This is the eternal question asked by humanity all over the earth and especially in Westernized societies! Satan to this day is utilizing the only tool he has available…deception. He attempts to pervert the word that God has given us. Ephesians 6:11 tells us to be aware of the devil’s schemes. In fact, we are mistaken if we think we must fear the power of the devil! He has no power but that which we give him when we distrust God’s Word.

We are encouraged to take a stand against Satan’s schemes, strategies, deceits, wiles, and tricks. We are not encouraged to take our stand against his power. Satan has only one tool, and that is to pervert God’s truth and convince us not to believe what God has told us in His Word. Essentially the plan of evil has not changed from the first day until now!

God has given us all that pertains to life, and we have the answers (2 Peter 1:3). We have a source that cannot be controlled by other humans, economics, armies, or any powers.

People are excited when they hear the voice of God’s scriptures declaring that all things are theirs to enjoy. It is God telling them to enter the supermarket and fill up their basket as often as they like. They go into the store with joy, but they are dismayed when everything they want is packaged as bags of seeds. It’s not in the form they were looking for! God promises us apples, but He rarely, if ever, gives us orchards or even a single apple tree. He gives us apple seeds.

People want instant gratification. The seeds God gives will produce everything they want in life, but they must plant them. The seeds will produce the image they project. They will grow. They will multiply just like any other seeds. God’s words are self-fulfilling. Jesus’ words are pre-programmed to produce the images of you and your life that He bought and paid for. His words are self-fulfilling in your life.

A tomato seed is pre-programmed to produce tomatoes. It does not matter how much the tomato seed would like to produce potatoes or how long it tries to grow them. It can only produce what it was programmed for.

Whatever seeds from God’s storehouse we plant, we will have the same harvest as God Himself would receive if He planted them!

For many, salvation through Christ means an escape from eternal judgment. Often as I stand on the open fields of world evangelism, whether I am preaching or standing among the crowd, I find myself declaring the salvation prayer as if it were the first time I said it. Why? Because I understand the value of this word – SALVATION!

I am not simply uttering a religious prayer, but I am making a proclamation of my deliverance from fear, my redemption from sin, my discovery of healing, and the reality of God’s peace! This most simplistic Salvation prayer opens my heart and my mind once again to the reality of God’s promises for me—HIS CHILD!

I vividly recall a time when I was speaking to our partners via the internet, and I sensed such a strong presence of the Lord as together we made this simple salvation confession. Not an elaborate religious prayer—but a confession of the heart and a trust in the reality of Jesus and what He promised for me and for you.

I cannot explain how such a simple prayer can transform people, churches, and even nations. YET—I can declare to you that I have seen God respond to a simple heart desiring to know Him as Savior, healer, protector, deliverer, and comforter time and time again!

Let’s not make prayer difficult! Keep it SIMPLE! That’s how He designed it! Religion is the extra ingredient of unbelief added to the simplicity of Christ’s cross. Faith is the simple confession of a heart trusting in what He has done for us!

When the Church stopped taking responsibility for producing answers, then governments and other institutions started saying, “Look at us.” This relinquishing of responsibility for receiving miracle supply has caused the Body of Christ to slip into a corner of the world’s influence, when the Creator has said that we are to be center stage.

“The church, you see, is not peripheral to the world; the world is peripheral to the church. The church is Christ’s body, in which he speaks and acts, by which he fills everything with his presence” (Eph. 1:23 Message).

God has given us all that pertains to life, and we have the answers. We have a source that cannot be controlled by other humans, economics, armies, or any powers!

“Listen carefully to my words; let your ears take in what I say…” Luke 9:44

This bible quote encourages us to find a place of tranquility where we can take in God’s Word and take out God’s strength!  In the hectic day to day race that most people find themselves in, it is good to remember that we must take in God’s Word so that we may take out the kind of life He desires for us. This morning I am praying that each one of you would find time to enjoy God’s presence.

Remember we can find His presence in the simple things of life. One fall after a number of weeks of outreach in the radiation red zone just North of Chernobyl, I stepped out of the hotel into this grey Soviet era landscape. In between two 20 story buildings in the far distance was a little tree not more than 6 feet tall. On its branches were bright red leaves. I remember blurting out, “Look everyone! Isn’t that beautiful!?” The crowd around me was strangely confused looking for anything of beauty, but there in the distance was that bright autumn tree.

I encourage you today in the midst of your busy life to make a moment that refreshes your heart and your spirit. Maybe it is gazing at a special picture, taking a walk on the beach, or even throwing a few snowballs. Regardless, remember—take in His life and take out His presence!  Special moments come when we stop and glance at the beautiful landscapes of life!

I was fortunate to enjoy an afternoon in the Sistine Chapel in Rome. When Michelangelo painted the chapel, he did not do it freestyle, just splashing on the walls and ceiling with whatever colors he felt at the moment. No, first he constructed a model of the room and made detailed drawings of each corner and each figure, so his work would not appear distorted when viewed.

Jesus is our model. As we go out representing Him, we must look more closely at Him. Why do people have a distorted image of Jesus? It is because we are the only image they see! That image can bring life, love, joy, peace, and healing power to every person on the earth. But if we do not represent Him accurately, people will not see who He is.

Let us understand Jesus not as just another nice spiritual man, but as the living God. And let us not see His Kingdom as something to be looked forward to, but as something to be experienced now!

We must take one more step to untangle ourselves from the system of thought that denies power to us today and makes us spectators, rather than players, in the arena of life. What will get us out of the bleachers so we stop acting as observers, critics, and reporters and start making life happen now?

The story is told of a man who purchased passage on a cruise liner for himself and his family, paying the full fare for their grand adventure across the ocean.

Each day he and his family huddled in their quiet little berth consuming the sparse provisions they had packed for their trip. One day a steward noticed their emaciated faces and asked them why they were not enjoying the banquet with the other passengers. The father told him that he had only purchased passage on the ship but not the meals.

The steward explained to the man that his ticket covered passage and meals for his entire family. After dining on mere morsels for days, the family joyfully sat down to enjoy what had belonged to them all along.

David tells us in Psalm 103:2-3, “Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits—who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases.”

Many of us have been taught that sickness is essentially the errand boy of God, delivering a particular message for your life that will bring you to a new opportunity or a higher walk with God. I want us to look at this, because this to me is one of the most insidious lies that we can find.

If God is the One sending sickness to make you captive, and then takes it away and turns you from your captivity, I would submit to you that God is a little bit confused.  If Jesus is the One who sees our sicknesses and releases us, the children of God, the children of Abraham, the daughter of Abraham, from the spirit of infirmity as He did in Luke 13:12, then is Jesus in direct opposition to God, the One who supposedly offered and desired and sent the messenger of sickness and disease?

Matthew 7:11 says, “If you then being evil know how to give goods unto your children, how much more shall your father which is in heaven give good gifts to them that ask Him?” If we believe that God is sending sickness and disease as a tool in His hand to teach us something, if we believe that it is the will of our Father’s heart to bruise us, to beat us, to harm us through sickness and disease, then we have a conflict of understanding. Because in fact, we see from scripture that it is God’s desire to answer our prayers for healing and every other area of our lives!

Religion is a “got to” way of life. Redemption is a “get to” way of life!

Religion is a door you must pass through in order to get into God’s presence.  Redemption is a door held open by Jesus that no man can shut!

Religion is man’s attempt to satisfy a holy God.  Redemption is God’s attempt to make us holy by the sacrifice of a holy substitute!

Religion is a shadow of the things to come—it has no substance or power.  Redemption is the reality of things to come—in the substance of our flesh and words.

Religion is form, ritual, tradition; an empty shell. It contains no life or revelation within.  Redemption is the inner reality of the kingdom of God in a temple of flesh. It needs no form, ritual, or tradition because the King Himself resides within!

Many people lose the manifestation of healing already in operation by turning their attention from Christ and the Word of God, to their feelings.