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!
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?
We declare salvation as a free gift, but it wasn’t really free. It came at a great price and cost God His best! His Son Jesus paid that price and it was NOT cheap. When you understand the magnitude of that price, it should forever settle the question of your value to God!
When the Apostle Peter was put in prison, a group of Christians met to pray for his release. Later, when they were told that Peter was knocking at the door, they didn’t believe it. They were praying, but obviously not really expecting much to happen! Expect an answer! Jesus wants to show the world that He is alive and unlimited in His ability to answer prayer. “Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours” (Mark 11:24).
Jesus took off His equality with God, so He could put on human flesh and walk on this earth demonstrating to us what God looked like in human flesh. He had no sin nature, so the devil had no ability to put anything on Him or do anything to Him until it was time for the cross. There, He took YOUR sin nature, and all the judgements that were against you because of it, and gave you His LIFE in exchange! Now you are cleansed, with the nature of Christ in you, and the devil has no more right to touch you than he did Jesus! This is how we walk in the earth as He did, and can do the works He said we can do! “… as he is so also are we in this world” 1 John 4:17.
The only way we can build our expectations upon something other than personal experiences is through exposing our hearts and minds to the “great and precious promises” of God, and believing them to be ours! (2 Peter 1:4)
