? How do we treat the bruised and bent ones whose lives seem to be giving off more smoke than light? A famous messianic prophecy from Isaiah 42 was lived out in the life of Jesus when it came to how he treated the fragile ones whom He frequently encountered. Jesus is kind and tender to those who are barely hanging on. He does not snuff out those who are smoldering down to the wick. His example instructs us about how we can revive the flame in the ones who are about to burn out. He empowers us to straighten out those who are bent under the weights of life. Jesus knows how to help fragile people.

The enemy was furious when he became fully aware that God had taken his slaves from him and made them free. Pharaoh was not about to go down in humiliation without a fight. His pride and rage caused him to summon all of his forces to make one final run at those who once belonged to him. As it was in ancient Egypt with Pharaoh, so is it in our day with Satan. When an individual or a church begin to experience the advancing hand of God on their behalf, Hell rages. Jesus has accomplished all that is required for us to go and live completely free in the land of promises, but the enemy will not just let us escape without a fight. This message highlights the activity of warfare against those whom God is freeing and advancing. Israel initially responded in fear, not faith. Thankfully, God had the attention of Moses and he was able to bring the people into holy order as God prepared to fully and finally handle their enemies.

We have heard since childhood that God loves us and has a great plan for our lives. While those words are factual, they are certainly incomplete. The modern, American view of God having “a great plan” for our lives somewhat lends itself to us believing that God is committed to our lives being easy, prosperous, unhindered, and free of trouble. Nothing could be further from the truth. From the life of Jesus via the words of Paul, we see how God works in the lives of those people whom He intends to use for His own glory. Paul calls us to prepare our minds to experience spiritual victory in the same manner which Jesus experienced it while He lived on the earth. The breakthroughs come to the Christian via bowing low, not self-promotion. When we bow like Jesus did, we can expect to be elevated by God as Jesus was. This is the way.

When God has determined to move powerfully among His people, He usually employs methods that we ourselves would not choose. One of the great needs among Jesus-followers is to trust that God is always moving in multiple layers on our behalf. When He does not take us forward on the quickest, least complicated pathway, we need to train our instincts to consider the big picture. Truth be known, God’s leadership often seems peculiar to us while it is playing out in real time. Those who slow down, commit to faithfully fulfill their duties in following Him, and wait on His timing experience the most powerful moves of Heaven. Those who give in to impatience, fear, or self-reliance always come up short of experiencing what God desires to work on their behalf. This message shows us what this following of the Lord’s peculiar leadership looks like.

There are two misunderstandings and misrepresentations of Christians that are stereotyped in America. The first is that Christians are pushovers who are to roll over and play dead, passive, weak and irrelevant. The other stereotype is that we are militant, dominating, suppressive and threatening. Neither of these misrepresentations are sourced in the bible. The fact is that the Church of Jesus is the mightiest people on the planet. We have strength that no other people possess because it is imparted from God Himself. Yet, with that strength, we operate in love and gentleness. We are not threatening, intimidating or operating in fleshly dominance. We live as those who are to be forgiving and unoffended. We are also those who are to live in such humility and gentleness that we cause no unnecessary offense in others. Do these beatitudes describe you as you follow behind the strongest yet most humble Man who ever lived?

We live in a day where innumerable people are living to gain a following. Social media and other elements in our culture seek to train us that the more attention we receive from people, the more valuable we are in life. Because of this, our culture has become one of disastrous self-promotion. Boastful hearts present themselves in the most beautiful and powerful ways in order to gain the adoration and applause of the masses. The Christian must separate himself/herself from this fleshly trend. We are of a different Spirit than the world around us. If we are to boast, we must ensure that our boast is of the Lord. Our lives are meant to present Him as beautiful, powerful and worthy of adoration. Psalm 145 provides us a powerful resource for making our holy boast to those around us. Doing this will transform the entirety of the Christian’s life and testimony.