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!

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!

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!

Egypt kept Israel in bondage for 400 years—long enough to cause them to forget how a free person thinks. When they had the opportunity to be free, they wanted to return to the security of the chains in Egypt. If a Christian is in bondage, it’s not because the devil is so strong, but rather their will to walk free is so weak. How is this bondage broken? By allowing the truth that Jesus has set them free to renew their minds and reprogram their thinking!

It’s a lie from the devil that you can’t be used by God until you are perfected. You and I will be renewing our minds until the day we die, so we should never let anything hinder us from going and doing!

People who work too hard at having faith tend to have the least amount of it! They’re more aware of and focused on their lack of it—leaving them feeling like they’ll never measure up—instead of becoming the mountain-movers God intends them to be!

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!

When you really get it that Jesus paid the entire price for sin, you’ll understand that you’re no longer under the devil’s tyranny and oppression. Know this as confidently as you know your name—the devil has NO power over you anymore, in any area, because Jesus took your sin and permanently gave you HIS righteousness!