Jesus took ALL the punishment necessary to secure your peace. All your sin, the evil, the sickness, the disease, the mental anguish—it all went upon Him. That means there is NOTHING in this earth that comes from the devil—sickness, disease, evil, oppression, poverty, bondage—that Jesus hasn’t already borne upon Himself and taken care of for you. Don’t let the devil deceive you into paying a bill that’s already been paid!

You’ll never rise above the view you have of yourself. That little movie screen in your mind that keeps showing your mistakes and weaknesses of the past has to go, because that’s NOT who you are anymore! When you were born again and became a New Creation IN CHRIST, the old you in Adam ceased to be, and Jesus came to live in you with all His power and ability. Start finding yourself in the scriptures, then stand up and be who you really are!

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).

Fixing your eyes and your heart on Jesus will protect you from all the tricks and traps that this world and the devil try to set against you. A commitment to believe and yield to God’s Word, and His transformation process in you is a good place to begin. He is alive and working, and will lead you down the path He put in your heart, as well as get you off any path that isn’t for you!

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!

When the children of God forgot the miracle of deliverance from their past bondage in Egypt, they lost interest in the provision of daily bread as well as the shade by day and warmth by night. They turned their eyes to go back to slavery in Egypt.  We all can lose our hunger for the miracles of today and replace our rejoicing with memories of the past. Let us never look back, but plan a future in the impossible!

What is the fight of faith that all believers are called to? The fight of faith is continually choosing to think like scripture says rather than what the world is saying. It is holding onto a word from God when all else looks otherwise. It’s not getting on my knees and struggling with devils, but is rather keeping my mind and emotions focused on truth, and my words in agreement with God’s Word. It is believing what God says is the truth over what my body, my bank account or my friends may say!

No matter how loud the voices are that try to tell you that you’re not going to get there, that the bible isn’t true, that you’re going to be disappointed and will just have to endure what you’ve been dealing with for the rest of your life—remember, THEY ARE ALL LIES! The devil wants you to quit! If you weren’t on the right track for success, do you think he would be trying to stop you?

Maybe your teachers labeled or cursed you, or maybe your friends and family did. Joseph’s brothers cursed him, in fact they dropped him down a well to die! They wanted to get rid of him, but it didn’t matter what they thought, because God had another plan. Stay inspired and in faith, trusting that just as God had good plans in store for Joseph, He has good plans for your life as well!

When we submit to God’s Word and continue to claim it as who we are, no matter how messed up we may be in the now, we are allowing GOD to work His Word out in us, activating the power in it to renew our minds and transform our thinking. Then what? We begin to live, move and have our being in the real, transformed, Kingdom-life Jesus has given to us!