No matter what we do, we will never be able to free ourselves from the bondage of sin. Thinking that we can keep the entire Law of Moses with its hundreds of commandments all by ourselves leads to failure; we need God’s help in this area. The only way we can escape the punishment and destruction the law calls for is through Jesus Christ. Faith in Jesus and in what He did on the cross is what brings us salvation. Just as our own efforts cannot save us, neither can our actions cause us to lose...

When we get saved, we immediately receive God’s undeserved favor. This comes as a gift, and is something we do not have to earn. Grace will certainly be waiting for us when we get to heaven, but we can begin experiencing it right now, in our everyday lives. In the physical realm, grace has made available to us every good thing we need in life; in the spiritual realm, it has also made us the righteousness of God—this is cause for rejoicing and giving thanks. We receive grace as long as we stay...

When we struggle with sins that hold us back in life, God’s grace gives us the power to change. Grace does not just cover up sin, but changes us from the inside and completely washes sin away. However, we must want to change for any transformation to take place; some people would rather simply stay the same. We could talk about changing all day long, but nothing will happen until we take the first step in our transformation. This begins with what we believe. There is a definite connection...

Christians need to understand the integral role renewing their minds plays in changing them for the better. To be able to behave differently, we must first begin learning to think like God. However, experiencing transformation is our decision; we must want to change because He will not renew our minds for us. This gradual renewal is different than simply learning new things; as we learn more of God’s Word, we begin to be transformed from the inside out. There is no way we can stay the same...

Changing the way we think is integral in the process of renewing our minds. True change is not simply learning but allowing a transformation to take place in our thought processes. Renewing our minds is a lifestyle we must choose to embrace. We must be careful of what we allow our thoughts to be shaped and influenced by; God tells us to avoid thinking like the world and learn to think like Him. As free moral agents, the decision to change is ours. We can either choose the world’s way of...

Experiencing genuine transformation in our lives involves yielding ourselves to the Holy Spirit. If we have been born again, we already have the power to change; this power is something God has put inside us. When we need the wisdom to know what to do to be transformed, we can consult with the Spirit, who lives in us. He is the one who tells us the details of how to change, and advises us of what path to walk on in life; a relationship with Him positions us to receive this type of clarity and...

As believers, we are clothed with tremendous power. Because of what Jesus did, we have the authority to walk on top of any situation that tries to destroy us. This means that we are authorized to walk on sickness, disease, or any other kind of evil that rises up against us. We have been given the right to command in life; therefore, we do not have to tolerate anything less than God’s best for us. His authority always remains constant and never wanes; if we do not see the results we want, it...

At any given time, we have all faced the temptation to worry about something. However, Christians who know their God confront this emotion differently than the world. Worrying stems from focusing on the wrong things in life. Anxiety arises when we get too wrapped up in material possessions instead of in our faith in God, who supplies us with everything we need. We must not allow momentary circumstances to affect how we feel. We know our faith is real when we have peace of mind and rest from...

As born-again believers, what we confess with our mouths is tremendously powerful. Most Christians are defeated because they believe and confess the wrong things. We have the same authority that God has; just like Him, we have been authorized to bring things to pass by what we say. Right-thinking and the willingness to declare what we believe are crucial; we run into trouble when we speak things we do not believe. The authority we have works for good as well as for bad. It is therefore...

When life gets crazy, we must remember that in the midst of everything, believers are still the ones who have authority from God. Authority is defined as the right to command. We do not have to tolerate sickness, disease, fear, or any other kind of evil present in the world. Christians actually have the power to enforce in the world what is already in place in heaven. When change for the better is needed, it will be made not by earthly authorities, but by the worldwide church of Jesus Christ....

Because we are all human, we are all acquainted with guilt. All of us at some time or another have said or done something that we later regretted. A guilty conscience robs us of our peace, but this is not God’s will for us. Guilt often comes from sin and the realization that we have done wrong; it stalks our minds and tries to steal our happiness and mental stability. However, the finished works of Jesus enable us to deal with this emotion; His blood is the answer to our sin and guilt....

Relationships are very important to God, yet sometimes they end. When this happens and we lose someone we love, the extreme pain from the broken relationship can break our hearts. Regardless of the circumstances surrounding the loss, God promises to heal the emotional wounds resulting from it, even if He does not restore the relationship itself. Some people can be devastated by this, because they allow themselves to be led by their emotions. A relationship that has ended has the potential to...

Relationships and friendships with others make life sweeter, and learning how to build godly and strong friendships leads us to successful and happy marriages. However, none of these relationships are possible without first forming a personal relationship with God and His Word. The Bible gives us specific directions on how to be the kind of forgiving friend that consistently displays unconditional love toward others. It also tells us how to repair and reconcile a relationship in conflict....

Brokenness is a real issue in today’s world. We all want to do the morally right thing, but sometimes we find ourselves doing the exact opposite; this is because all of us have been broken in some way. Brokenness is the fundamental disorder in creation that affects our relationships and behavior. In the beginning when God created the universe, brokenness did not exist. However, it showed up when the devil did; this disorder comes directly from the enemy. The good news is that God can turn any...

Just as there is a contrast between the law that Moses gave and the grace that Jesus brought, there is also a contrast between self-effort and rest. God only works on our behalf if we are resting; therefore, we must rightly divide what it means to be at rest on a spiritual level. Knowing the difference between working to get God to do something and having faith in what He has already done allows us to enter into the place of rest where He wants us to be, and to stay there. We are not made...

The overarching question many of us may have on our minds is, “Why am I here on earth and what am I supposed to do?” We learn the answer when we find out the destiny that God has already planned and created for us. When we consider the deepest desires of our heart that seem to have always been there and will not go away, it is because God deliberately put them there. This was no accident; it is His will that we acknowledge those desires and pursue them. Ways to discover what God wants us to...

The definition of what it means for us to obey God has changed from the old covenant of the law to the new covenant of grace. Before, perfectly keeping all the commandments was required in order to receive blessings and avoid being cursed; now, belief in Jesus’ perfect performance in keeping all the laws positions us to receive all of the blessings with none of the curses. Unlike in the Old Testament, our doing is now secondary in importance to God; when we first believe in the finished works...

We have all felt the temptation at one time or another to think of ourselves as the center of our own little universe. This is because we live in a culture that encourages a self-centered mindset. Contrary to popular opinion, however, this kind of thinking is not something we should fall into. Self-centeredness and pride fool us into thinking that we, and our own needs, matter more than everyone else and their needs; the result is that we hurt others. To be self-centered is to be constantly...

We all have a choice as to how we want to live our lives. We can either choose a lifestyle that pleases God, or one that only pleases ourselves. A distinguishing mark of the new covenant is that we have the Holy Spirit who works in us and empowers us to do things that are pleasing to God; these are the very things that we are not capable of doing on our own. However, too many Christians who are under grace do not understand its nature; they become comfortable with their sin and reason that...

If we have ever been hurt in a relationship, or are hurting now, we must learn how to deal with it so that we can recover and move on. We live in an angry world; much of that anger stems from the emotional pain of being hurt. Trying to go on with our lives with unresolved hurt as our foundation gives us a warped, twisted view of life and makes us bitter. We have an enemy who works through others to hurt us and paralyze us in our past. However, believers have been given authority and power...

We are living in a broken world surrounded by broken people. It is impossible to go through life without being broken in some area. However, we must not use this as an excuse to stay where we are without making progress. In His Word, God promises to be with us and deliver us from whatever brokenness we suffer. He turns it into something good, makes us whole again, and brings us back to Him. Brokenness puts us in a place that makes us willing to do anything that God asks of us, without any...

When sickness and disease show up, a Christian’s response to it should be completely different than the world’s response. Jesus already made provisions for our perfect health two thousand years ago so that we would not have to waste our energy trying to do something He already did. We can instead follow ten biblically-based steps for receiving by faith what is already finished. Healing is God’s will, but His will does not automatically come to pass without us doing our part; we must actively...

It is impossible to go through life without suffering some sort of brokenness. Thankfully, we do not have to endure the pain all alone; Jesus died for broken people. He went to the cross for us so that we could be healed from this state, and move on with our lives. Relationships play a major part in the healing God wants to bring us. Not only does His presence restore broken relationships, but He also heals us emotionally through new relationships we form with other believers. Although true...

As believers, we must not make the mistake of thinking that we have to do something, first, before God can do something for us. Because of the finished works of Jesus Christ, everything we need has already been done. Our healing, deliverance, success, prosperity, peace, and joy are waiting for us to receive them by faith. If we fail to realize this, it is because we have not yet renewed our minds. This is an important point; even after being born again, we will need to continually renew our...

If we want a successful life, our mindset is important. We can either embrace a mentality of failure or of success. Our minds are powerful, and our thought processes can move us in either direction. Mindsets of self-preservation and poverty go against what God’s Word teaches us about trusting in Him for everything we need; neither should we fall prey to a comparison mindset. As believers, we must have faith that our heavenly Father rules over and sustains all things, and that because we are...