Index

1. The Power to Change …………………………………………………………........ 3

2. Grace-God's Ability ………………………...…………………..…………………… 9
3. The Grace of Jesus …………………………..………………………………..….. 13
4. Where Sin Abounds ……………………………………………………………….. 16
5. In My Weakness …………………………………………………………………… 21
6. Grace for Sin ……………………………………………………………………….. 26
7. The Manifold Grace of God ……………………………………………………….. 30
8. Grace in the Heart …………………………………………………………………. 36
9. Grace through Righteousness ……………………………………………………. 40
10. The Breastplate of Righteousness ……………………………………………….. 47
11. The Doorway to the Heart ………………………………………………………… 56
12. Coming Out of the Grave …………………………………………………………. 64
13. The Time of Need ………………………………………………………………….. 70
14. Freed from Sin ……………………………………………………………………... 77
15. Frustrating the Grace of God ……………………………………………………... 88
16. Conquering Temptation …………………………………………………………… 93
17. Grace to Change …………………………………………………………………… 99
18. Touching the Heart ……………………………………………………………..… 104
19. Grace Completed ………………………………………………………………… 110
20. Effortless Change ………………………………………………………………… 114
21. The Truth about God …………………………………………………………….. 120
 One

The Power to Change

P robably the greatest frustration among serious believers is the inability to

change. For the most part, Christians seem to keep their problems for a lifetime.
This is not the will of God for the Christian; however, in most cases that is the way it
works.
I have seen many situations in which individuals get caught in a trap and cannot
seem to break free. For most people this is the major frustration in their walk with
God. It does not have to stay that way.
When people are first saved, they usually experience an immediate change in
many areas of their lives. Often, however, these changes are very short-lived. It
seems that many believers fall back into the sins that had them bound before they
came to the Lord. Beyond the obvious difficulties, this makes many new converts
question the reality of their salvation experience. Whether or not we fall back into sin,
however, can never be the means by which we determine the legitimacy of our
salvation experience.
Then there are those sins we fall into after being born again. As an experienced
counsellor, I have observed that whatever takes hold of a new believer is seldom
conquered. Once it becomes habitual, that problem is usually there for life. This is
why we must guard our hearts above all else. If our hearts ever become corrupted
with sin, that sin will seem impossible to conquer.
How does this corruption happen? Usually a person falls into sin through
ignorance or unbelief about walking in the grace of God. Receiving and continuing in
grace is the only biblical assurance we have of victory over sin. The apostle Paul
wrote, "For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but
under grace" (Rom. 6:14).
It is, therefore, this issue of grace that determines whether the Christian life will
be one of joy, peace, rest, and victory, or one of difficulty, frustration, and defeat. If
the new believer would continue in the Lord the way he came into the Lord, none of
these problems would ever occur. 'As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the
Lord, so walk ye in him' (Col. 2:6).
 It Was a Complete Work

The greatest change anyone ever experienced in life came at the moment of
salvation. In an instant, everything changed. That change came about by simply
believing. The moment we believed God, His grace came into us, and we changed. If
the greatest change came about because we believed, why not continue in that same
simple believing? Or as Paul said in Galatians 3:3, 'are ye so foolish? having begun
in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?"
In other words, when you came into this salvation, the Spirit of God did a work
in you. Do you think that, now you are saved, you will finish this work by your own
ability? The answer is obvious. No! Just as surely as you could not save yourself by
your own efforts, you cannot bring about change through your own resolve. You are
not saved by grace, then brought into righteousness by works.
When you came to Jesus, when you believed, God gave you a new heart and a
new spirit. His Word tells us, 'A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I
put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give
you an heart of flesh" (Ezek. 36:26). Your spirit was not only made new, but also
made righteous, perfect, and complete. Your spirit was not made a little baby that
had to grow up. God did a perfect work in you. Your spirit is as whole, clean,
righteous, and perfect as it ever will be.
The need is not for you to become righteous. The need is for you to get that
which is in your spirit to become a reality in your life. So how do you get what is on
the inside to the outside? How do you get all that righteousness, holiness, and
perfection into the realm where you really live?

Your Heart Is the Door

All that God has done in your spirit comes into your life through your heart. The
condition of your heart determines what will come out of your inner man. When you
were given a new spirit, you also received a new heart. Now, the heart and the spirit
are not the same. There are different Hebrew words for heart and spirit, just as there
are different Greek words for heart and spirit, and the functions of both are described
differently.
The heart is the seat of your being. It is who you really are. The heart is the
place where who you are in your spirit and who you are in your soul come together.
All that God has made you in the new birth comes together with the thoughts, beliefs,
and emotions of the soul. All this combined is the real you.
 At the new birth, God also made your heart new. All the hurts and fears of the
past were healed. Believing God suddenly became easy. You had new feelings
about nearly everything, but for most people that doesn't last. Why?
Although our spirit man can be changed only by God, our hearts can be
changed by our thinking. What we think, what we expose ourselves to, the beliefs we
adopt-all affect and influence our hearts. Most of us manage to destroy the work God
has done in our hearts, thereby limiting the life of God from flowing out into our souls
and bodies.
Remember, the heart is the channel through which the life of God in our spirits
reaches the rest of our being. Our spirits can be full of life, healing, joy, and integrity,
but the condition of our hearts can keep those things from becoming a reality in this
realm.
Losing the joy of our salvation, losing the victory over sin, losing anything that
God gave us at salvation is not a reflection of the condition of our spirits, but the
condition of our hearts.
Let me recount for you a story that I have heard hundreds of times. It usually
goes something like this:

I got saved, and everything was great. I felt the love of God. I was happy.
It seemed like every time I prayed, God heard my prayer. Life was so
exciting. Then, somewhere along the way, it began to change. I didn't feel
the joy and peace that I had felt. I lost interest in reading my Bible. It all
seemed to dry up.
I went to talk to my pastor, and he said that, when I was first saved, I was
a little baby Christian. God did those special things for me then because I
was a baby. But now God expects me to grow up and mature. He expects
me to stand on my own two feet.

This advice seems very reasonable and practical, but there is just one problem:
You can't find this kind of advice anywhere in the Bible. You lost those feelings
because your heart changed. God did not change; salvation did not change; the
terms for salvation did not change-your heart changed. Thus, you cannot participate
in what God has done for you.
The kind of advice that most people receive at this point puts them right into
works and right out of grace. It is here that we start trying to get good enough for God
to give us those feelings again. Thus, the emotional roller coaster ride begins. The
more we follow the typical religious advice, the worse it gets. It's no wonder so many
people just give up!

A Deep Frustration

The frustration of this dilemma is realized so dramatically because of the

ultimate call of God. When God created man, He intended for him to live in His
likeness and image. From that God given identity and righteousness, man then would
enter into an intimate relationship with God. It was only when man rejected the
identity that God had given him that he lost the confidence he needed to have a
relationship with God.
From the beginning of time, it has been the destiny of man to be conformed to
the likeness of the Lord Jesus, through God's power, and to abide in a loving
relationship with our God and Father. This is the highest calling of the believer.
This transformation is made possible only by the Lord Jesus. "For whom he did
foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he
might be the firstborn among many brethren" (Rom. 8:29). Man was created with an
intense need to be like his maker. David said it this way: “I shall be satisfied when I
awake, with thy likeness" (Ps. 17:15). The born-again believer has a need to change
into His likeness: No matter how we try to deal with it, cover it, or pervert it, the desire
is still within us. It is a part of our new natures, and the Holy Spirit continually works in
us to accomplish it.
For this reason, the desire to change is very strong in every believer, and that
inbred need is a major source of frustration for many. When hope is deferred, the
Bible says, it makes the heart sick (Prov. 13:12). This is especially true when the
thing we hope for is a change of character that will free us from those sins we have
grown to hate. We desire to change, but it seems to be impossible.
People can mask this inability to change in many ways. Suppression, self-
justification, criticism, legalism, and depression are just a few of the many carnal
methods of coping with the problem. Unless a believer learns to receive the grace to
change, his life will be full of frustration and deceit.

We Must Learn of Him

It has been my observation that most Christians want to change. They just don't
know how. For many, the hunger for transformation turns into a lifelong struggle with
the flesh that leads to a "works mentality." Although these people may lead moral
lives, they still experience little inward victory. Their thoughts still rage within them.
They even may go from seminar to seminar, or counselor to counselor, looking for
the "anointed secret formula" that will set them free.
Real victory goes far beyond behavior and performance. Right behavior is of
little value if we inwardly crave to act another way. Real victory is not walking away
from sin, longing to give in to it. Real victory is walking away from sin with a deep
sense of pleasure, peace, and gratification.
God has something better than "biting the bullet." It is not His will for the
Christian's walk to be so difficult. It is His will that we change "from glory to glory...by
the Spirit of the Lord" (2 Cor. 3:18.) Jesus said, "Come unto me, all ye that labour
and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" (Matt. 11:28). If your Christian walk has
been one of labor and heaviness, it is time to come to Jesus. You may say, "I already
have come to Jesus. I am born again; I know I'm saved. I don't need to come to
Jesus." Oh yes, you do. You need to come to Him and learn of Him so that you can
find rest. Maybe you have met Jesus, but now it is time to learn of Him.
The children of Israel were a type or example to us. We can learn from their
mistakes. Their major mistake was that they refused to enter into rest. They refused
to trust God and allow Him to give them victory. He wanted them to enter the
Promised Land. He wanted them to live in houses they did not build and eat fruit from
trees they did not plant. In other words, they were to enjoy the fruit of someone else's
labor.
But they would not go into the Promised Land. Instead, they looked at the
enemy. They looked at the obstacles. They looked at the giants, and they said, "We
can't do this." God knew they could not do it alone. He did not expect them to do it in
their own strength. He said that He would drive out the enemy, but they didn't trust
Him. As Hebrews 3:19 says, "So we see that they could not enter in because of
unbelief"
The Israelites died in the wilderness of fear, frustration, and intimidation
because they did not enter into rest. They did not enter into that place where they
trusted God to do what He said He would do. Likewise, if we do not enter into rest
(grace), we will die in our emotional wilderness.

Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest,
any of you should seem to come short of it. ... For we which have believed
do enter into rest, as he said. ..For he that is entered into his rest, he also
hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his. Let us labour
 therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of
unbelief (Heb. 4:1, 3, 10-11)

Trust is earned; it is never given. We come to trust people as we become

involved with them. As we come to know them, we start to trust or distrust them. In
order to know someone, you must learn of him. The Israelites did not learn of Him.
They didn't really know God. Moses knew Him, but the Israelites knew only about
Him.
If you will humble yourself and learn of Him, you will find rest for your soul. For
as Jesus says, "My yoke is easy, and my burden is light" (Matt. 11:30). If your yoke is
not easy and your burden is not light, you have not really yoked up with Jesus. You
have not learned of Him. You do not really know Him. You are still laboring in your
own strengths and abilities.
As you get to know Him through a life of fellowship, prayer, and study of the
Word, you will enjoy the transformation and renewal that you so desire. Instead of
striving and trying with all your might to change, transformation will happen naturally.
It will be like slipping on a new set of clothes. However, instead of putting on new
clothes, you will be putting on the new you. The Bible commands us to 'put on the
new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him"
(Col. 3:10).
You can change. The power to change is inside you. As you read these pages,
you will find effortless change by the power of God.
 Two

Grace-God's Ability

T raditionally, we have defined grace as "God's unmerited favor." Although this

definition is true, it does not tell us what grace really is; it tells us only that it is
free. One of the simplest definitions of grace I have found is "ability." Grace is God’s
ability working in man, making him able to do what he cannot do in his own ability.
Man has never had the ability to change his nature. Jeremiah asked this
question: “Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then may ye
also do good, that are accustomed to do evil” (Jer. 13:23). All men are born with a sin
nature, and no amount of good works can ever change that nature.
Under the law, people work hard at trying to change, but the Bible says
righteousness never came to anyone by the law. The law did not change people; it
simply gave them a standard of conduct. The weakness of the law is the flesh. (See
Romans 8:3.) Now, when the New Testament speaks of the flesh, we usually
misunderstand what that means. We think of the flesh simply as the cravings of the
body. Although there are times when the Bible refers to the flesh as human cravings,
it happens very seldom, particularly in Paul's writings. The flesh refers to man's
ability. We are in the flesh when we try to change, perform, or become what we
should be through our own strength and efforts. This is why the law did not work. It
depended on the ability of man (the flesh).
Since man could never perform or obey the law in his own ability (the flesh), the law
was little more than a source of awareness of sin. The law required perfection but
gave no means whereby our natures could be changed. The law did not give ability.

Jesus Brought the Ability

Jesus came to give us new life. This new life is more than a ticket to heaven; it is a
new nature that is born instantly in our spirits. According to Hebrews 7:19, 10:14, and
12:23, at the new birth, the spirit man is made perfect. That would be enough if we
did not live in a body and have a soul. We have both, though, and God does not
intend for us to be saved inwardly but stay the same outwardly. Neither does He
expect us to change by our own power. He has made a way in the Lord Jesus for
every person to be transformed. What is perfect on the inside can change the
outside.
 John said,

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word
was God ... And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we
beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of
grace and truth.
(John 1:1, 14)

Jesus was permeated with, covered in every part, and abounding in grace
(God's ability) and truth. Jesus could walk in God's truth as a man only by receiving
God's ability (grace). All that Jesus did, He did as a man full of grace. He gave us the
perfect example of how a man could live above sin. He did it by God's grace (ability)
that worked in Him.
You may say, "Great, that was Jesus! This is me. How will that help me?"
John 1:16 goes on to say, “And of his fullness have all we received, and grace for
grace.” We are able to receive of that fullness of grace (God's ability at work in us)
that was at work in Jesus. It is that grace that makes the new covenant life a
possibility. Apart from grace (God's ability), we still would be striving in our own
strength. We would be in no better condition than the old covenant believers.
Man had truth before Jesus came, for the law was given by Moses. (See
John 1:17.) The law was truth. Man tried to live by that truth, but he failed because of
his flesh (relying on his own ability). The flesh does not have the power to obey God.
The flesh wants to fulfil only its own desires.
But grace and truth came by Jesus. Jesus did not bring truth alone. Truth alone
would have simply been another law that man could not obey. When Jesus came, He
brought us truth, but He also brought us the ability to live that truth. This is what sets
the two covenants apart. The first was dependent on man; the second is dependent
on God. The first brought glory to man for his accomplishments for God. The second
brings glory to God because of His accomplishments in man.
Many who are trying so desperately to change read the Word in hopes that
reading the Bible alone will help. However, the more they read, the more they are
frustrated because they keep finding areas they cannot fulfil. Knowing the Word
alone is not enough. We must know how to appropriate the needed grace to live the
Word.
 It's a Gift-Not a Law

We have taken Jesus' teachings and turned them into a new set of laws for us
to obey. But His teachings are far more difficult to follow than the law. Jesus went far
beyond the realm of performance; He focused on motive and intent. Not only did He
say that we had to do the right thing, but also that we had to do it from the heart.
When Jesus taught people about the law, He raised it to an impossible
standard. First, He raised it to the level of the heart. He made the religious world see
that God didn't just want right performance; He wanted a right heart. Second, He
established that the motive of the heart always had to be love. No other motive would
be acceptable.
Jesus was not actually a teacher of the new covenant. He was a teacher of the
law. He taught of a new covenant that would come, a covenant that would be better
than the first. This covenant would bring rest to a tormented soul, not more torment.
This covenant would be a covenant that God would establish, and it would give the
ability to perform. That is what makes this covenant such good news. God does the
work; we believe and receive.
When Jesus talked about how hard it would be to enter the kingdom of God, He
was not talking about how difficult it would be to get saved or to get into heaven. The
call of salvation is to "whosoever believeth" (John 3:16). The call of salvation says
that if you are weary and heavy laden, come, and He “will give you rest” (Matt 11:28).
It seems like a contradiction when He invites you to come but talks about the difficulty
of entering into the kingdom of heaven.
The kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of God are the same thing. A quick
glance at the Gospels reveals that the terminology was changed based on to whom
they were writing. The kingdom of God was established when Jesus rose from the
dead and established the new covenant in His blood.
The difficulty in entering the kingdom of God comes for those who will not
accept grace and righteousness as a free gift from God. Those who take Jesus'
teachings and make them a new law will struggle more than those who were under
Moses' law.

Dependency on Jesus

One of the greatest frustrations for full gospel believers is knowing all the
teachings and promises of Jesus, yet not being able to get them to work. Knowledge
brings fulfilment only when we can put it into practice. Knowledge that cannot be put
into practice will ultimately cause a denial of the truth. Thus, it is essential to receive
the grace to walk in what we know.
The Word will work in us only by the grace of God. Jesus' yoke becomes easy
when I allow Him to do the work and simply walk along beside Him. When He does
the work, I am drawn into a close, loving, appreciative dependency on Him. This
dependency on Him is the basis of a relationship that never grows old or legalistic.
Because I am dependent on Him, He becomes the source of my praise. He
becomes the source of my life. My thoughts, actions, and attitudes revolve around
Him. Jesus Himself becomes the focal point of this life and eternity. Before men, I
acknowledge Him for His grace, love, and mercy. Before God, He becomes my
source of confidence, peace, joy, and praise. Apart from the grace of the Lord Jesus,
I can never come into the all-consuming personal relationship the Bible calls for.
However, in the fullness of His grace, He becomes my all in all.
Therefore, I will receive the ability of God. I will allow it to work in me. I will put
no confidence in myself. I will depend totally on the Lord Jesus and glory in Him. And
I will not be ashamed of this hope I have in Him. He began this work, and He will
bring it to completion. (See Philippians 1:6.)
 Three

The Grace of Jesus

J esus is the perfect example to the believer of what to do and be in every area of
life. In His earthly life and ministry, He showed us two very important things: He
showed God to man, and He showed what a man full of the power of God could do.
Both of these things were accomplished by the grace (ability) of God that worked in
Him.
It is so important for us to understand the humanity of Jesus. A wrong
understanding of His humanity will limit all that God can accomplish in our lives. It is
the humanity of the Lord Jesus that gives us a basis for the hope of victory. Failure to
see Jesus as a man full of the grace of God will result in a failure to see one's self as
a person full of grace as well.

Jesus Lived as a Man under Grace

One of the most perverted doctrines of the antichrist spirit revolves around the
humanity of Jesus. Even during the time of the early church, there was such an
attack on the actual humanity of Jesus that it had to be addressed by the early
writers of the New Testament Scripture. Today, we see many overtures of that
doctrine in mainline Christianity, and it is the basis of the defeated life.

The apostle John said,

Hereby know ye the Spirit of God Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus
Christ is come in the flesh is of God and every spirit that confesseth not
that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God and this is that spirit of
antichrist.
(1 John 4:2-3)

This involves more than just a proof to see if a person can repeat the phrase, “Jesus
Christ is both Man and God."
The early Gnostics denied that Jesus actually became a man as we are. In
response. John wrote that any teaching that denies the humanity of Jesus is under
the influence of the antichrist spirit. Of course, that does not mean that an individual
is not saved; it merely means that this area of his theology is under the influence of
the antichrist spirit. Acts 10:38 points out that Jesus was a man operating under the
power of the Holy Spirit, not in His own power.
The teaching of Jesus' humanity does not take anything away from the deity of
Jesus. He was God in the flesh. He was the Son of God, yet He emptied Himself.
(See Philippians 25-8.) Although He was divine, on earth He was emptied of the
divine power He had while in heaven.
Why is it so important that we understand this fact? Very early in my walk with
the Lord, I saw that this truth was the pivotal point from which I would defeat the devil
or be defeated by him. When I see that Jesus operated as a man full of the Spirit and
grace of God, I see the possibility of the fulfillment of John 14:12: "He that believeth
on me, the works that I do shall he do also." If Jesus did all He did as God, then I
have no hope of doing the same things. If He did it as a man full of the grace of God,
then I, too, can destroy the works of the devil. I, too, can conquer sin and fulfill my
call.
Jesus continually gave glory to God for the ability to preach (see John 8:28),
work miracles (see John 5:19), and do all the things He did, He never indicated that
He did anything by His own power or ability. If the ability was not His own, whose was
it? Obviously it was the ability (grace) of God, which worked in Him. (See John 8:28.)
Jesus was not born with that ability (grace); He grew in it. Luke 2:40 says, '2nd
the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom; and the grace of God
was upon him"(emphasis added). As Jesus grew in the wisdom of God, He grew in
His understanding of God's power working in Him.

If Jesus Could Resist Sin, So Can We

Putting all the miracles aside, there is one area, more than any other, in which
we should understand the grace that worked in Jesus' life: Jesus was a man who
never sinned. I have heard all kinds of debates about whether, or not Jesus could
have sinned. It seems pretty obvious that there can be no temptation where there is
no desire of the flesh. (See James 1:14.) Hebrews 4:15 says, "But [Jesus] was in all
points tempted like as we are, yet without sin." Jesus' temptation was no different
from ours. His flesh desired things that were not the will of the Father. It was not a
"fake temptation." It was 'like as we are. "If the temptation was real, so was the ability
to sin. Jesus could have sinned like any other man.
How was Jesus able to conquer the desire to sin? Hebrews 4:16 continues with
the answer: "Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may
obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need" Jesus went to the Father and
received grace (ability) when He was in need. He agonized in the flesh just as we do.
The Bible says He suffered when He was tempted: “For in that he himself hath
suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted” (Heb. 2:18). It
was a struggle for Him as it is for us. Yet He learned to draw from God's grace and
supernaturally conquer the desire to sin.
Just as Jesus conquered the desire to sin by the grace that worked in Him, just
as He fulfilled His ministry by grace, so we can have the grace of God working in us,
making us able. Jesus was our Pattern, our Example. He showed us how to live by
the grace of God. He showed us what a person yielded to the Spirit could be and do.
Victory, peace, and power are within the reach of every Christian.
Victory should be as normal for us as it was for Jesus, by the grace of God. But
we, like Jesus, must learn to tap into the grace of God. If we are to have the same
victory, we must use the same Source. Jesus is our only Example. All that He did, we
can do; for that same grace is in us. You can live above sin. You can become the
person you want to be.
 Four

Where Sin Abounds

M ost of my Christian life I was taught inaccurately about the age of grace. In this
dispensation, I was taught, grace covered sin. Grace was basically reduced to
an unmerited favour that made it possible for God to overlook, forgive, and tolerate
sin. I was taught that we should expect to sin, but God's grace was sufficient for that
sin. After all, Romans 5:20 says, "But where sin abounded, grace did much more
abound."
Although there is some truth in what I was taught, it had little to do with grace.
God still hates sin. God did not save man so he could sin and get away with it; He
saved man so he could come out of sin. He gave man the ability to conquer sin by
His power.
Romans 6:14 says it this way: "Sin shall not have dominion over you." If sin has
dominion over you, you still have a sin nature. Sin loses its dominion over you when
you are born Again. At the new birth, you leave the realm of law that depended on
your strength, and you enter the realm of grace that relies on God's strength.
Romans 6:14 continues to explain why sin no longer dominates the believer: "For ye
are not under the law, but under grace." Sin loses its dominion because of grace,
because of the availability of God's power. Grace, therefore, is not God's ability to
overlook your sin; it is His ability working in you to deliver you from sin.

Don't Give In--Conquer Sin

"What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God
forbid" (Rom. 6:15). We do not need to give in passively to sin and wait for God's
grace to forgive us. We need to yield to God's grace before we sin. We need to
conquer sin. Grace has to do with the ability to overcome sin-not God's ability to
forgive sin. Mercy is God's ability to forgive. I thank God for mercy, but I would rather
walk in His grace.
Even after a person receives the mercy of God, he tends to live under
condemnation. Sin damages the heart, making it difficult for him to trust God in the
future. Even though God's mercy is already extended to us through the Lord Jesus,
sin makes us doubt God's love and His ability to forgive.
 Most Christians have so little hope of overcoming their life-dominating problems
that they have developed a philosophy that says forgiveness is easier than
resistance. This lifestyle quickly His and accurately admits, "I don't have the strength
to conquer this sin." However, God never intended for us to conquer that sin in our
own strength. To do that is to re-enter the realm of the law (the flesh).
When James told us to resist the devil, he prefaced his remark with this
promise: 'But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but
giveth grace unto the humble" (James 46, emphasis added). What does it mean, "He
giveth more grace"? More grace than what? He gives more grace (ability) than there
is power of sin. "But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound"(Rom. 5:20).
It never matters how strong the desire to sin may be; God will give more grace to
conquer that sin, which means there is hope for your situation.
Yet God gives His grace only to the humble. Humility is simply the willingness to
surrender your will, your opinions, and your view to the view and will of God. The
proud person may not be arrogant or even outspoken. He may be a quiet, shy
believer who feels he must do everything in his own strength. He may never ask
anybody for anything, including God. That man cannot receive grace. God wants us
to submit ourselves to Him, draw near to Him, and depend on Him. As we do, we
begin to partake of that grace. When we have received the grace (the ability) of God,
we are then ready to resist temptation.

Real Spiritual Warfare

The Bible describes the warfare that goes on in the life of a Christian. Somehow
many have totally misunderstood spiritual warfare; therefore, the war they engage in
is not bringing them victory. Most Christians mistakenly think that their warfare is with
the devil. Although he is most definitely our adversary, he is not the focus of our
warfare. Satan is a defeated foe. Jesus totally and completely conquered him and
stripped him of all power and authority.
Satan does not destroy whom he wilt he destroys whom he may. 'Be sober, be
vigilant, because your adversary the devil as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking
whom he may devour" (1 Pet. 5:8, emphasis added). He is not capable of devouring
just anyone. He is capable of devouring only those who are not sober-minded and
vigilant.
The Bible warns about being anxious, fearful, and weighted down with the cares
of this life. We are told,
 And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged
with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day
come upon you unawares.
(Luke 21:34)

The word "overcharged" speaks of being weighted down. When our hearts are
burdened with anything, we are no longer vigilant. When we fail to believe the truth,
we are no longer sober-minded. In that state of dullness and confusion, Satan is able
to attack and destroy.
It is much like the thief who lies in wait outside the bar room. He waits for
drunken victims who are unaware of the danger and unable to respond properly to
the attack. The weakest person can win against a person who is drunk and taken by
surprise. Since Satan has no power other than deception and accusation, we are
vulnerable only when we refuse to humble ourselves and believe the truth.
Therefore, the war that we fight is not with the devil, but in our souls. When we
believe the truth, grace freely flows from us to make us able to live that truth. When
we believe the lies of the devil, the lies of our friends, the lies of the past, or even the
lies of the preacher, we are no longer sober. If something doesn't line up with the
finished work of Jesus, it is a lie.
Second Corinthians 10:4-5 says,

(For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to
the pulling down of strong holds;) casting down imaginations, and every
high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God and bringing
into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.

The things we are warring against are the imaginations that do not line up with the
Word of God-specifically the new covenant.
I don't have to scream at the devil to win this battle. I simply gain control of my
thoughts and beliefs. In reality, every verse in the New Testament that teaches about
warfare always talks about your own thoughts, beliefs, and emotions-not the devil.
The devil cannot do what you do not believe he can do.

The things that make sin seem to be so strong in our lives are the way we view
it, what we believe about it, and what we believe about ourselves. If I believe I am a
new creation, then sin has no power over me. In fact, sin is a painful, destructive
force that I will not give in to.

The Truth That Breaks Sin's Hold

I am confident that no matter how great the temptation, I can always get enough
grace to deliver me. First Peter 2:11 says, "Dearly beloved I beseech you as
strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul." When
temptation comes, I know it is only an emotion that is working in my soul. Emotions
are part of the realm of the soul. All I have to do to win over that temptation is change
that emotion.
The Bible says to cast that imagination down. I need to bring it in line with truth.
If I want grace (God's ability), I must believe God's truth. One of the greatest lies of
the devil is that sin brings pleasure.
For most people, sin is that list of fun, pleasurable things that God doesn't want
them to do. Similarly, the will of God is that list of painful, difficult things that God
does want them to do. As long as people view sin as pleasure, they will always be
tempted to go back to it.
But when we realize that sin, though pleasurable for the moment, always leads
to the most excruciating pain imaginable, it will lose its appeal. Usually believing just
this one truth will totally break the alluring power of sin.
In trusting God, one must come to understand that God's standards are not
some kind of test. Avoiding sin is not some kind of test. Every pain in your life right
now is the product of some sinful action, attitude, or belief. God is not punishing you
for doing those things; those things always bring pain. They cause you to function in
a way that is contrary to how you were created. If people would simply be honest
about all the pain that would come into their lives by giving in to a temptation, they
would immediately lose interest in that temptation.
After I realize that sin leads to pain, the next thing I must do is bring the thought
of that sin captive to the obedience of Christ. Since Jesus conquered all my sin, and
since I am in Him, the question is not, "Can I conquer this sin?" The question is, "Did
Jesus conquer this sin?" If He did-and that He did will always be the case-l can
rejoice that it has no power over me.
I have to fight the devil only in the areas that Jesus lost the battle. Since He did
not lose the battle in any area, there is nothing left for me to do except rejoice in that
victory and count it as mine.
 So many times I've had this war rage in my soul. Everything in me was saying,
"I really want to do this!" When I would acknowledge the truth that "I am free from sin;
sin has no power over me; Jesus conquered this sin, and I don't have to fight with it,"
the conflict would end. I have never been able to commit any sin that I believed and
acknowledged that Jesus had won the victory over.

How Strong Is Sin Really?

There are reasons that sin seems to be strong and powerful. The first one is the
amount of attention focused on it. Many people trying to fight their sin only magnify it
in their souls, thereby giving it more power.
Next is the amount of pleasure you associate with that particular sin. If you think
about the pleasure long enough, you will lose sight of the destruction that will surely
come. Man was created to live, in pleasure. We gravitate toward what brings
pleasure. Our problem is that we are confused about what really brings pleasure. Sin
brings instant gratification, but never abiding pleasure.
The failure to be realistic about the devastation of sin is another major flaw in
our belief systems. Sin always brings death-death to our souls (minds, emotions, and
wills). It is not God's punishment that brings the devastation; it is violation of the way
we are created. It's like putting sugar in the gas tank of your car. The people from
Detroit do not come out and mess up your engine; its destruction is the result of a
violation of operational procedures.
As long as you think God is the One bringing you pain, you can find all sorts of
ways to get around your part in it. You could justify why your sin is all right. You could
convince yourself that God's forgiveness will overcome all the negative effects. Or
you could just stop believing in God. Regardless of the defence mechanism you
employ, the results still come.
Trying to win the battle on your own terms or by your own strength is, of course,
the tragic epitome of the works-oriented believer. How could you ever win over
something that you really want so bad?
The truth is that there is more grace, more of the power of God, and more of the
power of righteousness in you than there has ever been sin. If you believe in the
power of God as much as you believe in the power of sin, sin will never seem big at
all.
Goliath was big when compared with David. But David was smart enough to
compare the giant with God. Why don't you do the same with your sin?
 Five

In My Weakness

F or the one who wants to live a godly life, the frailty of the flesh is so
discouraging. Most believers have tried to conquer sin, but out of ignorance they
have warred "after the flesh" (2 Cor. 10:3) and not the Spirit. They have tried to fight
using worldly methods instead of engaging in Christian warfare. (See
2 Corinthians 10:4-6.) If you are one who longs for a godly life, I have good news for
you your weaknesses can work for you.
It is foreign to our minds to admit weakness. I am not talking about having an
attitude of failure and continually focusing on your inabilities. The Bible says, "Let the
weak say, l am strong" Joel 3:10, emphasis added). Our confession should be of
strength, but not our strength. Christ in us is our "hope of glory" (Col. 1:27). We have
no expectation in our own strength, yet we have every expectation and confidence in
the strength of God working in us.
The main thing that keeps us from receiving grace is our strength. Yet we are
taught to be strong. We glory in our strength and abilities. We testify about our
strength. As a result, we have only as much victory as our strength brings us.

Your Strength versus God's Grace

Christians fail to realize that they are as weak today as they were before they
got saved. If you stay in your strength, you will end up in the same place you were
before you got saved. I clearly remember where my strength got me. I clearly recall
how bad off I was.
Just because I got saved, quit cursing and drinking, and dressed a little better
than I had before didn't mean I had any more strength. If I depend on my own
strength, which the Bible calls the flesh, I will end up in the works of the flesh listed in
Galatians 5:19-21:

Now the works of the flesh are manifest which are these; adultery,
fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft hatred
variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders,
drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I
 have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not
inherit the kingdom of God

The works of the flesh are a manifestation or fruit of being in the flesh, just like
the fruit of the Spirit is a manifestation of being in the Spirit. Remember, you are in
the flesh when you are depending on your own abilities to change, to be righteous, or
to be accepted by God. Anyone who depends on his own strength will end up
practicing the works of the flesh.
The very effort we put forth to be righteous is the very effort that causes us to
end up in these kinds of sins. When we put forth our best efforts, we are still in the
flesh. When we accept who and what we are in Jesus, grace flows out of us and
makes us able to live the life of Christ.
In Galatians 2:21, Paul revealed a commonly overlooked truth: “I do not
frustrate the grace of God for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in
vain.” The word "frustrate" means to neutralize. Although every Christian has the
grace of God inside him, he is able to neutralize that grace (God's ability). How?
We are always depending either on our abilities or God's ability. There is no in-
between. If you are trusting your ability, then you have neutralized God's ability. If
you stay in your ability long enough, it will get you right back into the same kind of
behaviour you were in before you were saved.
This is what happened to the Galatians. They were saved; they had accepted
Jesus; they were on their way to heaven. Unfortunately, they had no victory in this
life, other than what they could produce in their own abilities. This is what Paul
referred to in Galatians 5:4: "Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of
you are justified by the law, ye are fallen from grace."
Falling from grace is not losing the born-again experience. Falling from grace is
when you leave the realm of God's ability. It is when you attempt to obtain
righteousness by your performance.
Every Christian wants to live a godly life. But we should live in righteousness by
the power of the righteousness of God that is in us. We should avoid a belief system
that says, "My righteousness is determined by the way I live."
Too often we overlook all those "in Him" Scriptures in the New Testament. All
we are to God, we are because we are in Him. Colossians 1:27, "Christ in you, the
hope of glory" is more than a cliché. The “glory,” among other things, speaks of the
view and opinion of God. The only way I can ever be the way God says I am is by the
power of Christ in me.
 When I speak of operating faith to obtain grace, please understand I am not
saying I have to make this happen. Faith is not a power by which we make things
happen. Faith is a trust, a deep conviction, and an assurance of the dependability of
God. I don't make things happen with my faith. When my believing is in harmony with
God, grace comes forth.

Acknowledgment Leads to Empowerment

The starting place to receiving the strength of the Lord must be in realizing your
own weakness and admitting that you can't do the will of God in your own power. We
do not want to be strong in our power; we want to "be strong in the Lord, and in the
power of his might" (Eph. 6:10). Our natural power is useless in a supernatural battle.
In 2 Corinthians 5-12, Paul described his struggle with Satan. Paul realized his
personal inability. In verse 5, he said that he would glory (boast) in his infirmities
(weaknesses). Then he described his situation: a "messenger of Satan" was buffeting
him (v. 7). His thorn was not physical sickness, but a messenger of Satan. The word
"messenger" is the word usually translated as angel. Paul was under attack when he
wrote this letter. His life had been threatened many times. He had suffered every
imaginable hardship, and now people had arisen in the church who were challenging
his ministry and apostleship.
In the Old Testament, the word thorn referred to people. (See Joshua 23:13.)
Paul could very well have been referring to the Judaizers who followed him across
the countryside, stirring up conflict and persecution against him. He could have been
referring to the demonic spirit that incited the crowds against him. Whatever it was, it
was more than he could handle. He was totally unable to do anything about his
situation. He sought the Lord three times for this thing to be removed, and God's
answer came back, "My grace is sufficient for thee "(2 Cor. 12:9). This was not a
negative answer. God came through for Paul.
Not every negative or difficult circumstance we face will be changed. However,
victory does not always mean the circumstance changes. As often as not, victory
comes because we change. We need the ability of God working in us to change us,
strengthen us, and make us able to walk out the will of God in every situation. God
never promised to remove us from the world, but He did promise to give us victory
while in the world.
Paul finally realized that he did not need a miracle from God to remove the
obstacle, but the grace of God to face and conquer the obstacle. Unlike many
believers in our day, Paul did not think God had failed him. He did not give up when
he did not receive the desired results, and he didn't quit because he got an answer
other than the one he wanted. Paul sought the will of God. He wanted whatever it
would take to have victory. He did not predetermine what it would take for victory; he
was obedient to the Lord.
When the grace of God comes, we do not endure-we overcome. We do not
maintain a defeated or negative attitude. Victory is not hanging on with a bad attitude.
Victory is overcoming with the joy of the Lord. How often I've heard people request,
"Pray for me that I might endure to the end." You do not need to endure to the end;
you need victory to the end.
With this revelation, Paul boasted, "Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in
reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I
am weak, then am I strong" (2 Cor 12:10). His weakness and inability were no longer
limitations. Instead, they were an invitation to yoke up with Jesus, to let Him pull the
load, and to walk in the power of His might. Paul realized God's strength began
where his ended.
Paul had already experienced the law. He knew what his flesh was capable-and
incapable-of doing. But he had been set free from his ability. Now he gratefully
counted all his ability as "dung" (Phil 3:8) in order to know resurrection power.
Unfortunately, many of us have never accurately realized the limitations of our own
strength. We think we are supposed to be strong for the Lord instead of strong in the
Lord.
Notice that Paul said he had experienced these things for Christ's sake. This is
not the result of unbelief. These are the things we face when we walk in God's Word.
Take note also that Paul did not remain weak-he became strong in Christ.

Winning with Grace

Even when facing the greatest obstacles, we can overcome with joy. Survival
and victory look alike on the outside, but that's where the likeness stops. A strong-
willed person can endure hardships and appear to be winning; although there may be
some self-righteous gratification, he will never have real peace and joy. He merely
survives. But when we overcome by Christ's power, there is always joy. Whether we
are conquering sins of commission, wrong attitudes, or limitations, grace always
brings joy. That's victory. Often a believer overcomes a sin or obeys the Lord, but
does so with gritted teeth. That is a sure sign of labouring in his own strength. Where
there is no joy, there is no grace.
 The Bible says, "[Jesus] loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore
God... anointed [Him] with the oil of gladness" (Heb. 1:9). Because Jesus committed
Himself to what was right before God, He received not only the ability to overcome,
but also the oil of gladness. There was no sorrow in any of His sacrifices or no regret
at overcoming sin. Why? He did it in God's strength, which brought Him the joy of the
Lord. In Psalm 100:2, we are told to "serve the LORD with gladness." This is very
difficult when we are labouring in our own strength. But Jesus maintained gladness
until the end.
Hebrews 2:9 says that Jesus tasted death for every man by the grace of God. I
do not think that Jesus, in His humanity alone, could have faced the Cross. Jesus'
ability to face the Cross, to become sin, and to endure the punishment was a work of
God's grace. Remember, Jesus was a man. He felt all the physical pain that any man
would feel. But beyond the actual pain of the Cross, He also had to face becoming
sin and receiving the curse of the law. (See 2 Corinthians 5:21; Galatians 3:13.)
Prior to Jesus' crucifixion, He went to the Garden to pray. In the Garden, He
said, “My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death” (Matt. 26:38). He was facing
the agony of death and separation from God. He earnestly prayed, "0 my Father, if it
be possible, let this cup pass from me" (v. 39). He was not trying to escape the
Cross; just prior to this He had rebuked Peter and made it plain that He would stick to
the purpose for which He had come.
Earlier, when the religious leaders had tried to capture Jesus, He had said, "My
time is not yet come" (John 6:6). So why did Jesus pray this way? I believe two
significant things happened in the Garden. First, Jesus had to determine if it was the
will of God for Him to face the Cross at that specific time. I do not believe He was
trying to escape the will of God. Rather, I believe He was trying to establish it. Once
He had determined that it was the will of God to surrender His life at that time, He
then needed the strength to do it. It was here in the Garden in prayer that Jesus
obtained the grace, ability, and strength to face death on the cross.
As we face the cross of dying to self, we need grace. That grace is obtained on
a moment-by-moment basis. We do not receive grace in advance for every situation
of life; but on a daily basis, as we pray, we obtain grace for that moment. When we
face difficult trials, we should acknowledge in faith what the Word says about us and
receive grace for those situations.
Whatever your sin is, whatever your weakness is, that will become your area of
strength. To whatever degree you are weak in any area, to that degree the grace of
God will make you strong.
 Six

Grace for Sin

A ny time we are in a state of lack, inability, or sin, we are in need of the grace
(ability) of God. However, in these times of greatest need, our misconceptions
about God cause us to run from Him instead of to Him. We feel we will be rejected if
we run to God.
The Bible was written, among other reasons, to keep us free from sin. However,
when we do sin, the Bible says that "we have an advocate [Someone who is for us]
with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous" (1 John 2:1). Since our Advocate is the
Man, Jesus Christ, who has been tempted in every way that we have, He is a
merciful and faithful High Priest who is touched by the feeling of our infirmities.
Because He has been tempted, He is able to succor (aid, relieve, or help) those who
are tempted. (See Hebrews 2:17-18; 4:15.)
Jesus is not repulsed by our inability to cope with sins. He knows it is impossible
for man to win over sin in his own strength. Having walked this earth as a man, He
knows full well that the grace (ability) of God is the only power that can make man
able to win over sin. In light of Jesus' humanity, temptation, and victory over sin, "let
us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and
find grace to help in time of need" (Heb. 4:16).

A Throne of Grace

“Let us therefore come boldly...in time of need.” This seems like an

impossibility. Our times of need are usually when we are being drawn into sin.
Occasionally, our times of need are after we have sinned, and we lack the confidence
to go forward with God. Whatever the case may be, our times of need are seldom
times of confidence. Yet the Holy Spirit says, through the writer of Hebrews, to come
before God "boldly" when we are in need.
How could one come before God with boldness when his desires are being
drawn to sin? The answer to this question is the key to learning to receive grace for
victory or continuing in sin. One of the great inhibitors to our boldness is the
responses that people in our lives give. Although God is merciful and ready to
forgive, people are not. We cannot let the responses of people affect our honesty
before and our trust in the Lord. Though people may reject us, God does not.
 First and foremost, we must realize that we are approaching a throne of grace,
not a throne of judgment. Religion has painted such a mean, false picture of God that
we usually run from God in our times of need instead of running to Him. Even under
the old covenant, David's key to victory was his awareness of the mercy of God. "The
LORD is gracious, and full of compassion; slow to anger, and of great mercy The
LORD is good to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works" (Ps. 145:8-9,
emphasis added).
Since it is a "throne of grace," we understand that it is the place we go when we
need God's ability. Often, we recognize our need of God's ability only when we
realize we do not have the ability to handle things on our own. It is understood, then,
that God designed it so we would come to Him in our times of need. Some religions
would make us believe that we can come to God only when we have it all together.
The devil (the accuser) whispers in our ears and tries to convince us that God
accepts us only when we are faultless. But the Lord says, "Come to Me when you
have a need. I will give you grace."

It's All about Jesus

Second, we must remember that we do not approach the throne based on our
works. My works may affect my confidence in approaching God, but they do not
affect His. The "works mentality" is one that says, "If I'm not worthy, God will not hear
me." My question is this, "When is good, good enough?" No matter what you have
done, the devil will try to convince you that it is not enough. If you pray for forty-five
minutes, he'll say you should have prayed for an hour. If you fast for thirty days, he'll
say you should have fasted forty days. If you read five chapters in your Bible, he'll
say you should have read ten. But that is a "works mentality."
Even if you have done all good works and have not sinned, that will not bring
you into the presence of God. Faith cannot be based on your personal
accomplishments; it must be based on the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. As
the Word clearly tells us,

Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood
of Jesus, by a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us,
through the veil, that is to say, his flesh ... let us draw near.
(Heb. 10:19-20, 22)
 Faith that comes before the throne of God is based totally on the Lord Jesus
Christ. The Bible commands me to base my boldness before God on the work of the
Lord Jesus. Ephesians 1:6 says, "He hath made us accepted in the beloved." God
accepts me before the throne because I am in Jesus. Faith believes it because the
Bible says it.
Your emotions will lie to you. Feelings of unworthiness will flood over you, but
that does not change the Word. The fact is this: you are unworthy apart from Jesus.
However, it is not based on you. Acceptance is totally based on Jesus. You have His
righteousness. If God rejects you, He must reject Jesus.
When I know I am accepted, I am able to obtain mercy. First John 1:9 was
written for Christians. It is not a verse to be used in winning the lost. When I confess
my sin, I find mercy and forgiveness. In the peace of God's mercy, I am able to
apprehend His ability (grace). When I have His ability, I am able to overcome the
temptation before I give into it. If I have fallen, I can be restored.
Apart from realizing God's acceptance, you will never receive His grace. As long
as you feel the need to earn righteousness, you frustrate the grace of God. But in
understanding total acceptance, you can approach the throne with confidence.
Usually, the time we need to come to the throne of grace is not a time when our
natural confidence is the highest. The two main times that we need help are right
before we sin and right after we sin. Neither of those times would be a time of
confidence if our confidence of acceptance is based on our performance.

We Are Righteous by Faith

"Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord
Jesus Christ" (Rom. 5:1). The word justification is related to the word righteous. A
person who is justified has been made righteous. Only when we accept
righteousness by faith will there be peace in our hearts about the love, acceptance,
and approval of God. Without peace, we can never come to the throne with boldness.
Romans 5:2 continues "By whom also we have access by faith into this grace
wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God" Peace through the
righteousness of Jesus is a prerequisite for access in grace. If you do not accept that
you are righteous, grace cannot come forth to make you live in the power of
righteousness.
When your actions deny that you are righteous, you must maintain your
boldness in who you are in Jesus. You must acknowledge your righteousness until
your heart is established. Then the power of righteousness will fill your heart and
mind.
It is not enough to have a doctrine of faith righteousness. You must believe it in
your heart. One way you can identify what is in your heart is by identifying your basic
emotions. The heart is the seat of deep, abiding emotions.
When I confess the Word, I am not trying to get God to do something; I am
trying to get my heart back on track. I am focusing my faith. I am "stirring the gift" of
God that is in me. I am persuading my heart in the truth.
Many times I have had temptations that seemed to be powerful. I would begin to
speak the truth about who I am in Jesus, about the righteousness of God in me, and
about my victory and freedom over sin. Suddenly, my emotions would change. I
would feel righteous.
I have never been able to "give in" to sin when I was feeling righteous. Not only
did I avoid the sin, but also the sin lost its appeal to me. The thing that looked so
attractive, so logical, so reasonable, now looked ugly and undesirable. “For
whatsoever is born of God over cometh the world: and this is the victory that over
cometh the world, even our faith” (1 John 5:4).
 Seven

The Manifold Grace of God

W e all are aware that we are saved by grace-or are we? In a recent Bible
college class, I asked, "According to Ephesians 2:8, how are we saved?" Very
quickly everyone responded, "By faith." Although that is obviously true, we are
overlooking an essential detail. Ephesians 2:8 actually says, "For by grace are ye
saved through faith" (emphasis added). It is actually the grace of God that saves us.
Now, it is true that grace comes by faith. When we believe the truth, God's grace
comes into our hearts and changes us. Faith brings grace, but grace brings change.
At the new birth, most of us limit God's grace to the forgiveness of sins. We do
so because forgiveness is all we know to believe for. We are told that God will forgive
our sins and take us to heaven when we die. Since faith comes by hearing the Word,
we believe according to the amount of truth we have heard. Since we receive the
goal of our faith (see 1 Peter 1:9), all we are able to receive from God is the new
birth, which is obviously the most important thing of all. But though the new birth is
the most important, it is not the totality of what Jesus accomplished on the Cross.
The word "saved comes from the Greek word sozo, which means to save,
deliver, protect, heal, preserve, do well, make whole, keep safe, or rescue from
destruction. Although this includes forgiveness of sins, it is far more than the
forgiveness of sins. Sozo speaks of all Jesus died to give us. It is not just a
deliverance from sin; it is a deliverance from the results of sin.

Grace for Every Need

First Peter 4:10 speaks of the manifold grace of God. Manifold means various
or many-sided. God's grace has many sides, facets, or dimensions. We should
become good stewards of every dimension of the grace of God. We should have His
grace working in every area of our lives in order to be established in all that Jesus
has for us.
Since we use faith to get grace, and since faith comes by hearing the Good
News of Jesus (Rom. 10:17), we need to hear and learn the promises of God in
every area so we can begin to develop faith for that need. Keep in mind, God's grace
is not automatic. It works only in the areas in which we operate faith. Faith comes
only in the areas where we have heard the Good News about Jesus.
 God wants us to have His salvation in every area of our lives. Because we
heard and believed for forgiving grace, we received it. We received God's ability to do
what we could not do in our own ability. However, God is able to meet the needs in
every area of everyone's life.
The manifold grace of God can give you God's ability in every area. However,
there is a process to follow. You must hear the Good News about what Jesus has
accomplished for you. Then you must believe in your heart and confess Jesus as
Lord of your life including that area. God has the ability to heal you. He can deliver
you from any bondage that holds you captive.
He has grace for any and every area of need you will ever face. But like the
grace to be born again, you must believe in your heart and confess with your mouth
God's Word regarding healing, freedom from bondage, or any other need that you
face. Apart from faith, His grace cannot be obtained. (See Ephesians 2:8.)
Grace can be grasped only by faith. But don't get hung up about how much faith
it will take to receive this grace. In most of Jesus' teaching about faith, He did not
emphasize the need for great amounts; rather, He emphasized how little faith it took
to get anything accomplished. Jesus told His disciples, "lf ye have faith as a grain of
mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it
shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you" (Matt. 17:20).
Many born-again believers are offended by the faith message. Usually it is
because they tried it and it did not work, so they decided it was not true. After all, how
many times did you try God before you made a real commitment? How many times
did you dabble with "religion" before you surrendered to the Lordship of Jesus? How
often did you go to church before you went to Jesus?
Faith does not happen because we try something. Faith happens because we
believe something-something we find in God's Word, not something we merely
acknowledge, but something we believe in our hearts. Then we confess it. Then we
experience sozo. God's ability to do what we could not do begins to work in us. There
is an aspect or area of grace for every one of our needs. The manifold grace of God
can make us able in any area that the Word promises and that we believe, confess,
and receive.

About Faith...

Although I believe very strongly in many of the things taught by the faith
movement, I believe the time has come for us to stop developing and using faith as a
means to receive things and begin to use it as a means to receive grace.
 There is nothing wrong with wanting things as long as we do not set our hearts
on material possessions. God knows we need things. "For your heavenly Father
knoweth that ye have need of all these things" (Matt. 6:32, emphasis added). We
need things, but they should not be the goal of our faith. They should not be where
we place our emphasis.
As born-again Christians, we should know that God wants us to have these
things and that He will surely give us these things. But we should make it our top
priority to "seek...first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness" (Matt. 6:33,
emphasis added). The desire to be established in righteousness and the kingdom of
God should be first. I want to use my faith to get the grace to change. I want
character and integrity more than I want any of the things that bring pleasure.
I have found that a wonderful by-product of being established in the kingdom of
God is that all these things will be added unto me (Matt. 6:33). I do not have to beg
and plead with God; He is not withholding anything from me. In fact, according to
2 Peter 1:3, I already have everything I need: “According as his divine power hath
given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of
him that hath called us to glory and virtue." God has put within me everything I will
ever need for life. I do not need to get God to give me anything; I already have
everything. As I accept and believe that, the grace to walk it out flows from my heart.
Proverbs 12:28 says, “In the way of righteousness is life; and in the pathway
thereof there is no death.” Too often we are trying to get the blessings of God to
come to the place where we are. We want to abide in unbelief and have God deliver
us from the effects of unbelief. It can't happen.
When I enter the way, the path, or the realm of righteousness, I find everything
that pertains to life, and I avoid those things that bring destruction. It is the
serendipity principle. The dictionary defines serendipity as "coming upon happy
discoveries when one is not looking for them."
When I was a child, my brother and I walked to town to have an afternoon of
fun. Along the way I found a small purse with some money in it. I wasn't looking for it;
I found it on my way to do something else. That is the principle of serendipity.
The things that we are trying to use our faith to get can be found easier than
they can be gotten. Taking a stroll down the pathway of righteousness will expose us
to all God has for a wonderful, fulfilling, abundant life. The confusion comes,
however, when we think that we are talking about our righteousness. For the new
covenant believer, the pathway of righteousness is not performance; it is accepting
the righteousness of Jesus as a free gift.
 The Gift People Trip Over

Unfortunately, when people get saved, they are rarely given the truth that will
set them free. They are given the truth that will get them to heaven, but they are
seldom given the truth that will set them free from the power of sin.
All we seem to emphasize is accepting Jesus as Saviour. Again, though that is
essential, it is more an end result than it is a cause. Most people accept Jesus as
their Saviour, then try to live a righteous life for Him. We need to accept Him as our
righteousness; then we can live a godly life in Him.
Romans 9:32-33 tells about the stumbling stone of the Gospel: “For they
stumbled at that stumbling stone; as it is written, Behold, I lay in Sion a stumbling
stone and rock of offence: and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.” At
first glance, we think of Jesus as Saviour being the stumbling stone.
A closer look reveals that Jesus as Saviour was not the stumbling stone.
Instead, Jesus as our righteousness is the stumbling stone of the Gospel. Read
verses 30-32. They clearly reveal the source of righteousness as the thing over
which people will stumble.

What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, which followed not after
righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness
which is of faith. But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness,
hath not attained to the law of righteousness. Wherefore? Because they
sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. For they
stumbled at that stumbling stone.

All Romans 10 continues in this thought. Verses 3-4 declare,

For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to

establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the
righteousness of God For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to
every one that believeth.

When this talks about people who will not submit to the righteousness of God, it
is not talking about people who are out committing gross sin. It is talking about
people who are living right. But they are rejecting the only righteousness that is
acceptable to God in favour of the righteousness that they trust in-their own
performance.
As chapter 10 goes on to explain how salvation comes, it talks about a
righteousness that is acceptable to God. Romans 10:5 explains works righteousness:
"For Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law, that the man which
doeth those things shall live by them." In other words, if you want to be righteous by
your performance, you must never fail or commit any sin, because the law accepts
only total perfection.
I don't want that kind of relationship with God. That is the kind of religion (not
Christianity) that makes people crazy. Mental institutions are full of people who have
broken down under the attempts at perfection by performance.
Romans 10:6-8 begins to describe the righteousness that God offers as a free
gift.

But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise, Say not in
thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down
from above. ;) or, Who shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring up
Christ again from the dead) But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even
in thy mouth, and in thy heart that is, the word of faith, which we preach.

Nobody needs to come and give this to you. No one needs to go anywhere to
get it. It is in your heart as a result of Jesus' coming into your life.
Romans 10:9 says, "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus,
and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be
saved" Salvation is the result of believing and confessing. But what is the cause of
salvation?
Romans 10:10 explains its cause: “For with the heart man believeth unto
righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” What brings
salvation is the righteousness that comes by believing in the finished work of Jesus.
A man believes unto righteousness; he does not do unto righteousness. He does not
perform unto righteousness.
You may have believed on and accepted Jesus as your Lord, but have you
accepted Him as your righteousness? If not, you are limited to the degree you can
live righteously in your own ability.
Although there are many afflictions for the righteous (afflictions rise from the
world when you live a godly life), I have found that God daily loads me, with benefits.
I do not have to search and strive to find them; I simply pick them up as I go. God
adds them to me. The grace (ability) for things then becomes the by-product of the
character (change) that is being worked into my life.
Therefore, in order to receive grace (ability) in all the different areas of life, I
must accept in truth that I am righteous in Jesus. The manifold, many-sided, many-
faceted grace of God works in the many areas of my life because I believe I am
righteous.
 Eight

Grace in the Heart

T hayer's A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament says that grace is a

"divine influence" in the heart that does two things: strengthens and enables.
Therefore, since the ability of God works in and from the heart, the condition of the
heart is paramount when discussing grace. In fact, all that God does in us, He does in
and through our hearts. "for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on
the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart" (1 Sam. 16:7). Since
God looks on and relates to us through the heart, it is essential that we heed the
admonition of Proverbs 4:23: "Keep thy heart with all diligence." All that our lives are
flows from the condition of our hearts.
Since grace works from the heart and is the product of faith, it will always be
diametrically opposed to the natural mind. The natural mind does things in its own
strength. The natural mind will always limit a person to the extent of his own
capabilities. Therefore, few people ever fulfill the extent of their call or gifts.

The Natural Mind Leads to Destruction

“Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man,
the things which God hath prepared for them that love him” (1 Cor. 2:9). “Because the
carnal [natural] mind is enmity against God for it is not subject to the law of God,
neither indeed can be” (Rom. 8:7). The natural mind cannot see or grasp what God
has for us or what He is capable of doing through us. Even if it does, it is not subject
to the law of God. In other words, even if the natural mind sees it, the mind cannot
get it to work.
The natural mind is one that has been conditioned to reason everything out in
accordance with the world's view. It has been trained to limit itself to this realm. It is a
mind that is set on and considers things from the world's view instead of God's view.
Romans 8:5 describes the carnal mind as the mind set on "the things of the
flesh." The New International Version says it is “set on what that nature desires.”
Being in the flesh, remember, is attempting to be made righteous by the works of our
flesh. A mind set on works righteousness will stumble, fall, and be destroyed. "The
way of the LORD is strength to the upright: but destruction shall be to the workers of
iniquity" (Prov. 10:29).
 A mind set on righteousness by works will produce a heart that tries to be
righteous by works. This is what it means to be in the flesh. The person in the flesh
always ends up in the works of the flesh listed in Galatians 5:19-21.
Besides a lifestyle that brings condemnation, a heart overwhelmed with works
will never enter into rest; it will always have torment. Romans 8:1 warns against living
in the flesh. "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ
Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit."
The word "condemnation" means a damnatory sentence of judgment. The
person who is trying to be approved by works will always expect the worst. He is
always waiting for judgment. A person "in the Spirit," on the other hand, is always
filled with hope, or a confident expectation of good. According to Hebrews 11:1, faith
can come forth only where there is hope.
Only a heart permeated with grace will allow God to fulfill all His promises. The
heart that allows grace to work in it trusts God and His Word explicitly. The word
believe means more than mental assent. The Amplified Bible uses the words adhere
to, trust in, and rely on to express a fuller meaning of the word believe. (See, for
example, John 1:12 AMP.) Bible belief is belief that is put into practice and relied on.

Pride and Fear: Two Heart Products

Pride, like faith, is a product of the heart. The proud heart is unteachable and
opinionated. Pride is always right in its own estimation. Haughty pride is easily
identified. Opinionated pride, however, is sometimes a little more difficult to identify.
Sometimes being opinionated is an overestimation of self, but sometimes it is an
underestimation of what God can do in one's self. Either way, pride leaves a person
restricted to his own abilities.
Since pride always says, "The way I see it is right," pride in its various forms is
basically self-fulfilling. Pride leans on the "arm of the flesh." It looks at the promises of
God and says, "I can't. I know what the Bible says, but I can't." Pride will always have
an excuse for not believing God, which then becomes an excuse for not obeying
God. Unfortunately, most of the church world accepts those excuses as humility. This
is an arrogant opinion, a vain imagination that exalts itself against the Word of God.
Far from humility, all this reduces to evil unbelief. Hebrews 3:12 says, "Take
heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief" The reason
unbelief is so evil is quite simple. Faith is a response to God's character. It is the
natural response for someone who believes God is honest. Unbelief is also a
response to God's character-it does not believe in the honesty of God.
 Actually, all unbelief is related to fear. The heart of the sin nature is not a desire
to do evil. When I was lost, I wanted to do good. I just did not have the power to do it.
I certainly did not believe that God would give me the ability to "live right."
Hebrews teaches that Jesus had to set us free from fear in order to set us free
from the bondage of the devil. I believe the heart of the sin nature is fear. Because
men are afraid of God, they will not trust Him. Because they do not trust Him, they
turn to sin for gratification.
All lost people are in the flesh. They determine righteousness by performance;
therefore, they live in fear. After all, when can you do enough to satisfy a perfect
God? Unfortunately, most Christians never accept Jesus as their righteousness, so
they, too, still live in fear.
We are all in the Spirit when we accept Jesus. Sadly, we do not “walk in the
Spirit” (Gal. 5:25), or as the New International Version translates it, "keep in step with
the Spirit." Therefore, we remain limited to the strength of the flesh and the fruit
(works) of the flesh.
First John 4:18 tells us that fear has to do with punishment. When we determine
our righteousness by our performance, we live in fear of punishment. We can't trust
(have faith in) a God who we think is against us. Fear will not leave until we accept
Jesus as our righteousness. Then faith (trust) comes, and fear is gone.
It takes humility to receive the righteousness of God. James 4:6 says, "God
resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble." Humility is not a "cast down"
attitude. Neither is it weakness. Humility is the place where you submit your will, your
view, and your plan to the will, view, and plan of God.
As Christians, we do not have the right to have any view or opinion that is not in
harmony with God's plan. To maintain any view other than God's is certainly the most
arrogant pride.

Humility says, "If God says I can, I can. If God says I am, I am. If God says
I have, I have." Then, in a heart of meekness and reverence, it depends on
God to give the needed strength. Humility depends on God and joyfully
gives all credit to Him for a job well done. When a life is changed or a
miracle happens through the grace of God, all the praise goes to Jesus.
Romans 3:27 says it this way: "Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By
what law? of works? Nay but by the law of faith. "Paul wrote to the
Corinthians, But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to
confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to
 confound the things which are mighty; and base things of the world, and
things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are
not, to bring to naught things that are: that no flesh should glory in his
presence .... That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory
in the Lord. (1 Cor. 1:27-29, 31, emphasis added)

It is the will of God that Jesus receives all glory because everything will be
accomplished by His power working in us.
Since grace works in the heart, it produces change from the inside out. It is not
something that we have to force or do in our own strength. When it comes from our
hearts, it will be as natural as breathing. Because of grace in the heart, we can be
and do all that God requires and still abide in rest. Rest does not mean we do nothing
or become passive; rest is freedom from dead works. Rest means we do not have to
work for righteousness or acceptance.
Because I am free from dead works for righteousness and acceptance, I can
use my faith for righteousness. Then grace will bear fruit.
You obviously want to live "right." Now it is time to refocus your attention. It is
time to focus on your heart.
 Nine

Grace through Righteousness

W e've already established that under the law, man attempted to be right
before God in his own strength. This is called "works righteousness." The
weakness of the law, however, was the flesh. (See Romans 8:3.) No flesh has
ever been justified (made righteous) by the law. (See Galatians 2:16.) No one
has ever been able to measure up in his own strength.
Now, in the new covenant, we have "faith righteousness." Although many
people acknowledge this, few actually understand what it means or how it works.
When we talk of righteousness, we usually think of morality, character, or
actions. Though righteousness will produce these things, they are merely the fruit
of faith righteousness. They are not righteousness in their own merit.
In Philippians 3:4-6, Paul listed his "works righteousness credentials." Then
in verse 8 he said that he counted all that as "dung." He did not want to relate to
God based on these personal accomplishments and moral standards; he wanted
to relate to Him in faith righteousness. "And be found in him, not having mine
own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of
Christ, the righteousness which is of God by fait" (v. 9).
Jesus is our righteousness. He was completely obedient to the Father in
life, death, and resurrection. The following Scriptures are just a few that clearly
show that Jesus Himself was made our righteousness. Romans 3:25-26 says,

Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood,
to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past,
through the forbearance of God; to declare, I say, at this time his
righteousness: that he might be just [righteous], and the justifier of
him [the One who makes righteous] which believeth in Jesus.
(emphasis added)
 Romans 5:17 describes the righteousness as a gift. "For if by one man's
offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of
grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ"
Finally, 1 Corinthians 1:30 says plainly that Christ is made unto us righteousness.
"But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and
righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption." There are numerous other
Scriptures about the gift of righteousness, but these should be sufficient to prove
the Source of our righteousness.

We Are Empowered, Not Excused

The fact that Jesus is our righteousness does not free us from righteous
living; it simply determines the Source of our power to live right. It determines
what makes us acceptable to God. This is not an excuse to live an ungodly life.
This delivers us from excuses for ungodliness. If righteousness is a gift, we have
no reason to live anything but righteous lives.
We must keep in mind, however, that if a person does not believe in the
power of righteousness by the Lord Jesus, that person will never experience it in
the realm of practical application. He will falter through life, attempting to live
righteously. Sometimes he will be successful; other times, he won't.
. Satan tricks us into looking at our performance as the way to determine
our righteousness. That puts us back under the law, and he always uses law to
judge us. Once we enter into law, we enter into the knowledge of sin. With that
knowledge of sin comes condemnation, fear, discouragement, and depression.
We do not need to look at our performance to determine our righteousness.
We need only to ask ourselves this question: "Am I in Jesus?" If I am in Jesus,
then I am partaking of His righteousness. I am not dependent on my own
righteousness.
Remember, relying on Jesus' righteousness does not become an excuse; it
becomes an empowerment. As I acknowledge that I am righteous, as my heart is
persuaded about it, grace will flow out of my heart. Then I, like the apostle Paul,
will abandon any trust in my past performance.
Paul realized that the result of abandoning works righteousness and
entering into faith righteousness is knowing and sharing in the resurrection power
of Jesus. It is that resurrection Power that transforms us into the likeness of
Christ. In Ephesians 1:19-20, Paul said that the same resurrection power that
raised Jesus from the dead is the same power that now works in us. All this is
possible only through faith righteousness.

We Can Have God's Quality of Life

The Bible says, "He that hath the Son hath life" (1 John 5:12), and “I am
come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly
(John 10:10). These verses, and the majority of New Testament verses about
life, refer to a quality of life. The Biblio Theological Lexicon of New Testament
Greek says zoe (the Greek word for life) speaks of a quality of life as possessed
by the One who gives it. Thus, becoming saved (sozo) means to receive the
quality of life that God has.
Obviously, not every born-again believer is experiencing the quality of life
Jesus came to give. The reasons for that are a lack of understanding (see
Ephesians 4:18) and a failure to receive the grace (ability) of God. Grace (God's
ability) will bring us into the zoe or resurrection life of Jesus.
God's grace can work only through righteousness. Romans 5:21 says,
"That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through
righteousness unto eternal life [zoe] by Jesus Christ our Lord" When sin reigns in
one's life, it will ultimately bring that person to death. Sin always results in death.
If we allow it to reign in our lives, we cannot experience the abundant life God
promises.
On the other hand, when grace reigns, it will ultimately produce life (zoe),
the quality of life that God has. Grace makes one able to receive that life. Grace
makes one able to walk out that kind of life. Grace reigns in one's life through
righteousness. We are under grace; it has been given by the Lord Jesus.
However, it can reign as the power and strength of our lives only if it has a
righteous heart through which to work.

A Straight Heart

So what is righteousness of heart? Just as there is a difference in being

righteous and living righteously, there is also a difference between having a
righteous spirit and having a righteous heart. Remember, our spirits were made
righteous the moment we accepted Jesus. Our hearts, however, are righteous
only when we believe the truth. Romans 10:10 says, “For with the heart man
believeth unto righteousness” (emphasis added). This verse specifically talks
of believing the truth about the Lordship of Jesus, about God's raising Him from
the dead. Only when one believes the truth of God's Word does he have
righteousness of heart.
Although there are different words used for righteousness in the Bible, often
when referring to the heart, the word righteousness means right or straight. We
are right only when we see it God's way. Proverbs talks about unrighteousness
as "forwardness" (see Proverbs 2:14; 6:14; 10:32), and “perverseness” (see
Proverbs 11:3; 15:4) of heart. Commonly these words simply mean crooked. God
works only in righteousness and truth. (See Ephesians 5:9.) Faith works only in
righteousness and truth. Before a person can do anything with God, he must
believe the truth. He must believe "straight."
It is fairly easy to believe the truth about Jesus. It is easy to believe truth
about many things. The difficulty in believing truth comes when we read what
God says about us. When we see how the Bible describes us, we spiritualize,
dispensationalize, and "flatly deny" that we could possibly be what God says we
are. A crooked heart does not believe what God says. Therefore, it cannot
receive the grace (God's ability) to become what God says. Remember, grace
reigns through righteousness. "He that hath a froward [crooked] heart findeth no
good (Prov. 17:20).
 A righteous heart believes what God says about everything whether or not it
sees or understands it. Paul said,

Therefore being justified [made righteous] by faith, we have peace

with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: by whom also we have
access by faith into this grace [ability of God] wherein we stand, and
rejoice [joyfully boast] in hope [confident expectation] of the glory of
God. (Rom. 5:1-2, emphasis added)

In these verses, Paul acknowledged that faith provides access to God's

ability. We have confidence to do this because we have been made righteous by
faith instead of works. Paul went on to say that he boasted (rejoiced) in the
confident expectation (hope) of the glory of God.

The Reality of God and Grace

All this makes sense when we understand the glory of God. In Romans 6:4,
we are told that Jesus was raised from the dead by God's glory. This is what Paul
was talking about when he said the power that raised Jesus from the dead is the
same power that works in us (Eph. 1:19-20). Thus, the glory of God is working in
me because the glory of God is what raised Jesus from the dead. But what
exactly is this glory?
When we think of glory, we usually think of light, brightness, and splendour.
That is a part of God's glory, though it is probably a by-product of glory more than
it is a definition of glory. The word light is usually synonymous with truth. SO we
could say that truth always produces light, brightness, and splendour. However,
the word glory in Romans 5:2 means the opinion, judgment, or view, especially
the good opinion that is reality. So the glory of God, which produces light,
splendour, and brightness, is the view of God, which is reality. As a result,
righteousness believes the view of God to be reality despite personal views or
opinions
 So Paul said, "I boast in God's view regardless of my view. I am going to
see it the way God sees it." That is truth and that is righteousness. In
Romans 5:3, Paul continued, “and not only so, but we glory [joyfully boast] in
tribulations.” In other words, even in tribulations, when things look the worst,
when there is no reason to believe the best, Paul said, "I'm going to keep joyfully
boasting in my confident expectation of the view and opinion of God, because
that is reality."
How I view it is not reality, how you see it is not reality, but how God sees it
is reality. Unfortunately, we spend our entire lives making decisions based on our
perceptions of reality instead of on reality. Thus, we never live in the reality of
God's abundant life. When we see and believe it the way God sees it, we have a
righteous heart. But remember, salvation (sozo) comes only when we confess
the truth with our mouths. (See Romans 10:10) So like Paul, we must confidently
boast in the truth and reality of God's Word. When we follow this process in any
area, God's ability goes to work in us in that area. That ability makes our
confident confession a reality. A straight heart produces a straight confession,
which brings forth the view and opinion of God. Therefore, grace reigns through
righteousness (believing the truth in the heart).

Use Your Mouth

Paul's joyful boasting, or what some would call confessing, is very important
to do during times of tribulation. Tribulation does not come to develop you or help
you; it comes to destroy you. Your response to tribulation is what determines its
effect.
When going through difficult times, it is essential that your heart remains
stable and steadfast in truth. When your heart begins to waver, then to the same
degree that your emotions begin to change, you will hinder grace from flowing
out of you. Once you stop the flow of grace, you are limited to the extent of your
own ability.
 There are hundreds of Scriptures about the power of speaking. Confession,
in the strictest sense, is to say something because it is in your heart. Often what
we are saying with our mouths is not really a confession because it is not true in
our hearts.
However, the power of speaking is clearly a part of persuasion. People are
persuaded about Jesus because of the words they hear. Proverbs tells us how
we use our mouths to deliver ourselves from destruction. I believe that is the
power of persuasion.
I have heard it said that the part of our brains that controls speech
dominates every other function of the brain. I cannot prove that. However, the
Bible says in James that I can turn my body in any direction with my tongue. (See
James 3:4-5.) Proverbs tells me that "death and life are in the power of the
tongue" (Prov. 18:21). Therefore, I will use my tongue to feed myself life.
When my emotions begin to deny the Word of God, I know that does not
change the Word. I also know, however, that without consistent emotions, it will
be difficult for me to walk in truth. When I realize the negative change in my
emotions, I use my mouth to turn the tide. The words that I speak help keep my
heart in righteousness, straight with the Word of God. Then grace freely flows
from a heart that believes in the righteousness of Jesus that is in me.
 Chapter Ten

The Breastplate of Righteousness

P roverbs 4:23 in The Amplified Bible says, "Keep and guard your heart with
all vigilance and above all that you guard, for out of it flow the springs of
life." The heart is the seat of your being. It is the real you. All you are is a
mirrored reflection of the condition of your heart. I cannot emphasize this enough!
Again, the heart is the seat of the emotions. It is the spiritual strength,
intellectual life, and inner nature of man; it is the source of emotions, feelings,
instincts, and passions. The Bible identifies it as the source of joy, gladness,
courage, cowardice, fear, faith, love, hatred, and anger. In the heart, the Word of
God is kept, the peace of God begins to rule, and God gives strength. In short, all
that your life is, or has been, is the product of your heart.
Because the church has so little understanding of the heart, it has placed
almost total emphasis on actions and externals. The church has tried to relate to
God externally while God wants to relate to us internally. Everything we try so
hard to accomplish by the "sweat of our brows" could be accomplished so much
more easily if we would allow God to change our hearts. When our hearts have
been changed, we do things because we want to. When we are driven by works,
we do things because we have to. Grace does not just change the action; it
changes the intention.
As we found earlier, “A froward [crooked] heart findeth no good”
(Prov. 17:20). Proverbs 10:29 says, “The way of the LORD is strength to the
upright: but destruction shall be to the workers of iniquity.” Not only does God's
Word not work for the crooked of heart, but it is also destruction for them. The
crooked of heart are offended at the promises of God. His promise of a new
identity and supernatural ability makes no sense to the carnal mind.
 Real Righteousness Believes

In actuality, the promises of God belong only to the righteous, to those who
believe the truth. There are many moral people who are totally unrighteous
before God. If righteousness were a matter of moral living alone, then people
could get saved apart from Jesus. Since man cannot become righteous enough
to be saved by his own merit, he is saved when he becomes righteous through
Jesus. In other words, he accepts the free gift of righteousness. When he rejects
that righteousness and attempts to be made righteous in his own efforts, he
remains unrighteous before God. Remember, an unrighteous heart is a heart that
is not straight with what God says.
Isaiah 64:6 should give us an absolute view of our efforts for righteousness:
"But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousness’s are as filthy
rags." Any righteousness that we could perform is just not good enough for God.
It will not make us acceptable. It is a righteousness that comes by our abilities,
not His. It is a righteousness that brings us glory, not Him.
It is also a righteousness that excludes people due to their inabilities. Works
righteousness brings glory to the gifted and the strong, but it brings shame to the
weak and incapable. It offers hope only for those who "can," but does nothing for
those who cannot. The Bible says "God so loved the world" (John 3:16), not just
the strong and capable. Romans 4:16 states this in no uncertain terms.

Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise

might be sure to all the seed not to that only which is of the law, but to
that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all.

Many morally righteous people who want to serve God are stumbling over
the stumbling stone described in Romans 9:30-33. Then as Romans 10:2 says,
"They have a zeal of God but not according to knowledge." Romans 10:3
continues, "For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to
establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the
righteousness of God." These people make their own righteousness their
confidence before God. Since their righteousness is unacceptable, these
individuals have alienated themselves from the promises of God. Therefore, the
Word of God will not work for them. God's Word will work for you only in the area
you believe it in your heart.
Righteousness not only believes God's Word will work, but also believes it
will work the way God says it will work. Initially, Abraham believed he could have
a son; he just did not believe it would happen the way God said it would.
Abraham launched out in his own strength, and the way of the Lord that was
meant to be life became destruction. Abraham's carnal attempt to fulfill the
promise produced the Arab nations that live for the destruction of Israel to this
day.
God did not want Abraham to have a son by Hagar He wanted Sarah to
bear him a son. In Genesis 15:6, we read that Abraham believed God, but it was
not until chapter 17 that he believed it God's way. In Genesis 17:2, God basically
said, "Now I can put the covenant into operation." Many people believe God can
get you to heaven, but there have been wars fought over how that will take place.
Righteousness knows that all God does in the new covenant is based on the
finished work of Jesus.

Abraham, the Father of Our Faith

Abraham was the father of faith. He was the example to the Jews about
faith-not faith in general, but the faith righteousness that was to come.
As far as performance was concerned, Abraham could be considered a
failure. He failed at nearly every point. Things God said not to do, he did. Things
God said to do, he did a different way. God told him to come out of Ur of the
Chaldees alone; he brought his entire family. Even at that, the Scripture says
plainly that it was his father who instigated that act of obedience. (See
Genesis 11:31.)
 When Abram left Ur, instead of going where he was supposed to go, he
tarried at Haran until the death of his father. This caused him to arrive in the land
of Canaan late; therefore, he was faced with a famine immediately.
Instead of abiding where God had led him, he went to Egypt. While there,
he gave the woman whom God wanted to use to bring forth the bloodline of the
Messiah to another man. Think of it! That is nothing short of prostitution for
protection.
Also while in Egypt, he picked up a servant named Hagar with whom he
later committed adultery and produced the present-day Arab nations. He wanted
the child by Hagar to be the one who received the inheritance; God had chosen
Sarah to bear Isaac. Ultimately, Abraham's compromise was so excessive that
God made him send the first son away.
Throughout his entire walk with God, Abraham had to be reassured of his
relationship with the Lord through supernatural means. Yet, in spite of all his
failures, God called him righteous. “And he [Abraham] believed in the LORD; and
he counted it to him for righteousness" (Gen. 15:6).
When we look at the context of Romans 4, we see that Abraham is an
example of faith to us, not because he believed he would have a son. He was the
father of faith because he believed what God said.
Romans 4:17 is probably one of the most misquoted faith Scriptures in the
Bible. "(As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him
whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things
which be not as though they were." This is not a Scripture about Abraham's
calling "those things which be not as though they were." It is a Scripture about
God calling those things that "be not as though they were." The thing that "was
not" was Abraham's righteousness. God called him righteous and related to him
as righteous, even though he was not.
Abraham is our example of a man who trusted and related to God solely on
the integrity of God's Word. Abraham believed he was a friend of God. Abraham
accepted God's opinion of him as righteous. The primary difference between us
and Abraham is that we are righteous! Abraham was only considered righteous.
His righteousness was imputed to him. We have been made righteous by the
finished work of Jesus.
Abraham, with all his failures, was still able to relate to God by God's
definition of righteousness, not his own. Our greatest challenge of faith will not be
faith for things. Our greatest challenge of faith will be faith righteousness. We all
believe we should be righteous. We all know God requires righteousness, but we
fail to believe it comes the way He says it does.

Guarding the Heart

A crooked heart may believe the truth, but that truth is slightly bent to that
heart's own preference. That perversion of the truth is destructive because it will
not work. God works in righteousness (straight). Since the Word of God is called
light, we gain much understanding about truth by understanding light. When light
bends, it changes colors. We have all seen small prisms hanging in a window.
When the light shines in, it is clear and colorless. However, when that light is
bent, it comes out many different colors. Likewise, the pure Word of God can
enter into a crooked heart-a heart of prejudice, preference, or tradition-and be
dispersed into an understanding different from how it came in. In other words, we
can actually hear one thing and understand it to be something totally different
from what was said. For this reason we must continually guard our hearts.
Ephesians 6:14 tells us to put on the breastplate of righteousness. The
breastplate protects the heart. We must guard our hearts with God's
righteousness. We should not allow anything other than the Word of God to enter
our hearts. Neither must we expose ourselves to those things that twist or distort
the Word in any way.
This is especially true in the area of righteousness. What you believe about
righteousness will affect your heart more than anything else you believe. What
you believe about righteousness will determine whether the Word of God will
work in your life.
 In Romans 1:16, Paul set forth an explanation of the Gospel and an
understanding of how the power of God works: "for I am not ashamed of the
gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that
believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek." The power of God works
through the gospel of Christ. Therefore, if I believe the gospel of Christ, the
power of God should work in my life. If the power of God is not working in my life,
then I must examine my version of the gospel.
In verse 17, Paul clued us in to his understanding of the gospel of Christ.
“For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is
written, The just shall live by faith.” The Gospel reveals righteousness “From faith
to faith,” not faith to works.
Any message that does not reveal righteousness from faith to faith is not
the Gospel (Good News) at all. The Good News about Jesus is that He obtained
righteousness by His faith, and we accept that righteousness with our faith.
Nothing else is good news; it is just law and works rehashed.
Thus, in order to guard our hearts, we must, first and foremost, guard them
in the area of our righteousness. We must not allow anything to creep into our
belief systems that will bring us back under law for righteousness. This is the
issue of the majority of the New Testament.
The moment I start trusting in my righteousness, according to
Galatians 2:21, the grace of God is neutralized. It stops working. Christ stops
being able to affect my life. I am limited to my own ability to live righteous. God's
ability no longer has access to my heart. This does not mean I will immediately
fall into sin. Rather, it means I will conquer only the sins that I have the ability to
conquer It means I can live only as clean as I have the ability It means that I will
eventually grow weary from doing good deeds, and that I will become bitter when
things don't work out as they should. (See Hebrews 12:15.) It means that if I get
tired, angry, or weak in any way, I will fall.
If what you have works only when you try "really hard," it is not grace. If you
succeed only when you have the ability, it is not grace. If you have protection just
on the day you pray, then it is not grace. If your emotions change based on your
performance, it is not grace.
If you are a strong person, you can live a pretty decent moral life without
grace-but you will never enter into rest. You will never experience any more in
this life than you have the ability to produce.
I know the frailty of my own ability. I can clearly remember where my ability
got me. I don't want that again. Therefore, I guard my heart. I refuse to listen to
anything that would move me away from my confidence in Jesus and cause me
to put confidence in the flesh (my ability).

Be Careful What You Hear

We are told not only to avoid those calling themselves brothers while they
are still living in sin, but also to avoid those having "a form of godliness, but
denying the power thereof" (2 Tim. 3:5). We, like the disciples, are to avoid the
leaven of the Pharisees. In 1 Corinthians 1:17, Paul warned that the wisdom of
words makes the cross of Christ to be of no effect. There are those who believe
in Jesus; they are saved and are on their way to heaven. They just do not believe
God can do what the Bible says He can-in their lives. There are also those who
have wise-sounding persuasion that turns the weak away from the faith.
Proverbs commands, "Cease, my son, to hear instruction that causeth to err from
the words of knowledge" (Prov. 19:27).
This is not a call for judgment or criticism but for protection. All you hear and
see will try to capture your heart. The breastplate of righteousness says, "No! If
it's not in the Bible and of faith (the finished work of Jesus), I won't hear it." It was
input from a fellow Israelite that challenged the call of Moses. It was input from
his brothers that tried to rob Joseph of his dream. It was input from his own family
that tried to keep Jesus from being who and what the Scripture said about Him. It
was input from one of His most devoted apostles that tried to keep Jesus from
going to the Cross. Likewise, it will be input from well-meaning, good people that
will try to make you think your righteousness depends on your performance.
 As harsh as it may sound, the Bible says, “let God be true, but every man a
liar” (Rom. 3:4). No matter how sincere or reasonable any counsel may sound, if
it refutes the promises of God, you cannot accept or entertain it. Regardless of
how godly or stable the person may be who offers such counsel, reject the
counsel. Just don't reject the person. "Prove all things; hold fast that which is
good" (1 Thess. 5:21).

Raise the Shield of Faith

By wearing the breastplate of righteousness, we operate in the realm of

protection instead of cure. We protect our hearts from becoming crooked. We
prevent unbelief instead of having to come out of it.
When any fiery dart comes, we are told how to handle it and be confident of
absolute victory. Ephesians 6:16 promises, "Above all, taking the shield of faith,
wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked "When we
understand faith righteousness, we develop an entirely new concept of walking in
faith.
If you study the Bible, you will find that the New Testament actually teaches
very little about faith for things. From Romans forward, nearly every mention of
faith deals with identity or righteousness. To raise the shield of faith is to raise or
bring forth your righteousness, which is of Jesus.
Regardless of the situation, when we begin to look at, acknowledge,
confess, or bring to mind the fact that we are righteous, then the grace of God
flows from our hearts and makes us able to live that righteousness.
Too often we raise the shield of faith in our righteousness, rather than
relying on Christ? Righteousness at work in us. We ask ourselves, "Have I
prayed enough? Have I confessed long enough? Have I been good enough?
Have I done anything wrong?" The list is endless. And we always find a flaw. But
my confidence is in nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness, which is
sufficient.
 Raising the shield of faith is very simply the continual rejection of anything
not based on the finished work of Jesus. Wearing the breastplate of
righteousness is guarding the heart with the righteousness we have in Jesus.
 Eleven

The Doorway to the Heart

T he first entrance to the heart from this world is through the natural senses.
Each sense is very powerful: taste, touch, smell, hearing, and sight. We
have what seem to be corresponding senses in the spirit realm. The problem is,
however, that we are more aware of input from this world than we are from the
spirit world.
It is this world's input that we spend years receiving in school, on the
evening news, and from messages that deny the power of God. The influence of
the temporal world in our lives goes far beyond what most people imagine.
The term world often speaks of the world's system, which is completely
different from God's system. Most of us have spent a lifetime learning how to
successfully function within the world's system.
When we are born again, we fail to renew our minds after God's Word,
Instead we take the wisdom of the world's system and try to function in the
kingdom of God. It doesn't work. Romans 8:6 points out, 'For to be carnally
minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace."
The carnal mind is a mind that is set on the flesh-specifically the ability of
the flesh to make one righteous. In the world's way of thinking, it makes sense
that we would become righteous by doing righteous deeds, but that is being
carnally minded. That is a mind that understands things according to the flesh.
The carnal mind can never grasp that a righteous lifestyle flows forth from a
person who is righteous.
Every believer must renew his mind if he is ever to function successfully in
the kingdom of God. We must see things the way God says they are, not the way
we decide they are. Our perception of reality must be totally consistent with
God's; otherwise, we will fall into the category of the carnally minded.
 Internal Information Produces External Actions

There is a very definite process by which we establish information in our

hearts. Once we have received any input, whether true or false, we usually begin
to think on it. Once we begin to think on anything-particularly those things that
produce emotions-it begins to affect our hearts. In Mark 4:24, Jesus shows us
how information is able to affect our lives. "And He said to them, Be careful what
you are hearing. The measure [of thought and study] you give [to the truth you
hear] will be the measure [of virtue and knowledge] that comes back to you-and
more [besides] will be given to you who hear" (AMP).
Simply hearing a truth may not affect your life; but when you begin to think
or meditate on it, it will. As you meditate on truth, - that truth begins to be
revealed, expanded, and made alive to you. As you ponder what you hear, those
thoughts begin to affect your emotions and ultimately find their way into your
heart.
Proverbs 23:7 says, “For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he.” This
Scripture contains a wealth of information. First, it simply states what we have
already seen. A man is what he is in his heart. One will rarely rise above the
condition of his heart. If he does, those times will be short and inconsistent. Your
heart affects your life more than anything else. That is the standard you will
always return to, no matter what happens.
Most people have emotional standards, health standards, financial
standards, weight standards, relationship standards-life standards-that have
been established in their hearts throughout the years. No matter what good
fortune or misfortune comes along, they will always end up back at the level of
their hearts.
The word "thinketh" in Proverbs 23:7 comes from two words. One means to
split open and the other means porter or gatekeeper. The idea is this: your
thoughts are the doorkeeper of your heart. The doorkeeper decides what will get
in and out of the door. If your thoughts are thoughts of fear, the doorkeeper of
your heart will become fear. The doorkeeper will let in, and it will let out, only
those things that reinforce fear. Those thoughts you dwell on are forming your
heart to make it straight or crooked. Every minute of every day, what you think is
determining what your life will become.
Thoughts are like a guidance system in a missile. Some visual guidance
systems capture an image of their target, then follow that image until they reach
the destination-which is destruction. Likewise, our thoughts create images that
guide our lives. We will unconsciously gravitate toward the direction of our
thoughts.
If you think thoughts of fear, unbelief, or self-abasement, you will develop a
heart to live that kind of life. If you think thoughts of faith, confidence, and self-
worth, you will develop a heart that can receive the grace of God to fulfil those
thoughts.
Again, your thoughts are the doorkeeper of your heart, and thoughts will
give entry only to those thoughts that are after their own kind. If you were to go
on a trip and leave a guard at your door, you would certainly want someone who
would be honest and dependable. An honest man would stop the destroyer. A
dishonest man would yield. Likewise, your thoughts determine what will have
entry into your heart.
In some areas, you may believe exactly what the Word says and have
absolute victory in that area. However, in another area you may not believe the
truth. Therefore, you do not have the grace (God's ability) to live that truth. Grace
is not a generalized function; it is not one of those things that you either have or
don't have. There may be areas of your life in which it is easy to trust God; there
may be other areas where it is impossible for you to trust God. Again, it is all a
matter of what you believe about your righteousness.
When a person is established in faith righteousness, he becomes more
stable in every area of life. Second Peter 2:8 teaches that what we see and hear
has the power to vex our souls. When people are vexed, they are emotionally
consumed. Their thoughts tend to be totally captivated by a person or situation.
They are so consumed with that situation that just thinking about it produces the
associated emotions.
 A person who is vexed by a fear can think of the thing he fears, and it will
produce emotions that come forth as if the thing he feared was actually
happening. A person who is consumed with a sexual sin can think of that sin or a
particular person and immediately be aroused. Therefore, he becomes
consumed and totally dominated by his emotions.

Decisions Are Based on Beliefs

The will is determined, among other things, by emotions. The will is a

function of the soul. The soul seems to consist of the mind (thoughts), the
emotions (feelings), and the will (the ability to make decisions).
If we begin to think we are unrighteous or unacceptable to God, we begin to
have feelings of unrighteousness; ultimately, we make decisions out of those
thoughts and emotions. If those thoughts ever get established in our hearts, we
will never rise above them without a change of heart.
Proverbs 12:6 says, "The words of the wicked are to lie in wait for blood but
the mouth of the upright shall deliver them." Words have the potential to take our
blood. Not every word that you hear has the ability to take your blood-only the
ones you think on when you think on truth or lies to the extent that they begin to
affect your emotions, they are controlling your life. If you focus on them long
enough, they will become part of your belief system-and those beliefs become
the primary factor in your victory or defeat.
The Bible speaks of thoughts and feelings that come from the mind as well
as from the deeper level of the heart. The thoughts and feelings that come from
the heart-which is the seat of your beliefs come effortlessly and guide your life's
direction. For this reason, we must believe the truth about the finished work of
Jesus. Nothing affects your life more than what you believe about your
righteousness.
If you believe God cannot change you or if you believe you cannot come out
of your sins, your heart is crooked in that area. The condition of your heart will
determine what will happen in your life. Where there is no righteousness, grace
cannot bring life. But when a person believes that he is righteous, the grace
(ability of God) to live righteous flows forth from his heart.
Our real struggle in life is in the area of believing, not doing. You can do and
not believe, but you can't believe and not do. Our belief systems affect every
area of our lives.

Bring Your Thoughts in Line with the Word

Second Corinthians 10:3 says, “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not
war after the flesh.” Although we live in a body of flesh, our means of fighting the
battles of life should never be according to our natural power. In
2 Corinthians 10:5, this warfare is described as taking place in the mind: "Casting
down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the
knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of
Christ."
Vain imaginations or reasonings rise up in us and try to steal God's
promises from us. Rationalizations tell us why we are the way we are-not who
and what God says we are. Thus, our struggle is not with the devil; our struggle
is with our own minds. We don't believe in the finished work of Jesus. Our hearts
are not straight (righteous).
All such imaginations are the product of a crooked heart, a heart that has
been bent to line up with what others have said about us. We have cast aside the
truth of God's Word and accepted the things we reason to be acceptable. Verse
4 tells us to pull down these strongholds with the mighty power of God, but these
strongholds are not in the heavenly places. They are not demons. These
strongholds are thoughts and imaginations that are not based on truth. The result
of disobedience is disastrous. In God's Word, we read,

But this thing commanded I them, saying, Obey my voice, and I will be
your God, and ye shall be my people: and walk ye in all the ways that I
have commanded you, that it may be well unto you. But they
 hearkened not, nor inclined their ear, but walked in the counsels and
in the imagination of their evil heart and went backward, and not
forward (Jer. 7:23-24)

Any imaginations that are not consistent with the Word will cause us to go
backward. They will guide our lives into total destruction by alienating us from
God's grace. Every thought that is not consistent with the revealed knowledge of
God is a stronghold and must be cast down.
A thought is not cast down, however, by our screaming at it in the name of
Jesus. Second Corinthians says to bring our thoughts captive to the obedience of
Christ. How do you do that? Simple! Jesus conquered every sin; therefore, you
don't have to try to conquer them. When the thought, "I am vulnerable," comes,
the question is not my obedience. The question is Jesus' obedience.
Did Jesus conquer this sin when He rose from the dead? Yes! Am I in
Jesus? Yes! Then I am righteous and free from sin. When I begin to
acknowledge that Jesus conquered sin and gave me righteousness by His
resurrection, then grace to live that righteousness begins to flow through my life. I
am not trying to make those thoughts obey me. I am bringing those thoughts in
line with what Jesus' obedience has already provided.
In reality, if Jesus is Lord of our lives, then we are obligated to believe only
what God says about us. We have no right to believe or think anything that can't
be substantiated by God's Word. When thoughts arise that do not line up with the
promises of God, they must be dealt with immediately. Remember the shield of
faith? “Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench
all the fiery darts of the wicked” (Eph. 6:16). The shield of faith will not quench
some of the fiery darts; it will quench or extinguish all of them. Those fiery darts
are the words, thoughts, or lusts that rise up to take your blood.
 Go on the Offensive: Speak the Truth

Do not allow unrighteous thoughts to reside in your mind. Remember, any

thought that does not line up with the finished work of Jesus is unrighteous. That
unrighteousness will prevent God's grace from working in you. Always replace
unscriptural thoughts with the promises of God. Settle every question about
righteousness with the acknowledgment of Jesus' righteousness and the fact that
you are in Him.
If your soul has been vexed, you cannot change your thoughts by simply
trying to think on something else. The second half of Proverbs 12:6 says, "The
mouth of the upright [righteous] shall deliver them." Paul said he boasted in his
confident expectation of the view and opinion of God, which was reality. (See
Romans 5:2.) This is how Paul prevailed in tribulation. This is also how you and I
can prevail in the battle against sin, poor self-worth, and anything else that keeps
us from walking in all that God says we can.
As I begin to verbally acknowledge my righteousness in Jesus, my every
emotion begins to come in line with that truth. It is not something I am simply
saying; it is a fact that I believe and that I feel. The truth is, you can't give in to sin
when you feel righteous.
Conquering your thought life-more than any other single thing-will guard
your heart against those things that rise up against the Word of God. When any
thought or word tries to take your thoughts captive, you must raise the shield of
faith. It is not enough to try to change what you think. When something has you
vexed, YOU must speak God's truth out of your mouth. Proverbs 12:6 says, "The
mouth of the upright shall deliver them." Boldly speak God's Word until your
thoughts and emotions come back in line and you do not frustrate the grace of
God.
It is said that it takes only weeks to establish a habit. Just think, it takes only
six to eight weeks for anything to become natural. By consistently bringing your
thoughts in line for a short time, you could totally transform your thinking habits.
Six or eight weeks is a small price to pay for a lifetime of victory.
 By habitually thinking thoughts that are consistent with God's Word, the
doorway to your heart will allow only faith and grace to reign in your life.
 Twelve

Coming Out of the Grave

W hat shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?
God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?"
(Rom. 6:1-2). As we discussed previously, grace is not God's ability to overlook
sin. Rather, God is merciful to us when we sin. Because He is merciful, we can
receive forgiveness, reconciliation, and grace (God's ability) to overcome sin.
However, now that God has given us the ability to overcome sin, we are more
obligated to deal with it. The true message of grace requires more responsibility
on the part of every believer. Because of God's grace, we now have no excuse
for sin.
We will deal with our sin only when we have removed every excuse for
staying in it. Romans 6:14 says it plainly: “For sin shall not be your master,
because you are not under law, but under grace” (NIV). That should be the end
of all discussion. You will recall that righteousness demands that we see it God's
way. So sin does not have any power over us now that we are in grace. When
we were in the flesh, dependent on our power, sin reigned over us. But now we
have the power of God. Sin has no place in our lives.

The Power That Works in Us

Now that we have accepted God's view, we have no excuse to stay in sin;
we must deal with sin in a biblical way. Trying to conquer sin by works, mere will,
or tenacity will be a very frustrating and self-righteous experience. We feel good
about ourselves as long as we do good. We do good as long as we are able; but
when we are no longer able, we will not do good. Then we will not feel good, and
we will not have victory.
 Self-righteousness feels good about self only as long as self is doing
righteous works. Faith righteousness feels good about self as long as self is in
Christ.
In Ephesians 1, Paul prayed that we would have revelation knowledge
about three particular things. One of the things he prayed is for us to understand
"the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe" (Eph. 1:19). If we
are to have victory, it is essential that we understand the power of God that
works in our lives. Paul described this power to be

according to the working of his mighty power, which he wrought in

Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right
hand in heavenly places, far above all principality and power, and
might, and dominion, and every name that is named (Eph. 1:19-21)

The power that works in us is resurrection power. It is the same power that
went into the grave to raise Jesus from the dead. It is the power that caused Him
to be victorious over all other power.
Before coming to Jesus, we were dead in sin. We could not stop sinning,
and we could not stop the results of sin. Jesus said in John 5:24, "Verily, verily, I
say unto you, He that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me, hath
everlasting life, and shall not come lnto condemnation; but is passed from death
unto life." We were already dead; therefore, salvation is a resurrection from the
dead.
The Bible teaches that Jesus became sin. If He died as a sinner and took
the punishment that we deserve, then there is no doubt that He went to hell at
death. Laden with the sins of the world, He was bound to the sinner's eternal
destiny. All this was to deliver us from that penalty. Yet He did not remain in hell.
The Scripture was fulfilled: "Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell" (Acts 2:27).
How did Jesus come out of the grave? When Jesus rose from the dead, He
did not just conquer sin. He conquered sin and death. It is obvious that the
resurrection gave Him victory over death, but what gave Him victory over sin?
 Since Jesus died a sinner, it was the sins of the world that held Him in hell.
So when the Spirit of God entered the bowels of the earth to come upon the Lord
Jesus, He had to break the power of sin. Likewise, He had to break every
demonic stronghold in the earth and in the heavens. As a result, all the sin of the
world and all the forces of darkness could not keep Jesus from rising and
ascending to the Father.
When Jesus came out of that grave, He not only conquered death; He also
conquered sin. In actuality, Jesus didn't nail sins to the cross. According to
Colossians 2:14, He nailed the law to the cross. That verse says, He “blott[ed]
out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us,
and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross."
He nailed the law to the cross. He bore our sins to hell. The Old Testament
type is seen in the scapegoat, which bore the sins of the people outside the
camp. It was those sins that brought Him to the grave, but God raised Him from
the dead. That same power that raised Jesus from the dead is the power that
works in us. (See Ephesians 1:19-20.) It is that resurrection power that broke the
sins of the entire world that works in you to break your individual sins, to raise
you up into newness of life.

What Is Reality?

We did not get saved so that we could become righteous. We became

righteous so that we could be saved. One of the greatest tragedies of salvation
happens when a person is first born again: he is told only to believe on Jesus as
his Savior. He does not know that Jesus is his righteousness. He does not know
that He is giving him the power of righteousness.
Because of this ignorance, we are like the Galatians who started out by the
Spirit, then tried to come to perfection by their own efforts (the flesh). “Are ye so
foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?"
(Gal. 3:3).
 We were not given the gift of righteousness so that we could live in sin. We
were given righteousness so that we could be delivered from sin and its results.
Therefore, Colossians 3:1 declares, “If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those
things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God”
Romans 6:4 says it was the glory of God that raised Jesus from the dead.
Remember our previous discussion of glory? When we think of God's glory, we
usually think of His radiance, splendor, and brightness. His glory is all that, but it
is more. This word for glory means the view, judgment, and opinion of God,
which is reality. The way God sees it is the way it is. Regardless of how we see it
or understand it, God's view is reality.
Before Jesus ever was made flesh, before He ever walked the earth, before
He ever went to the cross, and before He ever went to hell, God had spoken the
reality. Men of old had prophesied about the cross and the judgment. It also had
been spoken that Jesus was the Lord of Glory. He was the Savior of all men. He
would be raised from the dead, and He would be a High Priest forever “after the
order of Melchizedek” (Ps. 110:4). That was the reality. It did not look like reality
when Jesus was on the cross. It did not look like reality when Jesus was in hell,
but it was.
The Messianic Psalms and the book of Jonah describe the torment that
went on while Jesus was in hell. Those passages show that He confessed God's
promises. The prophet Jonah confessed (as a type of Christ), "The LORD... He
heard me; ... thou heardest my voice" (Jonah 2:2); “I will look again toward thy
holy temple” (v. 4); “Thou brought up my life” (v. 6); "My prayer came in unto
thee, into thine holy temple" (v. 7); and “I will sacrifice unto thee .... Salvation is of
the LORD" (V. 9). These confessions of faith, worship, and trust were not made
after Jonah was delivered. They were made from the whale's belly, which was a
type of Jesus in hell. Jesus began to say, in hell, what God said. He began to
worshipfully speak God's view and opinion, which is reality. Those words brought
the Holy Spirit in and delivered Him from the chains of sin and death to make
Him the firstborn from the dead.
 This is why Paul could say in Romans 5:3, “And not only so, but we glory in
tribulations also.” That particular word for “glory” means joyful boast. Paul said in
the previous verses that he joyfully boasted in the glory (view and opinion) of
God. Even in tribulation, he boasted in God's view and opinion. Why? Because
that is reality.

Confess the Reality-God's View of You

No matter what you are struggling with, God's reality is that you have
victory. You are righteous. You are an over comer. But if you don't believe God's
view and opinion, grace cannot come forth and make you able to live in God's
reality.
When we go through tribulation, our hearts can be affected. We receive
negative, contrary information from many external sources. Our emotions might
begin to change and our hearts begin to waver, but we can stabilize our hearts
by what we say.
Even Jesus was nearly overcome by His emotions when He was in hell.
Jonah, as a type of Jesus, said, "The waters compassed me about, even to the
soul, the depth closed me round about, the weeds were wrapped about my head"
(Jonah 2:5). He was describing an extremely emotional situation.
Then in Jonah 2:7, we see the ultimate struggle. "When my soul fainted
within me I remembered the LORD: and my prayer came in unto thee, into thine
holy temple." Although all Jesus' emotions were being swayed, He remembered
the Lord God. Likewise, we must remember our Lord God. We must remember
and acknowledge what He has done, and we must completely believe in, rely on,
and acknowledge that finished work.
To be swayed by emotions, to make decisions from our perspective, is to
observe a lying vanity. Jonah 2:8 notes, "They that observe lying vanities forsake
their own mercy." Unfortunately, we tend to observe lying vanities-our views and
opinions-with no real regard or trust for the view and opinion of God.
 As we acknowledge what God says, our hearts become persuaded and
grace flows forth. Our emotions remain stable. We keep the doorkeeper of truth.
We maintain the breastplate of righteousness. We maintain a heart that the Holy
Spirit can work in and through.
We were born again by believing and confessing Jesus as the resurrected
Lord of our lives. (See Romans 10:10.) But we continue to come forth out of
those things that try to hold us in the grave of sin the same way. As we
worshipfully confess what God says about us, the Spirit of glory and grace raises
us from those things that try to claim lordship over us. The same Spirit that set
Christ at the right hand of the Father seats us in “heavenly places, far above all
principality and power, and might, and dominion” (Eph. 1:20-21), to partake of the
resurrected life.
 Thirteen

The Time of Need

W e all have had certain situations in which we wondered if we would

endure. I have seen people make great sacrifices at such times. With
admiration, I have wondered if I could make that same sacrifice-with joy. But
because of fear of certain situations, some people avoid specific types of
ministry; consequently, they may miss the call of God. Sadly, even the fear of
failure has kept many believers from having fruitful lives.
We often live in fear of certain temptations. We may have areas in which we
have repeatedly failed. We lose all confidence in ourselves and in God's ability to
deliver us in those particular areas. As a result, the fear of a certain sin keeps us
from even trying to deal with it. We remain bound and crippled by that fear.
One of the things I've noticed about the grace of God is that it comes only at
the point of need. Another thing I have seen is that when grace is working in us,
we always have peace and joy. I have endured many difficult situations with
unbelievable peace and joy. When I looked back, I would think, How did I endure
that? I knew that I could not go through it again. Then I realized that it was God's
strength that had brought me through.
Several years ago while working in street ministry, I had my life threatened
many times. More than once, people came to my house for the purpose of
attacking and possibly killing me. Although fear tried to dominate me, I was
amazed by the strength that came into me. Once a man threw me across the
hood of my car. He even had a gun in my face, but the peace of God was all over
me. That is not my normal response. But in the time of need, God can deliver us
from our normal and natural abilities.
 Not Until You Need It

Time after time, God has given me the ability to endure very difficult
situations with great joy, but the grace never came until the need was there.
When I began going out on the streets to witness, I always dreaded it. I knew
God wanted me to go, but I did not want to face the rejection. Often I would drive
around and around the block. I dreaded the very thought of getting out. I made
every imaginable excuse for not witnessing to anyone. However, as I prayed and
"went," grace began to work in me. Within a few minutes, I was powerfully
witnessing with great joy. The grace never came while I was waiting; it always
came as I was going.
The Bible says, “Faith without works is dead” (James 2:20). If I had
continued sitting in my car, praying and waiting on the Lord to give me strength, it
probably would not have come. But because I prayed in faith and expectancy, I
then began to take steps. First, I would park the car-still no strength. Then I
would get out of the car-still no strength. Then I would walk the streets,
reluctantly looking for someone to whom to witness-still no strength. Then I would
spot a target-still no strength. But when I opened my mouth, God's strength
came. The grace, strength, and ability of God came at the time of need. Real
faith took hold of grace.
The Bible tells us to “come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may
obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need” (Heb. 4:16). You do not get
the strength until there is a need. This is a key to walking in victory. Often the
fear of a situation is worse than the situation itself. In Psalm 64:1, David prayed,
“Hear my voice, O God, in my prayer: preserve my life from fear of the enemy.” It
was fear that was defeating him, not the enemy. Fear paralyzes our emotions.
When fear comes, all our strength floods out of our bodies. First John 4:18
accurately states that “fear hath torment.” However, we must realize when the
time of need arises that we can receive grace to conquer.
We do not need the grace now; we need it in the “time of need” Our
greatest times of need are not going to be in times of ministry. Our greatest times
of need will always be in day-to-day life. The battles to conquer attitudes and
temptations will be the greatest needs we ever have for grace.

Claim Your Righteousness in Christ

The Bible says to confidently approach God's throne during our times of
need. In the area of temptation, our greatest times of need are when we are
about to sin or when we have already sinned. These are the times that we should
have the least amount of boldness and the greatest amount of need.
If I am being drawn into sin, I must know that God still accepts me.
Otherwise I will not run to Him to receive mercy and grace to help in my time of
need. Out of fear and guilt, I will run from the One who is able to deliver me from
sin.
Likewise, if I have given in to a sin, I will never find God's ability to get out of
that sin if I cannot go to Him in confidence. The only thing that can produce that
kind of confidence is righteousness. If I am righteous, I am free to go to God at
any stage of the temptation and receive the grace I need.
This concept is totally unacceptable to the carnal mind. How can we call
ourselves righteous if we have sinned? Well, the Corinthian church was known
as the most carnal church in the New Testament. Yet they were the very people
to whom Paul said, "You are the righteousness of God in Christ." (See
2 Corinthians 5:21.)
If I deny my righteousness, I have not denied me; I have denied Christ.
Now, confessing your righteousness is not easy to do. When everything in your
emotions is telling you how unrighteous you are, it is not easy to stand there and
acknowledge your righteousness. Yet that is the only thing that will bring forth
grace. When righteousness is truly established in your heart, that will be the end
of your sin problem.
Hebrews 4:16 says to "come boldly unto the throne of grace." We may not
have boldness in conquering our sins. We may not have boldness in any of our
abilities, but we can have boldness and confidence in God. All we need to know
when approaching the throne of grace is the total acceptance of God. This
acceptance does not change us, but it places us in an environment conducive to
change. If we do not believe God's acceptance, we will never receive His grace.

You Must Decide

One thing God will never do is to violate your will. He will convict you, draw
you, and compel you, but He will not change your mind for you. God requires us
to repent. The word repent means to have a change of mind. We are required to
have a change of mind. Only after we have repented, changed our minds, and
made a decision will God move in our lives.
So many people look at a particular sin that has them bound-one that they
have fallen into repeatedly-and they lose their confidence to the point that they
are afraid to trust God. You ask them to make a decision, but they will not. Why?
They have failed so many times that they are afraid to step out again. Most
people's attitude about change of any kind is, "If I could, I would try to change."
The problem is that people are waiting until they feel they are able before they
will commit to anything. However, grace works just the opposite. The truth is, if
they would try to change, they could.
We have to will to do something before the grace of God can make us able.
We are not robots; we have a will. Until we repent, until we change our minds, we
limit what God can do.
I have learned that my job is to decide (repent) and trust God to make me
able. It is then God's job to empower me. Isaiah said, “If ye be willing and
obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land” (Isa. 1:19). Most people understand
the need for obedience, but few understand the need for willingness.
In most cases of failure, a clear-cut decision was never made. Those
individuals decided to "try" to change. They wanted something to happen, but
they never decided, "I have victory over this thing now." Most people are afraid to
make those kinds of decisions, yet that is precisely what it takes to get the job
done.
 The reason we are not willing to commit to absolute victory is because we
base our believing on our own track records. We try to bring everything captive to
our level of obedience instead of to Jesus' level of obedience.
If my level of obedience was all that great, I would not need Jesus. I would
not have any problems. The fact that I need to make changes, the fact that I have
problems, tells me I can have little or no confidence in my abilities. However, I
can make an absolutely confident decision about victory in any area if I base it on
the finished work of Jesus. I do not need to fear the limitations of His ability.
On the practical side, I also have learned that change that does not come
immediately is no reflection of whether change will come. There have been some
areas where I have made absolute decisions and commitments to change, and
those changes were slow in coming. Why? God had to work in my heart to bring
about those changes. But I am no longer afraid to decide.

Don't 'Try"; Decide

Remember, faith righteousness takes hold of grace. (See Ephesians 2:8.)

We must use our faith righteousness to access the grace we need for every
situation. Faith believes and confesses the Word of God, which brings the grace
for salvation. (See Romans 10:10.) Faith makes a positive, present-tense
confession and decision. Faith does not believe God is going to; faith believes
God has. Faith knows that the work of the Cross is complete; therefore, it is all
available to US now.
When you were born again, it did not happen because you decided to give
God a try. If you are like me, you "tried" several times before you made a real
decision. You see, I was afraid to make an absolute decision. I was afraid I could
not do it. So I gave it a try. I was right; I could not do it. I did not have the strength
to live for God.
One day I made a decision. I believed the truth, I made a firm confession of
my commitment to Jesus, and I was able. I did not understand what took place at
the time, but I know now. Faith makes an absolute decision, and it takes faith to
get grace. Job 22:28 says, "You shall also decide and decree a thing and it shall
be established" (AMP).
Sin is rooted in self-centeredness. Because a certain sin gratifies our
desires, we give into it, not because we have to, but because we want to. Most of
us say, "God, make me not want this anymore." For most people that will never
happen, not because God is unwilling or unable, but because we do not make
absolute decisions. God can change your desires only after there has been real
repentance. If you have not decided, you have not repented.
There are some simple reasons why we don't decide about sin. Few people
see sin as the source of their pain. They think their pain is God's conviction, but
they are wrong. Every pain in our lives is linked to a sinful belief or behavior. Yet
we don't see and believe that.
I recently asked my congregation this simple question: "When you got
saved, did you stop sinning because it was the right thing to do? Because you
had to? Or because you wanted to?" Many people quit sinning only because they
have to. Those people will never be able to make quality decisions (repent) about
sin.
We view sin as that long list of fun things that God does not allow us to do,
while we view serving God as that long list of difficult things we must do. We
even have cliches that say, "This is so good that it must be sinful. We had so
much fun that it must have been sin." These statements reflect our attitudes
toward sin.
God wants you out of sin for a reason: He does not want you to be
destroyed by its power. He does not want sin to affect your ability to have a
meaningful relationship with Him or with those around you.
Until we see sin as a list of things that bring absolute destruction, we will
cling to it and make excuses for it. We will find every reason-theological,
emotional, or otherwise-to justify staying in sin. But the real truth is that we can
come out of sin when we want to. Because of grace, no sin has dominion over
us!
 If you want God's grace, then you must make a firm decision, confess the
Word of God, and start taking steps. When the grace of God comes, there will be
victory with joy. Victory over sin is not quitting sin but still wanting to give in to it;
real victory comes when we see the utter pain and destruction of sin in our lives,
make an absolute decision about sin and victory, and trust victory to happen
because of God's power in us.
 Fourteen

Freed from Sin

T he Holy Spirit is identified by several names. Each of these names reflects a

certain aspect of His nature and work in the life of the believer. In
Hebrews 10:29, He is referred to as the "Spirit of grace." This name identifies
Him as the One who works in us to make us able.
Understanding that grace is God's ability opens our understanding to the
new covenant. It is the very issue of grace that so radically separates the new
covenant from the Old.
To define grace simply as unmerited favor forever maintains the veil that
darkens our understanding. All that the Old Testament believers had was
unmerited favor. As people who were not born again, as people who did not have
the righteousness of God, all they could hope for was unmerited favor. But,
according to Scripture, their actions never made them righteous enough to
receive God's favor. "Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be
justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin" (Rom. 3:20).
Remember, the weakness of the law was the flesh. "For what the law could
not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the
likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh" (Rom. 8:3).
As I have said before, flesh is man's ability. A man in the flesh is a man who
is attempting to be made righteous by his own ability. We are "in the Spirit"
(Rom. 8:9) when we walk "after the Spirit" (v. 4) for our ability to have
righteousness. "That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who
walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit" (v. 4). Therefore, God has freely given
the Spirit of grace to us to make us able to live a powerful, godly, victorious life.
As the Spirit of grace, He continually works in us to make us able to conquer sin.
He is the "One called alongside to help." As the Helper, He gives us the ability to
do those things we decide to do. It is up to us to believe and decide to come out
of sin; He is here to help by giving us the ability.

Sin Is a Choice

A failure to understand grace has probably kept more people bound to sin
than anything else. Defining grace as nothing more than unmerited favor lends
itself to saying that "God can still give me favor when I sin." We have a doctrine
of grace that says sin is wrong, but God winks at my sin. How contradictory!
The truth about grace actually says, "I don't have to sin. Sin has no power
over me. I am not limited to my ability to deal with sin. Yes, God will continue to
love me and accept me if I sin, but that is an issue of mercy, not grace."
I am so thankful for God's love, mercy, and forgiveness when I sin.
However, I am even more thankful for His grace that delivers me from having to
yield to sin.
In light of this truth, sin under the new covenant is much more serious than
sin under the old covenant. Because we have been delivered from sin, all sin is
willful. It may be done in ignorance or unknowingly, but it is always done as an
act of the will. A saved person always sins by choice. We all try to convince
ourselves otherwise, but sin does not have dominion over us; to sin is always a
choice.
Born-again Christians are free from the power of sin. We may choose not to
believe that and thereby yield to sin, but, regardless of our views and opinions,
that does not change God's view and opinion. Romans 6:14 states, "For sin shall
not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace."
An amazing thing about sin is not only that it is willful, but also that we
choose our sins. We give in only to the sins that we enjoy. No one gives in to the
sins that he hates. People may hate the results, they may hate getting caught,
but they do not hate their sin.
As severe as this is, we must realize the truth about it. We cannot use grace
as an excuse to sin. Let us realistically accept the responsibility of our actions.
God is merciful and forgiving. We do not need to enter into fear, but we must
accept responsibility. Fear will only keep us from properly dealing with sin.

Taking Responsibility

The paradox of the grace message is responsibility. Many people accused

Paul of encouraging sin because he rejected law and preached grace, but
actually the very opposite was true. The law provides all kinds of excuses for sin.
Grace, on the other hand, strips us of every excuse. The person in the new
covenant who yields to sin can only admit to unbelief or choice-both of which can
be reduced to personal responsibility. Nothing scares a person more than
responsibility. Personal responsibility, however, is the only pathway to freedom.
Personal responsibility says, "I must believe God and depend on the Holy Spirit
to make this work."
The natural-minded (carnal) person cannot relate to the real issues of faith
(faith righteousness). The carnal-minded person cannot accept righteousness as
a free gift because he sees righteousness as a work of the flesh. The following
Scriptures explain the dilemma of the person who sees righteousness as an
effort of the flesh:

For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but
they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit… Because the
carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of
God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot
please God. (Rom. 8:5, 7-8)

The Holy Spirit is grieved when we refuse to believe that we are righteous
and choose not to walk in that righteousness.

Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness

unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from
 the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto
God. (Rom. 6:13)

But if you don't believe you can yield yourself to God, you will not make a
decision to yield. Failure to make a decision limits what the Spirit of grace can do
in your life.

Avoid Torment--Choose Wisely

If you yield to sin, sin will rule your life-even though you have been given
the power to overcome sin. If you yield to righteousness, the Holy Spirit will give
you the grace to walk in that righteousness. But the choice is yours.
This responsibility becomes a source of mental torment for the believer.
Romans 8:1 says, "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in
Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit," According to
Thayer's Greek-English lexicon, the word "condemnation" means a damnatory
sentence. The believer who tries to walk in the flesh (human ability) for
righteousness lives in mental torment because there is a constant expectation of
judgment.
The mental torment of sin is horrendous. Hebrews 10:26-27 describes the
plight of the new covenant believer who yields to sin.

For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the
truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful
looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the
adversaries.

The attempt to walk in righteousness by the flesh brings torment and makes
us vulnerable to sin. Then when we do sin, there is another type of torment. The
very reason we yielded to sin is found in Hebrews 10:29:
 Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought
worthy. who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath
counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an
unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?

Yielding to sin, supposing oneself to be under the dominion of sin, is

tantamount to denying everything that the new covenant and the Spirit of grace
make available for us.
Usually after we sin, condemnation creeps in; and we fall into a world of
shame and despair. We look for and expect judgment. We are tormented with
fear. It is amazing how the devil convinces us that we will enjoy sin. He makes us
sure God will forgive us. Then, when we give in, he tells us how dirty we are and
how God could not possibly love someone like us.
Have you fallen? The Bible has great news for you! “For a just [righteous]
man falleth seven times, and riseth up again” (Prov. 24:16). Being righteous does
not mean one never falls; it means he gets up when he falls! If one is righteous in
his heart, he knows that he cannot continue in sin. The Holy Spirit continually
reminds him of his righteousness. Every sin that he commits is contrary to his
righteous nature. Thus, there comes a time when the believer can no longer deny
his righteous nature; he has to get up.
The pain of sin is not the Holy Spirit making us miserable. Our consciences
make us miserable. The Holy Spirit convicts the "world of sin, and of
righteousness, and of judgment" (John 16:8). We are not the world. We are His
disciples, and He leads us into the truth.
When we are faced with truth, our consciences condemn us. Condemnation
is never a work of the Spirit. The Spirit is continually trying to make you see the
truth about you in Jesus. The Holy Spirit is always telling you that you are
righteous, that you are an overcomer and can make it. He is trying to draw you
back into fellowship with the Father.
 What Happens When We Sin?

First John, though often used to tell sinners how to get saved, is not written
to sinners. It is written to Christians who sin. First John 1:5 says, "God is light,
and in him is no darkness at all." Light, in the Scripture, is synonymous with truth
and life. Light also suggests the absence of deceit. God deals in truth,
righteousness, and honesty.
The passage continues to say, “If we say that we have fellowship with him,
and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth” (v. 6). When we walk in any
darkness (untruth, unrighteousness, sin, deceit), we are no longer in fellowship
with God. I believe there has been much misunderstanding about this verse.
Many people say that your sin will separate you from God. That is totally untrue
under the new .covenant. The new covenant says nothing shall separate us from
the love of God. Paul wrote, "Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall
be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord"
(Rom. 8:39).
Even the withdrawal of fellowship is on our part. God does not draw back;
we are the ones who draw back. Colossians 1:21 says, "And you, that were
sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he
reconciled." Alienation from God is a product of wicked works, but only in our
minds.
When we sin, our hearts (consciences) condemn us. But God is greater
than our hearts. "For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and
knoweth all things" (1 John 3:20). In other words, God does not change, but in
our hearts, we change.
Guilt will not bring repentance (change of mind). Guilt will bring fear and a
withdrawal of fellowship. Guilt assumes that the other person involved is against
us.
I had several thousands of dollars in bad checks that were given to me in
one of my businesses. Every one of those people who wrote me a bad check
once considered me a real friend. I did nothing to prosecute or harass them; I
offered only a willingness to work out terms.
Nevertheless, those people, to whom I extended kindness, have found all
kinds of fault with me. Why? When there is guilt, there is a need for alleviation of
that guilt. The most natural way to justify guilt is to find fault with the one you
think is the source of your pain. When you think anyone is bringing you pain, that
person becomes your enemy.
We react in the same way in our relationship with God. We assume that He
is the source of our pain. Because of our faulty belief systems, we believe that
He is angry with us. We assume that we are enemies, so we withdraw from
fellowship with Him. All these thoughts, which are being taught in churches
across America, are darkness. They are untruth, unrighteousness, deceit, and
vain imaginations. Yet because we believe them, we are alienated from God in
our minds.
When we depart from the truth, God's grace does not work in our lives. We
can experience His grace only when we believe the truth. Remember, grace
works through righteousness. Departing from truth frustrates the grace of God.
(See Galatians 2:21.) The word frustrate, according to Thayer's Greek-English
lexicon, means to nullify or make void. In other words, when we depart from Bible
truth, we make void the power and ability of God. "But if we walk in the light, as
he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus
Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin" (1 John 1:7). Walking in the light will get
us out of sin, but trying to come out of sin to get God's love and approval is
darkness. It is a rejection of all that the new covenant came to give us.
The main area of light we need to walk in is our righteousness. The carnal
mind says, "You can't be righteous; you sinned." But a mind of the Spirit says,
"Yes, I have sinned, but I repent of that sin. Sin is wrong, but I am still righteous
in Jesus. I am not a slave to this sin. Jesus conquered this sin when He arose
from the dead. God loves and accepts me. I don't have to be angry with God.
God is not the source of my pain. Sin is the source of my pain." This kind of
believing will allow grace to flow freely.
 Walking in the Light

First John 1:7 says "But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have
fellowship one with another." That phrase, “fellowship with one another” does not
mean believers are in fellowship; it speaks of believers fellowshipping with God.
Acknowledging the truth sets us free to run to God, instead of running from Him.
It frees us from the destruction of shame and disgrace. The prophet Isaiah spoke
of this day:

For your shame ye shall have double; and for confusion they shall
rejoice in their portion: therefore in their land they shall possess the
double: everlasting joy shall be unto them. (Isa. 61:7)

The last half of 1 John 1:7 is essential: "And the blood of Jesus Christ his
Son cleanseth us from all sin." You are already cleansed from sin; the truth is you
are clean from sin. Your spirit man is as clean and as perfect as it will ever be.
There is nothing you can add to what Jesus has done in your spirit. At the same
time, your soul and your heart are affected by sin. When you sin, it damages your
confidence in God. It damages your confidence in the Word of God. It destroys
your hope of newness of life.
Lenski in The Interpretation of St Paul? Epistle to the Romans notes that
"all sin" refers to more than just the sins committed; it actually refers to the sin
principle or the root of the sin. Since we have been born again, our sins do not
have their root in the sin nature; we no longer have that nature. Instead, they
have their root in our belief systems and in our emotions.
First John 1:9 is crucial to walking out the victory that Jesus gives. “If we
confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us
from all unrighteousness.” First, we must recognize the need to confess sin.
Confessing sin is not confessing that you are a sinner. You are not a sinner; you
are a saint made righteous by the blood of Jesus.
 The word confess literally means to say the same thing. This is significant to
walking in the light. When I say the same thing about my sin that God says, I
must say that I am free from sin. I must say that sin has no dominion over me. I
must say that I have a righteous nature. I also must say that forgiveness is mine
through the finished work of Jesus.
Legally all sins have been forgiven, but that is not true experientially.
Legally all men's sins have been paid for. All men's salvation has been
purchased, yet not all men have experienced that salvation and forgiveness. It is
only when men believe the truth about the Lord Jesus that righteousness comes
into their hearts. It is when they confess this truth that they experience salvation.
Likewise, all believer's sins have been dealt with at the Cross. However,
that truth will not affect your life if you do not believe and confess it. So
confessing, saying the same thing God says about you and your sin, is the way
you return to the light. It is in believing these truths that your heart becomes
established in righteousness. It is in confessing these truths that you experience
forgiveness.
In light of this new covenant truth, I have not confessed my sin until I say
the same thing about it that God says. As long as I have an excuse, I have not
confessed. As long as I have someone to blame, I have not confessed. Not until I
say, "I am righteous; I am free from the dominion of sin; I did this because I
wanted to," not until then am I really confessing. A part of my confession also
acknowledges God's forgiveness and mercy. A true confession acknowledges
that God loves me and accepts me, no matter what my heart says. This is not
"easy believism"; this is personal responsibility at its utmost.
If God loves, accepts, and forgives me, then I do not have the right to give
in to depression over my sin. I do not have the right to walk around wondering if
God hears my prayers.
Sometimes when my children were growing up, they would sneak off and
do something they knew I would not approve of. What they did not know was that
I already knew what they had done. Although their rebellion hurt and
disappointed me, I still loved them and wanted fellowship with them. In my heart,
I had already forgiven them.
After days or weeks of feeling guilty, they would finally come to me and tell
the truth about what they had done. It would be at this point that they would
experience the forgiveness that I had already given them. All of their avoiding
me-avoiding eye contact, avoiding fellowship-was a product of the guilt in their
own hearts. It was not "the same thing" that I was saying in my heart, but they
could not experience my love and mercy until they came to me and believed me
when I told them I had forgiven them.
We go through the same thing with God. He has already dealt with our sin
at the Cross, yet we experience that mercy only when we confess our sins.

Go to the Root

Forgiveness deals with the fruit of the sin we commit; cleansing deals with
the root of the sin. The reason we repeatedly fall into sins is a root problem.
Sinning, receiving forgiveness, and going on our way is like picking fruit from a
tree. Those apples or pears or peaches will grow back every year. You can
spend the rest of your life in frustration, picking the same fruit year after year, or
you can go to the root.
Our deepest need is a relationship with our Father. Man was created for
that purpose. God so deeply wanted fellowship that He said, "I'll take care of the
judgment for sin in One Man, instead of individual men. I will take care of
separation from Me because of sin in One Man, instead of individual men. I also
will give righteousness through One Man's efforts, instead of every man
individually obtaining righteousness." With sin and righteousness taken care of,
we can now have a relationship with God.
However, because we do not believe and walk in the light of Jesus' finished
work, we do not have much fellowship with God. In that case, salvation becomes
fire insurance. Prayer and Bible reading become premiums that we pay in order
to keep the policy current. We end up so busy trying to pay the premiums that we
do not have time for a relationship with the Father.
It is in intimate fellowship with God that He is able to purge my conscience
from the effects of sin. His Word says, "How much more shall the blood of Christ,
who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your
conscience from dead works to serve the living God?" (Heb. 9:14). Dead works
are all those religious works we do to earn a relationship with the Father. Yet, it is
in fellowship and intimacy that I am freed from that "works righteousness"
mentality.
It is also in close fellowship with Him that God brings healing to my heart
and sets me free from those areas of selfishness, fear, and unbelief that cause
me to yield to sin. Confession of what Jesus has done at the Cross brings the
experience of forgiveness that gives me the courage to fellowship with God.
Then I walk in the light of that reality by entering into fellowship with Him. In that
time of intimacy, I am changed emotionally.
Through personal fellowship with the Father, you can experience the love
and acceptance that will annihilate the root cause of the sin to which you have
continually yielded. That sin does not have power over you. Your needs can be
resolved only in a close, personal relationship with God.
 Fifteen

Frustrating the Grace of God

W e can experience grace at different levels, at different stages, and in

many different ways. That is why Peter called it "the manifold grace of
God" (1 Pet. 4:10). Of all the ways to experience grace, the greatest is
continually. It has only one requirement-that our hearts be 100 percent
persuaded that we are righteous and committed to walking in that righteousness.
A person whose heart is established in the Gospel really has very little to
deal with in the area of sin and temptation. Jesus lived a life above sin because
of the grace of God. John 1:14 shows the role grace played in the life of Jesus:
“And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory,
the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.” It was His
belief about the truth that made grace effective in His life.
As your heart becomes more established in the truth of the Gospel, you will
spend less time struggling and battling with sin and more time in fellowship with
the Father. The Christian life will become "easy and light." (See Matthew 12:30.)
Any message that makes it increasingly more difficult is not consistent with what
Jesus promised.
Then, of course, there is grace that works in us when we face temptations
or difficult situations. This is the grace most active in the life of the person who
has not yet fully accepted righteousness through the Lord Jesus. When facing
difficult situations, he will persuade his heart by the Word of God that he can do
whatever the Word says. The confidence that comes by persuading his heart
allows grace to flow forth. However, this is a rather inconsistent walk.

Qualified before God

In every situation, I have learned that "I can do all things through Christ
which strengtheneth me" (Phil. 4: 1 3). Because I know I am righteous, I never
wonder if I am qualified for God to work on my behalf. I know that my qualification
for God to work in me is the finished work of Jesus. Colossians 1:12 says,
"Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet [qualified us] to be
partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light" God has qualified me in Jesus.
Sometimes it is more difficult to appropriate grace when facing temptation.
Why? Temptation is a breeding ground for condemnation. In order to understand
the condemnation that comes with temptation, first one must understand its
source. Temptation does not originate with the devil; it originates with us. “But
every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed”
(James 1:14).
The word lust simply means desire. It does not necessarily mean an evil
desire, just desire. Whether we desire something that is sinful or something that
is godly, it is our trust in God and our confidence in our qualification that
determines where we will turn for fulfilment.
If we believe all the promises to be ours, and if we believe that we are
qualified, then we will turn trustingly to God and His Word. We will wait with
patience for the Father to bring those promises into reality. There will be no fear,
wondering, or wavering.
If, on the other hand, we feel that we must do something to qualify
ourselves, we will lack the necessary confidence to receive from God. We will
enter into dead works to try to convince God to do things for us.

The Temptation of the World's System

Second Peter 1:4 gives us insight into escaping the corruption that is in the
world. These promises cause us to escape the corruption of the world:

Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises:

that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having
escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
 As I have mentioned before, the term world usually refers to the world's
system. When we turn to the world's system, the world's view, the world's way of
success, we have turned away from God and His Word. So the corruption that is
in the world corrupts us when we try to obtain God's promises by working the
world's system, a religious system, or any system other than trusting God.
Remember, however, that a major part of trust is trusting that we are
qualified. It is not enough to believe that there are promises; we must believe that
those promises are for us. We must accept the one and only qualifying factor for
those promises-being in Christ Jesus!
Peter also pointed out that corruption is there through lust. It doesn't have to
be lust for evil things; it can simply be lust (desire) for anything. It is not desiring
things that makes lust turn into sin. It is the desire to have those things apart from
God's Word as the system for receiving them that turns it into sin.
Many people who are called of God turn from God and try to fulfill their calls
through the world's system. Because they do not really trust God, they seek to
make His promises come to pass by using their own plans and schemes. This is
just as wicked as any kind of sin. All unbelief is wicked. Unbelief either denies
that God has given us the promise, or it denies that Jesus alone qualifies us to
receive the promise.
The thing that makes temptation so condemning is that we want the thing
we are being tempted to do. If we didn't want (desire, lust for) it, there would be
no temptation. Usually we feel so condemned for wanting something that we
assume God is displeased with us and will not help us. Therefore, since we are
not able to overcome the temptation using our own abilities, we fall.
It is important to understand this key issue about desire. Every desire you
have is God-given. Satan cannot give you desire. The desire for sexual fulfilment
is a God-given desire of the body. The desire to succeed is a God-given
emotional need that is built into the human emotional makeup. All basic desires
are God-given.
What God did not give us were the perverted methods people are willing to
pursue in order to fulfill these desires. In a temptation, we are simply offered
perverted ways of fulfilling our God-given desires. We yield to those desires
because we do not believe that God's method of fulfillment is really the best.
We pervert godly sexual desires because we do not believe that a
monogamous relationship with a person can give us the fulfilment that comes
from sexual deviation. We are willing to use and abuse people to fulfill our
dreams because we don't believe we can help others and still reach our goals.
We trust the world's system more than we trust God's system.

Stay with Grace

Once we have sinned, we face the greatest religious temptation: to

abandon grace. When a Christian falls, he feels that, in order to be restored, he
must go back to doing what he was doing before. I beg to differ. If what you were
doing before worked, you would not be where you are now! Nevertheless, our
works mentality always focuses on doing rather than on believing.
When we go for counselling, we are told what we must start to do in order to
get right with God. All this sounds very reasonable to the carnal mind. It makes
sense. However, the key to restoration is the same as the key to victory-
believing!
Trying to do things to be right is what got us into trouble to start with. Trying
to be righteous in our own strength isolates us from grace. Paul said in
Galatians 2:21, "I do not frustrate the grace of God for if righteousness come by
the law, then Christ is dead in vain."
According to Thayer's lexicon, the word frustrate means to set aside,
disesteem, neutralize, nullify, make void, or reject. In other words, when I try to
do things in my own strength, I nullify, reject, and neutralize the grace of God in
my life. God does not take it away from me; through my unbelief, I choose to
depend on my strength instead of His.
I may be so desperate that I "do right" for a while. Then one day I get tired
of doing right, or I stir up that old desire again. Suddenly, I am faced with
something that is stronger than my ability to do right, so I fall again. This is the
cycle of the average believer: doing right, falling, struggling to summon the
courage or desperation to try again, and eventually falling again.
If, however, I enter into the light and begin to affect my belief about my
righteousness by accepting what Jesus says about me and acknowledging my
righteousness through His finished work, then grace will begin to flood my heart.
Then I will find God's ability (grace) to come out of my sin.
Our real problem, however, is that we simply do not believe that believing
works. We look at and give heed to our works more than Jesus' finished work.
Really, we have walked in our own abilities for so long that we do not know how
to walk in His ability.
But you are on your way to finding the unlimited power of God. You are
reading this book because you are sick and tired of just having what your ability
can produce. You are looking for God, and you are going to find Him!
 Sixteen

Conquering Temptation

I n more than 20 years of ministry, I have noticed two very disturbing facts. First,
most people never overcome their life dominating problems. Many of the
people I have known all my Christian life are still struggling with the same
problems they have always had. In fact, they are so busy struggling with their
problems, they cannot get on with life.
The second thing that disturbs me is that very few people know how to
overcome temptation. Most of the people, whom I have counselled, when faced
with a temptation, do not have much hope of overcoming it. Many people are
absorbed with worry, fear, or lust. They know that Jesus has promised victory,
but they do not know how it comes.
The closest thing to victory that many believers ever see is simply tenacity.
Tenacity is good. It is better than nothing, but it is not victory. Of course, you
should resist sin however you can at this point. You do not want the pain of sin,
but never think that sheer willpower is victory.
Tenacity and willpower involve using the best of our abilities. They will last
as long we do not get weary. However, the first time we get tired, we will not be
strong anymore. Or the first time we run into a problem that is stronger than our
wills, we will not win. Or we may just see something that we want to give in to!
The worst aspect of using willpower is that we are still torn inwardly. We
may not be giving in to sin outwardly, but inwardly we are struggling. That is not
victory; eventually, we will give ourselves over to what controls our emotions.

Labour to Rest?

All it takes to end this struggle is to have our hearts established in

righteousness. It is essential that we understand the paradox that the Bible
describes in Hebrews 4:11 “Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest.” This is
a paradox that not even many grace teachers understand.
You see, you must labour to enter in. Labouring, however, is not what
brings the change. Labouring effectively is not the victory, nor does it bring the
victory. It does not say to labour for victory or change; it says to labour to enter
into rest. Hebrews 4:10 explains what that means: “For he that is entered into his
rest he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his."
Hebrews 4:9 promises, “There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of
God” There is a place where you cease from your own labours, yet you must
labour to enter into this place, which is rest. When Jesus preached about the
kingdom of God that was to come, He spoke of how difficult it would be to enter.
He could not have been talking about how difficult it would be to born again,
because that is clearly a free gift. Yet, on one hand, He would say, “All who
believe.” (See, for example, John 3:15-16.) Then He would say, "Narrow is the
way, which leadeth unto life" (Matt. 7:14). What was the contradiction?
In effect, Jesus was calling us out of this world's system. The same word
that is used to denote this world's system is used also for the Jewish legal
system-the law. Jesus was calling for us to transfer our citizenship. In order to
change citizenship, we must change, learn, and abide by the change in the laws.
I cannot function by the same set of laws or principles in the kingdom of
God that I did in the kingdom of darkness. Thus, the difficulty in entering in is not
how hard it is to get saved: it is in how hard it is to give up my old ways of
thinking. There has been a change of kingdoms, a change of priesthood, and a
change in the system; therefore, I must change my views, opinions, and ideas. It
will take an effort on my part to surrender my former beliefs. It will take an effort
for my heart to be changed. That is the labouring.
Once I have changed my beliefs at the level of the heart, I will enter into
rest. From that point on, every change that comes into my life will come from
believing, never from doing. I will no longer win over sin by gritting my teeth,
"bucking up," or making a great demonstration of willpower. Instead I will
overcome with joy by my believing, but I must establish my heart in believing the
truth.

Being Fully Persuaded

Although we have previously discussed persuading the heart, I want to

touch on it again. The Bible says of Abraham in Romans 4:21, "And being fully
persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform." Abraham
was fully persuaded. That was the key to his continual confidence in God. A
person who is not persuaded will waver.
In Romans 8:38-39, Paul testified to what he was persuaded about the love
of God. He wrote:

For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor
principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor
height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us
from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

In Romans 14:5, Paul explained that whatever you believe, you must be
fully persuaded of in your own mind. "One man esteemeth one day above
another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in
his own mind. "
He said in 2 Corinthians 5:11 that his ministry was a ministry of persuading
men. "Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men." It was Paul's
persuasion in God's power that made him able to endure imprisonment and
hardship without fear. He said,

For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not
ashamed for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he
is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day
(2 Tim. 1:12)
 The common denominator of all the people listed in the great "roll call of
faith" was that they were persuaded; thus, they had faith. Hebrews 11:13 tells us
that common denominator:

These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having
seen them afar of, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them,
and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.

The very word faith in the original language of the Bible is part of a word
that means to trust and to be persuaded to trust. We do not have trust (faith) until
we have been persuaded about God. That persuasion can come in many
different ways. It can come from hearing others speak, from reading the Bible,
from meditating on the Word of God, or from speaking the Word of God. It also
can come as the Holy Spirit directs us into truth. We should incorporate every
possible means of persuading our hearts.
I spent a number of years "confessing" the Word daily in prayer and worship
as a way to establish my heart. However, I never regarded that as the source of
my righteousness. When I did begin to feel self-righteous about my diligence, I
either stopped for a while or changed my thinking (repented). Now, I would be
totally misleading you if I said that my heart got established just because I
decided to believe. I did decide to believe, but then I took every biblical step I
could to get that belief into my heart.
As a result, changes that have come into my life have been effortless. I do
not have to confess every day to walk in love. I do not have to confess every day
to be healthy. I do not have to confess every day to have God's protection.
However, there was a time that if I did not do that on a daily basis, my heart
would not have been stable enough to endure.
Once my heart got established in an area, I no longer had to labour to enter
into rest in that area. You see, growing in this life does not mean things get
harder and harder. It means that things get easier and easier. I do not have as
much disciplined prayer today as I did ten years ago, but I have more
spontaneous fellowship and leadership from the Holy Spirit.
Temptation comes in when our hearts become moved in an area. When we
move away from our confidence in Jesus' fulfilment, provision, or promise, we are
headed for temptation. If, however, we are persuaded in Jesus when that
temptation comes, then it is a very easy thing to conquer. It all happens at the
heart level.

Questions That Win the Battle

Second Corinthians 10:3, which is so misquoted and misused, says, "For

though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh." Remember, this is not
a Scripture that talks about warring with the devil. This Scripture talks about
warring with vain imaginations, and it goes on to describe those imaginations.
Verse 5 says, "Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that
exalteth itself against the knowledge of God." Any thought that is not consistent
with the knowledge of God is a vain imagination. It is a high thing, an idol, a
graven image in your mind. It must be cast down. But as 2 Corinthians 10:4 says,
“For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the
pulling down of strongholds.” This warfare is not done with carnal or natural
methods.
Again, we do not fight this fight with our natural strength or by screaming at
the devil. Second Corinthians 10:5 says, “And bringing into captivity every
thought to the obedience of Christ” What could this possibly mean? Does it mean
I make every thought obey me? Does it mean I am going to make my thoughts
obey Christ? What does it mean?
When a vain imagination rises up, it challenges who you are in Jesus. It
challenges your ability to resist temptation and sin. It denies all that Jesus came
to give you. The real question you must ask yourself when you are tempted is
this: "Did Jesus conquer this sin at His resurrection?" In other words, did Jesus'
obedience bring Him victory over this sin? The answer is, obviously, yes!
 The next issue that must be settled, then, is this: "Am I in Jesus? If I am in
Jesus, if I am a joint heir of all He received, then I, too, have victory over this sin.
I have His righteousness. I have His grace (ability); therefore, I am free from this
temptation."
As I begin to acknowledge Jesus' victory over sin and the fact that I am in
Him and am righteous, grace always comes to make me able to live above sin. I
walk away from that sin with no desire for it, because the grace of God flows
through my being. I feel the righteousness that abides in me.
This acknowledging of truth affects my heart. As I acknowledge who Jesus
is in me, absolute victory comes. Philemon 1:6 says it this way:

That the communication [the sharing, the living, the walking out] of thy
faith may become effectual [effective] by the acknowledging [verbally
and mentally] of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus.

You do not have to be afraid of temptation or sin ever again. You do not
have to live the rest of your life struggling with your life dominating problems. You
can find out what it means to be free indeed.
Do whatever it takes to establish your heart in your identity in Jesus. I know
of no better tool than The Prayer Organizer, but whatever you do, do not make
that your righteousness. Do not get into law about persuading your heart; just get
on with the process.
There is a new world, a new life, out there waiting for you. Dimensions of
peace and joy yet to be explored are beyond your wildest dreams. Jesus died to
give them to you, but you must believe in your heart. Otherwise, they cannot
affect your life.
 Seventeen

Grace to Change

W e got saved for one of two reasons: either we did not want to go to hell or
we wanted to change. Hopefully, if avoiding hell was your only reason
initially, you have since developed new motivation.
For me, it was a little of both. I did not want to go to hell. There was,
however, a much stronger need in me. It was the need to change. I was sick of
who I was, what I was doing, and the way I was.
I knew in my heart that God was the only One who could help me. However,
I did not want to become like most Christians I had seen. What they had was
more of a disease or addiction than a life.
As a child, I lived at the theatre on Saturday afternoons. I had seen all the
great movies about Bible characters. I had seen The Ten Commandments and
was thrilled with the story of Samson. I wanted to know the God those heroic
biblical people knew He was different from the God whom Christians knew. He
was real and powerful. He could change lives.
All my life I wanted to know God, although there was nothing in my
behaviour to indicate that. I went to church only a handful of times in my entire
life before being saved. Everyone who knew me thought I was an atheist.
Christians were afraid to witness to me. The ones who did witness to me did not
give witness to the risen Lord who loved me and wanted to help me. They gave
witness to the god of their imagination, the one who hated me the way I was and
who demanded that I change with my own ability.
For years I prayed every night. I told God that I did not want to die and go to
hell. I told Him every night that I wanted help. I wanted to change; I just knew that
I could not do it in my own power. I had tried and failed too many times.
One day while driving along with a musician friend, God found a way into
my life. This man's cousin had been saved and had witnessed to him. My friend
was cursing and criticizing everything his cousin had said to him; but in the midst
of all the profanity and criticism, he quoted a few of the Scriptures that he had
heard. That was enough for me.
After I let him out of my car, I felt those Scriptures burning in me like fire.
The Bible says in John 16:8, “And when he is come, he will reprove the world of
sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment." The moment He had some truth to
work with in me, the Holy Spirit did His job. It is important to note that this is how
the Holy Spirit relates to the world, not the church.

Knowing the Truth Set Me Free

The Living Bible makes this point so understandable. It reads,

And when he has come he will convince the world of its sin, and of the
availability of God's goodness [righteousness], and of deliverance from
judgment. The world? sin is unbelief in me; there is righteousness
available because I go to the Father and you shall see me no more;
there is deliverance from judgment because the prince of this world
has already been judged (John 16:8-11)

The Holy Spirit had to convince me that because of Jesus, I could be freed
from sin and have righteousness. When I prayed, I was surrendering my life to
Him to change it in whatever way He wanted, because I knew I could not change.
That admission of inability and dependence on His ability caused the greatest
single change that ever took place in my life.
I did not do one thing to earn it. All I did was believe, pray, and trust. The
consequent changes were totally effortless on my part. I remember thinking, I
need to test this new experience out to see if it is real. So I went to a party to see
if I could resist all the temptations. I not only resisted them, but didn't even want
to give in to any of them. A change had taken place in me that was totally
separate from my ability or understanding.
 I walked in great freedom for a number of years. I joined a little Baptist
church that was within walking distance of my home. The pastor there was a
wonderful man who really helped me. He laid a foundation in me that ultimately
brought me into the truth I know today.
It was not very long until I realized I was a thorn in the side of the Baptists.
You see, I had been baptized in the Holy Spirit. I was casting out devils and
doing all sorts of things they did not believe in. So I began to search for another
church.
The next church I became part of was a charismatic church. The pastor of
this church was one of the best preachers I had ever heard. He was so
persuasive. The only problem was, truth did not work very well for him.
Then I attended a charismatic Bible school. One of the things I soon noticed
was that no one seemed to be able to get what they believed to work. There
were a lot of sermons about all the reasons it did not work and all the things we
had to do to make it work. The closer I listened, the more notes I took, and the
more I believed what I was hearing, the less anything worked in my life.

It Is His Ability, Not Ours

I had become like the Galatian believers. Paul asked them, “Are ye so
foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?”
(Gal. 3:3). They, like me, had begun this Christian life through the power of the
Holy Spirit. But now they were attempting to finish this work by their own abilities
(their flesh).
The Holy Spirit did not come into you to bring a few initial changes, then
leave you on your own. As Philippians 1:6 says, "Being confident of this very
thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of
Jesus Christ." We are not saved by grace and made righteous by works. The
Gospel reveals faith righteousness "from faith to faith" (Rom. 1:17).
Every change that needs to come into your life can come by the power of
the spirit of God, totally independent of your works. The same way you started
this walk is the same way you finish this walk. Colossians 2:6 says, “As ye have
therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him."
If you are struggling with trying to change yourself, as I was, you have
probably come to the place where your confidence to change is based on your
own ability rather than trusting in God to make the changes. You have rendered
Jesus non-effective by leaving the realm of grace.
Very few people ever give up on God. They give up on themselves. They
give up on their abilities-which they should give up on. You gave up on your
ability when you got saved. But you, like me, were slowly seduced back into
entering into works, effort, and personal ability.
Paul said in Galatians 5:16, "This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall
not filfil the lust of the flesh." The flesh always desires gratification-every kind of
gratification. The Christian gratifies the flesh when he tries to be righteous in his
own efforts. This removes us from grace (God's ability) and places us back in the
realm of our own abilities.
Even though you are saved and have a new nature, your ability to resist sin
is the same as it was before you were saved. You needed to be saved because
you did not have the ability to live the way you wanted to live. If you go back to
trusting in your own ability, you will just pick up where you left off; eventually, you
will end up in the same place. Galatians 5:19-21 says,

Now the works of the flesh are manifest which are these; Adultery,
fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft hatred, variance,
emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness,
revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in
time past that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God

When a person is in the flesh (relying on personal ability), these sins-the

“works of the flesh”—begin to manifest themselves. Why? Because your flesh is
not able to resist gratification on its own. You will find yourself in sin if you try to
live in your own ability. The changes you are looking for will not be as difficult to
make as you assume. I have seen thousands of people find immediate change
with a few small adjustments in their believing.
In these remaining few pages, you will find the power of effortless change.
By believing the truth, you will return to the simplicity of Christianity. You will
rediscover how simple, easy, and joyous it is to know the Lord. You will realize
what Jesus meant when He said,

Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give
you rest Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and
lowly in heart. and ye shall find rest unto your souls, For my yoke is
easy, and my burden is light. (Matt. 11:28-30)
 Eighteen

Touching the Heart

I n order to fully understand man and his needs, one must understand the heart
of man. As we have discussed before, all lasting change, good or bad, is the
result of something happening in the heart. What we believe in our hearts
determines everything that happens in our lives.
You may momentarily rise above or sink beneath the level of your heart, but
you will always return to what you believe inside. Thus, your life today is not a
product of what you do; it is a product of what you believe. Therefore, trying to
cause change by changing what you are doing is like trying to redirect the wind
with a fan. If you stand in the right place, it will feel like it is working, but it is only
an illusion.
Just for the record, you should know that I am hot discouraging you from
making improvements on your behaviour. It is admirable and responsible for a
person to exhibit self-control. However, you must realize that it is not real, lasting
change; neither is it your righteousness. The good feeling you have about the
changes you make is little more than self-righteousness. You feel good because
you are doing good. But that feeling will flee when you stop doing good. Faith
righteousness abides, regardless of behaviour.
Real Bible truth always penetrates and reveals our motives. As long as fear
of judgment is present, we never know what our motives are. But liberty-
exemption from the results-always exposes our hearts.

For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two
edged sword piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit,
and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and
intents of the heart (Heb. 4:12)
 When a person initially discovers faith righteousness and the gospel of
peace, he is often surprised at what surfaces in his life. Once you remove the
threat of punishment, what is in a person's heart is revealed. This message does
not cause a person to sin; the sin is in his heart. This message will, however,
reveal what is in his heart.
For the first time, people begin to discover why they have been struggling.
They find out that God has not failed them; they learn that the Word is true and
will work. For the first time, the veil is lifted from their hearts. But it happens only
when the threat of judgment is removed.

Why Did You Stop Sinning?

Now let's look a little deeper at discovering your heart's motives. Because of
wrong teaching, believers tend to have a wrong view of sin and of God. We tend
to view sin as those things that are pleasurable, but forbidden. In his research,
Tony Robbins discovered that people will do all they can to avoid pain and
experience pleasure.
Although I do not pretend to know what Mr. Robbins believes, I do know
that he has discovered a biblical reality. God created man and placed him in a
Garden called Paradise. That sounds like a very pleasurable experience. All
man's needs were met. There was no lack, no suffering, no pain.
Because man did not trust God's integrity, though, he took things into his
own hands. Every pain that has happened since the Garden of Eden has been
introduced by man's wrong beliefs and behaviour. Yet we are convinced that all
our pain is God's way of dealing with us.
In Galatians 3:13, Paul said, "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the
law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth
on a tree." God did not want man to continue in pain and suffering, so He caused
Jesus to experience all pain for us. God never intended that we would live in pain
and suffering. We were created to live in the pleasure of total provision and in a
completely positive relationship with God.
 However, the average Christian's belief system denies this truth. We do not
see sin as destructive and painful. We see it as a list of all the pleasurable things
that God will not allow us to do. We consider living a godly life as dull, unfulfilling,
limiting, and painful. This is why we habitually gravitate back to sin.
When we come under stress, or when hardship, pressure, or difficulties
enter our lives, we begin to desire something pleasurable. Since we believe in
our hearts that sin is pleasurable, we pursue sin instead of God. Then when the
pain and destruction of sin begins to work in our lives, we think God is bringing
that pain to bring us back in line. We will never conquer sin with this type of belief
system.
Think back over your life. Think about all the things you stopped doing after
you became a believer. Make a list of all those things. Then, beside that list, write
down why you stopped doing each of those things. Really think this through.
Did you decide to stop doing those things because you saw that they were
destructive: because they were bringing pain and suffering: because they were
the source of pain in your life? Or did you stop doing those things because you
thought you had to in order to be accepted by God? Did you stop doing those
things because you thought God would punish you if you did not stop?
If you stopped anything out of fear and have never changed that motivation,
you are still struggling with that sin. Until you see that improper beliefs and sinful
actions are the source of every pain in your life, you will never abandon those
beliefs and actions.
If you consider sin as the pleasure you had to give up, but didn't want to; if
you do not enjoy God and His Word and instead feel that they are the price you
have to endure in order to avoid hell, then you will struggle forever. Only when
you hear the message of peace with God do you allow what is really in your heart
to surface. The sin that is in your heart will manifest itself when fear is removed.
At that point, you will find that you have not served, given, or changed
because you enjoy a loving relationship with a good God, but because you are
afraid of an angry God. Although it is some what distressing to discover this, it is
a first step to real victory.
 Many times people come to me and say, “Jim, this message is not working.”
I always inquire, "What makes you think that?" They usually answer with
something like, "Well, I don't tithe like I did before, and I find myself not wanting
to do the things I did before. I don't come to church as often; I don't pray as
often," etc. I always respond like this: "It sounds like it is working to me." Of
course, they always look shocked at my answer.
Then I start to question them about why they did all those things before. I
always get answers like, "I gave because I was afraid I would come under the
curse if I didn't. I prayed because I didn't believe I would have God's protection if
I didn't. I was regular at church so the pastor would think I was faithful." The real
emotions behind anything a person stops or starts are revealed when fear is
removed.
The beauty of this comes when, for the first time, a person can understand
why he struggles with sinful thoughts and behaviour. It is so freeing to know that
God has not let you down. You find out that you are not a totally weak failure.
You discover that you have just been living life out of your heart.

The Way to Change

Bringing about change is not as difficult as it may seem. It all revolves

around repentance. Remember, the word repentance literally means a change of
mind. What you change your mind from is not nearly as important as what you
change your mind to. Repentance deals with what you start believing, not what
you stop doing. Doing is controlled by believing. When you change your
believing, your doing will change effortlessly.
Start by accepting the fact that you are righteous in Jesus. Think on it, say it
aloud with your mouth, remind yourself of it regularly. Because you are righteous
through Jesus, you must accept that God loves and accepts you. You do not
need to do one thing to be accepted by God-if Jesus is your righteousness.
Unless you believe you are righteous, you will be limited to your ability.
"That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through
righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord" (Rom. 5:21). If you
believe you are righteous, God's ability will come forth-after you decide in your
heart what you want in your life.
The greatest way I know to affect our hearts about sinful beliefs and
behaviour is to make it all plain to ourselves. Remember, every pain in your life
today is the result of something you believe or something you are doing. And
since we are righteous, we never approach change from the perspective of right
and wrong. Making decisions based on what is right or wrong can deceive us and
lead us into destruction.
Paul said in 1 Corinthians 6:12, "All things are lawful unto me, but all things
are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the
power of any." The word “expedient” means profitable, suitable, helpful, and
beneficial. If we are free from the law, then we are righteous. We do not make
decisions based on what will make us righteous by the law. We are righteous by
Jesus.
If I realize that sin is what brings pain into my life; if I realize that truth is the
source of all fulfilment and joy; if I realize that I have it in my power to experience
the good things of God by my decision making, then I will make my decisions
from a totally different motive base. I realize that what I choose to believe and do
affects my joy and pleasure in this life-and I will decide for truth.
Make a list of every pain in your life. Then link it to the belief or behaviour
that is bringing that pain. Do everything you can to see the belief or behaviour
that is bringing that pain. Then list all the pleasure that could be derived from
walking in truth.
I have seen people get up from the counselling table free from life-
dominating problems after just one session by implementing this simple
procedure. Once you see the source of pain as it really is, and the source of
potential pleasure that comes from operating in truth, you will make an absolute
decision in your heart for righteousness. When that decision is made, the grace
(ability) of God will flow forth from your heart to make you able to live what you
have decided.
 You could be just minutes away from turning your life around. Stop what
you are doing, lay this book down, and make your lists. The change you desire is
nearer than you think. You do not have to consider your past track record, your
failures, or your ability. This change, like the greatest change that has ever come
into your life, will come by believing the truth and experiencing the power of God.
 Nineteen

Grace Completed

R egardless of how many times we define grace as God's ability, despite how
often we point to grace as the ability to come out of sin, regardless of the
fact that the Bible says law is the power of sin- “The sting of death is sin; and the
strength of sin is the law” (1 Cor. 15:56)-no matter that the Bible says being free
from law and under grace is the one and only reason we are free from the
dominion of sin- “For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under
the law, but under grace” (Rom. 6:14)-there are still those who keep saying that
to abandon the law is to encourage sin.
There are those today, just as in Paul's day, who say that preaching grace
is saying it is all right to sin. Personally, I have never heard a person preach
grace that said it was all right to sin; but we, like Paul, have been accused of that.

A Believer Sins Because He Wants To

The carnal mind cannot conceive of being free from law and not sinning.
The carnal mind cannot grasp the power of faith righteousness. As one
Pentecostal preacher confided to me, "If I were free from the law, you can't
believe what I would do!" There have been many cases of people who, having
heard about freedom from law, begin to live loose, destructive lives. But no one
ever told them that it was all right for them to sin. No one ever encouraged those
people to sin.
People who sin do it because they want to. They believe that sin will bring
them pleasure. Now, for the first time, the person counselling them knows why
they have been unstable and depressed for years. Truth did not send them over
the edge; it revealed what was in their hearts. If we will deal with our beliefs now
before they become behaviours, we can bring about permanent change from the
inside out.
 It is all right to deal with behaviour from the proper perspective. The Bible
calls it sowing and reaping. Sowing and reaping affect us on the horizontal plane-
where we live. It does not mean that we sow something and God causes us to
reap; rather, our actions cause us to reap the consequences in our lives.
People should know the effects that sin will have in their lives. They should
know and identify all the destruction in their lives and associate it with the sin
they believe or commit. They should never be led to believe that God is bringing
the pain. As a preacher of grace, I must be very clear about the destructive
results of sin.

Grace Brings the Power to Change

When some people first hear the message of truth, they simply throw off the
law. There is usually a great freedom that is initially realized by the freedom from
performance. But to stop at being free from the law will not bring the fulfilment
and joy we seek.
Simply being free from law is no better than being under law. Freedom from
the law will not change you. It will free you from the fear of judgment, which is
good, but it will not bring the power to change. Therefore, we are left with our
previous frustration.
When we were saved, we received a new nature. That nature has the same
desires as the Spirit Himself. That nature longs for, craves, even lusts to be
fulfilled. We have been predestined to be conformed to the likeness of Jesus;
there is a craving in us for change. We cannot be satisfied to stay as we are.
Righteousness gave us our identities, our new natures, our standing with
God, and our new desires. But grace gives us the power to live godly lives and
thereby fulfil those new desires. Titus 2:11-12 says,

For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,
teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live
soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world.
 Grace teaches us to deny ungodliness and to live in righteousness. Grace
will not produce a lax attitude toward sin or ungodliness; grace compels us to live
in all godliness.

Go for Grace

I recently had a discussion with a pastor who believed the message of

grace but was struggling with some attitude. Someone had come into his church
and preached the grace message. This guest preacher never really said anything
that was not true; yet, through overemphasizing freedom and underemphasizing
responsibility, it was easy for people to misunderstand the message.
A man in this pastor's church had been up and down, on and off, for years.
Upon hearing the message of grace, he "copped an attitude." He became almost
arrogant in talking about his freedom from law. This man's past track record,
along with a very offensive attitude, turned many people off to the grace
message.
As we discussed this situation, I asked, "Was the guy a problem before he
heard this message?" The answer was yes! Then this message did not cause the
problem; it just gave him a new issue with which to display his bad attitude.
There will always be people who misuse every message they hear. Yet we
cannot throw away or be afraid of Bible truth because of the way a small number
of people interpret it.
Neither can we try to keep people under law for fear of what they will do
when they are freed from it. If law was going to change them, they would be
changed. Look around. It has been those preachers who have preached law the
strongest who have fallen. It did not work for them, and it is not working for you.
We should quit preaching law, but at the same time we should preach grace
responsibly.
If a person believes in faith righteousness, grace will come, and he will
change. That person may not change according to your time table, but he will
change. He may not change into what you want him to be, but he will change into
what God wants him to be.
Remember, it is not believing in the doctrine of grace that makes grace
work. It is believing in faith righteousness that makes grace work. One must
believe that he is righteous through the Lord Jesus for grace to empower him.
A person cannot believe he is righteous and seek to live an unrighteous life.
It also does not mean that he will never fall. It does mean that he will always
desire righteousness, and he will always believe that he can live righteously. He
will never run from God in fear; he will run to God in trust.
As righteousness is established in our hearts, sin loses all its power. We will
rise above our fears of sin. We will rise above our desires for sin. Very little of our
time and effort will revolve around trying to get victory. Instead, our lives will
begin to revolve around the Person who has given us the victory. We will fall in
love with our Savoir and Lord. We will live our lives out of our relationship with
God.
 Twenty

Effortless Change

A lI lasting change is effortless. If change comes about by our efforts, then

that change will last only as long as we put forth effort. The moment we stop
putting forth effort, the change we made will stop. When we get tired, angry, or
discouraged, or experience any negative emotions, we may stop putting forth
effort. Then we are right back where we started.
Lasting change comes about by believing. Yet the church really does not
believe that believing works. Instead, we trust in doing. However, Jesus said that
if we would believe, we would do the works of God. "Then said they unto him,
What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered and
said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath
sent" (John 6:28-29). He has finished the work. Our job is to believe and thereby
receive the benefits of that finished work (His doing).
Remember, however, that while change itself is effortless, changing your
beliefs is not effortless. You must spend time in the Word of God and in
fellowship with God to bring about a change in your believing. You may be
required to change churches in order to change the input you are receiving.
There will be a labouring to enter this rest, but that labouring will not change you.
It is the truth you believe that will bring about the needed changes.

We Are Sons

First John 3:2 says, "Beloved now are we the sons of God, and it doth not
yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall
be like him; for we shall see him as he is." John was writing to a group of people
who, among other things, had been influenced to believe that if you were not
flawless, you were not really saved.
 He began this verse by saying, "Now are we the sons of God" We are not
still becoming sons. It was understood in Bible times that to be a son meant you
were an heir. And, if you were an heir, you had full privileges. We are sons of
God by believing on and partaking of eternal life through the finished work of
Jesus. Paul made this clear in Galatians 4:7: "Wherefore thou art no more a
servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ"
John also said, “It doth not yet appear what we shall be” (1 John 3:2). The
word "appear" it means to reveal or manifest. He was saying, although we are
sons this very moment, that fact may not be manifest. You see, they had the
same problems we have. They were saved, their spirits were made perfect, but
outwardly they might not have been living perfectly.
Not having it revealed on the outside does not mean it is not true on the
inside. The Gnostics were trying to disqualify the early believers from their
inheritance because they had not yet become the finished product of perfection.
John continued, "When he shall appear, we shall be like him." This is a
passage that usually is applied to the Second Coming, and it undoubtedly has its
ultimate reality in the Second Coming. But the word "appear" is the same here as
it was in the first part of the verse. It means to reveal or manifest.
Thus, it would be safe to translate that passage in this way: “When Jesus is
revealed or made manifest, we will become like Him.” Here is the point: we do
not need to wait until the Second Coming to have a revelation of Him. We can
find that now by studying the Scriptures.
This passage goes on to say that it is seeing “him as he is” that brings
about that change. So if I can see Jesus as He is now, I can change now, and it
will be effortless change. It will be a change that comes about by a change in my
believing. That change in my believing comes about because I see Jesus as He
is. How powerful! How wonderful! How easy!
 How Do You See God?

One of the greatest hindrances to bringing about positive change is the way
we see God, the way we see Jesus. Try as you may, if you have a negative view
of God, you cannot become a positive Christian. If you see God as angry, you
will be angry. If you see God as vengeful, you will be full of vengeance. If you see
God as fault-finding, you will be fault-finding. You are continually being changed
into the image of the God you believe in. That change happens without effort on
your part. It is happening by the power of believing.
Very early in my Christian walk, the Lord spoke to my heart about reading
the Gospels. I knew that unless I read the Gospels regularly, I would lose touch
with who Jesus really was and what He was really like. It would be very easy to
get wrapped up in the theological issues of the Epistles and lose touch with
Jesus. We must remember that we are called into a relationship with a Person,
not a doctrine. I must know that Person in order to have a relationship with Him.
If I ever formulate a doctrine from the Epistles that is contrary to the life that
Jesus lived, it cannot be true. So much of accepted church doctrine not only
denies the finished work of the Cross but is also totally inconsistent with Jesus'
life and ministry.
Jesus came and revealed God. The Jews had lost touch with God. Through
the development of their theological system, they had totally perverted who God
is. They had reduced God to a set of rules and regulations. They did not see Him
as a God of love who was working to restore man; they saw Him as angry, mean,
faultfinding, legalistic and even cruel. Jesus depicted something totally different.
Hebrews 1:3 in the New International Version says of Jesus, “The Son is
the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being.” Jesus was
an exact representation of God while here on earth. When you look at the life of
Jesus, the way He treated people, you see nothing but love, kindness, and
mercy. The only hard words Jesus had for anyone were for the religious leaders,
who were turning people away from God.
 If I am to become like Him, it is essential that I see Him as He is. I can do
that by looking at how He related to people. He met their needs. He healed the
sick. He extended mercy. He was love personified. His life shows me the nature
and character of the Father.
For you to understand the dynamics of personal change, you must examine
what you believe about God. You will never personally rise above what you
believe about God. Let's look at some Scriptures where you can honestly
examine your beliefs about God. You may have some beliefs of which you are
unaware.

We Become like the God We Believe In

First, let's resolve a few basic ideas. Do you believe you are supposed to be
godly or Godlike? In other words, should you live like God? Should you show the
nature and character of God? The answer is obvious: yes! We are called to be
like Jesus. He is the exact representation of the Father, so we should be Godlike
in our lifestyles.
Therefore, it is safe to say that anything God would require of me would be
something that He would do. He would not require me to have one standard and
Him have another. Since He is God, He would not require me to live in a higher
standard of righteousness than He lives in. In other words, I am not more
righteous than God.
In Matthew 5:43, Jesus said, "Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou
shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy." He starts by pointing out that it is
not written. God never said this. It had only been said that He said this.
He continues in Matthew 5:44 by saying, "But I say unto you, Love your
enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for
them which despitefully use you, and persecute you." We all believe this is the
way we should live. But if you really believe this is the way you should live, it may
reveal some contradictions in your belief system.
 How do you think God feels about His enemies? You probably think He is
full of anger toward them. But if He requires you to love your enemies while He
hates His enemies, then this is an area where you are not being like God. This
would be an area where you are more righteous than God. But you know that
cannot be true. No man is more righteous than God. However, if we believe we
should love our enemies but it is all right for God to hate His enemies, then we
have a problem in our belief systems.
Next Jesus says, "Bless them that curse you." What do you really believe
God would do to a person who cursed Him? You know you would expect God to
kill or, at least, punish him. Yet you are required to bless such a person. The
word “bless” means to speak favorably, to be kind.
Then Jesus says, "Do good to them that hate you." Now we know God
would not do good to someone who hated Him-would He? Why would He require
you to be more righteous than He? If He said for you to do good to those who
hate you, it is because that is what He does to those who hate Him.
Matthew 5:45 in The Living Bible goes on to say, "In that way you will be
acting as true sons of your Father in heaven." We are acting like God only when
we do these things, because that is how God relates to man. The remainder of
verse 45 says, "For he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and
sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust." God does not withhold sunshine from
the crops of the wicked. Neither does He withhold rain from them.
We have mistakenly thought that wrath would cause people to repent and
turn to God. A quick glimpse at the book of Revelation reveals that wrath causes
people to curse God and refuse to repent. (See Revelation 16:9.) What does
cause people to repent? Romans 2:4 identifies the goodness of God as being His
tool for bringing people to repentance. "Or despisest thou the riches of his
goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of
God leadeth thee to repentance?"
If you thought that rejection would make people repent, if you thought that
was the tool God was using, if you really believed that was how God responded
to people, you would reject people who had problems. Why? You become like
the God you believe in.
If you saw someone curse God, you would probably feel obligated to show
that person wrath and indignation. Why? You assume that is how God responds.
But according to these passages, God does not respond that way.
You see, we have an entire view of God that is unscriptural. Yet because
those are our beliefs, we are being transformed into that likeness. When a
person desires acceptance, he will conform to the image of the one from whom
he desires acceptance. Teenagers do it every day. They grow their hair long, get
tattoos, and wear a certain kind of clothing to become like those from whom they
seek acceptance. Likewise, we become like the image of the God from whom we
desire acceptance.
The law insisted, "Ye shall make you no...graven images" (Lev. 26:1).
Today we do not go to the woods, cut down a tree, and fashion it into a god to
worship. Yet we have idolatry as rampant as it ever was. The idol that we exalt is
the vain imagination we have of God.
We construct a concept of God that is different from the revelation that
Jesus showed us. We try to relate to and see God through the understanding of
the old covenant. Or we have a view of God that some preacher or relative has
given us. NO matter how that belief comes, it becomes an idol in our minds that
isolates us from a relationship with the true and living God. It dictates what we
will become.
In order to see God, you must look at Him through the life of Jesus. Go to
the Gospels and look at Jesus' life and ministry. Do not try to know Him through
His teachings alone; know Him through His life and ministry as well.
When you believe in a God who is always patient and longsuffering, you will
find yourself becoming patient and longsuffering. When you believe in a God who
sees you as holy and sanctified, you will see people as holy and sanctified. When
you believe in a God who really loves, you will really love.
 Twenty-one

The Truth about God

A s you can see, the truth about God has been hidden from the church. It is
not the devil who is killing us as much as it is our belief systems. If we
believed the truth, the devil could never touch our lives. Screaming at the devil
will not change your problems; believing the truth will change your problems.
We must be able to read Scripture without twisting it. We must be able to
pick up our Bibles and hear God instead of hearing man. You see, we, like the
Jews, render the Word powerless through our traditions. In Mark 7:8-9, 13, Jesus
upbraided them for listening to man more than to God.

For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradtion of

men.... And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of
God, that ye may keep your own tradition.... Making the word of God
of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered and
many such like things do ye.

We are full of tradition more than we are of truth. We are influenced more
by man than we are by God. We accept whatever the preacher says, based on
his power of persuasion. Many people who heard Apollos preach preferred his
message over Paul's. The problem, however, was that Apollos was not even
saved when he first began to preach. He was simply a better preacher. (See
Acts 18 and 1 Corinthians 3.)

Tradition or Truth?

When I gave my life to the Lord, I made two commitments. First, I promised
I would never "play church." Second, I committed to believe only about God what
I could find for myself from the Bible. Many times in my life, I have had to repent,
return to that commitment, and purge myself of the tradition I had picked up
along the way.
When I was healed of a kidney disorder, it happened only after I got my
believing straight. While I was praying one day, the Lord spoke to my heart and
said, "You don't see Me as I am." I was greatly offended. I said, "Lord, I have
refused to give in to tradition. I have been willing to be different. I have suffered
reproach because I would not conform." He simply replied, "You don't see Me as
I am." The third time He added more. "In the area of healing, you don't see Me as
I am. You see Me as you have been influenced to believe I am."
I was shocked to realize all the false stipulations I had placed on healing. I
had accepted the word of men. What made it so bad was that these were men
who could not get healed themselves. I had been influenced to see healing the
way they saw it, because they presented it in a way that was reasonable and
logical. Regardless of how appealing it was to my carnal mind, it was not true,
and it did not work.
I can look back at times in my early walk with God when I became hard and
mean. It really seemed that the closer I got to God, the meaner I got. I found
myself being critical and fault-finding. I was intolerant of people and their
problems. I had no compassion for people; I just had a set of standards I thought
they should live up to. As I look back, I now realize that I was becoming just like
the God I believed in. I was not drawing closer to God; I was becoming closer to
my false image of God.
How could I read the Bible and be so confused? How could I look at the life
of Jesus and end up with a doctrine that made me act so contrary to everything
Jesus ever did? The answer is simple. I found in the Bible exactly what I was
looking for.

How Do You Set Your Sail?

I once heard a story about a young boy who was standing on the edge of
the sea. He was amazed that the wind blew in one direction, yet the boats moved
in every direction. He looked up at the old man beside him and asked how this
could happen. The old man replied, "By the setting of the sail." You see, it does
not matter which way the wind blows. It is the way you set your sail that will
determine the direction of your boat.
Likewise, how you see God determines what you will look for in Scripture. It
determines how you set your sail. Regardless of what the Word says, you have
predetermined how you will interpret what you read.
Keep in mind, Jesus read the same Scriptures that the Jews read. Yet He
found a different God. They found judgment; He found mercy. They saw sickness
as God's punishment; Jesus saw it as oppression of the devil. (See Acts 10:38.)
They thought man should serve the law; Jesus taught that the law should serve
man.
Jesus gave us the best rule for interpreting Scripture in Matthew 22, when
the Pharisees came to Him. Although they were not sincere in their question, He
was very sincere in His answer. They asked Him which commandment was the
greatest. Jesus not only answered that question, but also gave them the next
greatest commandment. Based on these two commandments, He then made this
astounding statement: "On these two commandments hang all the law and the
prophets" (v. 40).
In essence, Jesus was saying that all the commandments would be
satisfied if these two were fulfilled. He also was saying something more: all the
commandments must be interpreted in light of these two commandments. What
were these two commandments that provide our reference for all interpretation?

Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy
heart, and with all thy soul and with all thy mind This is the first and
great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love
thy neighbor as thyself (Matt. 22:37-39)

Everything I believe must be interpreted in light of these two

commandments. In other words, if what I believe does not make me love God
and people more, it is not true. Likewise, if I just did these two things, I would fulfil
every expectation that God has ever had for me.
Look at your belief system. Does everything you believe make you love God
and love people? If what you believe makes you afraid of God or critical and
fault-finding with others, it is not true. If you interpret any Scripture in a way that
violates this principle, then you can never see God as Jesus did.
As I have done many times, you may need to sort through your beliefs and
ask, "Does what I believe about this make me love God and love people?" If not,
you must change what you believe, If you do not understand a passage in light of
this interpreting procedure, don't worry about it. In due time, God will give you
understanding.
Now that you have finished this book, you have all you need to change.
Take these principles before God. Apply them to your life. Do not accept them
merely because I wrote them. Check them with the Scriptures. Put them to the
test, and see if they work.