Breaking The Cycle:

The Ultimate Solution to Destructive Patterns

By Dr. James B. Richards

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from the New
King James Version, © 1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.

Scripture quotations marked (KJV) are from the authorized King James
Version.

Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are from the Hoy Bible, New Interna-
tional Version, © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society.

Scripture quotations marked (TLB) are from The Living Bible, © 1971 by
Tyndale House Publishers, Wheaton, Illinois.

Scripture quotations marked (MESSAGE) are from The Message, © by Eu-

Gene H. Peterson, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996.

Scripture quotations marked (AMP) are from the Amplified New Testa-
ment, © 1954, 1958, 1987, by the Lockman Foundation, or are from the
Amplified Bible, Old Testament, c 1962, 1964 by Zondervan Publishing
House.

BREAKING THE CYCLE: THE ULTIMATE SOLUTION TO

DESTRUCTIVE PATTERNS

Impact Ministries
3300 N. Broad Place SW
Huntsville, AL 35805
Ph: 256-536-9402 Fax: 256-536-4530

ISBN 1-880809-23-0
Printed in the United States of America
© 2003 by Dr. James B. Richards

Legacy Publishers International

1301 South Clinton Street
Denver, CO 80247
www.legacypublishersinternational.com

Cover design by: Chris Gilbert, UDG

DesignWorks www.udgdesignworks.com

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or

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permission in writing from the publisher.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 / 09 08 07 06 05 04 03
 Chapter 1

The Defining Moment

I will never forget the chance reunion. It became for me a defining moment in which I

decided, I must find solutions to these types of problems—solutions for myself and for others.

I had not seen Bob for a few years, but at one time his life had been such an inspiration to me.

Now he looked different somehow. I couldn’t tell what was wrong, but it was as if he had

changed in some way. The sparkle was gone from his eyes. His trademark smile that once

defined his presence had faded. He just wasn’t the man I remembered.

As we chatted, he seemed to avoid eye contact. It grew more uncomfortable by the

minute. As the small talk waned to an embarrassing lull, the emptiness I sensed was more

than I could bear. “Bob, you’ve changed. Have you been doing all right?” The question

blundered from my lips. After a hesitation that seemed like an eternity, he looked me in the

eye for the first time and shockingly replied, “No, Jim, things aren’t all right!”

As I recovered my composure and tried to hide my feeling of shock, I finally

convinced this old friend to have coffee with me. His reluctance became more understandable

as his story unfolded. The next hour was a painful revelation of how Bob had spent the past

fifteen years struggling internally before he finally just gave up. His words burned into my

mind, searing like a branding iron: “Life seemed easier before I got saved. I haven’t been

truly happy for years.”

This obviously had not been true during his early years of walking with God. But he

had long since forgotten those wonderful days. What was true, however, was the way he was

trying to relate to God today brought more pain than he had known before he got saved. Like
many people Bob had encountered the paradox of having a righteous nature that could not

cope with a destructive life style. On the other hand, he did not live at a level of personal

victory and happiness that was consistent with his new nature.

What Had Happened?

Bob had made a commitment to follow Jesus years ago. He wanted to experience the

promises of God. He wanted a better life. Like most people who begin this journey, he started

off great. He read his Bible and began to understand how to live a totally new quality of life. I

remember how he talked about finding the answers for which he had searched all his life.

The first few years of his Christian experience were incredible. His marriage problems

began to be resolved. He found new inner resources to love his wife. He even found the

strength to face many of his internal issues about relationships and intimacy. His business

began to grow as he discovered the values of integrity, dependability, and responsibility.

Before long he was one of the most successful contractors in our area. Because of his life,

many people came to Jesus to find what he had found.

Then Bob moved to another area and left our simple fellowship of “converted

hippies.” He became a part of a more organized church that had a lot of great programs. It was

a very exciting environment that had a lot to offer. He was very active and committed. Then it

seemed like he hit some invisible wall that not only stopped him from moving forward in his

growth and development, but also caused him to take a nosedive. He vanished from my “radar

screen.” He stopped writing. He didn’t return calls. For several years he virtually

disappeared—until he moved back to town and we happened upon one another.

 At first Bob expressed shame about his failures. I was amazed. I had never seen him

condemn anyone else who had failed. I couldn’t imagine where this was coming from. The

truth was, his self-loathing had done more damage to him than his actual “sins.” Sin can be

something that happens in a moment. There is immediate recovery from sin through the love

and mercy of God. But self-loathing becomes a driving force that affects every decision and

every emotion.

After we talked a while, he seemed to finish venting. I thought he would be relieved

and that we could get down to some recovery. But just the opposite occurred. Once the shame

was gone, something else emerged. I sort of felt like I was driving in fog. I couldn’t see

exactly where I was going, but I had the eerie sense that a collision was just ahead. I was

right. Suddenly, like an unsuspecting driver who breaks through the fog into an unexpected

traffic jam, Bob hit head on. It was like every thing he feared, everything he hated, and

everything he dreaded all surfaced at one time. And I was in front of him.

As the minutes passed, it became more than obvious that Bob was mad at the church,

not at me. He felt that the church had led him down a path that stole what he once had in

Jesus. He didn’t know exactly what had happened; he just knew that it all changed when he

got involved with the new church.

Bob was like thousands of people I have talked to. He started out great, but

somewhere along the line he got off course. Like many believers, he associated his problem

with church. He was not sure what the church had done, but he held the church and its people

responsible. He started following Jesus to find a better quality of life, and he enjoyed that new

life for a period of time. Now he had lost it, and he didn’t know how. He just knew that he did

not feel right about himself—and he hadn’t for a long time. When he went for counseling, it
seemed to be little more than a list of religious duties he was told he should follow. He even

believed that most of the counseling had made him feel worse about himself instead of better.

I promised Bob that life could get a lot better—and quickly. I explained that he had

fallen into the cycle of lack. He had replaced Jesus with religion. Religion is an attempt to

related to God in a way that does not depend on Jesus, but on one’s personal efforts. It leads

one down a path of sincere dedication that never produces what it promises. It is a root of

bitterness toward God and people. Although he was partially justified in his frustration with

the church world, I explained that until he assumed responsibility for the places where he had

surrendered his personal relationship with God, he would not find much relief.

It has been great watching Bob find his way back to peace and joy. He has become a

missionary in reaching out to those who have lost their passion for life. Like Morpheus in the

movie The Matrix, he has devoted his life to disconnecting people from the matrix of religion,

illusion, and dead works. He lovingly brings them back to the land of reality in Jesus.

In Search of Happiness

Mankind is on a quest for happiness, peace, and fulfillment. This desire is part of our

God-given nature. God created us to live in happiness and peace. Whether you believe in God

or not, you are looking for the good things in life. Everyone wants a good life! In the heart of

every person there is a desperate longing to experience a quality of life beyond what most will

ever know. For some that longing is more like a deep, unidentifiable ache or an illusive dream

that lingers just beyond our conscious awareness.

This vague sense of lack can drive people to commit every imaginable sin in their

pursuit of happiness. It drives others to seek out thrills and adventure. Still others will vainly
strive for perfection through religious performance and legalism. It is like a search for

mysterious treasure. Every day we are driven on some level to identify and discover this

nebulous source of evasive satisfaction.

When people come to Jesus and make Him their Lord and Savior, they are seeking this

quality of life. In fact, the Bible promises that following Jesus with our whole heart will result

in an incredible quality of life. In Him we have our first real promise of hope. In Him are the

answers to all the longings in life. You see, our relationship with God should not be the end of

the search, but the beginning of the journey that leads to life at its best. Meeting Jesus should

be the best day in our life, up to that point. But walking with Jesus, for the rest of our life

should make everyday get better and better. Jesus Himself said, “My purpose is to give life in

all its fullness” (John 10:10 TLB). Yet, for some this new relationship seems to dwindle down

to just another stepping-stone in the pathway of frustration.

The Cycle

For the past thirty years I have witnessed a tragic phenomenon in my own life and in

the lives of others. Instead of life being a process that leads from “glory to glory,” from good

to great, it is too often an incredibly frustrating cycle of ups and downs. For some the cycle

ends in defeat, denial, or frustration. For too many, life is a series of ups and downs, a

repetitive roller coaster from which they never recover. Every day counseling offices are

filled with those who just can’t seem to “pull it together” to find the longing of their heart.

This up-and-down cycle has dominated our lives for so long that we have unwittingly

come to expect it. It goes on for so long we think it is normal. Religious leaders have created

doctrines that justify it. Mental health care providers have given it medical names to make it
seem like the norm. It is validated and even embraced in Christianity at large. We have tried

everything from sin to super-achievement to numb the sting of its bite. Some have walked

away from God. Others have blamed God. Still others have sunk into the world of denial.

Regardless of the manner we choose to appease the beast, none of them brings us what we

really want. We want the feeling of lack to go away! We want to be happy!

What we want is to live the life God promised. We want to have peace and joy. We

want to live our dreams. We want our conscience free from guilt and shame. We want to face

life without dread. We want to be free from the abiding sense of lack that drives us through

life “by the sweat of our brow.”

This is an age-old struggle. It did not begin with you. But it can end with you! You do

not have to stay in the cycle. No matter where you are in the process, no matter how many

times you have tried and failed, you can forever end the struggle of ups and downs. (I didn’t

see a problem with this. It is a promise that the word o God gives us. If I am missing

something here let me know and I will expand it. It is the place where the person creates a

new life vision.) Your life can become a journey that takes you from one stage of victory to

another, from good to great!

This book contains principles that will lead you to stability, peace, productivity, and

endless joy. Read and ponder every word. Meditate on what you read. Open your heart and

allow God to turn your life into an adventure of faith, love, and relationship. Allow every day

to bring new joy and peace. Watch the problems that used to drag you hopelessly through the

cycle fall away as you move into the life that God promised, the life that Jesus died and rose

again to give you. Get your hope up one more time as you break the cycle and discover the

unlimited power of faith righteousness. You will never be the same!

 Chapter 2

The Sense of Lack

One of the most unrealized promises of the New Testament is found in Colossians

2:10, when Paul boldly announced to those struggling believers, “You are complete in Him,

who is the head of all principality and power”. When a person feels lacking, inadequate, or

incomplete, nothing seems farther from reality than this. But freedom from these feelings of

inadequacy are a part of our heritage in Christ!

As with many New Covenant realities, there was a tremendous gap between what

Jesus had given and what the people were experiencing. The Colossian believers were like

most people. They had no concept of what it meant to experience the finished work of Jesus.

They did not realize that His death, burial and resurrection insured them a life free from the

penalty of sin. They didn’t know that all the promises of God were assured for those who

believe on the resurrected Jesus as Lord and Savior. Because they were not experiencing the

reality of the finished work of Jesus, they became susceptible to “circumstance theology.”

Circumstance theology is simply the doctrinal position we create to justify or explain our

current circumstance.

The church of Colosse, like most of the other churches addressed in the New

Testament epistles, had slipped away from that place of completeness in Christ. Instead of

interpreting their situation by the New Covenant, they began to interpret the New Covenant

by their experience. This made them susceptible to the twisted doctrines of those who did not

fully believe the finished work of Jesus. They had been seductively and systematically

ushered into a sense of lack, and it took them back to the bondage of legalism and ritualism.
 The Colossian believers had been influenced by teachers and prophets who brought

them back under the slavery of dead works.1 They no longer saw Christ as enough to qualify

them for all the promises of God. They felt they were open prey for the devil if they did

anything wrong. They actually thought they could lose their authority as a believer by failing

to live up to the standards set by these so-called teachers.

They surrendered their faith to one of the most subtle, devastating, and controlling

emotions known to man. They became enslaved to the sense of lack. This sense of need and

desperation made them vulnerable to the manipulation of every type of false doctrine. They

didn’t lose the life and power of God when they accepted this feeling of lack; rather, they

alienated themselves from the supernatural life of God that was in them. They reached a place

where they could not access that power. Like Paul said of the Ephesians, they “walk, in the

futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of

God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart”

(Ephesians 4:17–18).

A believer should never feel a sense of lack. It should be foreign to our emotions and

contrary to our new nature in Christ. We should feel complete and whole. We should never be

driven by the feelings of separation created by lack. No matter how real those feelings may

be, no matter how undeserving we feel, it is not real! It is a vain imagination. It is a lie! It is a

lie that has been used to manipulate mankind for thousands of years. It is the most powerful

lie that one could believe. Yet, it is rampant in Christianity. It is woven into the fabric of

mainstream theology. It surfaced within a few short years of the resurrection and has never

gone away! Lack has been here so long it is considered normal. There are doctrines that

1
Dead works is a term used to describe the things we do to earn God’s approval. The thing that brings
us God’s approval is faith in the finished work of the Lord Jesus. This will be explained as you move
explain why you should feel lack. There are even doctrines that would have you believe that

God brings the lack as a way to teach you. All of these are contrary to everything we know

about God’s promises.

Some would describe the sense of lack as low self-worth. Others may use the word

emptiness. Still others would call it loneliness. Thousands of phobias, destructive emotional

patterns, when reduced to their most basic feeling, are rooted in the sense of lack. That feeling

is never from God! It is not how God motivates you. It is not how He leads you. In actuality,

the sense of lack comes from not knowing, believing, and experiencing all that we have been

freely given in Jesus.

The Deceit of Lack

Since the Garden of Eden, man has been connected to the sense of lack. This is the

emotion, whether subtle or overwhelming, that drives much of our decision-making. It is the

feeling of lack that leads us to make desperate decisions that take us still farther away from

our only true source of complete fulfillment. As a result, this sense of lack is a part of every

dysfunction and is a precursor to nearly every pain we experience and sin we commit.

It all began in the Garden with a conversation between Eve and the serpent. Satan did

not come straight out and attack God. That would have been too obvious. Neither did he

immediately attempt to take Eve down a pathway to destruction. She would never have

followed such an apparent ploy. Nor would you! No one gets up one day and decides, “I think

I’ll go out and commit some sin that will destroy my future and steal all my hopes and

dreams.”

forward.
 Actually, just the opposite is true. Before we commit sin, we must first come to the

place where we believe that sin will meet a need in our life. We don’t commit sin to create

problems. We commit sin to solve problems. The emotional state that so distorts our thinking

is simply the state of lack. Before we look to sin to meet our need, we must first feel the need.

We must have the feeling of lack!

Advertisers are masters at creating lack. Before they can sell us their products, they

must first create the sense of lack. A master manipulator never creates lack with negatives.

Quite the contrary, the sense of lack occurs when we are shown something we do not have,

something desirable. The commercials show us the ideal man, the perfect woman, or the

house of our dreams. They show the average person experiencing these perfect outcomes and

then they show us a perfume, a lending institution, or even a cigarette. A subtle connection is

made between smoking their brand and having this great experience. In the end we are made

to feel that if we do not use their product we can never have the “promise.” This feeling of

lack—the desire to have the dream house or the search for the perfect mate—is associated

with their product.

In other words, they make us feel a sense of lack, then they offer us a solution. They

have to sell the need before they can sell us their product. They get us “hooked,” then offer

the fix! Advertising is actually designed to create codependency. Codependency is when we

look outside of ourselves to meet a need that only God Himself can meet in our heart.

This is the primary strategy of political campaigns. They tell us how bad the country

has become. They create a picture in our minds of how bad it will grow to be. They fill our

hearts with fear (need), and then they offer to protect us from the evil of which they have

persuaded us to believe. They make us feel needy and then offer themselves as the solution.
 Satan simply asked Eve a few strategic questions. Questions are powerful tools. They

have the ability to lead us down paths we would never choose otherwise. We have to be

careful what questions we ask ourselves. If we ask the wrong questions, we always reach the

wrong conclusions. Satan doesn’t need you to deny Jesus in order to destroy you. All he needs

is for you to believe that what Jesus has given is not enough. The moment you believe there is

one thing that God has not given you through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, you

connect to the sense of lack.

The church has been systematically trained to ask the wrong questions. Most of our

questions are based on the presumption of lack. We do not really believe in the promises that

come to us through the finished work of Jesus. Instead, we view His promises as a work in

progress, as something that is based more on our actions than on His. From this basis of lack,

we sincerely seek to solve our problems while creating more pain and frustration. Thus most

of our attempts to discover freedom and victory take us farther from the truth. The more

committed and genuine we are, the more we are susceptible to this type of subtle destruction.

The Truth Is, We Are Complete in Jesus

When our beliefs are not based on the completed work of Jesus, we do not connect

with the fact that we are complete in Jesus! Instead we start from the position that says, “I am

not complete in Jesus.” Starting from that theological and emotional basis, every question we

ask ourselves, every decision we make, leads us farther from victory. It takes us in a cycle of

religion2 and dead works wherein there is no victory, only disappointment and failure.

2
Religion is man’s attempt to know and please God apart from the finished work of Jesus. Faith on the
other hand, is trust in what Jesus did through His death, burial and resurrection.
 Eve believed a lie. She believed there was something that God had not done for her,

thereby alienating herself from the life of God. She abandoned the promises and power that

had made it possible for her to live in paradise. Her beliefs drove her emotions, and her

emotions drove her actions. The moment Eve believed the lie of lack, she began to be driven

by fear instead of faith. Fear became a self-fulfilling prophecy that validated her seductive

feelings.

Once our feelings are validated, we begin to trust those feelings more than the realities

of God. Our emotions become lying vanities that cause us to forsake our own mercies.3 We

are now in the cycle! Like a wind-up toy that runs in circles, our life’s patterns are set. We

will never break out of the cycle until we turn back to the truth of God’s Word.

All of Paul’s writings were focused on bringing the believer back to the finished work

of Jesus, back to our new identity in Him, back to the foundation of the Gospel: faith

righteousness. When your sense of wholeness and completeness, that is, your feeling of

righteousness, is based on the finished work of Jesus, you are immovable. You are

established. You are standing on the rock! You are free from the power of lack!

Are you connected to the sense of lack or do you consistently experience

wholeness? If you are not sure, here are some simple things you can do to determine
the answer to this question. Find a quiet place. Settle your mind. Have your Bible,
pen, and paper at hand. Pick out a few scriptures about completeness in Jesus.
Quote them aloud, being sure to personalize them and stating them in the present
tense.
You may want to use the scripture from Colossians 2:10, You are complete in Him,

who is the head of all principality and power. Simply state, “I am complete in Jesus. I lack

nothing.” Now sit quietly and see what thoughts or feelings come to mind. Write them down.

These reflect your emotional reaction to this vital truth. You can use any scripture that

promises you something through Christ.

 Another thing you can do is look at a picture of yourself. Then write down your first

reactions to what you see. If your first response is negative, then you are probably connected

to a sense of lack. Lack, rather than confidence and faith is driving your decision-making. But

you can change all of that forever. Take a few moments to pray. Let God know that you are

willing to open your heart to a whole new sense of self. Commit yourself to establishing an

entirely new sense of identity in Jesus. Now hold on for the ride of your life! The journey out

of lack will be the best decision you have ever made!

3
Jonah 2:8: “They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy” (KJV).
 Chapter 3

Naked and Vulnerable

Once we buy into the lie of lack, we become vulnerable to every kind of temptation

and emotional manipulation. The feeling of need leads us to believe that Jesus did not, in fact,

complete the work of redemption; therefore, His other promises of peace and joy cannot

become a reality. Once we believe this lie, we spend all of our energies struggling with those

things over which Jesus said we had been given the victory. Our every attempt at faith

becomes a false reinforcement that His Word is not true. We become trapped in the cycle of

lack.

As far as we know, Adam and Eve had never faced any temptation until they started

answering the wrong questions. “Is this really what God said? Did He actually mean this?”

Once the environment of emotional lack was created, they lost their connection to their sense

of identity and relationship with God. Their perception changed. The way they experienced

life changed. They felt lack even though there was no lack. Now they were at a place where

blatant accusations could be railed against God—accusations that felt true but were in fact

completely false.

Such is the plight of people trapped in the cycle. They start out questioning the surety

of the promises of God. Ultimately they begin to question other aspects of the finished work

of Jesus. All of this leads to feelings of lack and uncertainty. In the end, they abandon the

promises of God and set out to find happiness through their own means, independent of God.

If the cycle of ups and downs continues, they blame God and openly attack Him. What started

as simply asking the wrong questions ends in outright defiance. This is what happened in the
Garden of Eden. Once Adam and Eve connected to the sense of lack, Satan could openly

challenge God.

"For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like

God,” Satan charged in Genesis 3:5 (NIV). The absurdity of this accusation lies in the fact that

they were already like God. When God created man, He said, “Let us make man in our image,

after our likeness: and let them have dominion” (Genesis 1:26). Man was created in the image

of God and made ruler over the earth. He lacked nothing. He lived in perfect harmony with

God and the environment. Nothing could have improved the quality of his life.

True completeness comes from the sense of who you are, not from what you possess

or what you can accomplish. At the heart of this temptation was the implication, “You are not

who God says you are. Therefore, you do not have what God says you have.” The only way to

believe you could become more is to feel lack. The only reason to want more is to sense lack!

The attempt to become more righteous is proof that you do not believe you are righteous in

Jesus. The commitment to become sanctified is a testimony to the fact that you do not believe

you have been sanctified. The person who believes he or she is a new creation in Jesus never

pursues the destructive process of becoming. Instead, these believers reinforce the fact that

they are, they have, and they can in Jesus. They look to the work Jesus finished instead of to

the work they will finish.

Lack makes you the center of every equation. Faith makes Jesus the center. In the state

of lack we abandon God’s promise and enter the deceitful world of religion. In this world of

“smoke and mirrors” we never quite live up to the standards that others impose on us. We

always feel inadequate. Our image of God and the world is distorted and negative. Our life
becomes driven by need instead of satisfaction. Need is lesser expression of addiction. It takes

us where we never thought we would go.

The Illogic of Lack

We don’t know how long Adam and Eve had lived in the Garden. Neither do we know

how many times they walked past the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. But we have no

record of them ever being enticed to eat of the tree until they had succumbed to the sense of

lack. Until that time, they had no compelling desire to violate God’s word.

Afterwards, however, in this state of emotional insanity (lack), the entire world looked

different. That which never had any appeal to this royal family now was like honey to the

hungry. It now became the object of their desire. They were obsessed by the illusion of

completeness that could be experienced only by partaking of the luscious fruit. The Message

Bible says it like this, “When the Woman saw that the tree looked like good eating and

realized what she would get out it…she took and ate the fruit” (Genesis 3:6). The false

expectation of a fulfillment that would meet an imaginary need led her to commit an act that

would forever change the course of human history.

What could have possibly led her to such an inaccurate logic? The sense of lack! In

the state of lack, that which we would normally run away from now compels us. That which

we would normally detest becomes our delight. That which we would consider only under the

cover of darkness becomes our open pursuit. Why? It all looks so appealing in the state of

lack! “So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the

eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her

husband with her, and he ate” (Genesis 3:6).

 This is the same power that leads a lonely person to lie about their life to gain

acceptance. It will cause a person who is feeling rejected at home to commit adultery. It will

make sin a logical and compelling choice.

The power of temptation is simply the power of desire. Actually, every temptation

emerges from a God-given need. Temptation is the not the appeal to do what we do not want

to do. It is the longing for a desire to be fulfilled. But when we feel inadequate and

unqualified, we see no hope of fulfilling our longings in a God-given manner. Therefore we

turn to back to “the weak and beggarly elements” that take us back to bondage.4

Just as Adam and Eve had a sense of nakedness, we too feel vulnerable and naked

because of the abiding sense of lack. As a result, we attempt to conquer temptation by

attacking the external. We make new rules and laws that should lead us to perfection but

instead take us deeper into the feelings of lack. We ignore the truth that says that laws can

only make us aware of our failures. They can in no way give us power over sin. Paul said,

“By the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge

of sin” (Romans 3:20 ).

Why would we do something that the Bible clearly says would in no way bring us

freedom? That’s simple; it’s the logic of lack! Just as lack rendered the understanding of

Adam and Eve devoid of sound judgment, so it creates a cloud of confusion. It makes simple

truth seem vague and uncertain. We do just as Satan suggested and make ourselves to be god

of our own world. Our logic becomes the logos wherein we look for salvation and

deliverance.

4
Galatians 4:9: “But now after you have known God, or rather are known by God, how is it that you turn again
to the weak and beggarly elements, to which you desire again to be in bondage?” (NKJV)
 As lack leads us into more faulty logic, we make even more rules. We make them

harder and more demanding, all the while becoming more vulnerable to sin. Our logic just

cannot see the wisdom of God Word that says, “The strength of sin is the law” (1 Corinthians

15:56). Can you image such a twisted and discouraging fate? We make more rules so we can

get out of sin, but instead it takes us deeper into sin. The very thing we did to bring us life

instead brings us death. All the while the feeling of lack and inadequacy grows deeper. Our

sense of being qualified before God sinks to an undetectable level. As a result, we cannot trust

a God who in our mind has no value for us.

To Put It in a Nutshell…

God created us to live in paradise. He gifted us with God-given desires that should be

discovered and realized as we walk in harmony with Him. Yet, the very desires that should

draw us to Him—our Source of ultimate fulfillment—lead us away from Him through our

faulty logic of lack. Through our destructive pursuit of happiness we encounter all manner of

pain. Then, mired in deceit, we assume that the pain is God punishing us for trying to find

happiness.

The reality of this cycle became evident as I counseled with a dear young woman who

found herself continually in moral compromise. She never believed that she could be sexually

gratified if she lived in a monogamous relationship. Her feelings of lack led her to believe that

God would not give her the best life has to offer. She didn’t realize that trying to fulfill a God-

given desire in an ungodly way would always lead to undesirable results. She felt that God

was keeping her from the fulfillment for which she longed.
 Attempting to fulfill our desires through sin is like trying to fulfill an addiction

through drugs. Every time we commit the sin it makes us less capable of experiencing joy.

The need grows deeper. Therefore, the sense of lack drives us to commit the sin again. The

more we sin, the more we need to sin as we attempt to gratify our desires.

What do you believe? Do you feel that God wants you to be happy and fulfilled? Or

do you feel drawn to ungodly means for meeting some of your most basic desires? Do you

feel drawn away because you don’t believe there is a godly way to satisfy these desires? Or do

you feel unqualified for God to meet those needs?

No matter where you may find yourself in the addiction to lack you can start the

process of recovery. You can make the first and most essential decision right at this moment.

If you are willing to believe that God’s word is true, whether you understand it or not, you

have taken the first and most essential step. When your emotions are inconsistent with the

word of God, you must remind yourself, “These feeling are real, but they are not based on

reality. Father I acknowledge your Word as truth and I trust that you will lead me into all

truth. You are my Shepherd and I shall not lack. I base this confidence on the finished work of

Jesus.”

This simple decision to exalt God’ Word above your experience will set you on the

road to recover from lack and launch you into a life of wholeness!
 Chapter 4

Identity Recovered

Thousands of years after the first Adam lost his sense of identity in the Garden of

Eden and surrendered to the “lie of lack,” Jesus, who the Bible describes as the second Adam,

faced the identical struggle. The first Adam lost all that man had been given by God. Jesus,

called the second Adam came to recover al that we lost and give us more than we had ever

known.

In Matthew chapter four Jesus encountered the first major battle that stood between

Him and His destiny. He, like us, had to resolve the issue of identity before He could move on

to fulfill God’s plan for His life. This is the initial struggle that defines our destiny. The

outcome of this one battle will either launch us into lack and the raging cycle of destruction or

will set us on the course of faith and fulfillment.

The sense of identity is the very foundation upon which all our hopes and dreams lie.

We will only live our destiny to the degree that we live in an abiding sense of who we are in

Jesus. Over two hundred times the New Testament utilizes what I call identity scriptures.

These are scriptures that refer to who we are “in him, through Him, or by Him.” Plus there

are the references to “what we have,” or “what we can do “ because of Him. We must accept

this as our new identity and live from this source of confidence and power. Adam originally

ruled the world out of his sense of identity. He knew who he was in relation to God. He had
no other sense of self. The Bible says that he was created to be like God. He was crowned

with glory and honor.5

The words glory and honor also could be translated as “dignity” and “worth.” “Glory

and honor” in the scripture in Psalm 8 is not a symbolic reference to some vague religious

concept. This was the emotional crown man wore. It was his abiding sense of self. He had a

sense of dignity and worth based on who he was in relation to his Creator! As long as man

maintained that sense of identity, he ruled planet Earth. He lived his destiny in effortless bliss!

Man did not lose his dominion over planet Earth when he fell. He lost his sense of

identity. He still ruled Earth. He did not, however, rule out of dignity and worth. Instead of

ruling from a sense of wholeness, he ruled from fear and lack. It is the sense of fear and lack

that drives man to seek power through control. Power and force become a demoralizing

substitute for authority and leadership. When Adam sinned, fear and unbelief replaced faith

and love as the dominant emotional quality of man. Yet, man still had a sense of destiny. He

longed to be who God said he was. He longed to live the way he was created to live. But now

he sought that destiny driven by something that would oppose every God-instilled attribute:

fear and lack.

Jesus could not launch into His ultimate destiny, He could not step into His public

ministry, and He certainly could not face death on the cross until He was immovable in His

identity as the Son of God. His ability to face the obstacles of the ministry, His commitment

to a life of service and sacrifice arose out of a sense of who He was in relationship to God.

John 13:3–5 shows us the source of His inner strength. “Jesus, knowing that the Father had

5
Psalm 8:4–6: “What is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You visit him? For
You have made him a little lower than the angels, and You have crowned him with glory and honor. You have
made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet” (NKJV).
given all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was going to God, rose

from supper…to wash the disciples' feet.” As Jesus’ death on the cross and rejection from

God drew near, He remained the humble, obedient servant. The secret to His power and

composure lay in h=His knowledge of Who He was. He was never compelled to prove His

identity by exerting power. He never used the people around Him for His purposes. His sense

of wholeness freed Him to live as a servant until the end.

God wants our walk in this world to be founded on our sense of restored identity in

Jesus. He desires us to live in that sense of dignity and worth, of glory and honor. Jesus

modeled the essential value for this cornerstone characteristic on the mount of temptation.

How to Answer the Wrong Question

Just as Satan had approached Adam and Eve in the Garden, he came to Jesus asking

questions—the wrong questions, questions designed to lead Him to the wrong conclusions.

He asked the same strategic questions that would cause people who are not firmly established

in their sense of identity to reach the false feeling of lack. “Now when the tempter came to

Him, he said, ‘If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread’ ”

(Matthew 4:3).

Satan did not refute the fact that Jesus was the Son of God. One translation reads,

“Since you are God’s Son.”6 Then, what is so wrong with this question? Why didn’t Jesus

simply work a miracle to prove who He was? Satan, in his subtle mind game, was asking

Jesus to prove His identity by His performance. The need to perform to prove always comes

from the sense of lack.

6
The Message Bible
 Had Jesus wavered in His sense of identity through relationship with God, had He

followed the logic of the question, had He started asking Himself the wrong questions, He

would have started down a path of works righteousness that would have led to His fall. His

life would have become consumed with proving His identity instead of living His identity.

The main message the devil has for you—the message of all codependent teaching, the

message of religion, the message that lies at the core of everything that has robbed the church

of victory—is the charge, “You are not who God says you are. Therefore you do not have

what God says you have. ” It is this very idea that leads us into desperate codependent

behavior. It is this belief that alienates us, in our mind, from the life and promises of God that

have been freely given to us in Jesus.

The question may not come to us in the same manner that it came to Jesus. For us it

may be presented in the form of qualification. “What is it that actually qualifies me for the

promises of God? What qualifies me to go to heaven? What qualifies me to receive a miracle

in my time of need? Why should God answer my prayers? Or, most importantly, why should

God love me?” After all, we reason, He could surely find fault with us! Focusing on our fault,

however, connects us to the sense of lack.

The Gospel leads people away from the sense of lack that comes from personal fault.

“Yet now He has reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and

blameless, and above reproach in His sight” (Colossians 1:21–22). The Amplified Bible says

we stand “faultless and irreproachable.” The New Living Translation says,

“blameless…without a single fault.” God’s view of us, in Christ, is drastically different than

our view of ourselves. His view connects us to wholeness and confidence. Our view connects

us to fear and lack!

 We, through our logic of lack, look at our faults and then to the conditions of the Old

Covenant and say, “My faults separate me from God.” However, the New Covenant says

nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. “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 created thing, shall be able to separate us from

the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38–39).

Paul said that wicked works had the power to make you feel alienated from God. That

alienation is not real, however. It is only a feeling, even though it feels real! It is that sense of

lack, although completely false, that drives an imaginary, emotional wedge between you and

God. “And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now

He has reconciled” (Colossians 1:21). Jesus was hungry from fasting. He was in fact tempted

to give in to Satan’s ploy. However, instead of creating a doctrine based on circumstance, He

went back to what the Word of God says. He did not assume that because He was hungry God

has abandoned Him. He did not make the satisfying of His hunger the proof that he was

accepted by God. He rested in who He was, the Son of God.

Deserving or Qualified?

If we ask ourselves the wrong question, we end up like Adam and Eve: alienated from

God through the fear and unbelief in our mind. We usually ask ourselves if we are worthy

enough for God to answer our prayers or meet our needs. The answer to that is an obvious

NO! But God doesn’t answer our prayers and fulfill His Word because we are worthy; He

does it because we are qualified. There is a difference. I may not be worthy based on my

actions. But I am qualified for all the promises of God because I am in Jesus! To be qualified
is to meet the legal requirements. To be worthy is to be deserving. I meet the legal

requirements even when I am personally undeserving. Why? Because I am in Jesus! He is

worthy!

Paul said it this way: “Giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be

partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light” (Colossians 1:12). How could I possibly

be qualified when I am not worthy? Simple! Jesus is worthy. He inherited all the promise of

God. I am now in Christ. In Him I share in all the inheritance, all the riches of God.

In Jesus we were all given the gift of righteousness. We do not stand before God in

our righteousness. We stand before Him in the righteousness of Christ Himself! “But now the

righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the

prophets; even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon

all them that believe: for there is no difference” (Romans 3:21–22).

We have a righteousness that is not of our making. It is not based on our performance;

it is based in the finished work of the Lord Jesus. “But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of

God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption” (1

Corinthians 1:30).

When we receive His righteousness as a free-gift, our conscience is made clear and

our sense of self changes. We step into the identity that man was created to enjoy—one of

dignity and worth. It is this very sense of righteousness that gives us peace and frees us from

fear of wrath. It is the righteousness of Jesus that frees us from the abiding sense of lack,

doom, low self-worth, and the vague feeling of not measuring up. It is in this

spiritual/emotional state that we fulfill our God-given destiny as priests and kings.
 What is the source of your identity? The way you answer the following questions will

help you understand whether your confidence and faith is based on your identity in Jesus or if

your identity is based on your performance.

What do you believe qualifies you to go to heaven?

Do you believe that being in Jesus is enough to qualify you for all the promises of

God?

What do you believe qualifies you for the love of God?

When things go wrong in your life, is your first reaction to wonder why God let it

happen? Do you become introspective to see what you have done wrong?

When you pray, do you find yourself going through a mental checklist of successes

and sins to determine if God will answer your prayer?

When you ask yourself these questions, be sure to catch yourself. Don’t let these

questions lead you down the wrong path. Make Jesus the answer to each of these questions.

Make Him your total and complete confidence for every qualification, for every promise. As

you make Him your focus your sense of peace and confidence will cease to vacillate. You will

experience confidence and assurance that is beyond your own understanding! You will

discover what it means to be “in Him!”

 Chapter 5

Driven by Lack

As the young woman sat before me, crying, with her face in her hands, I felt such

compassion. At the same time, I knew she had to face a cruel reality or be plunged mercilessly

back into the religious cycle of lack and defeat. Her dialogue vacillated from anger and shame

to justification and defensiveness. Things had not turned out the way she had planned. She

insisted that she wanted to serve God. However, every opportunity she had been given to

serve turned into a problem.

She was one of those people that just conveyed something negative. She was more

than willing to come and give her time. He used all the right “buzz words” about wanting to

serve God. But she seemed to exude something unhealthy. Dysfunctional people were drawn

to her and healthy people were somewhat repelled by her.

With her mouth she expressed a desire to serve. Yet, the unspoken message that she

sent to everyone around her was, “I don’t want to be here!” And now, as she sat in my office

it was time for her to come to grips with the conflicting message and mixed signals. We

wanted her to have a legitimate opportunity but we could not allow her to continue to bring

the disruption.

She had come from a church background where great emphasis was placed on

“serving.” Well, I guess you couldn’t really call it serving. Serving is what one does

voluntarily, for the benefit of the recipient. What she had grown up with would have been

more like slavery. Slavery is when you are forced to do something for the benefit of the one

who oppresses and controls you.

 She had never been able to feel right about herself in our church. She was glad to be

free from the control, but she didn’t really know how to function in an environment free from

manipulation. Intellectually we were in full agreement. Yet, emotionally she was unhappy. I

asked her to step out of “serving” for a while to work through the issues. I felt she needed to

step away and identify her motivation. She was angry at me for asking her to take a break, but

she exuded even more anger when she was given the opportunity to serve. The contradiction

was not uncommon for those who came to us from “high-pressure churches.”

We had attempted to work through this before to no avail. But today’s conversation

had touched too many emotions to let it go unresolved. She was crying, not because I had

asked her to step down from her position; she was crying because I had asked her the

question, “Why do you really want to do all the things you do? Is it because you love God? Is

it because you love the people? If love is motivating you, why do you express so many

negative emotions?” She could not honestly give an affirmative answer to those questions.

Finally, in an explosion of emotion, she blurted out, “I did all those things to get God

to love me.” My suspicions were finally confirmed. She was driven by lack, not love. She

didn’t want to do what she was doing, but it was the only way she knew to feel accepted of

God. Obligation had replaced love. She was meeting her need, not the needs of the people.

Like so many people, this young woman did not recognize what was really driving her

actions. It was not the love of God motivating her. It was unbelief in the love of God. It was

not really the desire to serve, but the fear of not serving that moved her to action. God does

not drive you! He leads you. We do not follow Him out of fear. We follow Him because we

trust Him. He is our shepherd not our tyrant.

 In the Amplified Bible, Psalm 23 boldly declares, “The Lord is my Shepherd…I shall

not lack.” The Message Bibles says it like this: “God, my shepherd! I don't need a thing.”

This entire Psalm gives us a picturesque description of the person who trustingly follows God

as his shepherd. Such followers are freed from lack. They rest in green pastures and when in

dangerous places they experience peace and protection. Only goodness and mercy pursue

them. They aren’t driven. They are led. Fear is not the dominant emotion. Peace is.

Love and peace are a breeding ground for productive service. Fear and lack can

produce activity, but productivity is low and conflict is high. The person driven to service

through fear has no joy in serving. In actuality, a person driven by fear should not serve. They

should discover God’s love for them as a son not a servant.

Son or Slave?

Paul told the Galatians, “Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our

hearts, the Spirit who calls out, ‘Abba, Father’ ” (Galatians 4:6 NIV). God didn’t create

mankind to be slaves. He had angels to do His bidding. He didn’t create us to be an army. He

had angels to fight His battles. He created us to be family. When man violated his relationship

with God, he became sinful in nature. He lost the sense of family. He was no longer sustained

by the sense of dignity and worth. Instead, he became driven by fear and lack. In his own

religious mind he could be no more than a slave to a holy, perfect God.

In Galatians 4:8 Paul said, “Formerly, when you did not know God, you were

slaves…” (NIV). All we have ever known is slavery. We were slaves to our passions and

desires. Religious people who have not been born again are slaves to rules, rituals, and
regulations. As a result, we bring our slave mentality to God and interpret Him from our own

skewed perception.

We consider God to be a taskmaster who must be pleased by our loyal service. We

don’t believe that Jesus qualified us for all the promises of God through His death, burial, and

resurrection, so in slave-like attitude we set out to earn what has been freely given to become

what God has already empowered us to be. In verse 7 of the same chapter Paul said, “So you

are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir”

(NIV).

As an heir we receive all things based on the promise, the covenant. We freely receive

what we could not earn. We inherit what works and performance could not deliver. We

become a part of a family with full rights, privileges, and a complete inheritance. In Galatians

4:5 Paul said Jesus came, “to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the

adoption of sons” (KJV). We were not bought as slaves. We were adopted as son, with all

rights and privileges.

A son doesn’t wonder about his standing in the family. A slave has to prove his worth

every day. A son doesn’t have to earn the inheritance. I twill become his through the love and

generosity of the father. As son knows that all the father has is his. A slave never owns

anything and has no sense of security.

The Galatians had come under the control of a group of religious people called the

Judaizers. This was a group of people who believed that Jesus was the Messiah, but they did

not believe He could make the believer righteous. Therefore, they told people that they had to

observe religious traditions and keep the Law of Moses as a way to earn God’s blessing and

have protection from the devil. They connected people with the sense of lack. They turned
sons into slaves. They took the inheritance and made it payment for works performed. They

infected others with their own sense of lack.

Just as fear and lack perverted Adam’s view of God, these Galatian believers who

once experienced freedom and peace through Jesus now changed their view of God and felt

unworthy and unqualified. When the sense of lack prevails, we feel like slaves and call God

“Master.” When the spirit of sonship prevails, we feel like sons and call God “Father.” When

we are connected to completeness, we have the sense of all our needs being met. When we are

connected to a sense of slavery, we try to earn from God. Paul said it like this:

For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the

Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit Himself bears

witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—

heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ (Romans 8:15–17).

Paul boldly points out the motivation of those who would reduce the children of God

to a slave mentality: control! Listen to the way it reads in the Message Bible: “Those heretical

teachers go to great lengths to flatter you, but their motives are rotten. They want to shut you

out of the free world of God’s grace so that you will always depend on them for approval and

direction, making them feel important” (Galatians 4:17).

Paul compares this seduction to witchcraft when he said, “O foolish Galatians! Who

has bewitched you?” (Galatians 3:1). Witchcraft is an act of putting a spell on a person in

order to gain control of his life. Connecting to the sense of lack is like having someone put a
spell on us and take control of our lives. People who sense lack always give up control of their

life to someone or something.

The Judaizers gained control by undermining the believers’ trust in the finished work

of Jesus. Then they began to dole out the list of commandments, rituals, and cultural

observances that must be adhered to as a means of obtaining God’s approval (and theirs).

They became a substitute for the voice of God in the heart of the believer. They had them

ready to go to any length to serve God as a slave.

When people who are sincere about knowing God are connected to lack they will go to

any length to find a sense of God love and presence. A hunger for God must be matched by

the knowledge of truth or it will become the driving force that leads away from God and into

slavery. Proverbs 19:2 says, It is not good to have zeal without knowledge, nor to be hasty

and miss the way. (NIV)

Motivation for Service

Paul was a fervent, passionate servant of God. He was very clear about his motivation:

He was not driven by fear and lack. He was not attempting to earn approval or privileges. He

was compelled by love. In Romans 1:1 (KJV), as well as many places through the Scriptures,

Paul referred to himself as a servant of the Lord Jesus. The original language would translate

it more as a bondservant. One of the root Greek words means to bind. Kenneth Wuest says

this refers to one who is bound to another.7 Wuest goes on to say, “The word refers to one

whose will is swallowed up in another.”

7
Kenneth S. Wuest, Word Studies in the Greek New Testament, Vol. III, (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B.
Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1968), 45.
 Paul made it clear that it was not fear or bondage that brought about his commitment

to serve God. It was sonship. Like the love slaves of the Old Testament, our debt has been

paid. We are free from the penalty of sin. The law now has no power over us. What will we

do with this newfound freedom? The love slave was so overcome with love and gratitude for

his previous master that he was compelled to serve that master the rest of his life out of

choice. Love compelled him to do what no debt could produce: absolute, total commitment.

Because of our sin we had a debt to the law. The law required that every infraction be

paid for with our life. But Jesus died to free us from the debt of punishment. He was raised up

to provide us with righteousness to qualify us for all the promises. Appreciation for what He

has done should be the motivating response for all we do for Him.

In Colossians 3:12-13 Paul listed all sorts of positive attributes that should define the

life of the believer. Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies,

kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; bearing with one another, and forgiving one

another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you. All of these

actions could emerge from unhealthy beliefs and attitudes. We could be merciful because of

the fear of rejection. Our kindness could be compelled by codependency. Our meekness could

be the fruit of low self-worth. But Paul made it clear that the one thing that binds all the

Christian life and virtues together is love. “And over all these virtues put on love, which binds

them all together in perfect unity” (Colossians 3:14 NIV). Love should motivate every aspect

of our Christian life. The right action driven by a sense of lack never produces good fruit.

Every person should ask himself, “Why do I do the good things I do?” We must

determine if our life is motivated by love or fear. Is God a shepherd whom we trust fully to

lead us to every good aspect of life? Or are we driven by fear and lack? What is the fruit of
our service to God? Is it peace and joy, or is it frustration and anger? For the next week, every

time you do anything good for anyone, or when you do anything in relationship to God,

simply ask, “Why an I doing this?” Discover what’s driving your life.

If you discover you are being driven by negative emotions it does not mean you must

stop what you are doing. Simply remind yourself that God loves you because you are a son.

Acknowledge that Jesus has qualified you for all God’s promises. Now determine that you

will do what you do for the good of the people you serve.

By adjusting your focus you will find new joy in serving. Your emotions will change

and your physical energy will increase. While serving does not buy us anything from God, it

does facilitate the opportunity to have insights into God that will bring us incredible amounts

of fulfillment.
 Chapter 6

The Qualifying Factor

When I called on Jesus to save and deliver me, my life was a mess. I knew I needed

His love and power to change my life. I could not do it alone. It didn’t matter where I lived,

who I was with, or what I did, there was always trouble. After changing my name, living

under an alias, traveling from city to city searching for adventure, and still finding myself in

the same problems over and over again, I knew that I was my problem.

A few years ago county singer Clint Black came out with a song that said, “Wherever

you go, there you are.” Nothing could be more true! That was my problem—I could not

escape from me. For many years I numbed the emptiness through substance abuse. I was able

to bury the pain of an unfulfilled life under the blur of intoxication. But as the power of the

drugs waned, I needed something stronger, something more permanent. Suicide began to call.

I would take extreme amounts of drugs and get as close to the edge of death as I could.

But even in the midst of that, there was always another voice calling. I believe it was the

voice of God. No matter how close I got to the edge there was always that “other voice” that

kept calling me back and giving me hope.

Late one night after my wife had gone to bed, I got as high as I could and still

function. I went out to the edge of the four-lane street that ran in front of my house. I stood on

the curb waiting for a car to come by. I had decided that I would finally break free from me.

By stepping in front of the next car I would end this life of personal torment. I would make

the final escape—death.

 As I stood waiting, the words to a song began to float up into my consciousness. The

haunting lyrics asked, “Is that all there is?” I saw myself dead, immersed in complete

darkness, separated from God. Again I heard the words of the song, “Is that all there is?” I had

the sudden realization that my pain would not end in death. If I died without knowing God, I

would be eternally buried in pain with no hope of ever finding relief. The sudden fear was

sobering.

I renewed my search for God. For years I had tried to find God. I prayed every night. I

just wanted to know Him. I wanted Him to bring me the relief for which I so desperately

longed. I went to churches and talked to preachers, but no one gave me the simple Gospel. I

had preachers affirm that I was going to hell. Still others told me no one was going to hell, so

I shouldn’t worry about it. I knew that neither of these extremes held hope for me. I was

determined to find the God who was calling out in my heart.

One day a friend shared his criticisms of a relative who had recently witnessed to him.

Amidst the criticism and profanity, I was able to get enough truth to recognize where I was in

relation to God. I let him out of my car and began to pray. I finally had enough truth to know

what to do. Even though it came through words of criticism laced with profanity, it was still

truth. And it still had the power to save!

That day I realized that God had found me. He had been looking for me my whole life.

It was His voice that had called out to me as a child that gave me the hope of a better life. It

was His voice that called me back from the edge of death so many times. It was Him who had

never given up. However, it wasn’t until I accepted Him on His terms that I was able to

experience the reality of the new birth and an empowered life.

 That day, in an instant, I was delivered from a lifetime of lack—the lack of a loving

father, the lack of a nurturing childhood, the lack that was attached to a life of sin. I was

delivered from lack by uniting with, wrapping my life around, and fully committing myself to

Jesus as my Lord.8 Just as light drives out darkness, a heart that is alive to Jesus as Lord

cannot be alive to lack.

The old me died! I finally found a way to kill the old me that I had grown to despise,

yet still go on living. The words of Paul, which I later read, made complete sense: “I am

crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live” (Galatians 2:20 KJV). I found a chance at a new life.

And that is what I wanted. I wanted to be free from me and for the first time I was. I wanted a

better life, and now it was mine!

I had done nothing more than believe and act on the truth. I had not earned anything.

Without any qualifications on my part I experienced the greatest miracle of all, the new birth.

Peace flooded my heart. A sense of knowing and certainty girded me that I had never known.

I had a revelation of the love of God that was beyond expression. To this day I cannot put into

words what I experienced in that car so long ago.

I was immediately empowered to live as I chose. Now, when I chose to say no to

drugs, I had the power to see that decision through. When I chose to be kind or to face

conflict, I was empowered to do so. I was no longer drug through life by out-of-control

emotions. The fear and insecurity that had driven my life was gone. I knew that I was a

different person.

I did not immediately go to church. Instead, I went home, poured out all my drugs and

alcohol, dug around until I found a Bible, and began to read. By the time I went to church I

8
When we believe what Jesus did for us through His death, burial and resurrection, we must
determine if he is worthy to be trusted with our life. To trust and follow Him is a commitment to His
had read all of the New Testament. I was praying with fervency. None of this was the product

of obligation; it was the product of passion. I was in love and I wanted to know this Person

who had done so much for me.

What Churches Had to Say

A few weeks later when I went to church for the first time, I walked down the aisle

and made a public profession. I had received Jesus, and I was willing to take any step that

seemed appropriate. I was committed to following Jesus with all my heart. There was no area

of my life that I knowingly withheld from His loving direction. I was baptized. I studied the

Bible. I witnessed to my friends. But I did it all out of my love and passion for God. None of

these things were done to earn anything from God. I knew that I had received everything I

needed to live the life of my dreams.

Life in a denominational church may have been somewhat limiting, but it was not

confusing. There was no emphasis on the promises of God for this life. In fact, the church

really didn’t believe that God did much other than provide the new birth.9 They had some

vague concept of miracles. They viewed miracles as something that would happen only if God

individually chose for them to happen.

I remember hearing the church people talk about how the age of miracles had passed

away. I knew that could not be true. Without really seeking them, I had already experienced

healing and miracles. I didn’t know what to make of their limited view of God. As time

Lordship.
9
This is in no way meant to minimize the value and gratitude I have for the new birth or for those people. If
there were not another promise in this life, the new birth would be more than enough. However, there was much
more.
passed I began to see that they were critical of people who seemed to experience more of God

than they believed possible. It was at this point that I realized the need to move on.

My next move was into a church that would have been labeled as “charismatic.” It was

a good church in many respects. They believed in and prayed for miracles and healings. They

did not limit God as much as the church I previously attended. But they presented an

incredible list of qualifying conditions as prerequisites for receiving the promises of God. In

other words, if you did not receive your miracle, then you should do a personal inventory to

determine if you qualified. Although they offered the promises of God as a present reality,

they connected a person to the sense of lack through their unscriptural eligibility

requirements.

Even though all they said had a ring of truth, something did not quite fit. I got saved

and didn’t do anything to qualify. I got healed, and I didn’t do anything to qualify for it. I was

delivered from drugs, hatred, and violence and did nothing to qualify. As I looked at the New

Testament examples of healing, I did not see Jesus or the early church apply the same rules

for qualification that I was being presented at this church. This was the beginning of

confusion for me.

It seemed that the groups who limited God to salvation had a good “doctrinal handle”

on God’s promises being free and fully paid for by Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection. As

for the groups who believed that all the promises were for today it seemed that they put forth

more legalistic demands for qualification. It was as if they were saying, “Salvation is free;

Jesus paid for that! But for everything else you must qualify by your personal merit.” This

need to qualify once again took the believer to the sense of lack. There was no consistent

theological concept that governed this logic. It made God confusing and hard to understand.
 After graduating from Bible College with a degree in theology, I began to check out

many of the different groups. What I found was that almost all the groups believed the same

things about God. Most groups believed that God would save you, heal you, and, yes, even

work miracles. It seemed that what they disagreed on was the qualification factors. They all

had different lists. They all insisted that their list was the true and accurate qualification for

the promises of God. Regardless of the group or their list, you ended in legalism if you

wanted to receive any of God’s promises.

In each group good people who loved God and had good intentions struggled under

lists that seemed as demanding as the list of the Pharisees. What I noticed as I talked to people

from these different groups was that their lists did not make them feel closer to God. Their

lists did not make them feel safe and loved. In fact, it was just the opposite; they felt afraid

and isolated. It connected them to lack! Even when they were able to do the things on their

lists, it did not endear them to God.

The Turning Point

This became a crucial factor for me when in 1978 I began a four-and-a-half year

struggle with a kidney condition that could have cost me my life. After several operations,

hospitalizations, and experimental drugs, I remained in a threatening medical state. I believed

in healing, but I was not experiencing it. I was confused and afraid!

After a particular bout of sickness, weakness confined me to bed for a long period.

Finally, I was strong enough to take a walk. I had been inside for weeks, and I just wanted to

walk in the fresh air and pray. I wanted to breathe the life of the outdoors in my lungs. I

wanted to feel alive. While walking and talking to God, I was acknowledging a scripture. I
was saying, “Father, I thank You that I see You as You are and that I am being changed from

glory to glory.”10

Suddenly I heard that unmistakable voice of God in my heart. He said, “You don’t see

me as I am.” I became angry and argued with God. The third time He spoke to me He said,

“In the area of healing you do not see Me as I am. You see Me as you have been led to believe

I am.” I repented on the very spot. I said, “Okay, if I don’t see You as You are, I want to. I am

willing to give up my view of You. Open my eyes. I want to see the truth!”

I went home, exhausted from the walk, and lay down for a nap. In a dream I saw every

church service I had attended since being born again. It was like fanning through the pages of

a book. In every service I saw the altar call. In each altar call what stood out to me was the

stipulations that were placed on the promises of God. People who were seeking the much-

needed promises of God were told what they had to do to qualify.

When I awoke I realized that I had subtly accepted all those stipulations. I had not

done it willingly or by conscious choice. It was simply the product of repeated exposure.

Repetition had reshaped my concept of God. I had lost the awareness that had been so real

when I was first born again. I had forgotten that God had given me everything I ever needed

completely independent of my personal qualifications. He had done it all because of His

incredible love. And the one qualifying factor was the finished work of Jesus.

Repetition is a powerful tool. It is for that very reason God warns us, “Cease, my son,

to hear the instruction that causeth to err from the words of knowledge” (Proverbs 19:27

KJV). Repetition has a way of making something seem real and true. We will believe a

deception that we have always heard and reject truth that is obvious. It is a form of

10
2 Corinthians 3:18: “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being
transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord” (NKJV).
conditioning. We think because it is always said, it is true! Repetition makes what we hear

permanent in our minds. It makes it real. It blinds us to God’s reality!

That one law of personal development almost cost me my life. I had to restructure my

beliefs. I had to find a way to write the truth on my heart so I could return to that simple place

of relationship that I had once known. I had to release all of the unscriptural stipulations I had

placed on God. I had to decide if my trust was in the finished work of Jesus or in my personal

performance. That decision was the beginning of freedom from a life-long disease. It

delivered me from the lack that religion had subtly reintroduced into my life.

Jesus is the one and only qualification for the promises of God! Jesus and His finished

work must be the one-and-only object of our faith. “For no matter how many promises God

has made, they are ‘Yes’ in Christ” (2 Corinthians 1:20 NIV). “The Father who has qualified

us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light” (Colossians 1:12 NKJV). If Jesus

qualifies me for all the promises of God, why would I seek to be qualified again through my

personal merit?

As we build our lives around our lists, we slowly push Jesus from the center of our

life. Our list may be good. It may contain things that we should do. The moment, however,

that list becomes our qualification for God’s approval, blessings, or acceptance, it has become

our righteousness. We have rejected Jesus as our source of righteousness and qualification.

Each of us must make a clear and conscious decision about the source of our

righteousness. Is our righteousness a gift from God, based on the finished work of Jesus, or is

it based on our works? This decision is the starting place for breaking out of the up-and-down,

in-and-out cycle. Consciously trusting Jesus as your righteousness will free you from the

sense of lack and return you to a life filled with the power and promise!
 Chapter 7

What We Weren’t Told

It has often been said that raising children would be easy if they came with an

instruction manual. Then we wouldn’t make all the mistakes inherent in parenting. Likewise,

when we started our walk with God, we were like newborn babes. We didn’t really know

exactly what to do or how to do it. We needed someone to help us get off to a good start. We

needed a manual!

The wonderful thing about starting out as a new believer is that we did get a manual. It

is called the New Testament. When following the model laid out in those pages, a fabulous

life is guaranteed. But, because it is not laid out in a simple format, we don’t understand it.

We need other people to help us get off to a good start.

The first few days of a new convert’s life are crucial. During those first few days

decisions are made that determine our paradigm of Christianity. It is in that time that our walk

with God is usually determined. Those initial decisions often determine the rest of our life.

Actually, it is these very early decisions that immediately drive us to a sense of lack or to a

sense of wholeness.

When we came to Jesus, we should have started with a “clear plate.” Someone should

have told us to let go of everything we ever believed about God, to read the New Testament,

and to start out fresh. Even the apostle Paul who was a scholar in the Old Testament realized

that his understanding of God was not accurate. He needed to grow in his knowledge of God

through the revelation of Jesus. After his conversion he spent fourteen years in preparation for

his ministry. Before God could send him out to preach, he had to renew his mind in the
principles of the New Covenant. His early attempts at ministry were a miserable failure that

produced conflict and persecution.11

We tend to come to God laden with ideas and concepts from our past. Too many

people never come to learn of God as He is. They bring a predetermined concept to their new

life and say, “This is what I believe about God!” This is tantamount to what the children of

Israel did when in their ignorance they created a golden calf and said, “This is the god who

delivered us from Egypt!” The person who has a preconceived idea never gets to know God

as He is. Starting from this corrupt logic makes it impossible to experience God as He is. The

promise to see God is for the pure in heart, not the assumptive heart (Matthew 5:8).

When I came to Jesus, a part of my prayer of salvation was, “Get me a Bible and I will

read it. I will believe only what I find in the Bible. I will not believe what anyone says about

You until I see it in the Bible.” I had heard many strange things about God that I knew could

not have possibly been true. I did not want what I had seen in other Christians. I no interest in

the fights I had seen over religious doctrine. I had no interest in a social gospel. I wanted what

was real. I wanted to know God as He is!

Most Christians are willing to believe the truth. The problem is we get exposed to

skewed concepts of the Scriptures and accept them as truth. Most of us have decided how we

will see God before we have ever read the New Testament for the first time. Therefore, when

we do read it, we simply notice the parts that reinforce our already corrupted beliefs.

Paul described the way we read the Bible as having a veil over our face. He said that

the veil that blinds us and keeps us from seeing God as He really is, is the law. But he also

says that when a person turns wholeheartedly to Jesus as Lord, that veil is removed and we

11
See Acts 9:28–31.
are changed from glory to glory.12 The problem, however, is that we think we are seeing God

as He is when we really are seeing Him as He has been described to us.

The Bible says that wisdom is justified in her children.13 In other words, all I have to

do to determine if I am seeing God in truth is to look at the fruit. If I feel lack, insufficiency,

or other negative emotions, if I have no hope, then I know that I am not committed to the

truth. I may be fully committed to what I believe to be the truth. But if it does not have the

power to set me free it is not truth. When I do not feel empowered, even though I may be

committed, I am not committed to the truth about God as revealed by the Lord Jesus.

Too often we mistakenly think that sincerity is evidence that we have believed the

truth. When people challenge our beliefs, we may feel they are challenging our sincerity. It is

essential to realize that sincerity is not an indicator of our commitment to truth. It is, however,

an indicator that once we get the truth we have the kind of attitude that will handle it with the

care it deserves.

Many times in my walk with God I have had to take myself back to the bare realities

and start over. When I realize, “I have been influenced by people more than the Bible,” I

repent14 and go back to the Word of God. I read it as if I had never read it before. I surrender

my opinions and ego to the cross of Christ.

After the Lord showed me that I had developed a concept of His promises that was

based on false stipulations, I re-read every verse and passage in the Bible about healing. I read

it as if it was the first time. I renewed my mind in that area of my belief. Renewing my mind

changed what I was experiencing. I have had to do that time and time again in other areas.

12
See 2 Corinthians 3:13–18.
13
See Luke 7:35 (KJV).
14
Repent simply means to change my mind.
Jesus Is Our Righteousness

There were many things that we should have been told the day we were born again. So

much of our struggle is not because we were told things that were wrong. It is just because of

what we were not told. We should have been saved for only a few minutes before someone

shared the basics with us. Of all the things that we were not told, however, the most essential

was that Jesus was our righteousness! He makes us whole and complete before God. Because

of Him, we are qualified for all that God has and all that God is.

Probably all who pray the prayer of salvation know they are accepting Jesus as their

Savior. Some are fortunate enough to realize they are accepting Him as Lord. But nearly none

knew they were accepting Him as their personal righteousness. I have asked thousands of

people this simple question: “When you got saved, did anyone tell you that Jesus was going to

be your righteousness?” Of the thousands around the world I have asked, less than ten were

able to answer in the affirmative.

Without the realization that we are accepting Jesus as our righteousness, it is

impossible for anything else to work as it should. Jesus as our righteousness is the matrix

around which the entire Gospel “comes together.” Without that as the core it becomes an

unholy mixture of grace and law that paralyzes, blinds, and deceives the new convert. Without

faith righteousness as the foundation, nothing ever really makes sense. The joys of salvation

are mixed with apprehension and dread about the power to live the new life. The sense of lack

then emerges from the inability to measure up as a Christian. We swap one torment for

another!
 Paul echoed the words of Jesus when he wrote to the Galatians and said, “A little

leaven leavens the whole lump” (Galatians 5:9). These people had started out well. They

wanted to know God. They accepted Jesus as Lord. But religious teachers seduced them. They

taught the Galatians that Jesus would save them, but they had to obey the law to be righteous.

As a result, the Galatians, like so many believers, unknowingly pushed Jesus out from the

center of the Gospel. These believers had good intentions, but the leaven of the law turned the

Gospel into a damnable heresy that crippled instead of empowered. Without Jesus as their

righteousness, it became impossible for them to experience the power and promises of God.

The leaven Paul warned of was righteousness by works, or works righteousness.

Dead Works Don’t Work

In Hebrews 6:1–2, Paul laid a foundation for New Testament faith. In these verses is

the starting place for knowing God through the Lord Jesus. The very first of the foundational

doctrines is repentance from dead works. The word repent as used in the New Testament

simply means “a change of mind.” In other words, when we come to God, we should change

our mind about a lot of things, especially concerning the role that good works plays in our

righteousness.

It is this very renewing of the mind that lies at the heart of making this journey with

God. Your beliefs and ideas are like a map. They guide your every decision. You are living

your life based on what you think works, what you think will get you what you want. You are

following the map of your beliefs. In Christ, God’s Word gives you a new map. As you

expose your ideas and opinions to the Word of God, you can assess their validity. The Word

of God becomes the new map that will guide your life; it becomes the new foundation upon
which you build your life. If we as believers are not building on this foundation of faith

righteousness, we will be limited to the best of our ability, or to our works.

When Paul recognized his need to repent, he was not talking about repentance from all

the sinful things he was doing. He was talking about repentance from religious works. Paul

was a very dedicated religious man. Everything he did was based on the Old Testament. It

would have been easy for him to rationalize, since the Old and New Testaments talk about the

same God, all of his views of God were accurate. Nothing could be farther from reality.

One of the things that the Old Testament never offered was righteousness. If the

Israelites obeyed all of the law, it would be as if they were righteous. But it never actually

made them righteous. “And it shall be our righteousness, if we observe to do all these

commandments before the LORD our God, as he hath commanded us” (Deuteronomy 6:25

KJV). In Christ we are offered righteousness separate from our works.15

Complete and total obedience was as close to righteousness as the Old Testament

believer would ever come. The truth is, however, that would never be enough to make a

person acceptable to a holy, righteous God. David knew that his best efforts would never

make him righteous. In Psalm 143:2 he prayed, “Do not enter into judgment with Your

servant, for in Your sight no one living is righteous.”

If obeying the law is a person’s hope of righteousness, he would have to obey every

single point. He could not fail at any part. If he did, he was not righteous enough to approach

God. Paul cites a passage in Deuteronomy to make this point. “All who rely on observing the

law are under a curse, for it is written: ‘Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do

everything written in the Book of the Law’ ” (Galatians 3:10 NIV).

15
See Romans 4:6–8.
 The very law to which Paul had looked to see God actually hid God behind a veil. It

allowed one to see a faint picture of God, but it never really showed Him as He is. “But their

minds were blinded. For until this day the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the Old

Testament, because the veil is taken away in Christ” (2 Corinthians 3:14). God determined

that people would see Him as He really is through the person of Jesus.

Paul had trusted in his obedience to the law to make him righteous. But he repented of

all those “dead works.” Granted, all the things he did for God were valuable. Many of them

were things that he would continue to do, but he had to realize that none of those things could

make him righteous—qualified and acceptable to God. That only happens because we are in

Jesus.

Most of us came to God with predetermined ideas about who He was and what we

would need to do to please Him. Because we held on to those ideas, we have alienated

ourselves from the power of God. Therefore, we are stuck in the cycle of lack and destruction.

We are connected to the sense of lack. We do as “good” as we can. Then one day we get tired,

or angry, or frustrated. Then we don’t do so “good.” Immediately we lose our peace. We

experience the only thing that law can give us; we experience the knowledge of sin, the sense

of failure and lack. We believe that God is no longer close to us. We assume that He cannot

possibly love us. We are now in the cycle of destruction. That destructive cycle will continue

our entire life unless we follow Paul’s example and repent of dead works.

Dead works are not the sinful things you do. That is sin. You need to repent of your

sin. But your sin is the fruit of a deeper problem. It is the fruit of a life that is connected to the

sense of lack, the absence of God’s power. Dead works are those things you do to make

yourself acceptable to God. It is those things that you trust to make you righteous more than
you trust Jesus. No one may have ever told you this incredible truth. If you accepted Jesus as

your Lord and Savior, then you are righteous through Him. There is not one thing you can do

to make yourself more righteous.

When you accepted Jesus as Savior, did you accept Him as your righteousness? Did

you connect to lack or to wholeness? Has life seemed harder since you got saved? Are you

willing to accept Jesus as your righteousness now? If so, acknowledge Him right now as your

righteousness. Every time you begin to feel lack, remind yourself that Jesus has made you

righteous before God. As you do so, with each passing day this reality will grow in your heart

and empower you to new heights of freedom and joy!

 Chapter 8

The Heart of the Gospel

The word gospel literally means “good news.” Some Bible translations call it the

“Great News”! Jesus brought us the Gospel. He brought us news from God that was so much

better than anything people had ever heard that it was called the good news. It is hard to

imagine what could have possibly been better than anything God had ever said or done up to

that point.

Without the realization of faith righteousness and grace the New Testament
seems like little more than an addendum of the Old. The New Testament is not a part
of the Old. It is a completely new arrangement between God and man. It comes with
better promises, better terms and more power. It is the great news!
In John 1:17 we get our first glimpse of this incredibly great news. “For the law was

given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” Moses gave us the

law, and it was completely true. But the law had several weaknesses. The first and most

significant weakness of the law was that it could never make a person righteous. Therefore,

the participants could never have a sense of wholeness. Hebrews 10:1 says it this way: “For

the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can

never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers

thereunto perfect” (KJV).

The Law Could Do Only So Much

Although the law had incredible value, it did not have the power to transform. It

merely gave rules whereby one could live a more peaceful and productive life. The law

provided the most sophisticated, comprehensive social codes available to man. It taught man
such things as how to eat and how to have a judicial system that worked. It provided

principles for health, a financial system, and more. Also built into the law were principles that

would prepare man for the ultimate revelation of God. The sacrificial system was the

“shadow” through which man could get a glimpse of the coming Lord and Savior. But not one

person was ever set free by the law!

Although the law provided all of these valuable systems, it was full of inherent

weaknesses, the biggest problem being that it had no power to transform anyone. The law

never gave a person a clear conscience. It never delivered people from the internal sense of

lack. It never gave mankind the power to break free from the endless cycle of commitment,

effort, and ultimate failure. It could only offer a model of behavioral modification. It could

tell you what to do, but offer you no power or help to do it. So it was a perfect standard

offered to imperfect men, who could never live up to its standard. Imagine how disheartening

that had to be!

Because it was being applied to men who had not been transformed, it was impossible

for them to obey from the heart. “For what the law could not do in that it was weak through

the flesh, God did by sending His own Son…” (Romans 8:3). What God wanted to accomplish

in mankind could never be done externally. Nor could it ever be done by man’s efforts. The

law simply provided a system of guidelines for man to live until God’s ultimate intention

could be made a reality.

Because man failed at obeying the law, it created another weakness. It made man sin-

conscious. “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” (Romans 3:20 KJV). Nothing could be more emotionally

destructive than seeking to serve a holy God with a continual awareness of all the areas in
which you had failed. Sin consciousness, contrary to the beliefs of some, does not make you

live a better life. In fact, it makes you live a worse life. It binds the practitioner to an abiding

sense of lack. You are constantly made aware of your limitations and inabilities.

Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15:56 that “the strength of sin is the law” (KJV). How could

this be? The very law that God gave to show man how to live a peaceful, productive life

ultimately caused man to get worse. So was the law bad? No! The problem was the heart of

mankind. Man, who had a sin nature and a sense of failure, became more corrupt and

hypocritical. Law was a destructive thing for unregenerate men. God could only solve the

problem in Jesus. What the law could not do, Jesus did!

So Moses gave the law, but Jesus gave “grace and truth.” The law had no power to

make people better. It was just a list of rules that, when followed, would make life better. But

it was dependent on sinful men to work. A complete impossibility!

Grace and Truth Did What the Law Could Not

Jesus, on the other hand, not only brought truth, but He also brought a higher level of

truth. What Jesus called upon man to do far exceeded what the law had required. Jesus not

only taught us to walk in the truth, He also taught us to do it from a heart that was motivated

by love—love for God and love for people. He didn’t “lower the bar”; He raised it to a level

of impossibility for men with a sin nature.

Fortunately Jesus did not just bring a new level of truth. He brought grace as well!

Grace is more than unmerited favor. Grace is God’s power, ability, and capacity that works in

a person’s heart and is given without merit.16 Grace is God’s ability that works in man. It is

16
Joseph Henry Thayer, Thayer’s Greek English Lexicon of the New Testament (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker
Book House, 1977).
God’s power that makes us able to do what we could not possibly do in our own limited

ability. The Old Testament gave us rules filled with wisdom, but it did not empower us to

obey those rules. Jesus came to raise the standards for all those rules. They had to work from

the heart, from the motive of love. But He did not leave us to our own limitations. He gave us

the power and capacity to live that truth.

How would God give us this power? What form would it take? The power that God

gives us, the power that makes us able to live in His Word, is the power of righteousness.

When trying to discuss righteousness with people, I have found that few can actually connect

with a literal definition. It is not, however, the definition of righteousness that empowers us to

break free from the destructive cycle of lack. The key to righteousness empowering us is in

how it affects self-awareness, or in how we feel. To feel righteous is to feel complete and

whole. It is to feel clean and acceptable before God. It is to have an absolute sense of

qualification, an absolute knowing about God’s acceptance and provision in every area of life.

It is this sense of empowerment that gives us the confidence to trust God and yield to

righteousness.

God has given us a new, righteous nature. He has made us a completely new creation.

This is the great news! This is the most significant thing God has done for mankind since

creation. He sent Jesus to become a man, live a sinless life, go to a cross, become our sin, take

our punishment, die for our sins, obtain righteousness, be raised from the dead, and offer it to

us as a free gift. Second Corinthians 5:21 says it this way: “For He made Him who knew no

sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

When we are born again, we actually become a new creation. Yes, we are the same

individual. We have all of our life’s memories and experiences. But we are given a new
nature. We are given a righteous nature. This new nature empowers us to live a new life. We

now have a new capacity and ability to live in a manner pleasing to God and to our own

conscience. We are freed from the sense and power of lack.

Experiencing the greatest news God has ever given to mankind should be an

incredibly exuberant experience. If in fact we have believed this incredible news about faith

righteousness, if we are experiencing the sense of wholeness, then our life should be

dominated by that reality. It should affect the way we approach everything in our life.

As a believer I have to ask myself, does my relationship with Jesus bring a positive

effect into every area of my life? If not, what is it I believe about God and me? Do I feel clean

and whole before God? Do I feel empowered to live the life to which God has called us? Do I

feel like the Gospel is the best news I have ever heard? How I answer these questions is an

indication of whether or not I have really believed the Great News about Jesus.

There is a simple self-test you can apply to recognize how you really feel about

anything. Look in the mirror. Look straight into your eyes and say, “You are completely

righteous.” Now wait to see what emotions and thoughts emerge in response to this statement.

Write them down. These thoughts, emotions, and reactions represent the underlying feelings

you have about your righteousness. Once you recognize those feelings, you can begin to make

changes about your acceptance of the great news that Jesus is your righteousness.

Now look in the mirror and say, “Jesus has made you righteous. You are completely

acceptable to God. He finds no fault in your. You stand before Him holy and blameless in

love.” Use the Prayer Organizer17 to make yourself aware of the hundreds of scriptures that

proclaim you new righteous identity in Jesus. Acknowledge who you are in Christ until you

17
The Prayer Organizer, James B. Richards, Impact International Publication, Huntsville, AL
reach a place where you feel complete peace and joy when you say it. Make it your reality and

it will become your power.

 Chapter 9

From First to Last

“I just can’t get this to work,” he sighed. “I’ve got victory in other areas, but this is

just too strong. No matter how hard I try, nothing changes.” This was certainly not the first

time I had heard this story. Like so many Christians, Terry was caught in the cycle. Even

though God had given him victory in other areas, he was about to “throw in the towel” over

this seemingly insurmountable issue. Of course, it was a significant issue!

“Maybe you’re asking the wrong question,” I suggested.

“What are you talking about?” came the somewhat angry reply.

“You keep asking what you need to do to get victory over this problem, but maybe

you need to be asking ‘What do I need to believe?’ ” I suggested.

“What are you talking about? I am a believer,” he insisted.

“Yes, you’re a believer. You believe on Jesus to get you to heaven. But what do you

believe Jesus can do about this problem?”

“Why should He do anything? He’s not going to answer my prayers when I am stuck

in sin like this!” was the sharp comeback.

“At the root of every problem is what you believe,” I insisted. “Do you believe you are

righteous in Jesus?”

“How could you ask me that?” he blurted. “You know how I have struggled with this

issue. No! I’m not righteous. I want to be, but I can’t overcome this sin.”

Like many Christians, Terry thought his righteousness was defined by his actions. He

couldn’t see beyond his works. He wanted his works to make him righteous. He was caught in
the cycle. He believed Jesus gave him enough righteousness to get him born again but not

enough righteousness to conquer his sin. Instead of trusting in the power of righteousness to

deliver him from sin, he trusted in his works to earn his righteousness. He had no consistency

in his belief of the Gospel. Without a change in his beliefs, he would spend he rest of his life

in the cycle of lack.

Inconsistency in the Gospel seems to be interwoven in every great theological

challenge facing the church—especially in the area of faith righteousness! Faith righteousness

is the theological foundation of the New Testament. Every doctrine should be built on this

reality. Yet, the church has wrestled with this foundational truth since its inception. Nearly

every epistle was written to bring believers back to a place of trusting Jesus as their

righteousness. Somehow, though, we have missed that message. There seems to be some

vague concept of Jesus qualifying us for salvation. But we somehow fail to see Him as

qualifying us for anything else.

A Radical Message

Paul’s message turned the world upside down. Nothing so radical had ever before

been heard. Every kind of god and every kind of doctrine had been preached to the Roman

world. But nothing like this! Now, the idea of a savior was not that different. Belief in deities

was common. But every concept of religion had placed the burden of satisfying the gods on

the shoulders of the believer. Man was enslaved to serving and satisfying the angry, moody

gods. Man existed in a continual state of need, always seeking the undeserved favor of an

angry god.
 The idea that righteousness could be a free gift was beyond comprehension. This far-

reaching idea is in fact the source of both incredible persecution from those who did not

believe and inconceivable power for those who did believe. “For I am not ashamed of the

gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes” (Romans

1:16). It is the sense of wholeness that comes through faith righteousness that breaks the

crippling grip of religion and sets a person free to know the living God.

The Gospel is designed to bring power and wholeness into the life of every believer.

Connection with Almighty God should free us from the connection to lack. The power of

righteousness should break the grip of sin. The power of life should overcome every shadow

of death that works in our lives. We should be affected at every level of our existence with the

power of righteousness. We should have a new sense of identity that infuses our sense of self.

This is not a description of the exceptional Christian life. This is the model for the normal

Christian life.

Paul insisted that there was a connection between experiencing this power and

maintaining consistency in faith righteousness. Paul’s bold statement, “I am not ashamed of

the gospel,” calls forth memories of the times we may not have shared the message of Jesus

or times we were intimidated and did not stand up for Jesus. However, being a bold witness is

not the main point being made. He was making a specific reference to the good news about

Jesus being our source of righteousness. Verse 17 continues, “For in it [the gospel] the

righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith.”

It was not the idea that Jesus was Savior that made the Gospel message so radical.

Many of the people who persecuted Paul believed that Jesus was Savior. The thing that was so
radical was the inconceivable idea that Jesus was our righteousness. This idea, which is the

very core of the Gospel, has always been more than the natural mind could grasp.

Religion functions in lack. It holds men captive to its gods through lack, not love.

Religious dedication and subsequent commitment is based on fear, control, and self-

righteousness. The idea of righteousness by faith is the part of the Gospel with which

Christians struggle. Paul identified this belief as the stumbling stone of the Gospel.18 Yet,

amazingly, it is the heart of the Gospel. The entire Gospel is built upon this foundation. Apart

from faith righteousness, the Gospel is no more appealing, and offers no more hope than any

other religion.

It is the failure to embrace Jesus as our righteousness that keeps us bound to the sense

of lack. It keeps us repeating the destructive cycle of failure, shame, frustration, and

recommitment. When we are not experiencing the power of God, the issue of faith

righteousness is always at the root. The areas of our life that do not work are the areas in

which we don’t connect our beliefs to faith righteousness.

The Cornerstone for Our Belief

We have not actually believed the Gospel until we have believed that Jesus is our

righteousness. This is what must be believed in order for the Gospel to have power in our

lives. The message of faith righteousness facilitates the power that frees us from the sense of

lack and ends the cycle of the struggle to please, resulting in failure, and defeat.

From first to last, every aspect of our walk with God is dependent upon our belief in

the righteousness of Jesus as our own. For example, when we need peace, we have to ask

ourselves, “Did Jesus obtain peace through His death, burial, and resurrection? Does being in
Jesus qualify me for that peace?” These are the only two questions I need answered when

facing any of life’s obstacles: Did Jesus obtain the promised solution? Does being in Him

qualify me?

Herein lies the solution to the righteousness issue. Do you believe the righteousness of

Jesus is enough to qualify you for all the promises of God? Until that issue is resolved, you

have no foundation upon which to build the promises of the New Covenant. Until the

righteousness of Jesus is your qualification, you will attempt to overcome the sense of lack

through your own sacrifices and good deeds. Thus you are bound to the repetitive cycle of

destruction. By seeking your own righteousness, you have rejected His righteousness and the

power it brings.

Our logic cannot seem to grasp the concept of faith righteousness. It is as if we can

believe that Jesus gave us enough righteousness to get born again, but we are not sure if He

gave us enough righteousness to qualify for anything else. Our “works mentality” dominates

our faith in the finished work of Jesus. It neutralizes the power of righteousness in our life.

We are limited to the nest we can do, instead of the best He could do.

We have turned the entire doctrine of righteousness upside down. We think that if we

do good enough we will qualify for the promises of God. The truth is if you could do good

enough you would not need the promises of God. They would no longer be promises; rather,

they would be wages. God did not save us from sin and then leave us on our own. He came to

live in us. He abides in us. His righteous nature is in us by the Holy Spirit.

Romans 1:17 says, “For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith;

as it is written, ‘The just shall live by faith. ” There is no part of the Christian walk from the

18
Romans 9:32-33
first to the last and everything in between that is not based on faith…faith in the righteousness

of Jesus as our own.

Do something everyday to remind yourself that Jesus is your righteousness. Begin

everyday with the acknowledging of who you are in Jesus. Let that be the mindset that set

your course. When you lie down to sleep take the last few minutes before falling off to sleep

and remind yourself that Jesus is your righteousness. Very soon your sense of self will be

swallowed up in His righteousness. The sense of lack will be driven away by the sense of

righteousness.
 Chapter 10

The Power of Righteousness

The concept of faith righteousness is a paradox. It seems so contradictory. Those who

do not understand it think that it is a form of “easy believism.” Some falsely think that faith

righteousness leads to a compromised life. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Accepting

the righteousness of Jesus as our own connects us to the power of righteousness. Faith

righteousness gives us the only escape from the sense of lack that draws us into sin.

In the previous chapter I told how Terry felt that his compromised lifestyle meant he

was not righteous. He felt that if he would only live right, that would make him righteous,

thereby qualifying him for the promises of God. He felt that God would not help him because

he was so undeserving. Terry was trapped in the cycle of lack.

The mental maze of works righteousness is an illogical enigma. It connects you to the

sense of lack. It buries you in an endless cycle that allows you to momentarily come up for

breath before plunging you once again beneath the torrents of negative emotions. Like the

plight of a swimmer caught in white-water rapids, it is an endless, frightening struggle for life.

Just when you think you can take a breath, it plunges you down into the frightening abyss of

toiling in fear and darkness. No matter how hard one may try, righteousness by works never

delivers what it promises!

The Law—A Substitute for the Promise

Righteousness is the one thing man did not possess under the Old Covenant. The law

did not make people righteous. It was, in fact, a substitute for righteousness. It was a list of
procedures that displayed the wisdom of God. It revealed what a righteous person would do.

Obeying the law was tantamount to imitating righteousness. But it did not make them

righteous.

In Deuteronomy 6:1 God said, “Now this is the commandment, and these are the

statutes and judgments which the LORD your God has commanded to teach you, that you may

observe them in the land which you are crossing over to possess.” The Law was given for

their good. God was showing the Israelites how to function in an antagonistic land and remain

victorious. It was a formula for success in a hostile world.

In verse 6 God emphasized the importance of this instruction. “And these words which

I command you today shall be in your heart.” The Law was essential to the survival of Israel.

It was a means whereby unregenerated man could experience the blessings of a holy God. He

wanted these words to be a part of their internal belief system, thereby guiding them through

life. But He never wanted them to think that these laws would make them righteous.

In verse 25 of this same passage we see the flawed logic of the children of Israel when

they said, “And it shall be our righteousness, if we observe to do all these commandments”

(KJV). God never said the law could make you righteous. In fact, He said just the opposite.

“No man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by

faith” (Galatians 3:11 KJV).

Like the children of Israel, we trust more in our performance for righteousness than in

God’s promise of righteousness in Jesus. Works righteousness just makes sense when you

look at it in a natural way. This is what Paul was talking about in Romans 8:7 when he said,

“The carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed

can be.” Even though it makes sense, it separates you from the ability to live in the
righteousness of God. It opposes all that God did through the death, burial, and resurrection of

Jesus. It actually disempowers you and sets the stage for your ultimate demise. Yet, it makes

sense!

The Power Is in the Promise

God defied all logic when He introduced the idea of righteousness apart from works.

“But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the

Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and

on all who believe” (Romans 3:21–22). The church has resisted the possibility of this promise

ever since Jesus ascended into heaven. We have stubbornly clung to the concept of works

righteousness even though it has never produced a church or an individual who had the power

to change the world.

Under the law, man did not have an internal sense of righteousness. Under the New

Covenant, however, we have been given a new nature. We are a new creation. We have been

made righteous. The new birth is a birth into righteousness. We should do whatever it takes to

connect with the sense of righteousness. It is that sense of righteousness that keeps us

connected to the power of righteousness.

Righteousness is more than a right standing with God. It is more than an imputed

status. It is more than a theological concept. Righteousness is all of this and more. It is the

power of God to live in righteousness. It is the strength that comes into us as a result of

receiving this new nature. It is ever present. It abides in us through the person of the Holy

Spirit who lives in us. It is our right standing and it is our power to stand right. It makes us

feel right about ourselves and God. And it gives us the power to live right before God.
 When we fall into sin, it is usually in an attempt to pacify our sense of lack. But,

instead of quenching the longing, it breeds new levels of insecurity and desperation. It

convinces us that we are not in fact righteous. Any attempt to “get right with God” is an effort

in work righteousness. Any attempt to get right with God reinforces the idea that we are not,

in fact, right with God. It is an alienation from the power of righteousness that is in us as we

pursue a righteousness of our own.

So here we find ourselves deep in the cycle. We are struggling with a sin that makes

us feel unrighteous. We have lost our confidence with God. We felt that if we could only live

a better life, we would feel righteous again and all of our confidence would return. Then we

could believe that we are accepted of God.

The problem is that we don’t have the power to consistently conquer the sin to which

we feel drawn. Even when we stop committing the action, we still struggle with the desire, the

temptation. Our vulnerability makes us feel weak, inadequate…lacking!

See if you can grasp the contradictory logic: My sin makes me feel unrighteous. I need

righteousness, which I do not have, to have the power to overcome my sin. So I seek to

become righteous in my own strength in order to gain righteousness. Then I no longer need

God’s righteousness…. The logic and the outcome are bizarre.

Because we have been born again, we have the righteousness of God inside us. We did

not have the inherent power of righteousness in our sinful nature. And according to the epistle

to the Romans, we were slaves to a sinful nature. So we didn’t have a choice. Now we do. We

don’t have to yield to sin; we can choose to yield to righteousness. And whatever we yield to,

empowers our life.

 The idea of yielding is foreign to Western Christianity. We have been trained to make

things happen. To become righteous by doing righteous. If the power of righteousness is in

me I don’t need to become righteous, I need to yield to the power of righteousness. As a

believer I now have options. Sin may compel me, but it has no power over me until I decide to

yield to it. Then its power goes to work in me to make me a slave to sin.

Simultaneously, even though sin is compelling me, righteousness is in me. The desire

to sin may have caused me to loose my sense of righteousness, but it has not left me. I am

connecting to sin as I meditate on it. As I entertain the pleasure it will bring sin becomes more

real and alive in me than righteousness. Sin is not my master it is simply the thing to which I

am emotionally connecting through my thoughts.

I can do the same thing with righteousness that I do with sin. I can begin to think about

the joys of walking with God. I can remind myself that I am righteous in Jesus. As I magnify

righteousness and its joys above sin, I reconnect to righteousness. As I once again sense its

presence I am confident to yield to its power.

There are times when we may not yield to righteousness, but that does not mean we

are not righteous. Paul did not tell us to become righteous in order to conquer our sin

problems. He told us to yield to righteousness. “Yield yourselves unto God, as those that are

alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God” (Romans

6:13 KJV). It is not about becoming; it is about yielding.

The more we establish a righteousness consciousness or an awareness of Jesus’

righteousness in us, the more we are likely to yield to it. Consciousness determines

connection. That which is present in my awareness is that to which I am connected. The more
the reality of righteousness permeates our sense of self, the more we experience it as an

emotional reality that dominates and empowers all our decisions.

In every temptation remind yourself that you are righteous. Thank God that Jesus is in

you and you are alive to His righteousness. Experience the complete victory over sin as you

yield to the power of righteousness. Join the millions who trust in His righteousness and live

in victory! The power is in you. You don’t need anyone to bring it to you, just yield.
 Chapter 11

Flawed Logic

Our flawed religious logic keeps us connected to the sense of lack, thereby trapping us

in an endless cycle of destruction. How does it work? First we create beliefs based on our

experiences. That subjective illusion becomes our sense of reality. Then we create a theology

that explains the lie. The whole thing is what I call circumstance theology.19

Hebrews 11:3 explains God’s process for believing that leads to understanding. “By

faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which

are seen were not made of things which are visible.” The way our mind comes to understand

God’s phenomenon starts with believing. Once we believe, our mind gains the capacity to

perceive and understand.

What we are not willing to believe, we will never have the capacity to receive. You

see, our mind works to prove that which we choose to believe. There is no such thing as a

totally unbiased thought. We all are guided by our preconceived ideas. A person must at least

be open to a possibility before he or she can see and perceive that possibility.

The book Show Me God, Fred Heeren and George Smoot record the intellectual

pursuits of some of the greatest minds of the past century who did not believe there was a

God. They set out on an intellectual quest to prove or disprove the existence of God. In the

end they reached the undeniable conclusion that the world had to be created by an intelligent

being, that is, God. The unique characteristic that made them such intellectual greats was their

openness to any possibility. This subtle but essential factor meant they were open to all

possibilities. If there are any possibilities to which we are not open, then we can never
discover the truth about them, because our mind cannot reveal what we will not see. The

Bible says it this way: “The pure in heart…shall see God” (Matthew 5:8).

When I was first saved—when I first acknowledged Jesus as my Savior—I knew

nothing about God. Fortunately I was aware of my ignorance. In my prayer of salvation I

acknowledged, “God, get me a Bible. I will read it and believe it. I will believe about You

only what I can see in the Bible for myself.” As I read through the Bible, I would come upon

things that I didn’t know or didn’t believe. When that happened, I would simply fall to my

knees and pray, “God, I don’t know what this means, but I am willing to believe it. Will You

help me to see and understand it?” The willingness to accept what I didn’t know or

understand protected me against flawed logic.

When we start from a place of trust, the Spirit of God can take us down the path of

understanding. An open mind gives Him the freedom to fulfill His role as the great teacher.

Our problem is we want to understand before we are willing to trust. We want God to explain

an infinite reality in a way that our finite mind can grasp. Instead of having the attitude of a

disciple, we sit in the seat of the scorner. We want God to submit His wisdom to our

judgment. In our smug self-righteousness, we approve or disapprove of God’s wisdom based

on our limited understanding. The result is we do not allow God to take us to any level of

existence that we do not understand.

When we insist that we must understand before we trust, we turn the entire process

upside down. Belief that is based on understanding is subject to change if someone else comes

along and presents a stronger or more reasonable argument. When our logic is the reasoning

that directs our beliefs, we are like a boat tossed by the waves of the circumstance.

19
See, Taking the Limits off God, James B. Richards, Impact International Publication, Huntsville, AL
The Results Reveal the Logic

According to John 1:1, Jesus was the logos of God. The logos is the integrity, wisdom,

and logic behind the Word. All of God’s words are upheld by a wisdom and logic that is

revealed in the person of Jesus. “Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image

of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power” (Hebrews 1:3 KJV). We

should be able to observe the life of Jesus and grasp the logic of God. His life should give us

our basis of understanding how God relates to mankind. When our reasoning becomes the

center of the equation, we make ourselves to be the logos of God. Then we really believe God

is revealed and understood in our reasoning.

From these vain imaginations we create a concept of God that fits into our logic. It is

the purist form of idolatry. We have created an image of God independent of how He reveled

Himself through Jesus. We build entire religious systems around the empty theories that

emerge from our corrupt logic. We gather people around us and persuade them that our

position is correct. We are like the Pharisees Jesus addressed: “Woe to you, teachers of the

law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and

when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are” (Matthew 23:15

NIV). We want everyone to believe what we believe whether it helps them or not. The more

we get others to agree with our logic, the more we are falsely assured that ours are the

thoughts of God.

Then we commit our lives to protecting these ideas. Over the centuries men have

excluded and rejected those who disagree with their doctrines. Laws have been passed to

make it illegal to believe anything that differs from a particular point of view. People have

been tormented and murdered to preserve doctrine. All this violence was generated in an
attempt to protect the illusionary concepts of God that we all have agreed to call reality. The

need to violently defend our beliefs is the greatest sign that those beliefs have not empowered

our life. They are simply the dogma to which we look for security.

If these doctrines were based on the logos of God, they would produce the same fruit

in our lives that Jesus presented in His life. They would heal and deliver. They would breed

value and worth for all people. They would make us more kind and patient. Love would be

the motive and goal of all our actions. New Testament beliefs make us become more like

Jesus.

All our attempts to violently preserve our doctrines emerge from the sense of lack.

Every seed bears after its own kind.20 Bad seed produces bad fruit. Good seed produces good

fruit. Lack and fear always are present at the same time. One always gives rise to the other.

They are a continuum of unscriptural beliefs, emotions and consequences. We should never

allow a belief that makes us feel threatened to drive our actions. Acting on a negative belief is

like planting handfuls of thorn bush seeds in the garden of our life. They create snares and

pain that keep us from the life Jesus died to give us.

God desires to take us to a quality of life that is beyond our comprehension. First

Corinthians 2:9 tells us, “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of

man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” In our attempt to fit God

into our flawed logic, we have limited our experience with God to our subjective reasoning.

Consequently, we have come to believe in God as He exists in our mind, which may be a total

contradiction to what Jesus showed us.

Psalm 78:41 says, about the children of Israel, “Again and again they tempted God.”

The children of Israel continually judged God. They would hear His promise and then they
would pass a judgment as to whether they believed He was able to fulfill that promise. The

second half of that same verse in Psalm 78 tells us they “limited the Holy One of Israel.” Our

judgments f of God limit His ability to express Himself in our life. The limited expression

becomes the deceitful proof that our flawed logic is correct. It is a trap from which there is no

deliverance apart from repentance.

The hardships of the children of Israel were not the cruel testing of God. His only test

for them was the test of believing. He offered them promises and their faith was tested with

every promise. There test was simply believing or not believing. When they believed the

promise, their faith passed the test and they experienced the promise. When they doubted the

promise they limited their experience with God and became subject to their circumstances,

which were often quite destructive.

As Paul said in First Corinthians, God is always tying to take us to a place we have

never seen with our eyes nor conceived in our heart. He would have us take wings and rise

above the lack that abounds in a world dominated by the curse of man’s logic.

How could we possibly rise above our current perspective of life? Psalm 78:42 helps

us understand the downfall of the people of Israel. “They did not remember His power: the

day when He redeemed them from the enemy.” The disciples fell into the same trap when

they thought they would die in the storm. When faced with impossible circumstances, they

didn’t consider the miracles they had seen Jesus work. They let their mind be taken captive by

their fearful emotions.21 They limited God’s ability to deliver to the scope of their fears.

God included His mighty works in the Bible so we would have a record of His deeds

to give us courage when we face trouble. In Jesus we are qualified to receive any promise that

20
See Genesis 1:12.
21
See Mark 6:52.
God ever made to anyone in the Bible.22 He will do for us what He has done for anyone. Our

sense of lack, though, tells us that we are disqualified. Our rejection of righteousness in Jesus

makes our unbelief become a self-fulfilling prophecy that confirms our delusion.

The Spirit of God is always trying to lead us into all the possibilities of God. Although

our eyes have not seen it, Paul assured us in 1 Corinthians 2:10, “But God has revealed them

to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.” God

is trying to show us what our eyes have never seen. He is seeking to reveal what has never

entered into our heart. He wants to take us where we don’t know how to go. He wants to

remove the limits of our reasoning.

When the sense of righteousness permeates your heart, you will be free from the fear

that binds you to lack and open your heart to all the possibilities of God. Start by accepting

God’s reality of righteousness. Believe that you are qualified in Jesus, and open your heart

and mind to all the possibilities of all His promises.

Free yourself from flawed logic by placing Jesus back at the center of your equation.

Open your heart to God by praying this simple prayer, “Father, I want to know you through

Jesus. I want to see you as you are. I will not limit you to my understanding or past

experiences. As I read the Word help me to see you as you are.” Now read the Gospel and

when you see Jesus handle a problem or reach out to someone, remind yourself that He is

showing you God. Bring all of your flawed ideas about God in line with the life of Jesus. Hen

you find what you don’t understand, don’t assume to know. Entrust yourself to the Holy Spirit

as the great teacher. Simply acknowledge that your surrender your ideas and await His

wisdom. It will come!

22
See 2 Corinthians 1:20.
 Chapter 12

Trapped By My Opinion

Humility is the mind-set that facilitates incredible aspects of God. “Humble yourselves

in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up” (James 4:10 KJV). Unfortunately, our

religious concepts of humility place “great things” and “humility” at opposite ends of the

spectrum. Yet, according to God’s Word, the two depend on one another.

Humility is not a position of degradation and defeat. It is actually a place of great

confidence. The humble person recognizes the limitations of his finite mind without feeling

lack or inadequacy. Such people are completely at peace with the wisdom of surrendering

personal opinions to God’s, thereby submitting their will to God’s will. Their trust in God

makes surrender a safe, positive experience. They trust God’s will for their lives. They know

that God alone can bring them to the place of absolute fulfillment.

The haughty and the proud, however, cling tenaciously to their opinions regardless of

God’s opinion. They falsely believe that they will not experience the best if they surrender to

God. They do not understand that as our Shepherd, God leads us away from lack and into His

best. This blindness plunges people into the cycle of lack and defeat. No matter how many

times they repeat the cycle, they fail to realize that their vain imagination and proud heart are

at the root of the problem.

It’s All About Opinion

Jesus told the Pharisees that they remained in blindness because they insisted that they

could see. “Jesus said to them, ‘If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say,
“We see.” Therefore your sin remains’ ” (John 9:41). Few things have the power to blind us

more than our own opinions. Our proud insistence that we see things as they are, keeps us

limited to the power of our perception.

It is our opinions and our subsequent actions based on those opinions that lead us

deeper and deeper into destructive cycles. Until our opinion changes, we will repeat all our

past failures because all of our decisions are based on our flawed logic. Proverbs 16:25 says it

like this, There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death. (NIV).

This is why God calls us to repentance. Repentance does not qualify us for the promises.

Rather, repentance facilitates our ability to see what we have never before seen! Repentance

opens our heart to new options and new understanding.

The word repent simply means “a change of mind,” or to think differently. In order for

us to see what we need to see, we have to be freed from the limited opinions that shape our

perception. It is our opinions that we must surrender. Even when we do not know what the

proper belief or point of view should be, we should always live in a mind-set that is ready to

surrender our opinion to God’s opinion.

At first glance this seems as if it would breed instability. After all, if we are committed

to what we believe, how could we easily surrender it to a new thought or idea? In the paradox

of life we must find that place where we are fully committed to our beliefs but ready to

surrender them to the view and opinion of God. This can happen only when Jesus Himself is

our source of safety. The humble heart is fully committed to God and His Word, yet fully

flexible in adjusting his understanding of that Word.

Too often our doctrine serves as a wall to isolate us from God instead of a bridge to

lead us to God. Doctrine produces dogma; relationship produces stability. When our
confidence is in our doctrine, we have a sense of safety only when our doctrine is protected.

When our sense of well-being emerges from our relationship with Jesus, our doctrine can be

challenged without it affecting our sense of wholeness.

In the Old Testament, millions of people sought to relate to God on the basis of the

Law. But the people who were immortalized as those “of whom the world was not worthy”23

were those who lived by faith. Their trust was not in The Law or the false sense of

righteousness it could bring. Their trust was in a relationship with God. They sought to obey

the law. They knew it was the wisdom of God. But they trusted God personally for their sense

of security.

Shortly after being born again, I received a call from a family member who said, “ I

appreciate the change in your behavior, but you’re still going to hell.” This person’s hope of

salvation was in her denomination. She insisted that salvation was the result of attending a

particular church. I have to admit that I was momentarily shaken. But I was more than willing

to subject my beliefs to her scrutiny. In the midst of the challenge I felt safe with God. I knew

that if my doctrine was wrong I would more than gladly adjust it. But I was able to know that

without feeling fear or lack. Very early in my walk with God I had the opportunity to decide

the source of my salvation—my doctrine or my Savior.

Doctrine can be an illusion. In our cerebral, egocentric world, we choose doctrines like

we pick out new clothes. We decide which one looks best on us, and that’s the one we select.

We have no sense of putting what we believe to the test. Rather, we look to the approval of

some group to validate our doctrine.

23
Hebrews 11:38 NKJV.
The Doctrinal Test

Jesus said when we put the truth into practice, we would experience that truth and then

it would set us free.24 How do we know if our doctrine is truth? I have learned that my

doctrine must be validated through at least three sources. First I must be sure it is consistent

with the Word of God as a whole. Then I must make sure that it does not violate what Jesus

did through His death, burial, and resurrection. Third, I must consider its consistency with the

life of Jesus. Only then am I ready to proceed to the realm of personal experience.

If my doctrine stands the test of these three benchmarks, then I have to ask
myself, “What is this adding to my life? Is this setting me free or taking me captive?
Jesus said He came to give me life to its fullest. Will believing what I believe
contribute to the quality of my life? How does it make me feel about me?” Demeaning
doctrines that rob us of dignity and worth have no place in the kingdom of God.
Jesus also said that everything about God is summed up in two realities: Love God and

love people.25 I have to consider, does what I believe about God make me love Him more?

Does it make me have more value for God? Does it endear me to Him? Likewise, I have to

ask, does it make me love people more? Are my beliefs making me more tolerant, patient, and

kind? If not, then something is not as it should be.

The starting place of all transformation is a change of opinion (repentance) about

righteousness. Until I believe that God has an accepting view of me, I cannot have a healthy

sense of self. Apart from faith righteousness, all growth is viewed as change that must be

done in order to satisfy a displeased God. Apart from faith righteousness, every positive

aspect of the Christian life takes on a negative connotation.

Accepting Jesus as your righteousness should be the cornerstone of your new

understanding of God. The very foundation of salvation itself rests in what we believe about

righteousness. Unfortunately, most new believers are never introduced to this all-important

24
See John 8:31–32.
reality. If you have been in church for years, then moving from the place of trusting your

works to a place of trusting the righteousness of God may require overcoming years of

religious conditioning.

Revelation Is a New Perspective

We need revelation in order to see what we do not see. The eyes of our heart must be

open in order to move from where we are to where we want to go! Sadly, the concept of

seeking revelation has been perverted by the idea that we must somehow convince God to

show us what He previously has not been willing to show us. Our faulty, “need-based

theology” creates the illusion that revelation is something God must bring to us. We, like

Adam and Eve, have come to believe there is something God has not given us or shown us

that would make our lives so much better. It is, in fact, that belief has blinded us to what He

already has given us in Jesus.

That crippling concept is in direct opposition to the Word of God. The Word says,

“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” (2 Peter 1:3 KJV). God has

already given me everything I need in Jesus. I must make sure that I am growing in my

knowledge of Him and His finished work in order to draw upon those internal resources.

It was this mind-set of lack that led Adam and Eve into unbelief and mistrust. To

believe that God is “holding out” on us is a direct affront to His character. When we believe

this, we deny every promise of the completed work of Jesus and call out to God to show us

what He seemingly has not yet shown. We refuse to accept that our opinions and doctrines are

the only things limiting our perception of God and His provision.

25
See Matthew 22:37–40.
 Revelation is not when God shows us what He, up until that time, has been

withholding from us. Revelation is what we see when we change our position by surrendering

our opinion. A change of position always brings a change in perception. When I step out from

behind my opinion I am able to see that which was not previously clear. If my religious views

are the source of my safety and confidence, however, I will not surrender them. Instead, I will

defend them though they destroy me. We stand behind our opinion and then fail to understand

why we cannot see clearly. We cry out for God to move on our behalf and show us, but God

has cried out for us to repent so we can see.

God desires that we see and experience all that Jesus died to give us. The New

Testament is a revelation, not a mystery. Blindness and limited understanding are always

related to the heart. In 2 Corinthians 3:14–16 Paul told us how the law became a veil that

limited Israel’s view of God. Embracing any opinion that is not based on New Testament

revelation does not show us God. Rather, it limits our view of God.

Jesus, the logos of God, showed us who God is. In Him everything that we have

understood about God comes together. Yet, we reject what He showed us and look back to

The Law to see God. We make ourselves disciples of Moses instead of Jesus. We reject Him

as the wisdom of God and lean to our own understanding, which is derived from The Law.

We reject God’s revelation that He gave us in Jesus and seek our own private revelation.

Reshape Your Heart

Paul, though, showed us how the veil of opinion can be removed. “But even unto this

day, when Moses is read, the veil is upon their heart. Nevertheless when it shall turn to the

Lord, the veil shall be taken away” (2 Corinthians 3:15–16 KJV). The veil to which Paul
referred was trust in the Old Covenant. The people thought the law could make them

righteous, or acceptable to God. As a result, they were afraid to release what they thought

would make them acceptable to God. The truth is, when people look to The Law for their

righteousness, they bind themselves to a blinding sense of lack. It is like an addict who hates

his drug but has to have it in order to function. It has become a part of the fabric of his life.

When The Law is our confidence, it alters our view of God and dictates our understanding of

the New Covenant.

The Bible says, “A froward heart cannot find good” (Proverbs 17:20 KJV). The word

froward literally means crooked. It seems that pain, sorrow and religion have the ability to

distort the shape of the heart. When the heart has been bent by religion, pain, and sorrow, it

distorts our perception. Like light passing through a prism, that which is clear and bright

changes colors when it is bent. Truth that enters our heart is bent to facilitate the beliefs of our

heart. It shades everything we see. It alters ours perception. In 2 Corinthians 3:16 when Paul

said, “When it shall turn to the Lord…” (KJV), he was talking about the heart. The verse

literally means when the heart is “twisted back,” the veil is taken away.

The only thing that has the power to “twist” your heart back into the shape that God

intended it to be is the righteousness of Jesus. A heart that is established in faith righteousness

does not twist the truth to accommodate its fear and insecurity. It has no sense of lack or

rejection.

God has already filled you with the knowledge of His will. All His wisdom is in you

now. The challenge is yielding to Him in a way that allows your heart to “twist back” to its

true shape so that it can facilitate the revelation of the truth. Our heart must be made straight
by accepting the righteousness of Jesus as our own. Make faith righteousness the breastplate

that guards your heart against every fiery dart.26

As you daily implement the suggested steps at the end of each chapter you will find

your heart turning back to Jesus. As He becomes yours source of righteousness, your concepts

of God will change. You will step from behind your self-righteousness to a wide-open world

of faith righteousness. You will see and understand what you have never seen before. You

will be freed from your opinion, liberated by a revelation of Jesus, led by a new understanding

of His Word and empowered by faith righteousness.

26
See Ephesians 6:14.
 Chapter 13

Is Jesus Enough?

For years we have touted the slogan, “Jesus is the answer.” We have assured the

world, “Jesus is all you need.” Yet, immediately after our conversion, we were led to believe

that Jesus was not actually enough…. He was not enough to make us secure with God. He

was not enough to qualify us for the promises of God. He was not enough to make us

accepted by God.

I know you would argue, “No one ever told me Jesus was not enough.” Although it is

certainly true that no one in the church world ever uttered those words, the moment you were

told that you had to do things to qualify for these promises, you accepted the idea that Jesus

was indeed not enough. You were persuaded to believe that Jesus plus your works was

enough.

Satan never actually told Adam and Eve that God was a liar. He simply led them to

ask questions that caused them to reach false conclusions. The assumption they reached was

that God had not given them everything they needed for a quality life. This conclusion

connected them to a false sense of lack that began to drive their logic and subsequent actions.

Jesus Plus…

The apostle Paul was astonished that the believers at Galatia had been seduced into

thinking Jesus was not enough. He said, “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting

the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—which is

really no gospel at all” (Galatians 1:6–7 NIV). No one ever said they were offering them a
different gospel. No one ever said there was anything wrong with the gospel they had

received. All it took to bring them to a place where Jesus no longer affected their life27was to

get them to add something to their source of confidence! Jesus plus anything disconnects you

from Jesus as your sources. It is sort of like telling your wife you will be faithful except for

the times you commit adultery. It is not faithfulness.

These false preachers in the book of Galatians didn’t get the believers to do something

bad. They go them to do something good, something that was in the Scriptures. The problem

was not what they did. The problem was that they began to trust in their works to make them

righteous, thereby neutralizing God’s grace (ability) in their lives.28

A religious group, who preached Jesus, came after Paul and insisted that while Jesus

was enough to get them born again, they could expect God to keep His promises only if they

upheld righteousness through The Law. The same group told the church at Colosse that if they

failed to keep some part of The Law, it would open the door to the devil. He would have the

right to attack them.

Paul wrote the letters to the Galatians and the Colossians to bring them back to the

place of grace, peace, and faith righteousness. They had abandoned their trust in Jesus by

adding the need to trust in The Law. They surrendered faith righteousness for works

righteousness. Although they verbalized an allegiance to Jesus, it was mere lip service. They

no longer followed Him as Lord or Savior.

Righteousness is what qualifies us for salvation, for the promises of God, and for all

God’s provision. Trusting Jesus as our righteousness is what makes Him our Savior. Trusting

27
Galatians 5:4: “Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen
from grace” (KJV).
28
Galatians 2:21: “I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead
in vain” (KJV).
Him enough to follow His teaching and become a disciple is what makes Him our Lord.

Therefore, whatever we trust for righteousness becomes our savior. When we trust obedience

to The Law to make us righteous, we have made ourselves our savior. Our sacrifice of

obedience is what purchases our salvation instead of Jesus’ sacrifice of obedience.

When we trust our logic of performance more than the logic of God, which was
expressed through Jesus, we become our own lord. Thus you have the ultimate
fulfillment of Adam’s sin: We become the god of our own world, knowing good and
evil for ourselves. In this case we have said that our way is good and God’s way is
evil. I realize that we never say those words. But our life expresses them. Our source
of trust proves them to be true.

The Most Important Question

This is the single most important question we must ask ourselves: Is Jesus enough? On

an intellectual level Jesus is certainly enough. We all can quote scriptures and parrot all the

“spiritually correct” clichés. However, let’s ask this question another way: Is Jesus enough to

make me feel right with God? Does my relationship with Him satisfy all my sense of lack and

inadequacy? Do I have complete peace with God? Does His sacrifice qualify me for all the

promises of God? Where is my trust—in His performance or mine? In Romans 5:1 Paul said,

“Having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

When our justification before God has its roots in the righteousness of Jesus, we can abide in

His presence in total peace. A sense of completeness will permeate our life.

This is exactly what Paul meant in Romans 1:17 when he said, “The righteousness of

God is revealed from faith to faith.” And we could safely add, not from faith to works. Paul

asked the Galatians, “Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying

to attain your goal by human effort?” (Galatians 3:3 NIV) We start our walk trusting God’s

Spirit to work in us, then are deceived into thinking we must complete the work by our
personal efforts. How could anyone experience God’s incredible saving power as a free gift

and then abandon Jesus? Simple—someone gets you asking the wrong questions so that you

connect yourself to the sense of lack.

No one ever says, “Jesus is not enough,” or, “Don’t trust Jesus for your
righteousness.” They simply appeal to your natural (carnal) logic, which Paul said
cannot grasp the logic of God. In fact, he said this:

Those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh,

but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be

carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law

of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please

God (Romans 8:5–8).

Being “in the flesh” is a scriptural term. It describes people who trust in the “works of

the flesh,” that is, in their natural abilities to make them righteous. In an attempt to break

through their logic Paul asked, “I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive

the Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard?” (Galatians 3:2 NIV) It’s a

simple question. “When you got born again, did it happen because you earned it or because

you believed what you heard?”

The answer is obvious; the logic is clear. Paul was attempting to connect them once

again to the sense of wholeness they originally had found in Jesus by asking them the

appropriate questions. They were made righteous enough that God’s Spirit came and dwelt in

them as a free gift. It is like asking, “If God gave us the best He had for free, why would He

make us pay for anything else?” In Romans Paul said it like this: “He that spared not his own
Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?”

(Romans 8:32 KJV). Paul’s questions were designed to bring us back to Jesus. The answers are

obvious.

God wants us to trust the sacrifice of Jesus. He wants us to receive a quality of

righteousness that is so pure that it will qualify us for all God has and will empower us to live

as we should. He wants us to have a righteousness that is ours apart from our performance, a

righteousness that is found only in Jesus. This is why Jesus said, Unless your righteousness

exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the

kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 5:20)

Just think of it, those who depend on their works-righteousness have no hope of

entering the Kingdom of Heaven. Yet they manipulate those whose faith-righteousness is far

superior to what they have. Paul said those who look to the flesh have always persecuted

those who look to the Spirit.29 They need you to give up your confidence as a way to boost

theirs.

Rejoice in your righteousness. Every time you have a prayed answered, every time

something goes right remind yourself that you are qualified by the finished work of Jesus. The

more you magnify Jesus as your righteousness the more you connect to wholeness, leaving

lack and al its destructive power behind. The more you remind yourself that Jesus is enough,

the more He becomes your everything!

 Chapter 14

Overcoming Shame and Confusion

As Danny told me his story of personal failure, my heart broke. This man, who had

once served God so boldly, now could not look me in the eye. Before me sat only the shell of

the previous confident believer he had once been. Guilt for his actions had long since been

overcome by shame. No matter where he went or what he did, he had the abiding awareness

of his past sins.

The body of Christ didn’t really help him much. It seemed that no matter where he

went, there was still someone who was more than willing to reject him because of his past sin.

Everyone expressed so much concern that he pay the price for his sin that no one considered

helping him out of his pain. In fact, it appeared that people believed he had truly repented

only if he remained in pain and shame.

Too many times we think shame is a form of humility, a proof of repentance. Jesus

came to deliver us from shame.30 In our faulty logic we think shame is essential to repentance.

In reality a person can experience deep remorse without yielding to a life of shame. Only

when we see people with their heads hung low are we willing to believe they have repented of

their wrong. Nothing could be farther from the truth. If people had actually repented, they

would hold their head high and reclaim their identity in Jesus.

We want people who have failed to live in shame as proof that they are aware of their

sin. And that is exactly what shame is. Shame is a negative emotion that controls our life by

keeping us in constant awareness of our sin. Living in awareness of sin is what the law does

29
Galatians 4:22-30
30
Isaiah 61:1-7
for us. This is not, however, the work of the Holy Spirit in the New Testament. He is here to

make us aware of the fact that we are now righteous in Jesus. No matter what our past is, or

how recent it is, we can rise above it and live the quality of life that Jesus promised.

Shame keeps us in the cycle of sin, lack and destruction. . It drags us back to the thing

we despise. It keeps us connected to the sins of the past. It ensures that we will commit those

sins again by keeping them alive in our consciousness. It insists that we define our life by our

personal failures. It is an emotional connection with everything from which Jesus died to free

us. It not only says, “This is what you have done,” but it also says, “This is who you are; this

is who you will always be.”

Few things are more destructive than shame. Shame robs you of the sense of dignity

and worth. It paralyzes you in the past. It disempowers you from living a new and different

future. It intoxicates you with confusion. It clouds your mind with an emotional stupor that

leads to horrible decision-making. It keeps you in a never-ending cycle of negative emotions,

negative decisions, and negative results.

Feelings Drive Actions

Thoughts and beliefs generate emotions. Emotions drive our thought processes and

ultimately our actions. Every action we take is based on a combination of logic and emotion.

We occasionally make decisions that contradict our emotions. But, in the end, we always fall

back to the feelings that are driving us. Emotions continually stir us to some type of action.

I have heard it said that feelings are a call to action.31 I believe that is absolutely true.

Feelings always lead us to an action of some kind. When a person says, “I am led by faith, not

by feelings,” that is only a partial truth. One is wrapped up in the power of the other. How?
Faith is simply trust. It is based on your beliefs. Those beliefs cause feelings, and those

feelings lead your actions. You can never totally escape the role that feelings play in our

decisions. What we need is faith in God’s promises. That faith then produces strong positive

feelings that play a role in empowering us to take actions consistent with those promises.

People who live in guilt and shame seldom make quality decisions unless they

understand the difference between the two. Guilt is the feeling we have when we violate our

conscience. It is a negative emotion. A negative emotion will call us to take action. But we

must understand that it is not a call to negative action. It is a call to a different kind of action

than we are presently taking. Sadly, though, when people feel negative emotions, they tend to

be moved to negative actions. Sometimes those actions are thinking more negative thoughts.

Often they are bona fide negative actions. In reality, negative emotions are a call to a different

kind of action.

Guilt, which is a negative emotion, tells me I have taken an inappropriate action and

that I must change my action. Guilt is like a warning light in your car. It is telling you that

whatever you are doing, you must stop now or the engine will break down. Negative emotions

simply tell me I must initiate a positive, life-giving action. Otherwise I will plunge myself into

a cycle of destructive thoughts, feelings, and actions. Guilt is our minds way of saying, “It’s

time to do something different. This isn’t working.”

Shame is something altogether different. When you study the Hebrew language, you

find several Hebrew words for shame. One seems to point more toward disgrace. Another

indicates a feeling of vileness or ignominy, humiliation, confusion, and embarrassment.

Interestingly, the same Hebrew word for shame is also used of an idol. Shame becomes an

idol. It is something that denies the truth of God’s Word. It defies the reality of faith

31
Anthony Robbins, Get the Edge (Robbins Research International, San Diego, CA, 2000).
righteousness. It cries out, “I am more powerful than the blood of Jesus. I am more real than

the resurrection!” When we yield to shame, it is synonymous with bowing down to an idol.

We have exalted our vain imagination and our tormented emotions above the knowledge of

God. We commit to those negative feelings as a higher reality than God’s Word.

Shame is like a self-induced punishment for our wrongs. Many people feel they should

live in shame in order to pay for their wrongs. Ironically, one can never suffer enough to pay

the cost. When is enough ever enough? The price for our negative actions keeps rising. The

more we think about our sin, the more we think we should pay. The more we feel shame, the

less deserving we feel of God’s love and mercy. There is no end to shame.

In order to continue to feel shame we must have a continual awareness of our failure.

People who live in shame rehearse their failures over and over again. They keep those failures

alive in their mind and emotions. This is exactly what Paul identified as a weakness of the

law. The law gives us the knowledge of sin.32 The awareness of sin keeps the negative

emotions associated with sin ever present. Those emotions keep us connected to the sense of

lack. The sense of lack is what keeps us bound to the power of sin. It keeps us in our

destructive, repetitive cycles.

There is a biblical principle that says, “What you think on grows in your life.” I like to

say it this way: “You become what you behold.“ People who live in shame are forever

attached to their past sins and failures. Because they keep those things alive in their heart,

they are still subject to them. Shame binds us to the sins of the past. It ensures that we will

eventually repeat the same sin.

Guilt is an initial emotional response to inappropriate behavior. It is a call to take

another action. Shame is an immersion in guilt; it tells us that we are what we have done.
Shame says this is who we are; guilt says what we have done is inappropriate. The ability to

separate our actions from our identity is a paradox wrapped in a mystery. But, that ability is

essential to emotional health and stability.

The Solution to Shame

When we sin, it is essential that we own that sin, that we acknowledge it. First John

1:9 tells us to confess our sin. The word confess simply means to “say the same thing.” I must

say the same thing about my sin that God says. He says that sin has no power over me.33 He

says that I have a new nature. He says that I am righteous; therefore, I have no excuse for sin.

After I confess my sin, I must then walk in the light. Walking in the light, or the truth, begins

by focusing on who I am in Jesus not what I have done wrong. As I say the same thing about

me that God says about me, I break down all of my excuses for sin. I remind myself of my

new righteous nature. I give myself courage to face the future. I bring my self to true

repentance. I change my mind about sins power over me. I am now saying the same thing God

says about me and my sin!.

First John 1:7 says, “But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have

fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.”

Walking in the light always brings a person back to the place of fellowship with Jesus.

Acknowledging that I am righteous, accepting God’s forgiveness, is of little value if that does

not facilitate my return to intimacy with Jesus. It is intimacy with Jesus that restores my soul

and gives me my life back!

32
See Romans 3:20.
33
Romans 6:14: “For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace” (NIV).
 Even when I have sinned, I must still acknowledge that I am righteous in Jesus. I still

have a righteous nature, even though I have violated righteousness. If I do not acknowledge

my righteous nature, I am not saying what God says. I must acknowledge that sin has no

power over me, and that as a righteous being I have no excuse for sin. I also must

acknowledge God’s desire to fellowship with me. I have to reverse all the emotions that are

trying to convince me that I am now separated from God.

Sin does not actually separate a person from God, but it makes one “feel” separated. In

the Old Testament this actually did happen. But under the New Covenant we have a better

arrangement. Colossians 1:21 says that our wicked works alienate us from God in our mind.

Under the Old Covenant sin did separate us from God. Under the New Covenant nothing can

separate us from the love of God.34 However, if I allow those feelings of separation and guilt

to call me to more negative action, I will end up in the grip of shame. I will deny my new

identity in Jesus. I may never really recover. I will be like Adam who hid from God when He

walked through the Garden calling out for fellowship. Yes, even after we have sinned, God

wants to restore the relationship. He always pursues us and calls us back. Like the father of

the prodigal, His love for us never changes.

Sin, though, robs us of confidence. The apostle John told the church that walking in

love would put our heart at rest when we are in God’s presence.35 So sin does not have the

ability to make God stop loving us. It does not have the power to separate us from God. It

does, however, have the power to affect our thoughts and feelings so that we feel separated

from God!

34
Romans 8:38–39: “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 created thing, shall be able to
separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
35
See 1 John 3:19.
 Faith always looks back to the finished work of Jesus. That is reality, no matter what I

feel. As I acknowledge who I am in Jesus, I change my emotions and ultimately I change my

actions. Exercising my faith, by acknowledging my righteousness in Christ, lifts me from the

confusion of shame. I am once again able to see reality from God’s perspective.

Isaiah spoke of this day of righteousness when he prophesied about the Spirit of the

Lord upon Jesus. He said, “The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon Me…to console those who

mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of

praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting

of the LORD, that He may be glorified” (Isaiah 61:1,3). Our righteousness is of God. We look

to Him. We glorify Him. We honor Him because we know that this is His work. We are

planted by the Lord.

I must always be aware of the fact that I am the righteousness of God. I have the

power to make good decisions and the power to see them through. Shame is not a tool that

God uses to teach me; rather it is something for which Jesus died to set me free. As I remind

myself that I am righteous in Jesus, confusion, shame, and guilt disappear. I once again return

to God’s reality and experience freedom from the shame of the past.

In faith righteousness we find that paradox of accepting responsibility for our actions

yet being freed from the debilitating power of those actions. We feel guilt and disappointment

without disempowerment. The negative feelings serve as a wake-up call to return to

righteousness instead of a blind guide that leads us into the ditch.

Acknowledge that guilt and shame are not something you must live with as payment

for your wrong. Instead, acknowledge that Jesus’ death was the payment for your wrong. Say,

“I believe in the blood of Jesus more than I believe in my sacrifices. I am righteous through
Jesus. I will not live in the past. I will live a new, powerful life of peace and godliness. I will

yield to the righteousness that is in me through Jesus.” Say this every time guilt and shame try

to define your life. Paul said it this way: “That the communication of thy faith may become

effectual by the acknowledging of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus”

(Philemon 6 KJV). Never stop acknowledging all the good things that are in you through

Jesus. It is your connection to righteousness and wholeness.

 Chapter 15

The Blind Leading the Blind

At this point, one has to ask, “Why aren’t we moving on? Why doesn’t the church

simply read the pages of the New Testament, believe them, and break into a life of complete

freedom and victory?”

Simple! We are trapped in the cycle of lack, failure, guilt and shame. Because we have

believed the lie of works righteousness, we are not bold enough to break away from the

deception that cripples us. We are like the baby elephant whose trainers control him chain

attached to a small stake driven in the ground. When he grows to full strength he could easily

pull up the stake and break away. But he has been attached to the stake for so long he doesn’t

know he is able to easily find his freedom. We hold to religious ideas that don’t work, all the

while despising what they do to our lives. Ironically, the sense of lack and fear that is created

by this corrupt doctrine makes us afraid to trust Jesus as our righteousness. In short, we are

afraid of the cure! We want to run to home plate but we’re afraid to take our foot off of third!

I once heard an illustration that demonstrates this destructive cycle. A group of people

all made a genuine commitment to be disciples and students of a particular discipline. But in

their desire to preserve tradition and avoid loss of approval, they ended up simply following

one another. They were like men walking in a circle, each one following the one in front of

him, but they are actually al following one another. Although it has the appearance of a

committed life, it is a deception. They all were moving, but going nowhere! Following

someone doesn’t mean you are going anywhere.

 Paul said that we should follow those who by “faith and patience inherit the

promises” (Hebrews 6:12 KJV). We have not qualified our leaders according to the Bible.

Many of us didn’t even study the Bible for ourselves, but simply followed our leaders into

darkness. Now we are afraid to let go of their hands. We are like the children of child-

molesters. They may be the ones hurting us, but they are the only parents we know. They

provide enough security to make us justify our pain. Take a moment and think about it. Who

are you following? Whose doctrine has molded your concept of God? What do they really

believe about God? How do you see Jesus as your righteousness once they have influenced

your thoughts?

Recently a close friend and ministry associate arrived at my home. As we shared the

events of the day, he told me a story that took place on his drive to my home. He said, “As I

drove, I listened to a tape set of one of my favorite teachers. It started out very good. But as

the message progressed, it veered from reality. The person began to tell how God had put

them through certain difficulties so they would have compassion on those who faced similar

hardships.”

My friend couldn’t believe his ears. Before being established in faith righteousness,

that kind of teaching would have gone unquestioned. It would have subtly crept into his

beliefs. It would have gone unchallenged and undetected but not without consequences. The

next time he faced a hardship, he would have begun to question, “Is this something I should

accept or resist? Did Jesus set me free from this or is Jesus doing this to me?” Confidence

would have been lost. Boldness would have faded away in the dark questioning of religious

confusion.
 That which goes unquestioned is eventually accepted as reality! Through a lack of

awareness of the completed work of Jesus, we accept that which undermines and contradicts

Jesus’ finished work. We are like the people in the example I used earlier. We are earnestly

following the person in front of us. He is earnestly following the one in front of him and so

on. But none of us are going anywhere other than where we have already been. As Jesus said,

we are “like sheep without a shepherd” (Matthew 9:36 NIV).

This endless, pointless walking in circles is the picture that comes to my mind when I

think of the religious world. Jesus said it this way: “If the blind leads the blind, both will fall

into a ditch” (Matthew 15:14). The church world cannot break free from its present

limitations because to do so would risk the loss of religious approval. We would have to break

out of the circle. We would lose the false sense of comfort that comes from following the

crowd.

A Sense of Completeness

While fear, codependency, and lack earmark those who are trapped in the cycle of

works righteousness, boldness, peace, and interdependence are fruits of faith righteousness.

The fearful codependent clings to the group for the approval he or she is not experiencing in

God. Such people vainly look to man to give them what only God Himself can provide: a

sense of completeness.

On the other hand, those who trust the righteousness of Jesus are filled with boldness

and confidence. Their sense of wholeness does not fluctuate with the approval of man.

Proverbs 28:1 says it best: “The wicked flee when no one pursues, But the righteous are bold
as a lion.” The sense of righteousness (by faith) is an emotional foundation that cannot be

shaken. It provides a stability that defies all logic!

The prophet Isaiah foretold of a day when mankind could live free from oppression

when he said, “In righteousness you shall be established; you shall be far from oppression,

for you shall not fear” (Isaiah 54:14). The righteousness of which he speaks is more than

mere performance. Please don’t misunderstand; I have great value for good works. But the

righteousness of God is built on something far more eternal than my goods works.

Fear is what leads to oppression. Fear is about judgment. The Living Bible does an

excellent job of translating 1 John 4:18. It says, “We need have no fear of someone who loves

us perfectly; his perfect love for us eliminates all dread of what he might do to us. If we are

afraid, it is for fear of what he might do to us, and shows that we are not fully convinced that

he really loves us.” Fear strips us of confidence. The assurance of unconditional love, on the

other hand, is associated with boldness.

In the Old Testament, righteous living was the only level of confidence a person could

obtain. If they did not “live right,” they had no basis for boldness. In the New Testament, we

receive the gift of righteousness. And if I know I am righteous, I know God can love me. If

my righteousness is a gift from Him, then I abide in total peace, total confidence, and total

freedom from fear. Boldness does not waiver when righteousness is given as a gift.

Isaiah 54 continues to describe the life of this person who abides in righteousness. “No

weapon formed against you shall prosper, and every tongue which rises against you in

judgment you shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD.” This place of

righteousness of which Isaiah prophesies is a place where we are free from every form of fear,

oppression and condemnation. We become immune to the judgments of others.

 Up to this point one could argue that Isaiah is prophesying of the righteousness that

comes by our performance. But the last phrase in this prophecy clarifies any possible

confusion when it says, “ ‘And their righteousness is from Me,’ Says the LORD” (Isaiah

54:17). HE IS CLEARLY SPEAKING OF THIS DAY WHEREIN OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS COMES FROM THE

LORD JESUS! (ADJUST THE CAPS)

We have spent our lives following people who have led us into works righteousness.

This doe not mean they are bad people. It does not mean they do not love God. It just means

they are following the person in front of them, without qualifying their life or their message

by the life and message of Jesus!

Paul or Apollos?

Not long ago I was reading about Apollos' preaching to the church at Corinth. Apollos

was an eloquent speaker. He must have been a man of incredible passion because people

followed him. The problem was, in spite of all his passion, he still preached an incomplete

message. It was not until some of the disciples of Jesus took him aside and helped him with

his doctrine that he even preached a message based on the resurrection of Jesus.36

Paul on the other hand, came to Corinth with a message about the risen Savior. He

preached faith righteousness. He introduced the world to the mysteries of God—Christ in you,

the hope of glory. He even admitted that he was not a very eloquent speaker. In 1 Corinthians

2:1 he said, “When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior

wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God” (NIV). In verse 3 he went on to say,

“I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling” (NIV).

36
See Acts 18:24–26.
 This would mean very little except for the fact that years after Paul and Apollos had

both preached at Corinth, there were those who rejected Paul’s message and wanted to follow

Apollos. Remember, when Apollos first arrived he proclaimed a very incomplete message.

Paul, on the other hand, had experienced a personal encounter with Jesus. He had received a

personal commission to take the Gospel to the Gentile world. He had spent more than

fourteen years in personal preparation for ministry. Yet, Apollos’ message was the one that

many chose simply because he was the better preacher.

Who are you following and why? Are they, like Apollos, people of great influence

preaching a passionate message, yet withholding the most essential part of the message—the

fact that Jesus has been raised from the dead, conquering sin, death, and hell and is offering us

the righteousness of God as a free gift? Are they making you feel empowered and safe with

God? Or do they cause you to question God’s unfailing love? Does their message make you

feel qualified for all the promises through Jesus? Or are they making you feel that you must

create your own personal qualifications through your performance? Are they making you feel

safe from the fear of the devil? Or do they make you feel that you can give away the authority

that Jesus obtained from His resurrection?

Ask yourself, as the writer of Hebrews challenged, “Do the people I follow walk in

faith righteousness and receive the promises of God? Or do they try to drag me back under a

works mentality to qualify for God’s promise? Am I walking in a circle, blindly following the

one in front of me, just because he is in the circle? Or have I chosen to follow Jesus, the

author and finisher of my faith, the captain of my salvation, my righteousness, my peace, my

joy? Have I really found in Him the endless source of life at its best? Have I limited my
concept and my experience with God to the limits of the person I am following?” Maybe it’s

time to get out of the circle!

Choosing to break out of the circle does not mean you reject the people you have been

following. It simply means you put them in proper perspective in your life. Do you want what

they can give you or what Jesus can give you? Become a true disciple today by making the

choice to follow the teaching and principles of the Lord Jesus in every area of your life.
 Chapter 16

The Voice of the Conscience

The most common objection people present when they hear the message of faith

righteousness is, “But couldn’t this be abused?” Actually, I should rephrase that. Not

everyone asks this question. In fact, I have never introduced a non-Christian to this good news

and had him or her ask that question. Instead, the person simply falls in love with God,

rejoicing in His goodness. In the heart of a person hungry for change, this message does

exactly what it is intended to do: It draws people to God and empowers them to become who

they desire to be.37

Only those hardened by religion consider the issue of abuse to be a major obstacle.

Saying that faith righteousness will cause a person to be unfaithful to God is like saying, “If a

man marries a merciful, loving woman, it will cause him to cheat.” It could happen, but it is

less likely than if she was mean and judgmental.

After one has labored under the influence of works righteousness the heart becomes

hardened to the goodness of God and logic becomes twisted. When people reach the stage

where they ask this question, they are already in the cycle to some degree. Their logic is

driven by the sense of lack. Their thinking has already been flawed and their conscience

tainted by an incomplete gospel, which Paul said was no gospel at all.38

People who are truly in search of a new life realize that change is essential. Few

people actually believe they can stay the same and have a better life. In fact, personal change

is an incredible motivator among those who come to Jesus. They have reached the end of

37
Romans 2:4, do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not
knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?
themselves, and they want the power to become someone new. The message of faith

righteousness is the light of hope in a dark life.

Make no mistake, I too want to change. I want to be a better person. I want to treat

people right. I want to live a life pleasing to God and worthy of the Gospel. I want to live

above the power of sin. I greatly value these attributes, and faith righteousness at work in my

heart is the only thing that has ever empowered me to live those values.

Paul put it this way: “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do

good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Ephesians 2:10 NIV). There has

never been a question that God wants us fully committed to a life of good works. The apostle

Paul was actually accused of teaching that people to sin to make God look good.39 Those

whose minds have been twisted by sin, religion or legalism always twist the teaching of

righteousness to their own destruction.

The way we live is a continuum of our beliefs. A person fully committed to following

the Lord Jesus will commit to a life of good works. The problem comes, however, when we

do good works because we think that’s what makes us good. In so doing we try to make our

good works our source of righteousness, rather than allow our righteousness to be the source

of our good works!

The carnal minded believer looks to good works to define our righteousness. We

should look at our righteousness in Jesus and allow that to define and empower us for good

works. The writer of Hebrews pointed out that the very first foundational doctrine of the New

38
See Galatians 1:6–7.
39
Romans 3:8, And why not say, "Let us do evil that good may come"?--as we are slanderously reported and as
some affirm that we say.
Testament is repentance from dead works and faith toward God.40 Before we can move on to

faith in God, we first have to give up faith in our works.

When Paul spoke of repentance from dead works, he was not referring to the dead

works of sin. He was referring to religious works, to the good things we do in the hopes of

earning acceptance and favor with God. In Romans 10:3 he described the person who trusts

his works for his righteousness: “For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking

to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God.”

“So where is the value for good works?” you might ask. There is so much value in

committing to a life of good works. When we walk in love, we enjoy peaceful, productive

relationships. When we have good manners, we tend to have less conflict. When we treat

people well, they tend to return the kindness. When we pay our bills, we create financial

opportunities. When we work hard, we get raises and promotions. When we apply God’s rules

for relationships, we experience favor. The list of benefits is almost endless. But they are the

fruit, never the root! But good works affect us, primarily, on the horizontal plane in the way

we relate to the world around us. They bring great benefit in this life!

Good Works Testify to Your Conscience

One of the great benefits of living a good, moral life is the power of a clear

conscience. The conscience is like a reservoir that determines how much of God’s life and

power we will hold in our consciousness, and thereby experience in our life. Our conscience

doesn’t change the amount of God’s power, it merely dictates the amount of our awareness. In

40
“Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying
again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God” (Hebrews 6:1).
so doing, it limits what we will allow ourselves to experience. Remember, what ever is

present in your awareness is what you connect to emotionally.

Most of the limits that we place on God in our life revolve around our sense of self,

around our perceived capacity for God. Like the children of Israel, we limit God by our

limited concept of who we believe He can be in us.41 We reduce God to our perception of

what He can do through us. We create an image of God that can fit into the life we live—most

of which is based on our conscience.

The word conscience literally means dual knowledge. Our conscience is our collective

sense of self. It is this abiding sense of self that drives our life’s decisions. It is how we see

and experience ourselves. It is the sum total of our identity.

There are two source of self-knowledge. There is the outer world the information that

comes to us from our five senses. Then there is the inner world, the information that comes to

us through God’s spirit abiding in us. The outer world produces a knowledge of self that is

based totally on circumstantial data, our actions and our experiences in this world. The inner

world produces a knowledge that comes from our sense of who we are in relation to God.

These two sources of knowledge come together to form our conscience.

In order to live as God has empowered us to live, we must have a pure conscience.

The voice of our outer world and the voice of our inner world must say the same thing. This

happens in two ways. Paul said that we should renew our mind after our spirit.42 God has

made our spirit perfect, completely holy and righteous. In our mind we must see ourselves as

God sees us in our spirit. Otherwise we will struggle with confidence before God. We will

limit the power of righteousness. To the degree we come to see ourselves as this new

41
“Yes, again and again they,… limited the Holy One of Israel” (Psalm 78:41).
42
“Be renewed in the spirit of your mind” (Ephesians 4:23 KJV).
righteous creation will we allow the power of righteousness to propel our lives forward. Then

our sense of self will be based on a spirit that has been perfected by a loving and righteous

God. Additionally, our actions must say the same thing God’s spirit says about us. When our

actions are inconsistent with our new identity there is a war in our soul. Paul said it like this,

But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me

into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members (Romans 7:23). The apostle Peter had

this to say about the war for your soul, Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain

from fleshly lusts which war against the soul (1 Peter 2:11).

The believer who does not manage his life well will never have a conscience that

allows the righteousness of God to freely empower his life. The voice of God and the voice of

his mind will be in conflict. His emotions will become distorted and confused. There will be

constant inner turmoil! The apostle John gave this advice to those who struggled with their

conscience: “Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in

truth. This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest

in his presence whenever our hearts condemn us” (1 John 3:18–20 NIV). Like all the apostles,

he acknowledged that a life of sin creates havoc in the soul.

John was explaining the affects of a conscience that has been disrupted by an ungodly

lifestyle. Like the apostle Paul who explained how wicked works could make us feel alienated

from God, John goes a bit farther to explain how our actions affect our sense of self. Just as

our wicked works deny to our conscience that we have been born of God, so our good works,

motivated by love, persuade our conscience that we are in fact who God says we are. Those

good works become the evidence that satisfies the heart when we abide in God’s presence.

Those who are troubled by a guilty conscience avoid the presence of God. It is not a place that
feels safe. There heart believes these feelings are God disapproval. But John points out that it

is the condemnation of a guilty heart!

The Difference Between Being and Doing

Now, our good works do not change the reality of God. They do not add to our

righteousness. But they do give us a sense of confidence when our heart condemns us. You

see, the conscience is the voice of the heart. The heart is the place where the thoughts of the

mind and the voice of the spirit come together to give us the dual knowledge we call our

conscience. When the heart is troubled and condemned by contradictory information, we lose

confidence. When our heart does not condemn us, then faith is alive and boldness abounds.

Because the heart is the seat of love, faith, fear, joy and every other emotion, when it

is disrupted by guilt it has the capacity to affect every aspect of our life. Thus we have the

admonition from the writer of Proverbs, Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring

the issues of life (Proverbs 4:23). Paul told us that the wages of sin is death. The first place we

experience the death of sin is in our soul as our conscience condemns us, erodes our faith and

twists our heart.

John explained that there are times your heart will condemn you. Condemnation is that

abiding sense of lack taken to an extreme. Condemnation is actually what you feel when you

expect to be judged or rejected by God. Too often people mistakenly assume this feeling is the

Holy Spirit convicting them of their sin. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

Condemnation doesn’t make you trust God; it makes you afraid of God. It doesn’t make you

run to Him; it makes you run away from Him.

 I like to separate self-worth from self-confidence. Self-worth is determined by our

value to God. When we see the incredible price that Jesus paid for our salvation, we begin to

develop a Bible-based sense of self-worth.

Our self-confidence, on the other hand, is based on our track record, our behavior.

When we have a history of yielding to sin, then our confidence level is not so high when we

face that same temptation. When we have lived inconsistently with our new righteous nature

and we come into God’s presence in worship or prayer, our heart will condemn us. Our guilty

conscience will be conflicted, and our faith will waver.

When our spirit and soul have one voice our heart is single, and full of light. We are

not divided or double minded, our heart is at peace, our faith is strong. This happens when

the witness of the Spirit in our heart is consistent with the testimony of our life.

Our good works cannot be the ultimate basis for our confidence before God. But His

Word does say it will be a factor. As such, it is a factor that we should utilize to our

advantage. I am fully convinced that people who need long periods of time to “feel” the

presence of God in worship and prayer are actually people who are struggling with guilt,

condemnation, or just the generalized sense of lack.

Worship often becomes the price they pay to come back to God. Instead of it being a

positive life giving experience, the sense of lack turns it into dead works. Until they have paid

what they deem to be the full price for their failure, their heart continues to condemn them.

Thus the breakthrough they experience is not the presence of God flooding in; it is the release

of a guilty conscience. God’s presence had never left them. But their capacity to experience

that presence was compromised by a guilty conscience. Remember, no matter what your
conscience says, John said God was greater than your heart (1 John 3:20). He doesn’t change

simply because your feelings change!

Our conscience is a natural protection against the abuse of faith righteousness. The

vcoice of our conscience warns us when there is a contradiction between our righteous nature

and our actions. But we should realize that the conscience can be seared. “To sear” means, to

burn, cauterize, or seal. A seared conscience is one that can no longer feel the pain of guilt. It

has lost feeling through repeated use. Like a blister on the hand, over time it turns in to a

callus. When we continue in sin, our hearts become callused. Eventually our conscience can

no longer accurately indicate what is good and evil.

Faith in the righteousness of God connects us to God’s reality. To acknowledge your

righteousness in Jesus and still continue in sin leads to denial, self-deceit and inner turmoil. It

is the pathway to emotional instability. To call yourself a sinner when you have a righteous

nature leads to a denial of truth and a forsaking of the power of God, thereby alienating

yourself form the only power that could deliver you from sin. To call yourself righteous and

live in sin brings the pain and destruction. In short, there is no way to win in sin.

This dilemma is solved in one simple way. Commit yourself to a life that is based on

God’s Word, God’s principles, and God’s love. Daily renew your mind and persuade your

heart that you are righteous in Jesus. Have a prayer life, a Word life, a meditation life, and a

life of good works that testifies to your heart that you are righteous in Jesus.
 Chapter 17

Heart Physics

It seemed life had dealt Charlie a bad hand. He came from a disadvantaged

background. He had always struggled with low self-worth. And he faced major life-obstacles.

Then he made a commitment to the Lord and began attending a church that placed a

continued demand on high performance. No matter how hard he tried, Charlie felt he just

never measured up.

Instead of helping him to feel better about himself, his conversion and subsequent

church attendance just gave him a new list of areas in which he failed to measure up. His story

was not unlike many that I had heard before. He had come to our church because he found

hope in a message he had heard. According to him we were his last chance before he gave up

on God and on life.

I went to check on him one day because he had grown distant and stopped coming

around. I was afraid his discouragement had overtaken what hope he had left. My suspicions

were correct. He reluctantly allowed me into his home. After several uncomfortable minutes

of evasive conversation, he blurted out, “I won’t be coming around anymore.”

“But, Charlie,” I reasoned, “I thought we agreed that you came here to get a fresh new

look at God. You were going to change the way you saw God and life. I really don’t think

you’ve given yourself a fair chance.”

“It doesn’t matter,” he sighed. “ I have too much I need to change. I sit in your

services and hear all this stuff that I could have in Jesus, and it just makes me feel worse
about myself. I just have too many big changes that I need to make. It’s better to not even try

than it is to face the demand of such huge changes.”

Charlie’s story is tragic and all too common. Far too many believers are in the same

condition. Because of a faulty belief system, they are trapped in a darkened maze of religious

demands that drown their soul in the depths of despair. How did it happen? In the parable of

the sower and the seed, Jesus instructed us to take heed, to pay special attention to, to

carefully consider what we hear. Why? The words that we hear are seeds that go into the soil

of our heart. As we ponder them, we fertilize and water them until they grow up into a crop.

And the law of the seed guarantees that the type of seed we plant is the type of crop we get.

If we plant the wrong seeds in our heart, they will grow up into a crop that traps us in

our current mind-set. It is, in fact, our mind-set that traps us in the cycle of lack. In Mark 4:24

Jesus said, “Pay attention to what you hear. The same degree of thought and study you give to

what you hear determines the degree of life and virtue that comes back to you.”43 As we think

about what we hear, and even how we think about what we hear, all produces an impression

on the heart.

Mark 4:25 goes on to explain, “Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not

have, even what he has will be taken from him” (NIV). The condition of the soil is as pertinent

as the seed that is sown, for the soil of the heart determines what will grow. It determines how

you will interpret what you hear. In other words, your heart creates a paradigm that makes

you understand everything in light of what you already believe. Therefore, you can only get

more of what you have. Without a change of heart, the person who lives in lack will go deeper

into lack!
The Missing Ingredient

The heart factor is the essential ingredient that has been missing from the church’s

equation of faith. What we believe on a conscious, deliberate level is not what will dictate our

life. It is what we believe at the heart level. The heart is that place of “other than

consciousness.” It is the abode of the deep beliefs. The beliefs of the heart are directly linked

to our sense of self. It is the beliefs of the heart that determine our view of God and the world.

It is the seat of faith, fear, love, and every other emotion. No matter what you decide on a

conscious level, you will always revert to the beliefs of the heart…unless you know how to

influence your heart.

We have the power to influence our heart. When we were born again, our heart was

made new. The slate was wiped clean. We had the opportunity, for a brief period, to establish

a sense of identity, a level of faith, and a life of wholeness of our choosing. All we would

have needed to do to experience every conceivable miracle in the Word of God would be to

renew our mind. By changing how and what we think, we would have protected our heart.

Had we renewed our mind to see ourselves as a new creation, we would have

experienced incredible realities in Christ. Paul said it like this: “Be renewed in the spirit of

your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true

righteousness and holiness” (Ephesians 4:23–24). We have to renew our mind to see who

God has made us in our spirit. Our task, after being born again, was not to become holy and

righteous. Our task was to put on holiness and righteousness by changing the way we think,

the way we see ourselves.

When we continue to see ourselves as we were, we replant those old seeds of

rejection, corruption, and fear that ruled our life. In time our heart is once again corrupted

43
My combination of the Amplified, New International Version, and original language.
with the old self-conception. This is why we lose the initial excitement and joy of our

salvation. Our sense of self is confused. The voice of God in our spirit that testifies that all is

well with God and us is now hearing the voice of the mind saying, “No, we are as we always

have been. We are unholy. We are not righteous.”

Charlie, like so many people, was confused about his power to bring about change.

When he was first saved, change seemed to come easily. After being saved for a while, it

seemed more difficult to bring about even the smallest of victories. His every struggle

connected him more concretely to the sense of lack. It reaffirmed the false idea that he was

not righteous. It trapped him in the cycle of lack. He had gone through every kind of

counseling. He had tried every “spiritual formula.” He now faced changes that he felt were

too monumental to consider making in light of his repeated personal failures.

Take a Quantum Leap

I introduced Charlie to the principle of Heart Physics.™ Heart Physics™ is based on

the principle that every law of the universe is a revelation of the character and wisdom of

God. As we understand how things work in the natural world, we will understand parallel

principles with God. Paul said it like this: “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible

qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood

from what has been made” (Romans 1:20 NIV).

Quantum physics tells us that the way to bring about the greatest change is to make it

happen on the smallest level. Most people don’t work that way. Instead, they try to make the

big changes. They attempt too much at one time. For example, if you wanted to cure cancer,

you should adjust the way you eat. You could implement a regular exercise program. Then
you must take control your environment to protect you from all pollutants. That method

sounds as complicated as some of the formulas for overcoming sin. Although there is validity

to such approaches, it is too demanding for most people. The quantum approach would be far

more simple and effective.

Quantum medicine would seek to eradicate cancer by going to the smallest level of

existence. If one aspect of the code in the DNA chain could be changed, it is possible that an

individual would never develop the capacity to facilitate cancer. By creating change at the

smallest level, the problem could be prevented with little effort on the external level. (Some

believe this will be the future of medicine.)

For years man devised weapons of mass destruction by attempting to make

larger bombs, bigger explosions. But at the end of World War II the concept of
quantum change rocked the world. The atomic bombs brought staggering
consequences. It was the result of splitting the atom. Massive change happens by
affecting the smallest parts.

In Heart Physics™ we seek to bring about change at the smallest level. Our years of

research and experimentation reveal that change at the most fundamental level produces

change throughout every aspect of the human existence. We have seen people with life-long

drug addictions get immediate freedom by changing what they believe about themselves. We

have seen those who have been ravaged by life-long illness deal with one root issue and find a

life of health and freedom from pain. Years of counseling focused on the heart has proven that

great changes can happen because of changes at the smallest level…the level of the heart.

So, what is that incredibly small change that can happen at the very core of a person’s

existence that will bring dramatic, effortless transformation at every level? Simple! A change

in the beliefs of the heart concerning righteousness is the quantum factor that creates limitless
change. Changing what you believe about righteousness is like making an adjustment in your

spiritual and emotional DNA.

The willingness to accept faith righteousness is at the core of every New Testament

promise. Accepting or rejecting faith righteousness influences the capacity to receive every

promise of God. It answers the single question, “What qualifies me to receive from God?”

How we answer that question affects every life decision.

The beginning point of removing every limit in life starts with a heart that is fully

persuaded, completely permeated with, and totally committed to faith righteousness. Like

Charlie, I have seen people who were over the edge, who had tried everything, who were

ready to give up, find the solutions they needed when they changed this one thing.

Instead of attempting changes that you have never been able to make, consider taking

the quantum leap. Take control over the one thing that you can do something about: your

thoughts. Study the New Testament scriptures about faith righteousness. Daily meditate on

and ponder these scriptures. Refuse to see yourself in any light that is not based on who you

are in Jesus. When you do, you will break out of the cycle and free yourself from the sense of

lack. Your view of life will change and you will be filled with confidence and peace. This

quantum adjustment will introduce you to the world of permanent, painless, effortless

transformation!
 Chapter 18

A Radical Gospel

“This just sounds too good to be true!” Jackie insisted. “How could this be true and

I’ve never heard it before? I’ve been in church all my life. I just don’t know if I can accept

this.”

“I understand your feelings, “ I assured her. “But I have one question for you. Is what

you believe working?”

“That’s kind of insensitive,” she fired back even as her eyes cut through me with the

look of betrayal. “You know it’s not working. If it were working, I wouldn’t be in your office

spilling my guts. And I certainly didn’t expect you to throw it in my face.”

“I’m not throwing anything in your face,” I replied. “It is simply time for you to ask

yourself the hard questions. If what you believe doesn’t work, you only have two choices.

You can repent, change your mind about what you believe, or you can stay where you are.”

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had this conversation. Thousands of desperate

people have sat across from me, complaining that what they believed didn’t work, but when

they heard the Gospel—the great news of faith righteousness—it was too good for them to

believe. When faced with the realization that they would have to change what they believe,

many people have opted to continue to live in their pain.

The mind is an incredible tool that can work either for us or against us. Like every

other aspect of the human entity, the mind is designed to keep us living pain-free. It seeks to
resolve our issues by finding equilibrium. In other words, it has to have a way to validate our

thoughts and experiences. This is why, when we believe something to be true, our mind goes

into selective processing to eliminate information that would disprove our point of view.

Here’s another example. When something foreign or stressful comes into our life, we

are warned by the feelings of aggravation, or threat. These are crucial warning signs.

However, if we continue to expose ourselves to the threat, our mind becomes desensitized. It

would be too destructive and too painful for us to live in a heightened sense of threat. (Should

we use, state of alert instead of sense of threat?)

It is as if our mind goes through stages when dealing with threat. At first we are

alerted. Then we stop noticing it. After a while we accept it as normal. Eventually we need it

to function. Then we resist giving up what could actually be killing us. It is like the person

who thinks he works better under stress. He really doesn’t. Nothing about the body or mind

works well under stress. However, if he has lived under stress to the point where it seems

normal, he is probably addicted to it. He doesn’t feel normal without it. Although it is

destroying his health, diminishing his productivity, and creating chaos in his life, like every

junkie, he thinks he has to have it.

A Destructive Addiction

This is what we have done with the religious beliefs that are destroying us. We have so

woven them into our concept of God that we have no sense of knowing God apart from these

doctrines. Earlier in my life I was a member of an organization that was very controlling.

Control was a part of this group’s schema of God. Of course, the word control was never
used. Rather, they talked about “spiritual authority.” It is amazing how we can attach biblical

terminology to an unscriptural idea, and people swallow it “hook, line, and sinker.”

Everyone who didn’t toe the line was labeled a rebel. These people were slandered and

ostracized. No one ever left the organization on good terms. The leadership felt that they

spoke the will of God for all the people and that everyone should acknowledge it and follow

along. Hundreds of good people were destroyed by the destructive doctrines.

Ironically, those who were hurt the worst were usually the ones who went out and

attempted to build ministries on the same principles that had brought so much pain into their

own lives. They somehow thought these destructive principles would be different if they were

the ones at the helm. The refused to face the fact that what they believed didn’t work! They

didn’t know how to approach ministry without these concepts. They perpetuated the doctrines

that destroyed them and multiplied them into the lives of others.

The truth is we have accepted these destructive ideas into our life. They have become

a part of our self-perception and a part of our God-perception. We have had them in our life

for so long that we built a system of living that allows for these destructive ideas and beliefs.

We are addicted to them and do not know how to relate to God or life without them. I have

found a mystery among men…everyone wants things to be different, but no one wants to

change!

Without making a conscious decision about it, we become more committed to our

doctrine than to Jesus. Instead of the Bible being a bridge that leads us to an intimate, personal

relationship with God, it has become a wall that isolates us from God. Jesus said this to those

people who had replaced God with the scripture: “You diligently study the Scriptures because
you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me,

yet you refuse to come to me to have life” (John 5:39–40 NIV).

Life is not found in a scripture. Life is not found in a doctrine or idea. Life is found in

Jesus. It is through intimate, personal involvement with Him that we partake of who He is and

what He has to offer. The life is in the Son! He who has the Son has life.44 We have tried to

put life in the Bible. We have tried to put life in prayer. We have tried to put life in worship.

All those things facilitate life. They are part of our relationship with the One who possesses

life. But none of these activities are a substitute for Jesus, the One who has the life and shares

the life.

None of those activities have life, and none of those activities can make us righteous.

They do not have the power of righteousness. The power of righteousness abides in Him and

Him alone. As I commune with Him and connect to the reality that I am in Him, I connect

with His righteousness. I only experience the power of righteousness to the degree that I

connect to Jesus personally.

When He is my source of life, power, peace, and righteousness, I can discover I am

wrong about a doctrine and not feel threatened. I can admit to personal failure and not be

afraid. I can discover my sin and never feel ashamed.

This is radical righteousness! And this is better than anything that fits into the logic of

man! After all, God did say, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what

God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Corinthians 2:9 NIV). We are so out of touch

with the goodness of God that we cannot conceive of the idea that He would come up with a

better Gospel than the one we have created in our limited mind.
Do You Want Reasonable or Radical?

We so need to be in charge that we want to dictate God’s righteousness. We want Him

to come up with a plan that makes sense to us. It must fit into our carnal logic. We want a

reasonable righteousness, but God is offering a radical righteousness. He is offering

something that can so alter our sense of self that we detach ourselves from all feelings of lack

and inadequacies. He has something so radical it can overcome every failure, every fear,

every aspect of lack. It can break us out of the cycle and destruction. It can launch us into the

fulfillment of every promise God ever made….to anyone!

Is it possible that our issues about righteousness revolve around our fear that someone

less deserving than us might receive more than they deserve? These types of feelings are

especially prevalent when we see someone who isn’t as “qualified” as us, but they seem to

live a better life. They seem to be more in touch with God. They even seem to be getting more

of the promises and blessings. This is so unfair!

It only seems unfair because we have rejected the righteousness of God. It seems that

we are propelled into works righteousness more when we compare ourselves to others than

any other time. If a person less deserving than me receives more of the benefits of the New

Covenant than I do, then I am confronted with my issues of unbelief. Even though I am more

deserving, I have to admit that I do not trust the righteousness of God as much as that other

person. I am forced to face my self-imposed limitations and my self-righteous condescending

attitude.

Like Job, we would rather condemn God in an attempt to preserve our own

righteousness than to face the real issues. God asked Job, “Would you discredit my justice?

Would you condemn me to justify yourself?” (Job 40:8 NIV). The answer to that is an

44
See 1 John 5:12.
overwhelming YES! Yes, I will create a doctrine to explain why I am not receiving from God.

Living in this pain is better than admitting to being wrong.

Face it, this Gospel is unfair and illogical! But it works, and no substitute has ever had

the power of this Gospel. In describing this unfair, unreasonable Gospel, Paul said, “Blessed

are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man

to whom the LORD shall not impute sin” (Romans 4:7–8).

A person who is blessed is someone who is fortunate and to be envied. This incredible

favor of God is available to all mankind through the finished work of Jesus. We have the

opportunity to stand before God in His righteousness—a righteousness we did not earn and a

favor we do not deserve. The world should be so envious of the favor, the joy, the peace, and

the abundance that we experience that they would be driven to know this same God and

experience this same blessing.

Instead, the church is envying one another. Our unbelief of the righteousness of God

in Jesus alienates us from these incredible blessings and we become angry at those who

receive them. In fact, we get so angry that we fuss and argue. We complain and slander. We

live in lack and despise those who are getting better than they deserve. Instead of rejoicing at

the goodness of God and being encouraged to accept it as our own, we fight against it. We

will not enter in, and we prevent others from entering in.

Paul said that the only way we could see what was beyond the scope of our human

comprehension was by the Holy Spirit: “but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit” (1

Corinthians 2:10 NIV). All that we cannot see with our intellect God can show us by His

Spirit. If you want to continue to live in mediocre results, just continue to embrace a mediocre
gospel. But if you want radial results, give yourself fully to the righteousness of Jesus and

allow the Holy Spirit to take you to a place beyond your wildest imagination!

Jesus lived a radical life and faced a radical death to give us radical promises. He met

every requirement so every promise would be sure and absolute. Go ahead! Live a radical life

of love and peace that passes all comprehension. Trust Jesus for what you cannot do and to

fully qualify you for all God’s promises.

 Chapter 19

The Realities of Righteousness

“Jim, is there something wrong with me?” Sherry asked.

“I feel like such a dunce! Why am I having trouble getting this?”

“People have struggled with this since the resurrection of Jesus,” I assured her. “Don’t

be too hard on yourself.”

Her excitement seemed to be growing and her eyes sparkled as our discussion

continued. “It’s like I get a piece of this and then suddenly it’s bigger than I can grasp again,”

she explained.

“That’s exactly how it is,” I replied. “The realities of righteousness are always more

than anyone can completely grasp. No matter what you see, you suddenly realize there’s

more! Life in the spirit is a never-ending adventure into the realities of righteousness.”

The righteousness of Jesus is such an incredible reality that we will never get it down

to an intellectual definition that satisfies our mind. What’s more important than finding a

complete definition is that it become an experiential reality that guides and empowers our life.

We need to feel righteousness more than we need to define righteousness. We must allow the

sense of righteousness and completeness to overtake the sense of lack.

When Paul wrote to the Romans, he explained that faith righteousness was the

stumbling stone of the Gospel. It is the point that presents the greatest struggle for the greatest

number of people. “For they stumbled at that stumbling stone. As it is written: ‘Behold, I lay

in Zion a stumbling stone and rock of offense, and whoever believes on Him will not be put to

shame’ ” (Romans 9:32–33). Our choices are simple. We can stumble over this rock of
offense or we can stand on it and be secure. We can fall on it and be broken or it can fall on us

and we can be crushed.45 We can argue over definitions of it or we can yield ourselves to its

power.

The realities of righteousness will never be grasped by those seeking theoretical

understanding. The power of righteousness is grasped by those who put it into practice as a

way of life. Hebrews 5:13–14 says it like this: “Anyone who lives on milk, being still an

infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the

mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil” (NIV).

Those who commit to live in the righteousness of Jesus have an experience that supercedes

any argument. Experience allows one to grasp what he cannot fully explain!

Resurrection Power

When Jesus was crucified, He became our sin. He became our sin so we would not

have to live in sin. He took all the curse of the law. He took the punishment we would have

deserved. He was chastened by God so we would not fear God’s punishing us. When Jesus

cried out, “Father, why have You forsaken Me,” He was experiencing what we would have

experienced had we died in our sin. He was separated from God so we would never be

separated from God. He died a sinner’s death so we would never have to die. Our sins put

Him in the grave.

We know that after Jesus was crucified, He obtained righteousness by faith. Paul said

that he didn’t want to be found in a righteousness of his own. He wanted the righteousness

that came by the faith of Jesus. You see, Jesus had to overcome our sin by His faith. He

trusted God to raise Him up in righteousness. It is that righteousness that is at work in us. He

45
Luke 20:18
went on to say, “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 faith”

(Philippians 3:9 KJV).

It is that very power, the resurrection power, the power in the righteousness of God,

that exploded in Jesus and raised Him from the death of sin. It is by this power that He took

the keys of death and hell. It is by this power that He conquered every principality, every

power, and every name that is named. And it is this power that is at work in us who believe—

this same power that raised Jesus from the dead. Paul prayed that we would get a revelation of

this so our lives would be empowered by the resurrection power of Jesus.46

When we believed on Jesus, we believed that God raised Him from the dead. The

secret power of the kingdom of God, however, is found in what we believe about the

resurrection of Jesus. When I am faced with sin, the wrong question to ask is, “Do I have

enough faith to overcome this?” The key questions should be these: “Did Jesus overcome this

when He was raised from the dead? Am I in Him?” If so, then I get to share in His

inheritance. When faced with poverty, I have to ask, “Did Jesus overcome poverty when He

was raised from the dead? Am I in Him?” Then I too have overcome poverty. When faced

with sickness, I have to ask, “Did Jesus overcome sickness when He was raised from the

dead? Am I in Him?” Then I too have overcome sickness. Why? It is because the same power

that was at work in Him is at work in me right now.

If the resurrection power did not fail Jesus, then it cannot fail me. When we link our

faith and our hope to the resurrection of Jesus, we can’t help but win. His resurrection gave us

evidence. When we need anything that God has we have to ask, “Did Jesus receive this as part

of His inheritance? Am I in Him?” Then it is ours as well. This is what the scripture means
when it says we are “joint heirs with Christ” (Romans 8:17). If He has it, it is mine. I share in

all He obtains. He can’t leave me out of His inheritance. If He is righteous, then we are

righteous because we are in Him.

To rise above lack and break out of our repetitive cycle of ups and downs, we need to

see Jesus as He is today, seated at the right hand of God and filled with righteousness. Then

we need to see ourselves in Him, sharing in all His inheritance, rejoicing in what He received

by His faith!

This is the secret of walking in the Spirit. Our current paradigm of spirituality stirs

images of someone walking about in an esoteric state with his eyes glazed over. Although

there is nothing wrong with experiencing euphoria in the presence of God, that is not

necessarily what the New Testament refers to when it talks about life in the Spirit.

The Secret to Living in the Spirit

Life in the Spirit is juxtaposed against life in the flesh. One connects you with the

power of the Holy Spirit. The other connects you to the power of your flesh, to your own

natural abilities. Paul said, “the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who

do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit” (Romans 8:4). So, if I can

“walk in the spirit,” I not only will possess righteousness, but I also will live righteous.

Let’s look at it this way. My body (flesh) has five senses. These senses put me in

touch with the natural world. By those senses I know, experience, and function in the natural

world. I also have a spirit, and in my spirit I have the same five senses. Those senses put me

in touch with God. Those who are in the flesh seek to experience God through their five

46
Read Ephesians 1:17–23.
natural senses. They want something to happen in this natural realm to make them feel

righteous.

When people experience life in the Spirit, they do not look to the natural to understand

and experience God. Instead, they look to what Jesus has done in their spirit. They are not

seeking empowerment in their natural man; rather, they expect the power of the Holy Spirit in

them to give them strength. They are renewing their mind based on what has happened in

their spirit. The person in the flesh, on the other hand, judges the effectiveness of God by

what he experiences in his natural senses. Such people are carnal minded.

Paul so eloquently explained their plight.

For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the

flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to

be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law

of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please

God. But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God

dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His

(Romans 8:5–9).

The person who wants to experience God through his natural senses does not and will

not understand. The realities of righteousness can never be comprehended or experienced

through the natural senses. Thus, the carnal man has limited his experience with God to the

finite world of the five senses and his limited comprehension.

 How about you? Where are you looking to experience God? Are you looking to the

finished reality that your spirit has been made perfect, is righteous, and lacks nothing? Are

you seeking to experience what the Holy Spirit has already done in you? Or are you looking

for what will happen in your outer man? Are you looking for some future experience or a past

reality? Is your righteousness a past tense reality or a future hope?

Fill yourself with the knowledge of all that God has done in your inner man. Renew

your mind so that all you see of yourself is based on what Jesus has done in you. As the

internal reality becomes your conscious reality, you will experience a flow in the power of

God beyond your wildest dreams. This is unlike the sensations based on the five senses that

come and go with the passing of time. Then connect you to lack and drive you to seek a new

experience to validate you standing with God. Rather, because God abides in your inner man,

you will have an abiding sense of God and His righteousness. Just as my friend Sherry

discovered, there will never be an end to your new discoveries in the realities of God’s

righteousness. Everyday can be a new adventure in righteousness!

 Chapter 20

Setting the Thermostat

God has always desired that mankind live in wholeness. He never intended for
us to experience lack on any level. God has always worked to give us the very best,
despite our endless attempts at thwarting the plan.
In the beginning God put mankind in paradise. There was no sickness, poverty, pain,

or suffering there. If those things had been God’s will, they would have been present at the

beginning. Adam, as the first man, never experienced lack until he doubted God’s promise

and began to act independent of God’s plan.

When God restores all things to Himself, mankind will once again enter that state of

complete wholeness. When heaven is established on planet Earth there will be no sickness,

sorrow, death, or pain. We will not lack in any manner. We will finally be restored to the

standard of living for which we were created.

Mankind cannot function normally in a state of lack. We do not possess the emotional

capacity for it. In the beginning we were crowned with glory and honor,47 without which our

sense of self is incomplete. Man has to feel right about himself and about his relationship to

God or he enters an emotional realm beyond his capacity to function.

When mankind rebelled against God’s wisdom, he brought sin, fear, death, and lack to

every level of his existence. He had the emotional need for wholeness, dignity and worth, yet,

he had severed himself from the only source where those could be obtained. Thus, for six

thousand years man has vainly attempted to recover a proper sense of self apart from God. It

won’t happen! In fact, the more we do to find that sense of dignity and worth on our own, the

worse the problem becomes.

47
See Hebrews 2:5–8.
 In Jesus, God created a way for us to recover our sense of dignity and worth, to be

qualified for all His promises, and to live as God intended—as nearly as possible in this

world. God’s incredible love drove Him to devise a plan that would make wholeness possible

in a world corrupted by sin. He would give mankind an incorruptible nature. People would

once again be able to approach God without fear. We would be eligible for all the promises.

And, finally, we could feel right about ourselves and God.

One Sure Covenant

It was essential to God that His children once again have sure access to all His

provision. At the same time, He knew that mankind would never have the ability to achieve

the level of righteousness required to receive the promises. So, instead of making a covenant

with each individual on the planet, God made a covenant with Jesus. In Galatians 3:16 Paul

explained this subtle but essential twist in God’s plan. “Now to Abraham and his Seed were

the promises made. He does not say, ‘And to seeds,’ as of many, but as of one, ‘And to your

Seed,’ who is Christ.”

God did not make a covenant with a group of individuals. If His covenant was
with us as individuals, we would be responsible to live up to every part of The Law in
order to receive the inheritance. None of us could ever do it. If the covenant was with
us as individuals, then the moment we failed at any one point the covenant would be
annulled and could never be restored. The promises would not be sure to all.
God made this covenant where it could not be changed or annulled. “Brethren, I speak

in the manner of men: Though it is only a man’s covenant, yet if it is confirmed, no one annuls

or adds to it” (Galatians 3:15). It was essential that this covenant be unchangeable in order to

make it sure for all people.

The writer of the book of Hebrews explained the covenant that God made in terms of a

last will and testament. He explained that once the testator of a will dies, that will goes into
force and cannot be changed. In Hebrews 9:15 (NIV) he explained this in terms we can

understand. “For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are

called may receive the promised eternal inheritance—now that he has died.” Above all else,

God wanted to make sure eternal life was absolute for all mankind.

In verses 16 and 17 (NIV) he continued to explain, “In the case of a will, it is necessary

to prove the death of the one who made it, because a will is in force only when somebody has

died; it never takes effect while the one who made it is living.” When Jesus died, this last will

and testament went into effect. It could not be changed. He fulfilled all the righteous

requirements of the law. He did what we cannot do. By His faith and obedience He obtained a

more excellent covenant than the first covenant. Now that He has died, it can’t be broken,

changed, or modified.

Unlike other covenants or wills where the testator dies and the will can be contested

by the survivors, Jesus was raised up in righteousness and lives forever to enforce the

covenant He established by His own blood. This covenant is sure! He has risen to enforce

every promise.

Jesus’ faith obtained the covenant. All we have to do is believe that God raised Jesus

from the dead and follow Him as Lord. I am now in Him, and I live in Him by faith. As Paul

said in Acts 17:28, For in him we live, and move, and have our being. (KJV) Because of all

He has done, I can trust Him as Lord. I can give Him my whole heart! Because I am in Him,

all He has is mine. He is the heir, but I am the joint heir. 48 Because I abide in Him, I have

access to all He possesses.

I can’t break this covenant. I can’t mess this up. If I choose not to follow Jesus as

Lord, I may put myself in a place where I cannot receive what He has, but I don’t lose legal
right to the inheritance. The moment I turn my heart to Him, I align myself once again with

His flow of blessings. It is only at these times of personal failure that I question the assurance

of His covenant.

We all will face failure in our personal lives. But God, in His incredible love and

wisdom, made sure that His provisions would always be available for us. He created this

realm of living called the kingdom of God. We may interrupt the flow of His incredible

goodness, but we cannot annul the covenant. It belongs to Jesus not to us.

Where Is Your Heart Set?

The carnal-minded person, the individual who has his mind set on the flesh, interprets

all that he sees and experiences in light of the five senses. He assumes that the outside is the

measure of the inside. When his outward man deviates, the carnal mind says, “You are not

righteous.” His heart then condemns him and he loses confidence. That is why, if you allow

your mind to follow the logic (logos) of the flesh, you will never find your way out of failure.

Your judgments will bind you to a life of pain and failure. Your sense of reality will be

distorted, and your concepts of God will be limited.

Failure is an unfortunate reality of life. All people will at some time face an ethical or

moral failure. The question is not, “Will I ever fail?” The question is, “How will I respond?”

If you begin to judge your spiritual life by the failures of the flesh, you will talk yourself into

an abyss of desperate emotions.

Proverbs 24:16 says, “A righteous man may fall seven times and rise again.” Personal

failure does not prove that you are not righteous. When the righteous fall, their new nature

compels them to get up again and again. The just can’t stay down. So having a new nature

48
See Romans 8:17.
does not mean you never fall. It means it is not natural for you to accept failure as the end.

The fact that you keep getting up proves that you have a righteous nature.

People who are connected to a sense of righteousness through Jesus cannot stay down.

They have trained themselves to pay attention to the inner voice, to the witness of the Holy

Spirit, reminding them that they are in Jesus. They yield to the voice of their heart as it

proclaims their righteousness.

When we were born again, we obtained a righteous nature. Our spirit came alive to

God because He took up residence in us. Having a new nature means there is a new influence

in our life. But we have to let that new influence work. If we renew our mind and establish

our heart in our new identity, then we experience the power to live in that identity. If we do

not renew our mind, then we have this internal struggle between our spirit and our mind. In

the end the conflict of these two voices shape the beliefs of the heart.

The person who is connected to lack expects to fall. He has no confidence in the

power of righteousness that is at work in him. When he fails, the ensuing condemnation is

simply a false confirmation of what he believed about himself all along. He is trapped in a

cycle of defeat.

Even when his life rises to higher standards of godliness, he still expects the fall. The

person connected to lack starts to worry when too many things go right. His heart tells him

that he is living at a place that can’t possibly last. It is too good to be true.

The heart is much like a thermostat. A thermostat does not kick in every time the

temperature vacillates a single degree. No, the temperature may rise or fall several degrees

before the thermostat kicks in. Your behavior may fall below your normal standard of ethics
and morality, but your behavior is not at every moment indicative of the condition of your

spirit.

When your behavior sinks to a certain level, it is as if your heart says, “Oh no! This is

not who we are; we’ve got to do something about this.” If we believe we are righteous, our

heart will allow the righteousness of God that lives in us to empower us to rise above that sin.

The problem comes when we have not established our heart in faith righteousness. If

we do not believe we are righteous, if we have a heart that is corrupted by religion or unbelief,

then it never allows a release of righteousness. We never experience the righteous power of

God that flows through us and gives us absolute victory. It’s like having a heater that works

but a faulty thermostat keeps it from kicking on and warming the house.

As a matter of fact, the person who has not established his heart in faith righteousness

has just the opposite experience. His heart acts as a thermostat to pull him back down to the

level of his perceived righteousness.

Any feeling, any thought, anything that makes you believe you are not righteous, is a

lie. Your problem is not a lack of righteousness. Your problem is you need to reset the

thermostat.

Meditating on the Word is one way to connect to the righteousness of God. Spend

time pondering the hundreds of scriptures that talk about your new identity in Jesus. Discover

God’s view of you and make it your own. Refuse to see yourself as anything other than

righteous. Persuading your heart is like resetting the thermostat. The level you set your

thermostat is the level at which you live. Start to reset your heart today. You choose where

you want to set the thermostat. You convince your heart that this is who you are in Jesus. The

spirit of God in you will provide the power to change the spiritual temperature!
 Chapter 21

Getting It in Your Heart

“I know Jesus died for me,” came the sarcastic complaint. “But it hasn’t done all that

much for my life! I don’t know where you get all this stuff, anyway.” Like so many people,

Terence thought that having the information should be enough. He had an intellectual concept

of God, but his life changed very little. Rather than take personal responsibility for his

situation, he found it more convenient to blame God.

“The Bible didn’t say that if you had the information about the truth it would change

your life. It said you had to believe it in your heart,” I reasoned.

“Believe in your heart!” he fired back. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. All

this heart stuff is just religious double talk,” came the pseudo-intellectual argument.

Terence thought that a bachelor’s degree in psychology elevated him above the realm

of what he considered to be religious superstition. Like too many people, his biased views

didn’t allow room for the oldest proven science book in the world—the Bible. And to add

insult to injury, he wasn’t even on top of the latest “cutting edge” discoveries in medicine or

psychology. He thought that winning the argument was equal to experiencing victory.

The Bible never even hints that intellectual consent will change your life. Information

alone does not empower anyone to change. Jesus said that truth must be believed in the heart

and put into practice. Then and only then does it have the power to set you free.

Intellectualism cannot be a substitute for a heart belief.

The Heart Makes the Difference

The heart factor seems to be one of the key elements we leave out of our walk with

God. Until recently, we thought the heart was some metaphoric terminology that didn’t need

to be understood or explored. However, as we come to understand more about the

complexities of the human psyche and the mind-body connection, we realize that there is

more to the heart than we ever thought possible.

In his book The Heart’s Code, Dr. Paul Pearsall points out that the heart has more

neurons than the brain. In other words, the heart has the capacity for memory. Oriental

science and medicine has long understood that the heart facilitates long-term memory. It is

this long-term memory of the heart that gives us our knowledge of self. We are the sum total

of our life’s experiences; it is the memory of those experiences that gives us our sense of self.

When the Bible talks about believing in the heart, we must realize that any belief of

the heart will affect our sense of self. In other words, when we believe a truth from the Word

of God, it will change the way we see ourselves. Until it does, it is not believed at the heart

level. It is simply a bit of mental, intellectual information.

Our view of the world is determined by how we see ourselves. When we alter our

view of ourselves, we see the world differently. Our heart is the filter through which we

interpret our world. A heart filled with lack, inadequacy, or low self-worth interprets the

world in a way that keeps a person bound in these negative strengths. Our self-perception

molds the chain that imprisons us.

When we believe the Word of God in our heart, it not only changes how we see

ourselves, but it also changes how we see ourselves in every situation. For example, if you

feel like a failure, you will interpret your world as a hard and difficult place with no
opportunity. Thus you will create the world you perceive by your choices. If you feel

desperate, your next relationship decision will be made like a desperate person would make it.

If you feel financially limited, you will make your next financial decision based on the mind-

set of a person in poverty. Although you may make an occasional right choice, the overall

direction in your life will not be what you really want. As the saying goes, even a blind

squirrel finds a nut every now an then. These occasion blunders into fulfillment, justifies a

continuance of our present paradigm.

On the other hand, when you feel righteous, you consistently make decisions like a

righteous person would make. When you feel successful, you see the world as a place of

opportunity. Your heart leads you to make decisions that create the world you live in. Then it

empowers you to live in that world.

Romans 10:9–10 promises, “If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and

believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the

heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto

salvation.” This is God’s prescription for experiencing salvation.

Salvation Is…

Salvation (sozo) is usually understood to be only the born-again experience. However,

to the man on the street in New Testament times, it meant healed, saved, delivered, blessed,

prospered, protected, set apart, and made whole. In other words, any aspect of the abundant

life that God offers is experienced to the degree that we believe the truth about Jesus’

resurrection in our heart and acknowledge it with our mouth.

 At best we often hold only a historic concept of the resurrection. We believe that He

died and rose from the dead. Evidently, however, there is something more I should believe

about the resurrection that will change the way I see myself.

If I believe that I am in Jesus, then His every victory at the resurrection becomes my

victory. If I believe in my heart that Jesus was raised from the dead, conquering sickness, it

will change how I see myself as susceptible to sickness. If I believe, in my heart, that Jesus

conquered poverty through His resurrection, it will change how I see myself in relation to

poverty. Whatever I believe about Jesus’ victory at the resurrection becomes my personal

victory when I believe it in my heart. Anything you believe in your heart always changes the

way you see yourself!

Living in wholeness through the righteous power of God happens when I believe in

my heart that God raised Jesus from the dead and I acknowledge Him as Lord. In other words,

I commit to following Him fully.

Take the Next Step

The question is, what am I prepared to do to bring myself to the place where I believe

this truth in my heart? There are several tools that I can use to write it on my heart. One of the

most effective is meditation. Meditation is the key to changing your heart beliefs. Now, keep

in mind that meditation is a heart exercise. So how do I implement the exhortation to meditate

on the word of God? Remember, I want to meditate on the word in a way that influences my

heart. Therefore, I should take a particular promise from God’s Word and ponder it in a way

that I see myself living it. Until I can see it changing my life, I am not affecting my heart. As I
see myself living and experiencing that promise I should allow myself to experience what it

feels like to have it working in my life.

Let me give you an example. After several operations and years of sickness, I lay in

bed completely discouraged. I was too weak to pray. I could only lift my arms for a few

minutes at a time. As I lay in bed on the verge of giving up, I was reminded of the power of

meditating on God’s Word. So I closed my eyes and pictured myself out of the hospital,

playing with my children, and doing the things that I would do if I were actually well. I

thought about it and saw those images until I felt the joy of the experience. It felt real.

Meditation is actually a combination of information and emotion. God gave us a right-

and left-sided brain. Studies show that when we combine both sides of our brain in any effort

we can learn more quickly with a more lasting effect. When I combine information and

emotion, I begin to experience my thoughts as real. Appropriately, someone once said that the

heart knows no difference between reality and something clearly imagined. When I

experience a thought at an emotional level it heightens my ability to believe that it is real. It is

a way of connecting with a reality different than we are experiencing.

Like the apostle Paul, who learned the secret power of seeing the unseen, we can see

our future through the eyes of the heart. As we see ourselves experiencing God’s promises to

the degree that we begin to create the sense of actually possessing those promises, they

become our reality. Once it becomes believable, the heart will release the power of God to

make it happen.

Whether we are confessing the Word, praying, or worshipping, all of which are tools

for transformation, we should always see ourselves experiencing the end-result of God’s

promise. We should see and experience that promise as real until it becomes the reality of our
heart. After months of meditating on the Word of God, health and healing became more real

to me than sickness. To the degree that I could see it in my heart, sickness lost its grip on my

life and I was overtaken with health and healing.

Turn every interaction with God into a meditative experience. Whether you are

praying, confessing, or worshipping, involve your heart. Take yourself to that place where

you see yourself experiencing every word you sing, say, or pray. Get the Word into your heart

and change your reality forever!

Any part of life where you are not experiencing the reality of God can be changed.

Find a scripture that promises you a different better quality of life. Memorize that scripture.

Then personalize it. Put it in the first person. For example you may use the scripture that says,

And you shall remember the LORD your God, for it is He who gives you power to get wealth.

(Deuteronomy 8:18).

It would need to be personalize like this, “I always remember the Lord God and I

thank you that You have given me the power to get wealth. Everyday I am seeing and seizing

new opportunities. I am diligent, faithful and hardworking. I am prospering beyond my

personal capacity. I am experiencing your capacity for wealth!”

As you ponder this verse imaging what it would look like if that was real to day. How

would you live? Where would you live? How would it change your life? What levels of new

happiness and contentment would it bring? See all of these benefits. Ponder them until you

experience the joy. Then simply acknowledge, “I thank you that this is my reality, based on

your promise. By your grace this is mine now and I will walk into it day by day.”

Every time you consider your financial situation this would be your meditation. Do it

first thing in the morning and last thing at night. When this become more real to you than the
power of your current life, it will overtake you and become your present reality. Do this for

righteousness. Do this for peace. Do this for every area of your life. Order one of my Prayer

Organizers and write the Word of God on every corner of your hart for every area of God’s

promises!
 Chapter 22

Breaking the Cycle

Freedom from the cycle begins where the sense of lack ends. Do you want to live the

abundant life? Then you must experience fullness in Jesus. Paul said it like this: “And I pray

that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to

grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that

surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God”

(Ephesians 3:17–19 NIV).

Because Adam didn’t grasp the love of God, he surrendered his wholeness on the

assumption that God had not given him the best. He didn’t believe he was who God said he

was. Therefore, it was impossible for him to believe he could receive the best life had to offer.

As a result, he declared his independence and sought to establish his identity by his own

means.

Ancient Israel also is a model of mankind continuing to doubt God’s acceptance as a

special people. They repeatedly put God to the test. They refused to believe that He could and

would in fact fulfill all His promises. They died in the wilderness because they did not believe

God’s promises to them. They could not find that place of rest, the point at which they ceased

from their own labors. Instead, they rejected God and sought to qualify for the promises on

their own merit.

The sin nature has one essential flaw: fear. From the emotional base of fear emerges

every other negative emotion and every aspect of unbelief. Fear does not believe that God is a

good God. Fear makes the idea of the unconditional love of God seem irrational and illogical.
Thus, the degree that we are motivated by fear, is the degree we are dominated by the mind-

set of lack. Fear is the emotional perspective that grew out of our sin nature. On the other

hand, the degree that we accept righteousness as a free gift is the degree that we will believe

we are eligible for God’s unconditional love. And the more we are immersed in the love of

God, the more our faith abounds. As our faith explodes beyond the limits of our carnal logic

we experience the fullness of God.

Jesus Overcame Satan’s Strategy

When Satan came to Jesus in Matthew 4, he used the same strategy he had used on

Adam. And why not? It had worked successfully for four thousand years. Man had

consistently questioned his relationship to God. We have adamantly refused to believe that we

are who God says we are. Therefore, we cannot conceive that God would do what He said He

would do. We reject the promise and seek the kingdom through works. And the more we

doubt our identity, the more we are plunged into lack and dead works.

Jesus, the second Adam, withstood the deception. Satan’s attempt to lure Him into

proving His identity by His performance was intended to start Jesus down the pathway to

lack. He intended for Jesus to reach the same conclusion that Adam had reached four

thousand years earlier: “I am not who God says I am.” For Jesus to have worked a single

miracle to prove He was the Son of God, He first would have had to doubt that He was who

God said He was. But there was no need to prove that which is believed! His trust in His

identity kept Him connected the sense of fullness. He had no sense of lack even though He

was tired and hungry.

 This battle over His identity was one Jesus fought all the way through His earthly

ministry, to the crucifixion, to the resurrection and the throne. It was this one belief that

empowered Him to start His earthly ministry, work miracles, be raised from the dead, conquer

Satan, and fulfill all the requirements to establish the New Covenant. Had He lost His sense of

identity, He would have lost the battle. He would never have been raised from the dead! We

would all be doomed to an eternity without God!

Paul said, “Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father” (Romans 6:4).

The greatness, the glory, the brilliance of God is made real because it is God’s view, God’s

opinion. It is His reality! Like each of us, Jesus had to choose His own reality. He could take

what the circumstances dictated or He could choose what God said in His Word.

As Jesus hung on the cross the one-consistent accusation was, “If you are the Son of

God take yourself down from this cross.” His sense of identity never wavered, even in the

face of incredibly contradictory circumstances. He refused to accept that as the final reality.

Even in the grave clung to His identity. He acknowledged that He was a priest forever

after the order of Melchizedek. He acknowledged that His soul would not be left in hell,

neither would His body see corruption. He acknowledged that all His enemies would become

His footstool. He acknowledged everything that God said about Him, until that became such a

powerful reality that it changed the circumstance. When His identity became His reality, He

was raised from the dead.49 When your identity, in Jesus becomes your reality, your

circumstances will no longer be able to hold you.

Just as He had done on the mount of temptation and throughout His earthly ministry,

He stayed focused on who He was in relation to God. Although all His circumstances denied

God’s reality, He never accepted those circumstances as His reality. He acknowledged God’s
view and opinion, and He experienced it as His reality. He experienced resurrection power

because He knew who He was.

It is the same for us. We live life out of who we are, not out of what we can do. What

we can do and should do emerges freely from our sense of self. It is our identity in Jesus, the

absolute assurance that we are who God says we are, that empowers us to live this incredible

life of abundance. Without the menacing, undermining sensations of lack, the world looks like

a different place. As we leave lack behind, a whole new world begins to emerge—a world of

opportunity and promise. Like Hagar who was abandoned in the desert and saw no hope of

survival, our eyes can open to a world of incredible provision and limitless resources.50 The

land of lack starts to look like the land of opportunity!

We all must renew our mind to see God’s realities as our own, or else we will be

trapped in the world of illusion created by the mind of unbelief. God did not dig a well for

Hagar. Instead, He opened her eyes to see what was there all the time. The sense of

desperation and lack blinded her to the resources that were available. With just a slight change

in perception, she was added to that list of people who lived in a realm that could only be

accessed by faith and empowered by grace. Like Moses, Paul, and all those in the roll call of

faith in Hebrews chapter eleven, she escaped the visible by seeing the invisible.

Learning Paul’s Secret to Abundant Life

The apostle Paul was sustained by a reality that no one could see or conceive as he

pioneered the message of faith righteousness to a hostile religious world. In 2 Corinthians

4:16–17 he said, “Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing,

49
See Hebrews 5:6; 6:20; 7:17, 21; Acts 2:31; Psalm 16:10; Hebrews 10:13.
50
See Genesis 21:14–20.
yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a

moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.” My mind

staggers as I read this phrase, “our light affliction.” His sense of reality was certainly not

determined by his circumstances.

What did Paul deal with? His life was threatened immediately upon accepting his call;

he was rejected by his countrymen; he was not trusted by the church. He was ultimately

beaten, stoned to death, shipwrecked, and imprisoned. But none of this seemed to have a great

affect on him. It seemed to go almost unnoticed. It is apparent that he was sustained by

something more real than what he experienced in this life.

I thank God that Paul didn’t stop there without sharing his secret source of

supernatural power. In verse 18 he continued, “While we do not look at the things which are

seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but

the things which are not seen are eternal.” He saw something that could not be seen with the

natural eye. He saw God’s reality; he saw life from God’s perspective. Even with all the

tragedy he experienced, this world’s system could not drag him back to the lack that drove

him when he lived under the law.

Like the Old Testament patriarchs, like Jesus, like Paul and all who have lived by

faith, we must choose God’s reality in order to escape the confines of this world’s system with

all its control. As God’s opinion replaces our current sense of reality, it begins to give way to

the greatness and splendor of God. If you want to live in God’s abundance, you must bring all

your being, all your emotions, all your intellect, all your senses to believe the truth about your

new identity in Jesus. You have a new righteous nature and a new identity!
 Lose yourself in God’s Word. Die to every sense of self that is not based on the death,

burial, and resurrection of Jesus. Look into the perfect law of liberty as a mirror that reflects

who you are in Jesus. Like Jesus, who had been bound in the grave by our sin, experience

your personal resurrection of righteousness, dignity, and worth.

In 1 Corinthians 13:12 Paul concluded his incredible passage on walking in love with

this promise: “For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part,

but then I shall know just as I also am known.” He spoke of a time in our life when we grasp

the perfect love of God. When we really believe God’s love in our heart, we will know

ourselves as God knows us. We will see ourselves as God sees us. When we believe God’s

Word the image in the mirror changes.

God knows you as holy, sanctified, righteous, loved, accepted, approved, anointed,

called, and chosen. What is your perception of yourself? Do you see yourself as God sees

you? That will be the revelation that will change your life forever.

Breaking out of the cycle is all about breaking out of your self-perception. Changing

how you see yourself is the way you put off the old man and put on the new man. Changing

your self-perception is the prerequisite for yielding to righteousness. Change how you see

yourself to align with God’s view and opinion and you will connect to a wholeness that

empowers you to live God’s very best. Change how you see yourself and you will discover

the power of faith righteousness that takes you from your first prayer, to fulfilling your

dreams, to eternity with God. You are who God says you are. Do what it takes to believe that.

Do whatever it takes to see yourself as God sees you, and you will break out of the repetitive

cycle and leave lack behind.

Over Twenty years ago at the lowest point in my life, I was devastated by
personal failure, I was incapacitated by a life threatening disease and I was drowning
in financial debt. I took the Bible and found every scripture about my new identity, I
meditated on them, I confessed them, I prayed and sang them until they became my
reality. Today those horrible circumstances seem like a dream. They lost their power
over me as I immersed myself in my righteous identity in Jesus. It was from that
study that I developed the most powerful tool I have ever created, The Prayer
Organizer.51 It became the mirror that reflected my new identity in Jesus.

Now it’s time for you to take the plunge. Die to yourself. Surrender your identity to

the cross of Jesus. Lay down the old and pick up the new. Put off the old man put on the new

man. Step in to this limitless life of peace, power and all the promises of God!

51
The Prayer Organizer can be obtained by contacting Impact Ministries, 256-536-9402 or on line at
www.Impactministries.com.