One of the keys to living a life of forgiveness, is getting it down into your spirit that God truly cares for you and what is done against you, and will bring justice to those who wrong us as we trust Him with those situations.

For example, somebody suffering from rejection needs to receive in their heart the reality of their being accepted, loved, and appreciated by their heavenly Father. REJECTION causes the wound, but ACCEPTANCE heals the wound.

Another example is somebody suffering from a bondage to religion and religious strongholds. The opposite of dead religion is genuine relationship, so such a person must come to grips with the reality of the beautiful and meaningful relationship that God desires to have with them. RELIGION creates the bondage, but RELATIONSHIP dissolves the bondage.

Somebody suffering with issues of self-hate will find that coming to truly love and appreciate the person that God has made in them brings tremendous healing. SELF-REJECTION is the problem, but SELF-ACCEPTANCE is the answer. Now I’m not saying that we ought to be stuck up about ourselves, but rather a type of loving oneself to where they are humbly loving and accepting the person that God has made in them. I have an entire teaching on loving yourself in a Godly way on the GreatBibleStudy.com web site.

While there are often demons behind these types of bondages, the inner wounds must be healed, and using the opposite of Satan’s tools is a powerful key to bring healing to damaged emotions and bondages.

I was even reading the other day about how the medical community would cause many deaths in their ventures to heal people of various sicknesses and physical infirmities. They would do all sorts of crazy things, and it would end up costing people their lives! At least the mistakes that deliverance ministers usually make aren’t costing people their lives, and can be undone when the person sees a more experienced and knowledgeable minister who can bring the person into freedom and healing that Christ has for them.

Why are Christians so tolerant for the mistakes made (and are still being made) in the medical community, yet they criticize even the smallest failures of a ministry that God is using to bring healing and deliverance to His children? Are non-believers more sensible than believers at things like this? At least the non-believer looks at a person who’s been healed of a serious ailment, and they overlook the failures that the minister has made where he was unable to help other people with the same condition. Is it true that the Christian community kills their wounded by criticizing the mistakes made by anybody starting out in the healing, prophetic, or deliverance ministries (while overlooking the fruit that is coming forward)?

I heard a pastor once say from the pulpit that we should never listen to a prophet who gives a false prophecy. While this may sound good on the surface, a statement like this is something the Jezebel spirit has been promoting in the body of Christ. Somebody who says such a thing has no real experience or knowledge of the prophetic ministry. Do you honestly expect prophetic ministers to be 100% accurate and flawless when starting out, while other ministries and professions (medical, etc.) have much room to make mistakes and still grow and be accepted? Anybody who starts out in the prophetic ministry is likely going to make some mistakes. While a person can have a strong prophetic gifting, it is important to learn how to discern the voice of God, without interference from our flesh. It is quite possible to receive a message from God, but have our flesh to twist or distort the message. Anybody who desires to operate in the prophetic ministry must learn how to recognize and properly walk in their gifting, just as in any other ministry.

When somebody says, “So and so gave a false prophecy that never came true, so we know that they are not a true prophet” what it does is sets up a zero tolerance for mistakes made by anybody getting started in the area of the prophetic. Who in their right mind would dare step out and give a prophecy, if they run the risk of having their entire ministry discredited for the rest of their life? That puts an enormous fear upon a person who’s just getting started and learning how to hear God’s voice. The spirit of Jezebel is very aggressive against true prophetic ministry, and would love to use fear to keep people scared stiff from ever coming forth with a prophecy. Should a person go unchecked in their prophetic utterances? Not at all, as a matter of fact we are told that the spirits of prophets are subject to prophets, and to let one prophecy and the rest can judge (see 1 Corinthians 14:29-32). Why does the Bible give us this passage for our guidance? Because prophets, especially those starting out with their gifting, are liable to make mistakes and think that something was from God, when their flesh was twisting or tainting their message that God was trying to give them.

I think of when Oral Roberts started the healing ministry movement, how they say that every single denomination (including pentecostal!) would come up against him! What he was doing was foreign to them. I shouldn’t have been foreign to them, had they been feasting on the Word of God (which is loaded with the healing message). But no, they were stuck in their own traditions, and rejected anything that did not fit into their traditional way of thinking. This is the same thing that happens towards many deliverance ministers today; because their bringing something to the table which the church has rejected for so long, it’s as if they are put under microscopes to see if there are flaws to be found. But try to point out the flaws in these Christian’s lives, and what’s the first thing you hear? “But nobody’s perfect! We’re all growing!”

It’s no wonder the non-believers look at us and consider us hypocrites who kill their wounded!

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to say that mistakes and failures should run ramped in our midst. If God has called us to be a prophet, then we need to learn and grow in our gifting, and come to know when something is of God, or if something is of the flesh. If God has called us to be deliverance ministers, then we need to do our best to learn and understand the various bondages that are affecting people today, and minister the best we can with what God has given us. If God’s called us to be a teacher, then we need to learn and be the best teacher that God’s called us to be. If God’s called us to be an accountant, then we need to do our best and consider our work as if it were done unto the Lord. But we also need to be tolerant towards our brothers and sisters when they are doing their best, but make mistakes as they are growing and learning (just as we all do!).

Why does Satan want us to feel discouraged? Because discouragement takes away our incentive. If we are discouraged with cooking, we’ll likely not be as excited to spend time in the kitchen. If we are discouraged with our job, we won’t have the incentive to keep going and do our best. Satan wants us to be discouraged with our relationship with God, so that we will lose our incentive to keep going deeper with God and spend quality time with Him.

Discouragement is one of Satan’s fine weapons that is used against us. We need to be on guard against it, and declare the Word of God true over the words of the devil. If God’s Word declares us justified and made right before God, then we should not question that or see things any other way!

Why did Jesus look at the man sick with palsy, “Thy sins be forgiven”? Many say that this man’s sin was caused by sin, and I believe that may have been true, but today I began to think about this passage in a way that I never saw before. Let me cover some ground first on faith:

We know that faith comes by hearing (referring to receiving) the Word of God (see Romans 10:17). We see the disciples asking Jesus to increase their faith, and His way of doing that was to give them something to receive; He told them that if they will believe, then they can exercise their authority over a mountain and command it to be cast into the sea (see Luke 17:5-6). It’s when we receive the Word of God, that our faith increases. Jesus simply gave them something to receive. We see Jesus telling people, “Your faith has made you whole.”

With that said, I believe that Jesus was simply giving the sick man something to receive when He said, “Thy sins be forgiven.” This man who was sick, was likely laboring under a heavy load of guilt and shame (as many are today, who are in need of a healing!). Jesus’ words telling him that his sins were forgiven, was all that was necessary to bring enormous healing to the man, not only mentally, but also physically. Many times, a person’s load of guilt and shame can serve as a wall to keep the person from receiving the healing (both mentally and physically) that they need.

Religious spirits often work to belittle and “humble” people falsely. A religious spirit says, “You shouldn’t feel good about yourself; you’re just an old sinner barely making it to heaven!” but if we look into God’s Word, we find that our heavenly Father says, “You’re the work of my hands; you are my child and a member of the royal family; you were created in my image, and purchased (redeemed) with the Blood of My Son; you are a masterpiece because you’re my creation! You are my artwork, and I am your painter!”

Religion opposes God’s Word on so many levels, it’s not funny! Paul speaks against the religious mindset (and other ungodly mindsets) and tells us that is why we must take every thought captive which rises itself against the knowledge of God. Religious mindsets do just that - rise them self against the knowledge of the truth in God’s Word!

2 Corinthians 10:3-5, “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.”

True Christian faith comes by knowing and receiving the Word of God. So what are you receiving in His word right now? Have you received His Word about the forgiveness of your sins and your justification (being made innocent by His Blood)? Or are you still carrying a load of guilt and shame, wondering if you were to die, if your sins are truly forgiven? It is vital that we receive what God’s Word tells us about the forgiveness of sins, and so many other things that are important to our victorious life here on earth.

Do you really believe what God’s Word has to say about you, and the person that you are in Christ? If not, then you will always live below the level that God has called you to live. Your faith will never be where it should be, and evil spirits will enjoy the leverage that the strongholds in your mind are giving them.

We need to boldly receive what God’s Word has to say, so that we can have the faith necessary to receive the good things that God has for us, and live out the victorious life that God planned for us before we were conceived!

2 Timothy 1:7, “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.”

I find that God can give me incredible revelation and prophecy, but only when my mind is clean and clear to accept it, I have such boldness and confidence to move forward and proclaim what God has given me without asking myself, “Was that just me, or was that really from God?” When your mind is clear and sound as God speaks, I believe you will know it without any doubt in your mind. Only when there is unnecessary mental and emotional traffic does God’s voice become less clear and recognizable.

We need to have that kind of clarity so that when God gives us something, we stand on it with confidence and are assured that what He said was indeed from Him and is given to us for an important mission in our lives or those around us.

It’s no wonder that Satan and evil spirits try so diligently to cause a person to feel like God is somehow disappointed or even angry with them!

If Satan wants us to feel like God is angry with us, then how does God want us to feel?

So how do we change our perception of our relationship with God? Begin to take God’s Word seriously; you need to begin accepting what God’s Word says concerning your relationship with Him. If it says that you’ve been justified, then you need to begin seeing yourself as having been made innocent, just as if you’ve never sinned, because of the Blood of Jesus. After all, that is what it means to be justified!

When we begin to see ourselves in light of what God’s Word has to say, our perception begins to change and our faith soars. If God’s Word tells us that you’ve been forgiven and clothed in the righteousness of Christ, but you continue to wonder if your sins have been forgiven, then you’re not taking God’s Word seriously, and it’s allowing a devastating stronghold to remain in your mind.

Jesus tells us that if we continue in His Word, we will know the truth, and the truth will make us free (see John 8:31-32). Free from what? The bondage which the lies of Satan have held us in!

I recently felt impressed by the Holy Spirit to change the word “works” into “miracles” in the above verse. After all, that is what is being talked about here - the miracles that only Jesus could do! If we look at the previous verse, we find that Jesus is telling the Pharisees to believe upon Him, if it was only because of the works (or unique, undeniable miracles) that He was able to do:

John 14:10-11, “Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works’ sake.”

Some might say, “But the works that He was doing, was preaching the gospel!” If that were the case, then Jesus wouldn’t be the only one capable of doing such things. Anybody can preach the gospel. What Jesus was referring to, was what set Him apart as the Son of God. God’s Word tells us that, “Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs.” (Acts 2:22)

God confirmed Jesus was the Son of God by showing forth great signs, wonders, and miracles! God’s Word also tells us that He would confirm the disciples’ preaching with signs following as well:

Mark 16:20, “And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen.”

So is it absurd to say that we are to be doing the same miracles that Jesus did? I don’t think it’s aburd at all, given that Jesus spells it out in plain English here:

Mark 16:17-18, “And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.”

I want you to read John 14:12 in this way, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the [miracles] that I do shall he do also; and greater [miracles] than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.”

This is just a short brief… I’ve been putting together a teaching on this, which is PACKED with Biblical facts about how we ought to be flowing in the power of God, performing mighty miracles in Jesus’ name!

Praise be to God!!!