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!