Monday, January 23, 2012

Throw Away The Box

“What if we would search for God the same way He searches for us?” –Gabriel Contreras 

During my devotion time this evening, the Holy Spirit took me to Jeremiah 29. I began to casually read the chapter, until verses 13 and 14. As we know, the most spoken about verse in Jeremiah 29 is verse 11. However, these particular verses grabbed my attention in a way it never has. “When you come looking for me, you’ll find me. Yes, when you get serious about finding me and want it more than anything else, I’ll make sure you won’t be disappointed.” (Jeremiah 29:13-14 MSG) It is easy to become immediately drawn to verse 11, “’For I know what I have planned for you,’ says the Lord. ‘I have plans to prosper you, not to harm you.  I have plans to give you a future filled with hope.’” Although it is true that we have a great future in Christ, it is important that we continually seek after God. 

Relationships are essentially beautiful because of the consensual efforts put in on BOTH parts. Patience and balance are key factors in any relationship. Oftentimes as Christians, we desire a deeper relationship with the Heavenly Father, but lack patience and balance. In some cases, we don’t really want a true relationship with God. We either want a selfish ambitious dream to come to pass because of insecurity, or we need God to rescue us from a situation we put ourselves in. Unfortunately, sometimes both scenarios apply. Don’t let insecurity or trouble allow you to compartmentalize Christ. 

God hates being put in a box. In fact, he hated it so much that he destroyed the temple and began to live inside of us. When God is put in a box, He is restricted to show forth his great love. So why do we put Him in a box daily? Why do we only open it up when we need Him or want Him to fulfill a selfish desire? God wants a relationship with his children not just a religious visitation every so often. If you say to yourself, “I will pray or read my bible after my favorite TV show,” you need to throw away the box. On the flipside, if you say, “I will pray seven times a day, every day,” you also need to throw away the box.God does not want you to be so religious that spending time with Him becomes a ritual and not a sincere effort. At the same time, He doesn’t want to be pushed to the side either. It will take both balance and patience to receive that next level relationship with the Lord.

So how do we throw away the box? My Pastor preached a sermon this past Sunday, and three main points from the sermon apply to today’s post. These three principles will help bring you success to a more intimate relationship with Christ:

1.       Sanctify- Set aside devoted time with God. Balance is essential in sanctifying your day correctly.
2.       Sing- Get into the presence of the Lord by praising and worshipping Him. This is where patience is integrated because true worship takes time.
3.       Study- Get in the Word of God for yourself! Go over sermon notes from your Pastor or Bishop. It is instruction from the Lord. Ask the Holy Spirit to led you and open your ears. This will bring the words on the pages to life. 

Furthermore, it will take SERIOUS EFFORT if you no longer want to put God in a box. How much deeper can your relationship with Christ be if you truly went after Him with your whole heart? We see in the natural that relationships take both patience and balance. These same principles apply spiritually. Also remember, the plans God has for you WILL come to pass. As we see in Isaiah 55:11, “So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.” (KJV) But we must apply Jeremiah 29:13-14 to our lives as well.  God will never disappoint us, so we have to seek God like he seeks after us. Ultimately, all God desires is a relationship with us anyway. So throw away that box you put Him in! Allow Him to freely fill the air you breathe. Evaluate your day by asking yourself questions like, “Am I truly seeking God with my whole heart today? Have I truly been sanctifying, singing, and studying today? How bad do I really want God? Do I want God more than anything else right now?” These are secrets to a successful, growing relationship with the Lord. It’s up to you now… Throw away that box and get serious about your relationship with Christ!

Friday, January 20, 2012

Speak

In life, we see extremes daily. Since our youth, we were taught these extremes such as, hot and cold, white and black, good and bad etc… And each day we are given the choice of what extreme we will live out for that day and ultimately the rest of our lives. The outcome is all dependent upon what you speak.  From an early age we knew how much power words affect our everyday life. If a kid on the playground called you dumb, ugly, or weird, it is likely that years later you still remember what was spoken. Essentially, words have a huge impact on our lives, whether they are negative or positive. 

The power of the tongue is amazing. It can bring forth death or life. However, it cannot bring forth both. James says it the best in James 3:12, “Can a fig tree, my brothers, yield olives, or a vine figs? Thus no spring yields both salt water and fresh water.” (WEB) It also says in James 1:8, “A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.” (WEB) So we know cannot speak both things of the world and promises of God from the same mouth. This would be hypocritical. But why do we continue to speak negativity on a daily basis? Then go to church and speak blessings? That answer is simple; the tongue has yet to be controlled.

Controlling any part of the flesh can be a difficult task if you let it. Since the tongue is so powerful, it must be controlled supernaturally. The only way to control the tongue is with faith. We know that it takes faith to speak anything, whether it is negative or positive. If you tell someone they are stupid, you have faith that the word you spoke will be created. The same principle applies when you speak something positive to someone or over yourself. Every time you speak, you have faith that what is spoken will manifest. 

The Word says in Romans 10:17, “So faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”(WEB) So if you truly believe the Word in Jeremiah 29:11, that God has a great future for you, it is up to you to speak. Do not speak negativity such as complaining. The longer you complain, the longer you will stay where you are at. Also, do not let what people have spoken into your spirit affect you. Do not speak things like, “Maybe I am stupid, ugly, or weird etc…” If you speak these negative words, they will eventually manifest. Each day, speak life into the atmosphere. Whatever you speak will determine your future. So speak the opposite of whatever the enemy has spoken to you. Always control your tongue when it desires to complain or speak negativity. Faith in the Word of God is the key to controlling the tongue.

It is important that we as believers in Christ don’t fall in the hypocrisies of the tongue. We cannot truly call ourselves Christians if we speak defeat one moment, and speak victory the next. We always have to speak the Word we believe. Also remember, we must control our tongue daily with the faith we have from the Word of God. Proverbs 18:21 says, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.” (NKJV) If we believe the Word like we say we do, we have to be cautious of what we speak. Ask yourself questions like, “Have I been speaking life today? What have I been creating with my words today?” If you check yourself with questions like these, you can be assured that you will not be that double minded man or woman the bible bespeaks of. Choose to speak LIFE!

“What you speak, you create.” –Pastor Vic

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Actively Fight Against

Let’s take a look at a sermon preached by my Pastor, Victor Hudson, titled “Keeping the pressure on Satan.” This sermon tackles strategies on how to fight the devil and achieve victory.

Oftentimes in our walk with Christ, we experience both victories and failures. Since the fall of Adam, it is in our human nature to fail daily. Sin was the entire mission of Jesus Christ. As believers, we must stay encouraged that our failures have been paid for. However, we cannot abuse the grace that Christ gave us. Knowing this, every believer definitely gets to a point in their life where they have had enough with their struggles. They desire complete, not just temporary, victory in order to do the will of the Father.

“The devil is only on your trail because you have been called to greatness.” –Pastor Vic

James 4:7 says, “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” (NKJV) It is very easy to skip over the first part of the verse and jump to the end. But let’s take a look at the middle, where it says, “Resist the devil.” How do you resist the devil? I like my Pastor’s definition for the word resist, “ACTIVELY FIGHT AGAINST!” In order to resist the devil we must actively fight against the temptations he sends our way. Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, did an awesome job at actively fighting against Satan. 

The devil continued to tempt Jesus while He was fasting for forty days in the wilderness. But Jesus continued to actively fight against Satan and like the Word says, the devil fled. However, Satan came back to tempt him. “And when the devil ended all the temptation, he departed for a season.” (Luke 4:13 NKJV) Once you defeat Satan, you must remember that he will always return for a more opportune time. Therefore, continue to put the pressure on him. Two chapters over, in Luke 6, we see Jesus has not ceased putting pressure on Satan. Verse 12 says, “And it came to pass in those days, the He went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God.” (NKJV) Christ put so much pressure on Satan that he did not dare to return to tempt Him. 

“The more pressure you put on the devil, the more he flees. The more he flees, the more he does not want to return” –Pastor Vic

We can clearly see that even Jesus had to continue to put pressure on Satan to achieve total victory. So how did He do it? How did Jesus put the pressure on the devil? He began to do radical things that caught Satan off guard. In Luke 6:12, Jesus prayed ALL NIGHT. NOW THAT IS RADICAL!

If you are going to win in 2012, you have to start being radical about your victory to come. One great radical strategy is fasting. Our Savior showed us the power of fasting in Luke 4. When you deny your flesh what it desires, your spirit man strengthens. Another strategy is to isolate yourself for a season. Even Jesus isolated himself for forty days. So turn off your cell phone; even deactivate your Facebook account if you have to. Get in a solitary state where all you "hear" is the Lord’s voice. Radical strategies like these will definitely bring you victory in resisting the devil.

Any victory in life does not come easy. Although, we know that we have been made victorious through Christ in Romans 8:37, we must take action to achieve this. James 2:17 says it clearly, “Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead in itself.” (WEB) We can say Romans 8:37 a million times but still never receive victory because we haven’t put our faith into action. In order to resist the devil we must, ACTIVELY FIGHT AGAINST. After you defeated him once, continue to put the pressure on him. Begin to use radical strategies, such as fasting and isolation to keep the pressure on him. Also remember, Satan will always come back. But make him fear returning to you by resisting his every move! Ask yourself questions like, “Am I being radical enough to achieve victory?” It’s up to you now!

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

False Start

Have you ever felt like your day all of a sudden went from bad to worse? Have you ever questioned how so much chaos can happen in one day? I have definitely experienced days like this. Before I had a relationship with Christ, those days use to shake me. Now I am not bothered by bad days and it is only because of Christ. Sometimes, we give the devil too much credit. Now don’t get me wrong, the devil does try to bring discouragement to the believer every day. This I know. However, most of our “bad days” are avoidable. 

Definition of Renew:
 Verb
  1. Resume (an activity) after an interruption.
  2. Reestablish (a relationship).
One of my friends on Facebook, posts a daily status that says, “Don’t forget to renew your mind.” (Romans 12:2) It is extremely important that we renew our minds, not only by the Word of God, but by a lifestyle of worship. The entire verse says, “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” (Romans 12:2 NKJV) The Lord is saying that, “renewing your mind” daily is the proving the will of God. What is in the will of God? An enjoyable life. God is a loving father and desires His children to enjoy their days. But we can never accomplish that if we are worshipping the wrong thing.

Many times we are ignorant to the true meaning of worship. Worship is more than a song. A worship song is merely an expression of adoration to the Lord. It’s like when a man or woman sings a song to their significant other. I like what Kim Walker from Jesus Culture says about worship, “Worship is a direct connection with the Lord.” Each day, our lives should sing a sweet song to the Lord. In everything that we do, it must make a direct connection to God. Worship is simply an outward expression of an inward passion of love. So if we are truly passionate about our love for God, we must express it through our worship lifestyles. Let your everyday life directly connect to God’s heart and will.

 “Not hero worship, but intimacy with Christ.”
― Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship

I love the scripture, 1 Thessalonians 5:17, “Pray without ceasing.” Often times, I like to replace the word “pray” with the word “worship.” So in my head it reads, “Worship without ceasing.” If you start off your day, worshipping “worry, doubt, anxiety, fear or hate” that is what you will reap that day. I guarantee that you will sit at your desk at school or work and wonder, “How did my day go wrong so fast?” Ultimately, it started off wrong. So if we start off our days renewing our minds, bad days will come but we won’t be moved by them.

Bad days are inevitable. Fortunately, we have a God that can make bad days seem like the best days. However, YOU ARE IN CONTROL OF YOUR DAYS. It’s up to you to decide whether or not your day will be “good” or “bad.”The Psalmist David writes in Psalm 16:11, “…In thy presence is fullness of joy…” (NKJV) So if you are always in His presence, you will be filled with joy, no matter how bad your days look. Every morning before you go off to work or school, renew your mind. Start you day off in the presence of God. Give God the first of your day. Let your lifestyle worship GOD, not your problems, or situations. Ask yourself questions like, “Is my lifestyle really worshipping God today? What is my lifestyle worshipping today? What is my heart or mind worshipping today?” Renewing your mind daily will bring you complete victory every day of your life.

Purify your heart, as you renew your mind, and deny your flesh!

Friday, January 13, 2012

Right Question, Right Response

Recently my Pastor, Victor Hudson preached a sermon titled, “Right Questions.” Let’s look into the sermon and what God is saying. As we do, let’s apply it to our lives and grow deeper in the Lord.

Have you ever been so hurt or betrayed by someone that the hurt slowly turns to hate? I think we all have been there. Have you ever secretly wanted to avenge that person? I believe we are all guilty of this at some point in our lives. Rejection and betrayal is never easy to deal with. However, if we don’t deal with it, we can never grow a deeper relationship with the Lord. Hurt that is not dealt with will turn into vengeance. The Word says in Deuteronomy 32:35, “It is mine to avenge; I will repay. In due time their foot will slip; their day of disaster is near and their doom rushes upon them.” (NIV) So we must let God avenge our enemies. How do we do this in a healthy way? We start asking God the RIGHT questions. 

“Hurt people ask hurt questions.” –Pastor Vic

In Luke 12, Jesus speaks to a multitude of people. In verse 13, we see that a man has found favor with God. He was allowed to ask Jesus a question. However, the question he asks is centered on revenge. “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” (Luke 12:13 WEB) When God visits you, what questions will you ask him? Will you ask him to avenge your brother? Or will you ask him to heal you? We must mature and start asking God to heal us instead of avenging others. In actuality, God is going to avenge those who hurt you anyway. So don’t bring vengeance to God when He visits you. If you are going to succeed in 2012, it will be dependent upon what questions you ask God.

“The right response is determined by the right question.” –Pastor Vic 

Once the Lord heals you, He begins to take you higher because He knows that YOU trust HIM. So how do we ask the right questions? Let’s take a look at the preceding verse. In verse 12 the Lord says, “For the Holy Spirit will teach you in that same hour what you must say.” Jesus clearly gave instruction but the man was too hurt that he didn’t hear. The Holy Spirit will teach you what to ask the Lord in that hour of visitation. We must be in tune with the Holy Spirit so can hear the instruction clearly.
When you know you are great and God has favored you, it is extremely important that we ask the RIGHT questions. The man in verse 13 was obviously favored in order to speak to Jesus. But he was not prepared to ask Him the RIGHT question. The man did not recognize the favor he had been given. Don’t let hurt blind you from seeing your greatness. Unfortunately, the man could not get his eyes off of his hurt. Sometimes in life, all we see is hurt. But your hurt will block your future if you don’t ask Jesus to heal you. 

I truly believe we can all identify that we are “This Man” at certain points in our lives. But maybe you are reading this and you don’t see yourself in this man. You THINK you aren’t still bitter or vengeful against someone. That was me, until I started asking the right questions. So I strongly encourage you to start asking the Holy Spirit questions like, “Where am I still bitter? Can you expose areas where I have deep rooted bitterness?” Don’t let bitterness stop you from asking Jesus RIGHT questions. Questions like, “Lord will you still use me? Will you heal my wounds?” These questions take us to a higher a place in Christ. 

“The right questions determine the altitude you go!” –Pastor Vic

Thursday, January 12, 2012

Keep Hope Alive

As a child, you were always asked this question, “What do you hope to be when you grow up?” From a very early age, you are taught to have dreams. You are told that you can be anything you desired. However, something happens to those dreams as years go on. We begin to lose our hope in dreams as the weights of life begin to burden us. We let people, problems, and situations kill our hope. It is not that we lose our dreams. It is that we lose our hope in our dreams.

Let’s look at some definitions of “Hope”:

1.       A feeling of desire for something and confidence in the possibility of its fulfillment.
2.       To want something to happen and have some reason to believe that it will or might happen.
3.       To look forward to with confidence or expectation.
4.       To expect and desire.

Look at the third definition, where it says, “with confidence or expectation.” As a child, if you want to be the next big movie star, you have so much confidence in this dream, that nothing or no one can stop it. But what happens as you grow older and that hope no longer seems realistic? Where was that hope lost? And how can we find it again?

 Jeremiah 29:11 says, “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” So we can clearly see that God plans will give us hope. Simply put, God’s plans are tied to our hope. So how do we hope? With faith. “Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God. (1 Peter 1:21 NIV) As Christians, we have faith that Jesus died for our sins. We have faith that He rose. But why don’t we have faith in our dreams? 

If you have dreams that have not yet manifested, it is simply because somewhere you lost hope. In actuality, you lost faith in God that HE will fulfill your dreams. So how do we find our hope again? We put our hope in Christ. A lot of times, we put our hope in people. We hope that they will bring fulfillment to our dreams instead of putting our hope in Christ. We have to have faith that God’s Word in Jeremiah 29:11 cannot return unto Him void. “So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.” (Isaiah 55:11 NKJV)  

Sometimes, we have to revert back and have “child-like” faith again. We have to have so much confidence/hope, that every plan that God has for our lives will come to past if we have faith. As believers, we must take that same hope that we had when Jesus saved us, and apply it to our dreams. Start with asking yourself questions like, “What is my hope in? Is it in people or the Lord? Is my hope lost? Where was it lost?" If you are putting your confidence in people, simply repent. Turn completely away from putting more confidence in man than in God. People will fail you every time. Christ will never fail you once. KEEP HOPE ALIVE!

“…We have put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, and especially of those who believe.” 1 Timothy 4:10 NIV

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Radical Misfit?

I would like to take the time to thank everyone who takes time of your day to read these posts! May God continuously bless you all mightily!

Some may be curious as to why the title of my blog is “Life of a Radical Misfit.” Well, ever since I could remember, I was never just an ordinary girl. I struggled with the thought of being a “misfit.” Growing up in church, I knew that all children of God were not made to “fit in” with the just anyone. I knew that being a child of God I was cut from a different cloth. I knew all of this, but did not want to accept it. Even though I always had a deep love for Christ, I was ashamed to show it. 

When I was 13 years old, my parents started a church, Rehoboth Kingdom Ministries International. For my brother and I, it was very difficult to adjust to being “pastor’s kids.” As I went into my freshman year of high school, I found myself in one of the darkest places of my life. I certainly did not obey the Word in Psalm 1:1, “Blessed is the man who doesn’t walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the way of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers…” I did the complete opposite. I sat with the ungodly, talked and walked just like them. I found myself doing things I promised myself and God that I would never do. 

Years quickly go by and it is my senior year of high school. I came to the realization, that I just wasted four years of my life partying. I realized that I did not share Christ with ONE person at my school. Ultimately, I was being someone that I was not and it was evident. So I thrived to make a change. As I made this stand to change, the devil had attacked my family with everything he had. My family had completely hit rock bottom. But for the first time, not only did my parents fight; my brother and I did too. As we probably all know, we do not fight in the flesh but by the Word of God. (Ephesians 6:12) So as we fought together, I got stronger in the Word and grew a deeper relationship with the Lord.

The Lord really knew how to open my eyes. At various youth events, I would see kids completely sold out for Christ. I realized that it is “cool” to be unashamed for the Lord. I didn’t have to hide it anymore. I started to become selfless instead of selfish. During this transformation period, my Pastor preached a sermon entitled, “Radical People.”  I took that message to heart and became RADICAL FOR JESUS. 

Jesus died radically for us, so we have to be radical for Him. At school, on your job, wherever you are, share Christ with someone. Do not become so selfish that all you worry about is YOUR reputation. Do not become so blind that your main concern is how someone would perceive you if you were unashamed for the Gospel. Ask yourself questions like, “Am I truly being radical for Christ? If I say I am, does it show in my actions?” 

It took me years to realize that it is okay to be a “misfit” and that nothing is wrong with being unashamed for the Lord. (Romans 1:16) Now that I have this understanding and have been enlightened, by the grace of God, I am sharing Jesus with everyone. Looking hindsight, I can’t believe how ashamed I was of Christ. I claimed Him to be my Lord and Savior, but my actions didn’t show that. I originally started this blog as a way of healing these regretful wounds and it is titled, “Life of a Radical Misfit” because I want to share my story with the world. As I write, I pray that it touches, heals, encourages, and motivates others as it does for me.

“For you were once darkness, but are now light in the Lord. Walk as children of light…” Ephesians 5:8

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

When I Saw Her Shoes

It is truly amazing how the Lord speaks. My father use to say, “God speaks through people, places, and things.” Recently, God spoke through a powerful woman of God, Joyce Meyer. For some reason I could not sleep this particular night. As I flipped through the channels, flipping through infomercial, after infomercial, I stumble across Joyce Meyer. God then tells me, “Stay on this channel.” I think to myself, “It is 6 o’clock in the morning… Really God?”  But I put down my remote and obeyed the voice of the Lord. Two minutes into the program, she gives the sermon title, “Obedience and Self Control.” I then say to the Lord, “Ok, you want me to be obedient. Cool…”  I brush it off and fall asleep. The next day at bible study, my Pastor opens up his sermon and begins to talk about obedience. Okay, so now I am really flipping out. Within 24 hours God spoke to me twice through two different people about obedience. Then, I start to get the picture. I asked the Lord, “What is it that You want me to obey?” I literally heard nothing from the Lord. A few days go by and in my private prayer time, I cried out to God and said, “All I want to do is save souls Lord!” Yet, I still haven’t heard what he wanted me to obey. 

A week has now gone by and finally the Lord spoke to me. He instructed me to invite one of my friends to church. God was so specific that He even gave me precise instruction on what to text the girl. I text her and she agrees to come to church with me. However, she told me, “If I don’t text you by 10AM, then I am sleep and I probably won’t go to church with you.” Now doubt starts to creep in. But instead of letting doubt overtake me, I let God have His way.

I wake up that Sunday morning and begin to ready myself for church. 10 o’clock strolls by, I look at my phone, and I see no text from my friend. Doubt attempted to show up again. I began praying, “God wake her up!” At exactly 10:14AM, my phone vibrates on the corner of my bed. It’s my friend! She was awake and ready to go with me to church. I began to thank the Lord. However, throughout the entire church service, I was a little anxious. Mostly because I desired for years that my friend would receive salvation.

I was so moved by the sermon, that I go to the altar. After I am done at the altar, I noticed my friend was still in her seat. Once again, doubt tries to creep in. My Pastor then makes a call for anyone who needed salvation. At this point I started praying harder than I ever had before. God quietly whispered, “I got this.” As I heard footsteps coming from the stairs, I was praying that it was my friend coming up for salvation. The footsteps drew closer and as my head was down, I glanced over and saw my friends’ shoes. When I saw her shoes, I lost it. Tears began to flow uncontrollably.  I couldn’t believe my friend was actually receiving Jesus into her heart for the first time. I continued to weep as she received Christ.

The Lord gives us instructions that we are either absolutely for or sometimes against. In our walk with Christ it is important to obey the voice of the Lord even when it seems like His instruction is not going to work. In my anxiety, the Lord overrode my doubt. When our hearts long to do things for the Lord, it is vital that we listen to every instruction. When I saw her shoes, I knew why God was telling me to obey Him. You never know who might need salvation or a breakthrough. But God does. So it’s important we ask Him questions like, “What do You want me to do for You Lord?” God will certainly answer. Once He gives the instruction, trust that He will do it. “For I know what I have planned for you…” (Jeremiah 29:11 NET) When we don’t trust God’s plan/instruction, we are telling God that every plan He has for our lives is a lie.

"Your obedience is tied to someone's salvation." -Pastor Yvonne Hudson

Monday, January 9, 2012

JESUS BE THE CENTER

Do you ever hear testimonies of people receiving breakthroughs and deliverance and wonder, how you can get that change? In our walk with Christ, we all get to the point of desiring change. Change is good. Sometimes we desire to change our attitude or perspective on situations in life. Most times we desire to break bad habits. While other times we desire deliverance from a certain addiction or stronghold. Pastor Victor Hudson once said, “Struggle is inevitable but change is optional.”

There are multiple occasions of men and women in the bible who received healing and deliverance. The woman with the issue of blood crawled her way to touch the hem of Jesus’ garment. She said in Matthew 9:21, “If I just touch His garment, I will be made well.” How was she so assure of this? She knew the Word of God. The blind man, Bartimeaus, saw Jesus and cried out, “Son of David, have mercy on me.” (Mark 10:47) Jesus then stops and heals the man. Bartimeaus obviously had to know the Word in order to know that Jesus was the Son of David.

The first step to Christ-like change is getting in the Word of God! However you cannot say to yourself, “I am going to get victory over this addiction by solely reading the Word.” Although this is correct, it is incomplete. As we all know, temptation is inevitable. But, a lot of times we put ourselves directly into the hands of temptation. Yes, it is extremely important to have a Word in you to fight these addictions. However, you can avoid a lot of temptations by simply making Jesus the center of everything in your life. It is easy to read a plethora of scriptures and still not have Jesus at the center of life. For example, many people read James 4:7 and miss the first part of the scripture. “Submit yourself to God, resist the devil and he will flee.” (James 4:7) If you submit yourself to God by making HIM the center, it becomes easy to resist the devil. Then temptation will flee. So the next step to receiving any type of deliverance is making Jesus the center of everything. Both Bartimeaus and the woman with the issue of blood knew they had to position/submit themselves for the healing. Whether, they had to crawl or limp, they made Jesus the center of their present situation.

If you are going to win in 2012, you will need the Word of God PLUS Jesus at the center of your life. Getting the Word of God in you is half of the battle. True deliverance and healing comes when you make Jesus the center of your life. Avoid putting yourself in temptation. Ask yourself questions like, “What is the center of my life right now?” Also, don’t always look at the big struggles such as, sex, alcohol, and drugs. Identify the subtle addictions, such as doubt, fear, bitterness etc... Remember, Jesus is bigger than any addiction or struggle.  Use the Word to fight and make Jesus your center to stay victorious!

“Nay, in all these things, we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.” Romans 8:37

When Jesus isn’t the center of your life, everything crumbles!