I believe there are moments that transform a life.  Your future doesn’t always hinge on the long hours you put into building your present. A new person, new opportunity, or new thought can set you on a dramatic new course.

One of those moments occurred in my life over 30 years ago when a small, $1.25 book called “The Believers Authority” was put into my hand.  I had already made my decision to follow Jesus, but a few words from that book shot into my heart: it was not a special anointing, or special education, or special will of God that would change my future. But rather, it is the authority God has given to me already that must be exercised over the devil, the flesh, and circumstances that will be the major determining factor. He had already defeated my enemy, and it was up to me to do something about it!

This took me from stagnation to action. This empowered me for today instead of waiting for tomorrow. This energized my value of decision for destiny, over resignation to circumstance. Understanding what God has done for you and in you, and that His expectation is for you to use it, is a defining moment. He will not do what He gave you the right to do.

Discover this, and you are on your way to an exciting life!

Jesus had 3 ½ years to show us how to live and minister. Why did He only need a little over 1,277 days to establish the pattern for mankind? Some church leaders preach for 20 years to try and get their people ready for service, but Jesus wrapped it up in a few years.

He was confident in His finished work, called redemption.

He was confident of His Spirit in us continuing the training.

He was confident in the new nature we received from Him through the new birth.

He was confident of God’s favor on us and our new right-standing that connected us to Him and God forever.

What does the world want? The world wants deliverance from the emptiness of life. The world wants dignity based on self-worth and inherent value. The world wants a destiny—a greater purpose for living. The Creator is offering all three to every person.

God has called us to live, not just exist. We live when we discover our purpose, our potential, our power, and our position. We are seated in Christ at God’s right hand without shame, guilt, or inferiority, but with power and authority! We are co-heirs with Jesus to the throne of the Almighty!

In the face of storms, Jesus spoke peace and all became calm. In the face of taxes, He said to go fishing and gold was found. In the face of lack, He spoke blessing over bread and multiplication occurred. In the face of devils, He spoke a word and they were cast out. In the face of corrupt governments, He remained steady while they trembled in His presence.

We are called to walk in His likeness!

Jesus is calling us to follow Him into this same kind of life that He had on earth. He came as our miracle model. He gave us the power to live the miracle life when He gave us the Holy Spirit. Let us discover what we have so we can be who we really are!

When we know what we have from God, we know who we are. When we know who we are, we know what we can do!

We all are familiar with sitting down in a restaurant and placing an order. We look at the menu and enjoy making our choices. I have seen some people get very anxious about it, and I have seen others wait and wait and wait because they can’t make a choice.

Years ago in Russia, where the food was rather bland, I recall looking forward to working on the border of China and going to a Chinese restaurant in the city of Khabarovsk. I was excited to eat spicy food, and with over 200 items on the menu, I was ready!

I asked for a certain type of rice but was told they didn’t have it, so I asked for another.  They replied, “Don’t have it,” so I asked for another.  They again replied, “Don’t have.” I gave up and asked what they did have.

“No rice, only potatoes.” Then I ordered Peking chicken. “Sorry, don’t have.”  So I switched to Szechwan chicken. “Sorry, don’t have.” Hunan chicken? “Sorry, don’t have.” I finally gave up and asked, “What do you have??”

“Only Russian chicken legs.”

What would you do? I tell you this because some people believe it doesn’t matter what they really want in life. Many people think there is only one thing, opportunity, or flavor on the menu of life, just like I experienced. It might feel like you have no choice—but you always do!

Joshua 24:15
“And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

You may not immediately get what you ask, but you can respond in a way that keeps your faith alive and an answer coming. Anger, disgust, frustration, or even hate is NOT the response that will bring a miracle. Forgiveness, mercy, joy, patience, and love toward others will turn the decisions of others into a triumph for Christ.

When Paul and Silas were thrown in prison, they could have responded with great anger because it was Jesus who told them to go to that city. They could have responded with tears, depression, resignation, etc., and everybody would have agreed to their sob story…but they chose to sing!

When the presence of Jesus is fresh in you, then you will have a good response to whatever is on the menu of life, or not on it. Your response is what makes you different, because you know you have a different source. The jail shook and doors flew open, and Paul was led out of the city as a dignitary, because he saw beyond the situation!

What do you see when you look into the mirror? Do you see your weaknesses, your inadequacies, your imperfections? Or do you see what God sees? He sees you as the righteousness of Christ Himself. He sees you as more than a conqueror in Christ!

We have an opportunity to look into the mirror of God’s Word—the perfect Law of liberty—and allow it to transform us from the inside out! We must not form opinions of ourselves based upon other people’s opinions or our own failures. They do not define us!

See yourself as God sees you. His idea of you is as wonderful and glorious as the Apostle Paul wrote: “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord” (2 Cor. 3:18 NKJV).

TL Osborn tells a story about when he was in India and both a wealthy woman and a poor “untouchable” woman stood together on the platform. Each had just been healed of an incurable disease that no one had been able to heal before.

On that day, as they heard the word of God being preached, Jesus came to them. And as they grasped and understood His willingness to heal them, they were both delivered and set free!  There on that platform, the woman from the wealthy caste who had beautiful jewels sewn into her gown, and the woman who was from the lower caste both celebrated what the living God had done for them in healing them. Joyfully, out of hearts full of gratitude, they embraced each other in front of that multitude of people.

God is not concerned about your status. Jesus is not concerned with whether you’re lower, upper, middle, or “untouchable.” What He’s concerned about is reaching into your world to heal you!

Once I was playing tennis at a certain sports club. There were weeds growing up on the court and there were holes in the backboard. The owners seemed not to care, but they were hurting themselves by not improving what they could. Maybe they thought small details didn’t matter, but they were terribly wrong. Small details are the best reflections of our whole attitude toward what we do. People will always notice in one way or another. And believe me, with that club’s kind of a sloppy attitude, you won’t succeed!

The attitude, “We only need to do enough to get by,” is just not good enough! If you only do the minimum expected of you, don’t expect much out of life. The Bible says, “…God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap” (Galatians 6:7). God gave you all the keys for success, so use them!

Andrew Carnegie, a well-known billionaire, had 50 millionaires working for him. He said, “No man ever became a millionaire by putting a million dollars as his goal. He did it by putting excellent service as his goal.”

Money is not a strong enough or worthy enough goal for life. You need a goal worthy enough to die for, so you can put your energies into it and live for it!

It’s important to pick a goal that will glorify God. Write down what money could do if you had it, then make those things your goals. Millions of Communists died for their goal, but because it was the wrong goal, those who remained later ate the bitter fruit of wasted lives.

Our goal should never be to make as much money as possible. Money is not the end-all, but rather the by-product of our life. Our goal is not our job–we all have jobs. Our work is different from our job. Our work deals with our attitudes and our thoughts before God and our actions before people. A worthy goal for a spiritual person is to be a positive influence on the job to transform attitudes and hearts!

Many years ago I was in the nation of Côte d’Ivoire. As I was standing on a great field with nearly a quarter of a million people, there was a woman on the very edge of the crowd, listening. Actually she was in the throes of death, lying in what we would call a wheelbarrow. I didn’t know she was there. Her family had carried her a great distance just to get her in the presence of that meeting. And as she heard some words of life something very special happened to her.

The meeting went long and miracles were happening all over the field. We couldn’t even control the platform; there were so many people rushing it from both sides to give their testimonies. I would run back and forth from the left side of the platform to the right to let people give their testimony in the microphone. I remember one young girl dressed in white, and her mama looked at me and said, “My daughter is healed. She could not hear, she could not speak.” I said, “Mama, how do you know?” And right at that moment the little girl just looked up at her and said “Mama, Mama,” and her mother broke into tears right there on the platform.

At that moment on the other side of the platform, someone else rushed up and the whole crowd began shouting “Jesus! Jesus!” I ran over there to take the testimony, and discovered a man who had been chained to a tree because he was dangerous to himself and others. He had just been set free! They had taken the chains off him and now he was walking about totally healed, in his right mind! And yet, in the midst of all these miracles, there was that woman on the outside of the crowd that I didn’t even see, nor did she testify, but I heard much later that on the outside of the crowd it was also her day to receive her healing from God!

I can’t see you face-to-face, nor can you see me, but I know this—I have been sent by God to declare to you that the foundation for your miracle is solid when you understand that God is willing, God is able, and right now God is ready to heal you!