“Do not allow this world to mold you in its own image. Instead, be transformed from the inside out by renewing your mind. As a result, you will be able to discern what God wills and whatever God finds good, pleasing, and complete.”  (Romans 12:2 Voice)

You and I are designed to have a lifestyle without options, but to walk in the goodness of our God.  It is a lifestyle full of grace and truth in Christ.  It is a lifestyle with the resurrection power of Christ expressed in and through us.  It is a lifestyle poured with God’s everlasting love by the Holy Spirit.  It is a lifestyle congruent to what His Word says as we walk by faith and not by sight.  It is a lifestyle blessed and anointed to be who God called us to be and do what He called us to do, being salt and light of the earth, until the whole earth is filled with the knowledge of His glory as the waters cover the sea.  Indeed, it is a miraculous lifestyle that is made possible and attainable IN CHRIST ALONE.  Apart from Him, we can do nothing. 

Jesus said, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in Me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from Me you can do nothing.”  (John 15:5)

You and I are called and chosen to walk in the victory that Jesus won for us at the cross, by the power of His suffering, death and resurrection.   One may ask, what does this mean?  Hmmm … this only means that what He paid for with His life because of His great love for you and for me, we become partakers of His divine nature that as He is, so are we in this world.  We get to explore and experience the very way He demonstrated His life while on earth.   He reigns and sits enthroned forever, and He calls us to reign in life with Him and in Him, to walk as victors and not victims. 

“For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.”  (Romans 56:17)

You see, when we come to know how the Lord our God values us, we see ourselves differently.   The identity that He meant for us to carry when He bought us at a price that no one in this world could ever pay and do is unmatched.  He called us His own.  He called us sons and daughters  of the Most High God, nothing less.  He called us chosen and precious.  He called the apple of His eye, His precious possession and the object of His affection and attention.  He is a very personal God Who desires for  each one of us to bear the image of His only begotten Son, Jesus.

“From the distant past, His eternal love reached into the future. You see, He knew those who would be His one day, and He chose them beforehand to be conformed to the image of His Son so that Jesus would be the firstborn of a new family of believers, all brothers and sisters.  As for those He chose beforehand, He called them to a different destiny so that they would experience what it means to be made right with God and share in His glory.”  (Romans 8:29 Voice)

This divine identity in Christ that He called us to be is our firm foundation to walk rooted and grounded in His love that no one and nothing can separate us from.  No matter what challenges we face, when we focus or refocus our eyes on the One Who paid the price, “He will keep the peace, a perfect peace, for all who trust in Him,for those who dedicate their hearts and minds to Him.”  (Isaiah 26:3).  In the midst of turmoil, when we go back to His spoken Word that nothing can snatch us away from Him, our hearts get still as we dig deep into our revelatory knowledge that He is on our side and He never leaves us nor forsakes us. He will not in any way fail us nor give us up nor leave us without support.  Jesus said, “[I will] not,  [I will] not, [I will] not in any degree leave you helpless nor forsake nor let [you] down (relax My hold on you)! [Assuredly not!].  (Hebrews 13:5 AMPC)  These are living and powerful words that Jesus released and as we receive and believe what He has spoken, we act and live it out.

His Word says, “everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, will be like a wise man [a far-sighted, practical, and sensible man] who built his house on the rock.  And the rain fell, and the floods and torrents came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.  And everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not do them, will be like a foolish (stupid) man who built his house on the sand.   And the rain fell, and the floods and torrents came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell—and great and complete was its fall.” (Matthew 7:24-27 Amp)

We fight a good fight of faith knowing that we are overcomers and more than conquerors in Christ.  It is a good fight because we have a GOOD GOD on our side Who fights the battle with us.  It is a good fight because He already won it for us when Jesus said, “IT IS FINISHED!”, and all we need to do is believe in our hearts and declare with our mouths that we are saved. 

Jesus Christ, our Savior, came to SAVE us all because He so loved us. Many may not know this truth yet what the word SALVATION means, thus, many perish due to lack or even rejection of knowledge. But, the Holy Spirit unveiled our eyes to see Who Jesus is and what He has done. He is the only One Who has the given ability and capacity to reveal to us this TRUTH.

 “Sozo” is the Greek word for Salvation, yet it’s root meaning goes beyond just the forgiveness of sins.  It means saved, made whole, restored, healed, delivered and preserved.

“Bless the Lord, O my soul;
And all that is within me, bless His holy name!
Bless the Lord, O my soul,
And forget not all His benefits:
Who forgives all your iniquities,
Who heals all your diseases,
Who redeems your life from destruction,
Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies,
Who satisfies your mouth with good things,
So that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.” (Psalm 103:1-3)

Truly, when we receive Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, a powerful divine exchange is at hand, a powerful sound doctrine that cannot be tossed and turned once believed.  Our compass will point to the right direction and our hands will be on the deck.

Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior not only guarantees us eternal life in heaven with Him, but it assures us of having and enjoying a heavenly life while living on earth because He is Emmanuel, God with us.  He came as the Son of Man to redeem man.  Jesus is the Word made flesh to redeem flesh.   He said, “The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows).”  (John 10:10 AMPC)

Not only this, but He has called us to a cut above, miraculous kind of life when He said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask ANYTHING IN MY NAME, I will do it.”  (John 14:12-14)

These words are too powerful to comprehend with our minute human intellect, yet when these are spiritually discerned and perceived, our hearts infused with the God-kind-of-faith will receive, therefore, changes the way we think.  It indeed takes the renewing of our minds by hearing and hearing by the Word of God for our hearts to grasp what this means.  Thankfully, the Holy Spirit Who is resident in us is our ever Helper Who reveals to us as days go by. 

Moreover, Jesus told His disciples, “Go into all the world and preach the GOOD NEWS  to everyone. Anyone who believes and is baptized will be saved. But anyone who refuses to believe will be condemned. THESE MIRACULOUS SIGNS will accompany those who believe: They will cast out demons in My name, and they will speak in new languages. They will be able to handle snakes with safety, and if they drink anything poisonous, it won’t hurt them. They will be able to place their hands on the sick, and they will be healed.” (Mark 16:15-18)

Hmmm … this is the GOOD NEWS!  This is who He called us to be, and yes, this is TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE, but Jesus is The Way, THE TRUTH, and The Life.  This is what it means for you and I to be the salt and light of the earth.  This is what we are saved for.  It is not only for ourselves, but just like Jesus, He came to set us free, to heal us and redeem us from all destruction, so we can be like Him, partaking of His divine nature IN HIS NAME, anointed by the Holy Spirit, filled and flooded with His resurrection power.  It is never a life without Him, but a life abiding in Him and His Word abiding in us.  It is a life carrying the excellence of His power in the presence of the Holy Spirit.  We are to be His hands and feet, that wherever we go, we diffuse the fragrance of His presence that brings peace, a nothing-missing, nothing-broken life to whoever He calls us to touch IN HIS NAME!   We are BLESSED TO BE A BLESSING until all the people of the earth will be blessed through us, just as God promised Abraham in Genesis 12:3 … “I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

“And NOW that we are Christ’s we are the true descendants of Abraham, and all of God’s promises to him belong to us.” (Galatians 3:29)

I have prayed and declared healing over my own body, by the stripes of Jesus Christ, and have tasted and seen how good and faithful the Lord our God is to His Word that is never empty of power.  “He sent His Word, and healed us, and delivered us out of destructions”. (Psalm 107:20) Some of them were instant healing miracles as I declared His Word in Jesus’ Name that pulverized whatever was trying to invade my body that He called His temple, yet some of them were healing in progression.  Both I consider miraculous.  Neither of them is inferior.  I have prayed for healing for others as well and have seen the Lord’s hand move miraculously.   Every testimony that I have becomes a brick of faith that is added to this temple that He is building in my life.  It strengthened my confidence each time in which He promised will be greatly rewarded.

With those testimonies, my heart is filled with thanksgiving, praise and worship, for out of the abundance of my heart, my mouth couldn’t be silenced.  Meditating His Word day and night is a vital part of every believer’s life, for one cannot believe unless he or she hears and keeps hearing His Word.  As my life progressed by bearing more fruit, all by His mercy and grace, there is no other way but that fruit to be seen and tasted by those around me.  It is an effortless walk, for it is never by our might, nor by our power but by the indwelling Spirit of God that enables us to bear fruit.   Our testimonies of Jesus become a spirit of prophecy, that whoever hears them, they, too will taste and see it in their own lives and be changed.  It is indeed the goodness of God that brings one to repentance. In kindness He takes us firmly by the hand and leads us into a radical life-change.

There may be times when we have not seen our prayers answered yet.  Be not condemned! Instead, be encouraged!  Jesus came to save and not to condemn us.  The disciples experienced not being able to cast out an unclean spirit from a boy.  What did they do? They inquired of Him and Jesus answered them.   “And when Jesus had entered the house, his disciples asked him privately, “Why could we not cast it out?”  (Mark 9:28-29)  And he said to them, “This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer.”

When we see an opposition that is of utmost resistance, we see it as the Lord exposing a need in us to press in to His presence to inquire of Him in order for us to explore and experience His goodness.  He is bringing to surface what needs to be dealt with in our lives, pulling down every stronghold that exalts itself against our knowledge of Him.  He will be showing us a new and living way that will attest to the truth that He is alive in us and that His resurrection power is resident in us for His virtue to flow through us.  We do not give up!  We do not quit until we see the message of the GOOD NEWS in action!  Jesus already said, “It is finished!”, and there is power in the Name of Jesus that can save to the uttermost. There is nothing that our God cannot and will not do.  He will do everything that is according to His will if we will dare to believe.

When notable miracles have been done through the disciples that were evident to all who dwell in Jerusalem, nothing could be denied.  They saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that although they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled and were astonished.  And people realized that they had been with Jesus.

I believe that for us to experience more of the miraculous move of God in and through us, we are to respond to His ceaseless invitation to be with Him, seek Him, see Him, thirst for Him and hunger for more of Him until we get to see what He sees, hear what He speaks, our hearts beating like His and do what He shows us to do.  We, believers, have been crucified with Christ, yet we live but not us, but Christ living His life in and though us, that the life that we live in the flesh we live by the faith of the Son of God Who loved us and gave Himself to us.  Our lives are to illustrate and demonstrate, CHRIST IN US, THE HOPE OF GLORY.

If those disciples were already walking in signs and wonders and they prayed for more boldness, what excuse do we have not to do the same? 

“Grant to Your servants that with ALL BOLDNESS they may speak Your word, by stretching out Your hand to heal, and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of Your holy Servant Jesus.”  And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness.”  (Acts 4:29-31)

You and I are to be bold as fearless lions that roar with power and might, proclaiming and professing the Word of God that makes the enemy tremble and flee seven ways.  Not only we roar when we face giants of our own, but we roar louder when we pray for our brethren who have been lured and trapped into the enemy’s web. Jesus set us free and now we have been graced and empowered by the Holy Spirit to speak freedom over other people’s lives that they, too, will come to know that whom Jesus sets free is free indeed.

You and I are to be like eagles that soar high when storms come.  When we do, it suffocates the enemy when we get into the realm of God’s holy presence, His secret place, where no foe can come against.  We take with us those people whom the Lord puts in our hearts to intercede. We encourage them and lift them up with us with wings like the eagles.

I heard this story about a flight where a mouse was found on board.  Instead of the pilot deciding to rush and look for an airport to land, threatened that it will eat up some of the plane’s wires, he thought it best to take the plane into a higher altitude where the mouse couldn’t survive.  The crew and passengers had oxygen, but the mouse had none.  Wow! What a story that is faith-relatable.

A miraculous life in Christ is indeed possible by grace through faith.  We may be tested here and there, but it is never to put us into a place of impossibility.  Rather, it is to take us higher from faith to faith, from strength to strength, from glory to glory.  We boldly preach the GOOD NEWS, we lay hands on the sick and they shall recover, we proclaim and declare the Word and it shall be established.  Jesus is the Word revealed and made flesh, that we may taste and see how good He is.

We are to keep in mind that this is the season for us, as His sons and daughters to ARISE and SHINE for the LIGHT has come and the glory of the Lord is risen upon us. 

“For [even the whole] creation (all nature) waits expectantly and longs earnestly for God’s sons to be made known [waits for the revealing, the disclosing of their sonship].” (Romans 8:19 AMPC)

Prayer:  Heavenly Father, thank You for calling us Your sons and daughters as our identity in Christ that can never be thwarted nor taken away from us.  Thank You for loving us dearly and deeply to love others, healing us that we may have anointed hands to heal those around us, blessed us to be a blessing, shown mercy to be merciful and graced to be gracious.  Thank You, Jesus, for Your finished work that saved and cleansed us.  Thank You that by Your stripes, our bodies are healed and whole to be holy temples of the Holy Spirit.  Holy Spirit, have Your way in us.  Guide us in the way that we should go that we may be found to praise our King Jesus always.  Amen!