The Gospel of Christ vs. Legalism: What Ground are you Standing On?

We are in an era of uncertainty, doubt and fear. Many are questioning their life and the way they have been living. I believe we all should constantly evaluate our lives and what we do with the precious gift of life. Everywhere you turn now someone is talking about being "Woke". Information and knowledge is so easy to obtain, because of this a lot that we were in the dark about has been revealed to us. But, what do we do with all this information? Are we as Christians (followers of Christ) allowing it to make us stronger or are we allowing it to deconstruct our faith in the True and Living God? Often I've found that it's the latter and that tells me " Houston, we have a problem". Many are waking up to the fact that they have been living out "Legalism" and not Grace by Faith in Jesus Christ. 

What is Legalism? 

According to Thomas R. Schreiner “Legalism exists when people attempt to secure righteousness in God’s sight by good works. Legalists believe that they can earn or merit God’s approval by performing the requirements of the law,” I will speak for myself, I knew that Jesus died for my sins from a little girl. I knew I could be forgiven for my sin because Jesus died, but I didn't have a true understanding of what Jesus actually did on the cross. I only understood when I begin to search God for myself and ask questions that others couldn't really answer. I realized I really didn't understand the God that I served. Many are waking up to this fact, which is not a bad thing. What is bad is that they're turning on the Most High God because of misunderstandings. They feel they are going crazy trying to keep a law that God isn't holding them to. I was raised going to a Church building every Sunday, Bible class on Wednesday and Choir rehearsal. I was taught a gang of things we are not supposed to do as a "Christian".  I wasn't told why really, I just knew not to do it because that's what I learned from people not God. This is what Legalism is and why many are leaving. You will run yourself crazy with the do's and dont's. This is also why many who think they are saved are not really saved. I say that because many came to the faith out of being condemned by people, many just believed what their parents said believe and some merely was afraid of going to hell so they said " I believe" without a repented heart.  It's time that we make our foundation sure by building a relationship with Christ and not rules.

The Gospel of Christ: Saved by Grace

See Legalism will not sustain you or me because there is nothing we can do to be justified. Justified means we are declared righteous because Christ took our guilt and shame. He took our penalty for sin. To give a small synopsis. God made Adam and Eve perfect without sin. They were made holy and righteous. He put them in the garden of Eden. This was a paradise for them with beautiful trees filled with fruit for them to eat. There was one tree that they were instructed not to eat from and that was the tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Satan tempted Eve to eat from the tree by deceiving her. She then took the fruit to Adam and he ate it knowing it was forbidden. All mankind came through Adam, so because he sinned through him sinned entered every human since. We are born in sin. We are born with the desire to sin. God who is Holy, Righteous and king of kings has his rules that he never breaks. One rule is that Romans 6:23 the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life. Also the Bible says Hebrews 9:22 Without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin. In the old testement we can see all the sacrifices they had to make for sin (uncleanliness). God sent a way of escape for us because he so loved the world his creation, that he sent his son Jesus because he could satisfy the requirement for sin. His blood was sufficient because he had NO sin. So he died and was buried and rose on the third day with power over death. We can't do that no matter how "good" we try to be. It's God's grace, his undeserved favor that we are saved. That's it. The requirements to be saved is to believe that God sent his son Jesus to die for you, Repent which means that you have a change of heart through a contrite (sorrowful) spirit and turn your eyes from the world to God. You make a decision to allow Jesus to be Lord of your life, to live for Christ. Then be baptised and filled with the Holy Spirit. 

Works vs. Grace

Jesus said those who love me follow my commands. Jesus is telling us that this walk is relational. We can't work our way into Heaven. Jesus is the way , the truth and the life. No man can enter except by him. We follow God's Kingdom culture because we love him. That's It! When we become saved we began the process of sanctification. This is not anything we do, this is done by the word of God and the blood of Jesus. Sanctification means you are set apart through the transformation of your mind. Our mind is transformed the closer we get to God, he begins to reveal himself to us and his original plan for our lives. We are washed, cleaned through the blood of Jesus and the reading of God's Word. We are faithful to our spouse because we know it the right thing to do, not because we don't want to go to hell. We don't curse because this is not pleasing to God. We don't murder because it's wrong. We don't steal because it's wrong. I could go on and on. We love God and want to please him because he loved us not because we are scared into it. God wants the best for us because he loves us unconditionally. I also love my children unconditionally, but I'm not pleased with everything they do. I also don't allow them to do whatever they want in my presence because I have a moral code that I stand by. Now, I am in noooo way comparing myself to the most high God. I'm trying to give you a picture of our father in Heaven. You should never feel condemned because Jesus didn't come to condemn us, he came to save us. Condemnation comes from satan not God. When we sin we can go to God and repent and ask for forgiveness. Our God is faithful and Just and will forgive us of all unrighteousness. He loves 👉you. 

If you are confused right now because it feels like you just can't get it right. Stop right now and talk to God, tell him everything you are feeling right now. If you've been taught not to question God, throw it out the window with legalism. We can go to God and talk to him about anything and he will answer us. Tell God that you want a relationship with him, you want to know him without the do's and don'ts. You just want to know his character, love, and his son Jesus Christ. Keep it real with God, he loves your transparency. Don't allow satan to deceive you into thinking you're not good enough because you sinned. We all have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God. There are good people of God that are giving the answers to the questions you have. You are not suppose to believe anything just because someone told you to. You are suppose to know why you follow Christ. Below are scriptures to help you drop legalism and build on your faith in Jesus for eternal salvation. 

Colossians 2:14 Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;

Galations 3:13-14 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us- for it is written, cursed is everyone who hanged on a tree 14He redeemed us in order that the blessing promised to Abraham would come to the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.…

John 3:16-17 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believe in him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17. For God sent not his son into the world to condemn the world ;but that the world through him might be saved. 

Romans 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit. 

John 17:3 And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ, whom thou has sent.

Please leave a comment if this blog has helped you in any way. Share so that others that are struggling in their faith may be helped. If you have any questions please ask, if I don't know I will definitely point you to someone who does. Be Blessed my sister, my brother💖

If Jesus died for sin, Why can't I live how I want

 Many people have this question. I once asked this question out of ignorance. I never truly understood this until I did a study of my own. People had tried to explain to me but I just never fully understood. In my experience it was taught with fear of going to hell so don't sin with a list of things you can't do. Now that I understand I don't serve God because of fear, I serve him because I love him. I love him because he first loved me. I know that without God sending his son I would be unhappy, insecure, no hope, and unfulfilled in life. I would be walking around in darkness with no direction constantly bumping into walls. I understand that as a believer in Christ my wants should now line up with God's purpose for my life.

What is sin and why is it here? 

Sin is an act of transgression against God's divine law. God is Holy, no bad, dark, wicked, or unrighteousness is in him. Sin is going against God's moral code. The Bible tells us that in the beginning God made Adam and Eve. The first humans on this earth. There was a place called Eden and there was a garden there. There were many trees I believe but the Bible speaks of two specific trees, one had the power to give life continually and one the power to take life spiritually and physically. God instructed Adam not to eat fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

Gen 2:15-17 15 And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. During this time Adam and Eve only knew about Good/Righteousness because they only new the things of God. God never intended for mankind to know or experience anything bad, evil or dark. Nevertheless, he didn't make robots. You may say why was the tree there? I believe to give mankind a choice to choose their creator over the created. Long story short satan came in the garden and tempted Eve to eat of the forbidden tree by decieving her. She ate and gave Adam some to eat. Since Adam is the first of mankind sin came in the world through him when he disobeyed God. Every human after Adam is descendants of him. Therefore every human is born in bondage to sin. This means we will automatically have sinful desires until we are born again through the Jesus Christ. We are born with a disposition to sin.

Remember I said God is Holy and sin is unholy so sin seperated Adam and Eve from God. This means sin separated us from God. Romans 6:23 "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Remember God told Adam "the day you eat of that tree, you will surely die." The penalty for sin is death physically and spiritually. Just think the bad things people do end in destruction. It's fun in the beginning, it feels good in the beginning but once it has you in it's grips the fun end and the consequences come knocking. The good feeling is gone. You never get to the point where you are fulfilled. You always feel like something is missing, there has to be more. That feeling is telling you that you are in darkness seperated from your creator. Your spirit is yearning for God but because you're in darkness you don't know it. Nevertheless, no matter how crazy our decision making is/was God loves us. It broke his heart the day he had to seperate himself from his creation. On that day we became enemies to God. BUT! God had a solution. He knew that no matter how many sacrifices we offered we couldn't save ourselves from sin. Knowing what sin was just made it more tempting. Just think you don't really like sweets like that,  but soon as you start a diet you want sweets. When you're told you can't have something you want it more until your thinking is transformed. So God sent a perfect sacrifice to free us from the dispostion to sin. He sent a way to bring us out of darkness into his marvelous light where we belong. He sent us a way to be able to choose him, because our oppurtunity of choice was taken. John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Through the death, burial and ressurection of Christ we now have an chance to live a life eternal with God. Once we repent (turn from sinful desires in your heart), be baptised and filled with the Holy Spirit we become a new creature. 2 Corinthians 5:17  17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. We were made for God's purpose and pleasure. We were made to fulfil his will. God wants the best for us literally. The best is not necessarily the most expensive things that we think about. God does allow us to get those things from our hard work, but he really doesn't care about that. His best is for us to have hope, a future and an expected end. Before choosing Christ we are born with a future of Hell, fire and brimstone. This is not because God is mean, it's because this is the punishment for sin. God keeps his word and stay true to his moral code. We change our minds and actions all the time, God doesn't. He is exact. Since God knew that was our end he sent a way of escape. He paid for our salvation with the blood of his son. God didn't give us sinful desires, satan did by decieving Eve. Jesus didn't die so you could do what you want. He didn't die so that you could live in sin freely, you was already doing that. He died so that you could live the life God intended for you from the beginning of Creation. Jesus look on the sins of the world so we could live an everlasting life with him instead of in Hell. 

Back to the question at hand. 

You are not already forgiven. 1John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we confess our sins, repent (turn from them) and except his son, then God will cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Romans 10:9-10That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with your heart you believe and are justified, and with your mouth you confess and are saved.

The choice you have to make. Do you want to live in bondage to satan and sin? No man has two masters, it's either God or satan. The only way to God is through Jesus because sin seperated us. If we don't believe in Jesus and follow his commandments we are enemies to God. When we live in sin we choose satan as our master by default. Nevertheless, if you want to be saved from eternal damnation and disposition to live a sinful life, THERES NO TIME LIKE THE PRESENT. God knows everything you''ve done and still loves you. He is waiting to be reunited with you. It brings him joy at the thought of you choosing him. Ask God to forgive you of your sins, call them out by name. He already knows, turn from your wicked ways. Accept Jesus as your personal savior, Believe in your heart and Confess with your mouth and you will be saved. If you don't have a place of worship that you attend you are more than welcome to contact me. I will give you the number to my overseers so that you can get baptised. We meet on line every Thursday.  God loves you, Jesus died for you and now you can make the most important decision of your life. I look forward to hearing from you. 

The Kingdom of Darkness: We Must Protect our Children

I ask you for a moment to take a look at these children. Their beautiful smiles are radiant. Look at the purity and joy that illuminates from them. Now, imagine them being taken advantage of to do unconceivable things. Imagine those smiles are now frowns filled with darkness and void. Their hearts have been turned to stone. These precious children have been made agents for the kingdom of darkness. {disclaimer]I prayed as I typed this that none of those things had happened to these childern. In the Bible, Jesus shows a deep sincere love for children. He had a protective nature when it came to the little ones. Matthew 18:6-7 says: 6 “But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea. We see in this scripture that if anyone causes a child to sin they will truly pay for defiling the pure nature of the innocent. In another scripture we see that Jesus understands the power in being like a child. We sometimes overlook children but there is much we can learn from them. In Matthew 18:2-5 Jesus shows us this: 2 Then Jesus called a little child to Him, set him in the midst of them, 3 and said, “Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 5 Whoever receives one little child like this in My name receives Me. 

The Nature of Children

Jesus said that Children are humble. I looked up the word humble, the synonyms for humble are: meek, respectful, submissive, unassertive, resistless and unpresuming. This tells me that children will submit to their leaders. Children will not assert their will over yours. They don't resist what you are teaching them. I'm also a fifth grade teacher so I see these traits with children everyday. They believe what you tell them for the most part. They may ask why to get more clarity, but will submit. This is how we must be to enter the kingdom of Heaven. We should not try to assert our Will over God's Will for our life. We are to submit to God by repenting and turning from anything that is unlike him. We do not resist God but surrender our Will to him. 

The Kindom of Darkness Desires to Recruit Our Children

Satan and his agents are working nonstop. He too knows the humble nature of children and how easy it is to trap and turn them. He has demons in every part of this world promoting wickedness through lies and deciet. I recently watched two videos of young ladies who were in Satanism and are now followers of Jesus Christ! Hallelujah! I thank God for their deliverance. I also thank God for their testimonies. The Bible says that we will overcome the devil by the blood of the lamb and the word of our testimonies. Through these young ladies sharing what they experienced in the kingdom of darkness I now have a better understanding of satans plan. I found out that his goal is to recruit young people. Both of these ladies were recruited in their teen years. They explained how they target young people. In one case there was a man that would stand outside the school to talk to young girls and recruit them. Clothes, music, false prophets, movies, social media, etc. are use to snare our children to forfeit their soul. These ladies were made to kill people, do human sacrifices, sexual immorality and more. Many of our missing children are taken for this purpose according to these ladies. They are stripped of all innocense and made to be killing and sex machines void of feelings. This breaks my heart as I type these words knowing we have some fault in this. Nevertheless, my hope comes from knowing that there is a way of escape for matter. God does not leave us ignorant. He makes a show of the enemy by bringing his tactics to the forefront. Now it is our time to act. 

Defense Strategy

The Bible says: Train up a child in the way that they should go and when they are old they will not depart from it. Many Christians are failing at this for a few reasons. First, we are taking our children to Church and leaving it up to them to train our children. The church is the village that helps, but they are not to do the parent's job. As parents we have to practice what we preach. In Deuteronomy God instructed parents to put Him first in all they did and teach their children to do the same. We are to follow God's word in action and not just words and teach our children to do the same. Many of us are merely church goers with no action behind it which in turn teaches our children nothing about the foundation of our faith. Therefore our first defense strategy is to lead by example. God should be taught at home along with prayer.  Our children should know who Jesus is because at his name everything will bow. Secondly, we are allowing our children to hear and see wicked things created to snare them. Our eyes and ears are open doors to our soul. When we as parents listen to sexual immoral music, Watch sexual immoral videos and movies, curse and use God's name in vain and any other act that involves sin, we open our children up for possession. Therefore our second line of defense is to first make a conscious decision to eliminate those things from your life. Remember we must lead by example. Children do what we do not what we say. We must show our children how to live a Godly life and why it's important. You and your child may learn the reasons together and there is nothing wrong with that. In fact that is beautiful to learn the fullness of God along with your child. Third, pray without ceasing, which means pray all throughout the day. We must cover our children in prayer. This will keep them protected by angels sent by God.  We must take this walk more seriously if we want to save our children. There are children being left open with no defenses because we are not praying and teaching them the right way. This causes them to fall for the kingdom of darkness lies. We must teach our children the name of JESUS! We must teach them how to pray. The Bible is what teaches us how to discern the difference between evil and righteousness. How will they know without you reading with them?

Our job is to protect our children. Pray for any children that are around you. Pray for the abducted children to be returned safely. Pray for believing parents to begin to walk righteously in front of their children, that their children may follow and be filled with the Holy Spirit. Teach them the importance of Jesus and what his sacrifice did for them. Let's take our children back from the hands of the enemy. Stop freely giving them over by allowing them to see and hear anything because of your fleshly desires. Make a decision to be hot or cold. I pray you be hot for Jesus and teach your children to be the same. My prayer is that through your walk with God, your children will begin to teach other children that they encounter. My prayer is that you will begin to form prayer groups with other parents. My prayer is that you will teach the blue print of the Bible which is to Repent, be Baptised and Filled with the Holy Spirit. Be Blessed☝ Feel Free to leave any questions in the comments.

Prayer: How to enter into God's presence

Did you know you were created to live in God's presence? Adam and Eve was in God's presence daily because there was nothing separating them. Everything they did coincided with God's will and purpose for them. God guided there decisions until they fell for deception. Mankind was pure, blameless, without spot or wrinkle. We were perfect! We had no sin, wickedness, blemishes or transgressions. We were created to reflect God's character and personality, which is his nature and moral character. We are made of three parts: Body, Soul and Spirit. Because man has a spirit we are able to communicate with God in spirit as he is spirit. The Bible says God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.(John 4:24) Even though we were created in God's image, we can't reflect that image if we don't have a relationship with him. Remember our image changed once mankind fell because we became slaves to sin. We became enemies of God Romans 5:10 For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled (restored back) to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his (Jesus) life. Therefore the very 1st step to getting in God's presence is accepting his son Jesus Christ as your savior. Without Jesus blood there is no remission of sin. No Jesus, No God! The only way to be restored back from our fallen state is through his son Jesus. 

God's plan was for man to desire what he desired, for man's will to line up with his will. When this happens your prayers will be asking God to accomplish his will on earth as it is in heaven. Then goodness and truth will reign on earth instead of darkness and evil.  When we are born, we are born in sin. We are born conforming to the world and its systems. Thus we are born following satan whether we choose to or not. The only way to change that is to be reborn by dying to sin and raised in righteousness through Christ. This is what baptism does. This is not a quick fix pill though, the transformation is an ongoing process. In this blog I'm going to list some principles that are essential to having effective and powerful prayers that God honors. 

1. Deal with your sin- We must first deal with our sin when we prepare to pray. We must evaluate our day and actions to see if we have done anything God would be displeased with. Then ask for forgiveness of those sins. We can even ask God to forgive us for sins we don't know about because what's right to man is wicked to God. This means sometimes our decisions are not in alignment with God unknowingly. Psalms 19:12 David asks God to forgive him for his hidden faults, meaning sins he's unaware of.  1John 1:9  says that if we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us. This is very important not to skip repentance because sin causes God to separate from us and not hear our prayers.

2. Put on Righteousness- This means being right with God through the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Your life should be reflecting his light and moral code. Remember we all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, there will be areas you slip in, this is your opportunity to ask God to help you in those areas. We can do nothing by our self but through God all things are possible. 

3.Be Honest with God- Remember God knows everything 😉 we sometimes forget this and try to tell " little white lies" or " extract information" in our prayers. This will get you no where with God because that is sin. Remember the Bible says we must worship him in spirit and truth. God doesn't judge us like man. He loves us unconditionally. You can go to him with your darkest secret, in fact that gets you closer because you're laying it all at his feet and this is what he desires. 

4. Read your Word (Bible)- The word of God cleanses us. This is why God tells us to meditate on his word day and night. This just means keep God's word on your mind. The word of God is for reproof, correction, and instruction in righteousness so that we may be perfect, thoroughly furnished for all good works( 2Tim. 3:16-17) Without God's word we can't truly know him. The only way we can truly live in righteousness as God desires is by living according to his word (Psalms 119:9-11). When we read the word it also trains our senses to discern between good and evil (Hebrews 5:14). Lastly, we can remind him of his word. Because he values his word above himself he will honor it always. 

5. Separate Yourself- When you prepare to pray you must separate yourself from outside interference. You can't have a powerful and effective prayer while watching television or listening to the radio (unless you have certain worship music to set the atmosphere). Your total attention need to be on your time with God. Adam and Eve didn't have interference remember but we do. We have work, school, kids, worries, Fbook, instagram, etc. We have to shut all that out for alone time just to bask in his presence. This allows your spirit to become one with his and he will speak to you and through you in prayer (this may not happen every time). The more you build your relationship with God, the stronger your prayer life will be. 

6. Have Faith- We must have Faith in God's promises when we pray. Remember, you can only know his promises if you read the Holy Bible for yourself. The Bible says without Faith it is impossible to please God. One reason is because you have to first believe that he is and that he sent his son to die for the sins of world. When you pray, you must believe that it is done. This means you live as if it is a reality for you that just has to manifest. Many pray and get off their knees and speak death to the very thing they just prayed for. The Bible says in James 4, that is like a man that look in the mirror and turns around and immediately forget what he looks like. This is another reason his word is so important because it builds your faith in him. Go into your prayer knowing that God hears you and will answer you. 

7. Give God glory & remain in Righteousness- Take some time to just praise and worship him for who he is to you. Your prayer shouldn't be all about petitions only. Praise God  for his mercy, grace, and atonement for your sins. This is just examples, but just as you like praise God does too and he totally deserves that and more. Often people try to live righteous just to get something from God, once it's done they regress to worldly living. How do you feel when you've been used? I never want to grieve God. He's done to much for me. Romans 12:1 say to present our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, because this is our reasonable service unto him. This is my daily goal. 

I don't profess to know it all. I'm learning daily as you are.  I'm a fellow believer trying to grow in Christ and sharing with others what I've learned on this walk. My goal is to strengthen my prayer life to take it to a higher level. I want my will, purpose and pleasure to line up with his so we can do amazing miracles in the earth just as Jesus did. In fact we are instructed to do greater works than Jesus. This means if God said that, I can trust that I will be able to accomplish it because he honors his word over himself. When we position ourselves by making our vessel (body) available to him we will be awesome change agents in this earth and the earth to come. Please post in the comments about your prayer life or any questions or advice you may have for me or others. Be Blessed.  

Prayer: Is it possible we've been doing it wrong

People pray all over the world. Many people pray in a religious manner such as Muslims pray religiously 5 times a day at set times. Hindus make shrines and pray 3 times a day. Some people pray out of fear of death, illness or need. Humans have an innate yearning to connect with the source of creation. In God's Word he tells us to pray on all occasions ( Ephesians 6:18). The word "prayer" is mentioned a 132 times, "pray" 121 times, "prayed" 68 times, etc. In short the subject of prayer is mentioned in total of 375 times in the Bible. This tells me that prayer is very important in the life of a Believer in Jesus, but why is it taken so lightly? Prayer is one of the foundations of Christianity. This is the first thing you're taught starting with the prayer of Salvation, so why do we drop the ball? When you look at church buildings the service with the less people is the prayer service. It's usually the elders of the church and a few new Christians that fade off after a while. This should not be. We've mistaken prayer for an option instead of it being a necessity. Prayer isn't an option for a Believer, when we neglect to commune with God we walk in our will instead of his. We also allow the enemy to do whatever he wants because we are not calling God to act on the behalf of the world.

My answer to this question was usually "talking to God". While this is a true answer, prayer goes deeper than that. Soon you will see why it's not an option, it's a necessity. Prayer is the power to influence earth from heaven. Jesus told us that in Matthew when he said whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. We often see evil things happening in the world and we feel helpless but really we have power through prayer in Christ Jesus to make a change. Let me explain. In the beginning God gave dominion to mankind. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. (Gen 1:28) God made the earth for mankind and gave them authority over it. When Adam and Eve sinned they gave that authority to satan. This is why he is called "the prince of the air". Before this happened Adam and Eve talked with God daily, we know this because scripture says that after God made them "he said to them". Prayer was from the beginning. God spoke to them with no interference. They wasn't thinking "is he talking to us" or " how do we know when God is talking" God explained to them what everything was made for and what to do with it. He gave them instructions and had regular conversations with them daily. The Bible says they heard the voice of God in the garden in the cool of the day. This was nothing new to them, but the relationship was broken from sin. Sin brought the disconnect between man and God. We were created for God's pleasure, will and purpose. We were made to be one with God, just as we are one with our spouse (meaning one accord, not sexually). If we go back to the scripture stated above, God was telling them his will and purpose for their life. He was basically saying this is why you were created. God is all powerful see's all, knows all and everything was created by him, through him and in him. Nevertheless, God is a God of integrity. His word is greater than his name to him. Psalms 138:2b for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name. God's word means everything to him, so when he gave us authority he only interferes when we call on him through prayer. He doesn't take authority, satan does that. Matter of fact he just tricks you out of your authority. satan tricks people into handing over the keys daily through deception and half truths. Anything on earth without a body is here illegally unless they have been called by a human. This is why demons (who are spirit) seek bodies that they can possess because their time is limited without one. That topic will be for another day :) 

Jesus won our dominion back for us

Once Jesus came as 100% man and 100% divine he was the final sacrifice for our sin. God was here legally because he sent himself in a body to do what we couldn't do. He became our atonement. This doesn't mean that all mankind has their authority back though. We only gain our authority back when we accept Jesus as our savior. Once we do that we now have the power of God literally inside of us. satan has no control over you anymore and neither do sin unless you allow it. Now that you've been cleaned in the blood of the lamb the communication signal is back open.  Jesus is the link from man to God. 

So if I'm saved and I pray sparingly, what's the problem. 1. We pray out of our own selfish desires. James 3:4 says God will not give you the desires of your lust. 2. We don't realize we were created for God's purpose, not our own. Thus, our prayers should line up with his purpose, will and pleasure. 3. We are unaware of God's purpose because we haven't fully surrendered to him, nor searched his word to find it. 4. God is not concerned with being our personal Jenie, he wants a intimate relationship as a father with his child. 5. We continue to walk in sin and hinder our prayers which make them null and void. 

James 5:16b (NIV)

James 5:16b(kjv) The effectual fervant prayers of a righteous man availeth much. Our job as a Christian is to pray for the saints, our world, family, ourselves, and that God's will, purpose, pleasures and promises come to pass. Our prayers are successful in producing a desired result when we are passionate about God's purpose and living a Godly, sinless and noble life. Souls are being lost because of non prayerful Christians. This world is becoming darker and darker by the day because we haven't said "tag God, you're it". We only have ourselves to blame. We spend far too much time thinking about a new car, new house, clothes, trips, etc. This is where we go wrong because we don't even have to pray for those things. Jesus said seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. (Matt 6:33). Wealth and riches are in his house and his righteousness endures forever. (Psalms 112:3) But the blameless will inherit what is good (Pro. 28:10b). 

This is just a few of many scriptures that shows that God loves you and know what you are in need of. He also knows the desires of your heart. Our job is to first seek the kingdom of God through prayer and living morally in God's standard not man's. We are live righteous, not good. There is a big difference. God has done his part, we must do ours. Prayer is a necessity for us. We can't live without it. To be without prayer is to be blind to me. How can I know my destination without talking to the person I'm meeting? We were created to commune with God. We were created for his pleasure “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power; for Thou hast created all things, and for Thy pleasure they are, and were created.” Rev.4:11. 

In Conclusion,

Prayer has to be taken seriously for the life of the believer. Prayer is the power to influence earth from heaven. We were created to fulfill God's purpose & will for our life here on earth. Our will should always line up with God's will. We will only know what "created for his pleasure" mean when we seek him first by reading his word and praying. God gave us authority of earth because he entrusted us to be righteous because we were created in his likeness and image. This means when we are reborn we take on his characteristics, his integrity, his righteousness, his love, his will and his purpose. Our prayer life should reflect this. Let's begin to take our prayer life to a new dimension in him. My goal is to become one with God, to be on one accord with him. The Bible says Let this mind be in you that was also in Christ Jesus Phil.2:5 Jesus being 100% man & 100% God was humble, he always put the will of the father before his own. When you read the gospels you see Jesus always praying that the will of the father be done. I purpose to be more like Jesus, so I can be effective while on this earth to help in the saving of souls and the building of the kingdom of God. 

There will be a part 2: How to enter into God's Presence

Why Do I Still Live Bound If I'm Free From Sin?

First let's begin by explaining what Sin is. Sin is any lack of conformity to the moral law of God, either active or passive, whether in act, thought or disposition. Hamartiology is the study of sin. This tells me if a study is devoted to sin it must have some importance. According to the Christian Bible reference site the word "Sin" is mentioned over 400 times in the Bible. This tells me that God thought it was important to speak on it so often. Therefore if there is a study devoted to it and God says its important then I need to understand it to know what it means to be free from it.

Sin the old ball and chain

God created this world sinless. The world was a place of utopia (heaven on earth). Humans were able to talk to animals without fear. Animals ate vegetation, they didn't desire flesh and blood. Can you imagine petting a lion without fear of being eaten. Can you imagine cattle not worrying about being eaten by us. We too had no desire for flesh. All of our food grew on trees. We had no need for clothes because we were clothe in the righteousness of God. This had to be amazing to never feel guilt, shame, fear, low self-esteem, lust, rage, etc. The only feeling were those of peace, joy, serenity, kindness, love, truth, godliness, worship, etc. Just stop and think for a second how different the world would be. There were no religions. It was just God and his creation. We knew who our creator was because we had an intimate relationship with him. There was no interference or competition. Then entered Satan our enemy and God's enemy who was once one of his most treasured Cherubs. 

Bound By Sin

We can't talk about sin without talking about the cause of it. Satan wanted to be like God so he rebelled and took a third of the angels with him. These angels are now called fallen angels. Satan hates us because he has no chance to repent, he will never inherit the kingdom of heaven. His inheritance is to be locked in hell with his fallen angels. Therefore he wants to make sure we never inherit it either. When Adam made the decision to eat the fruit sin entered the world. Having knowledge of what sin was meant you had to choose sin or godliness. We are now all born into sin because of Adam's choice. For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God Romans 3:23. God looked down through generations and saw that the law he created with Moses couldn't be kept. There could never be enough animals sacrificed to totally cover our sin. So God sent the ultimate sacrifice, his son Jesus Christ the Messiah. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.John 3:16 This broke the chains of sin on our lives. Instead of being mastered by sin, when we believe and accept Jesus as our Savior we are mastered by righteousness. 

Walking in the Newness of Life

Paul asks a question in Romans 6:1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue to sin, that grace may abound? In layman's terms Paul is asking " So do you think it's o.k to sin since we are now covered under Gods grace?" "Should we sin so his grace can increase more and more?" So before we answer that question let's talk about grace. Grace is the unmerited favor of God. Grace is God showing his mercy, patience, and kindness instead of our just punishment for sin which is death. Grace isn't earned, it's a part of God's character. Remember "For God so loved the world", his heart toward us is to give us a choice to choose him and be free. Now back to Paul's question. In Romans 6:2 he answers his rhetorical question. His answer: God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? Again in layman's terms, Paul is saying " God refuses to allow us to walk in sin after his ultimate sacrifice for you to free. Why would you want to live in sin after being freed from it?"

The problem is that Sunday after Sunday we here we can never live up to God's standards. This doesn't mean we should live carelessly. We hear REPENT but we don't hear change and turn. Therefore we cry at the alter repenting but never changing. We get baptized but never open the book on how to live. We barely pray and often don't understand what prayer is. How can we live free from sin when we never open the manual (Bible)? Our mindset should be to love God with all our heart, soul and mind, not for what he can do but for what he already did. When we have a love for God like this our desire changes from a sinful nature to wanting to please God. We have a zeal to read more about him and his standard(will) for our lives. We begin to talk to him more and get to know his character. Then chains begin to fall off because we begin to say GOD I CHOOSE YOU! He already chose us with his sacrifice, now we must choose him to be able to walk in total freedom. We must take the power back from our enemy. Romans 6 (read full chapter) tells us that we must die with Christ and be raised with him by the glory of God . This means that our old sinful nature must die in order that we walk free from sin. Walking free from sin means we no longer serve sin but the father who loves us. We have the victory through Christ's death. We should live everyday manifesting our resurrected life free from sin's control. 

 Now that you know what sin is, where it comes from and what God did to free you from it, Here are some steps you can take to walk in the newness of God and become a servant of righteousness.

• Read your Bible daily. It doesn't have to be a whole chapter. Start where you are and increase as the spirit leads you.
• Pray daily, morning, midday and before you sleep. Very important to pray before you sleep. Prayer is just talking to God, nothing fancy.
• Try to connect yourself with other believers. You will be able to strengthen and encourage one another. In addition, they are seeking the same thing you are which is to live a righteous life. Ungodly people will never steer you towards God and his desire for your life.
• Always ask God to give you wisdom, knowledge and understanding so you never put your own interpertation  to his Word.
• Ask God to fill you with his Holy Spirit which will lead and guide you in God's truth. 

As you begin to implement these steps in your life God will begin to reveal himself to you. He will begin to show you the areas that need cleaning. This is what he did for me once I asked him instead of trying to do it on my own. I found that I can only do what God wants through his power. Through him we can do all things. Nothing is impossible with God. The Joy of the Lord will be your strength. If you have any questions feel free to leave them in the comment section. I look forward to hearing your testimony.