weakness

He Has Anointed YOU!

“The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners.” – Isaiah 61:1 When we come to know Jesus, He imparts to us the call to proclaim good news to the poor, bind up the brokenhearted, and share freedom with captives. And while this sounds overwhelming upon first hearing, the truth is that He has chosen us specifically for the job. In fact, He has anointed and set us apart to break spiritual strongholds and pass on divine power — the key is that we must believe it! We are equipped to do everything our Savior says we can do, because our anointing has nothing to do with our talents or training, but solely with His

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Perfection Is Not Required

“But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.” – 2 Corinthians 4:7 One of the most liberating truths I ever learned is that you don’t have to be perfect for God to use you. As Christians, I think many of us have the mindset that in order to do big things in the Kingdom of God, we must have it all together and have worked through all of our issues. However, this mentality is damaging and untrue, and it serves only to keep us stuck! If everyone waited until they were healed to step out in faith, nothing would ever happen (and the devil would love it). In fact, the most wondrous thing about living life in Jesus is that when we surrender, He does the moving. As we make ourselves available to be, as Henri

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Step Into Spiritual Authority

“I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you.” – Luke 10:19 Did you know that Satan hates you because of how much God loves you? Since the Lord has destined him for destruction, he lives every day knowing his fate, and there is nothing he can do to change it. He can, however, try to hurt his Maker by harming His beloved children. Since our hearts are inherently sinful, the devil works overtime to gain a foothold in our lives, and he takes advantage of the weakness of our flesh. If he can get us to forfeit the divinely-imparted peace that comes from knowing how perfectly we’re loved, he can increase his influence by invading our thoughts. He understands where we’re weak, and he preys on the areas in which his bite will have

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The Two Great Temptations

“‘You will not certainly die,’ the serpent said to the woman. ‘For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’” – Genesis 3:4,5 We can learn a lot about how the devil works in our lives by examining the story of Creation. In fact, when the serpent approached Eve in the Garden of Eden, he used two specific tactics that he still employs today, and I think it behooves us to look at them in greater detail. First of all, he attacked the woman by planting doubts in her mind about the Word of the Lord. He slithered up to her and said, “Did God really say…?,” and unfortunately, he’s been doing this ever since. He knows that human flesh is weak, and he’s aware that it doesn’t take a lot to get us to

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You Are Not Your Mistakes

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.” – Hebrews 12:1 Often, when we struggle with things like addiction or long-standing sin, we grow discouraged because we feel like we will never beat it. We make progress, but then we backslide, and the devil whispers in our ear that we’re just too broken and messed up to change. In fact, this is how he gains a foothold in our lives. When we listen to his constant fatalistic commentary, he convinces us to give up on ourselves, and that’s when we get in trouble. Once we’re running with the ball of self-defeat, we’re tempted to believe that our Heavenly Father feels as negatively about us as we do, and our view

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You’re Not Invisible

“So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” – Isaiah 41:10 Today, I want to give an encouragement to those of you who feel invisible. I know that some of you may be struggling with difficult circumstances, and you’re tired. Perhaps you keep doing the right thing day after day but nobody seems to notice or care. If this is you, you can be absolutely certain that God sees you, and that He understands your sacrifice. Maybe you’re a young mom and you spend all week tending to the needs of your children with very little time to take care of yourself. If you’re worn out and close to tears, remember that the Lord is with you. He is enveloping you in grace and

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Image vs. Truth

“Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being…” – Romans 1:22,23 I’m increasingly troubled by the impact of social media on our world and on our mental health. Whether it’s political information, sensationalized headlines, or pictures of our friends and family living the “high life” and looking like they have it all together, the truth is that most of it isn’t true. Image — not reality — has become an idol, and many are addicted to the praise, attention, and reactions of others (even if they’re negative). A story broke last year here in L.A. that certain Instagram influencers who had posted pictures of themselves on a private jet had actually paid to take those photos on a set. When they removed the plane interior backdrop, all that was really there

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Rejection Becomes Rejoicing

“The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes. The Lord has done it this very day; let us rejoice today and be glad.” – Psalm 118:22-24 Every Sunday for almost 60 years, someone has gotten up on the pulpit of our church and commenced service by exclaiming, “This is the day that God has made, we will rejoice and be glad in it.” Although many know that this verse is from Psalm 118, few are familiar with its context. Strangely enough, this powerful proclamation was made in response to the builders of the temple rejecting a stone that ultimately became the cornerstone. But what does this have to do with being joyful? To better understand, it’s helpful to picture a group of architects and builders standing around picking out the most perfect and pristine stones from a

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