When you put all the promises of God from His Word together, that is what salvation means. The blessing of God, being in Christ in the Father, living in and from Him—that’s what you have—every single one of His promises! You’ve been redeemed and restored!

In the New Testament it says, “With His stripes we are healed” (1 Peter 2:24). Must we wait for God’s good old time? No! Live all of God’s promises in the NOW! His grace has already been poured out to mankind in the new covenant, and is available to us the moment we are born again. Salvation, and everything contained in it, is waiting for us to receive it! When a sick man believes, he is healed—because it was already given to us 2,000 years ago, long before you or I were even here to need it!

The reason some fail to receive what God has already given to them is because they’re believing what they see, hear and feel, instead of believing what God has told them in His Word. The sense realm is where the devil operates. God’s Word is spirit and TRUTH! “So, we do not focus on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal” (2 Cor. 4:18 HCSB).

God tells us in 2 Corinthians 6:16, “I will dwell in them and walk in them and I will be their God and they shall be my people.” You are the temple of the living God! You walk, He’s dwelling in you; you talk, He’s living in you; you experience life, He’s experiencing it through you—you are one with Him! “… he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him” (1 Cor. 6:17).

In the Old Testament God told Moses that His name was “I AM.” God never changes, and in the New Covenant I AM now lives in us, reminding us: “I AM what you need me to be, I AM your comfort, I AM forgiving, I AM mindful of you, I AM your healer, I AM loving, I AM a deliverer, I AM a giver, I AM a friend!”

Jesus proclaimed the Gospel of the Kingdom, which is justice, our freedom, our redemption, our justification, our salvation and our restoration. He proclaimed it and then He spoke it when He said to the sick, be healed! Blind eyes open! Deaf ears open! He declared for all time that we don’t have to live under the authority of darkness anymore!

The Apostle Paul said in Phil. 4:6-8 not to be anxious about anything, but that when we thankfully commit those things to the Lord, He will guard our hearts and minds with peace. He follows that up by telling us what to think on instead—whatever is true, good, virtuous, pure, loving and commendable. In other words, don’t let your thoughts keep you slogging through the gutter of worry, fear and anxiety about what MIGHT happen. Remember, the future is a phantom—it hasn’t happened! Keep your thoughts and thanksgiving in the NOW, trusting God to take care of those things you have placed in His care. Let HIM take care of the future!

The attempts the devil makes to frighten and/or oppress you are, in reality, like a toothless lion pretending he has a roar. YOU ARE IN CHRIST! The Lion of Judah lives in you, and the devil can’t touch you, no matter what your situation may look like to the contrary. This New Year, prioritize the time to get the Word of God rooted and grounded inside you, letting Jesus teach you. When you do, your understanding will be renewed and changed, and the devil will flee when YOU roar!

Religious tradition teaches that God uses sickness to teach us. But if that were true, then every person seeking medical help and every doctor who treated them would be in rebellion against God for attempting to heal that afflicted one. Every hospital and medical office would be houses of rebellion. The truth is, Jesus was a revelation of God’s will as He went about HEALING all who were oppressed of the devil! (Acts 10:38)

In many areas of life you can slip back into old patterns that you had previously freed yourself from. You wake up one day and realize you are back in the rut of doing what you were stuck in 10 or 20 years ago! This can also happen in your thinking, which ends up limiting the power of God actively working in your life. It happens when you start reading the Bible more as a history book than as a living letter to you, to be applied and acted on every day. Remember, back then it was the ministry of Jesus in a Jew. BUT NOW, it’s not just history, it has become the ministry of Jesus carried out through you!