Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. Colossians 3:2–3 (NLT) My father-in-law was a great man who served in the Second World War. When he returned home, he dealt with post-traumatic stress disorder. Certain triggers, such as a loud noise, would cause him to re-experience his time in the war. If someone dropped a book on the table, he would duck down in instantaneous panic. God’s Word doesn’t use the same terminology as psychology does, but I have found as a believer, I can create mental “triggers” that work in the positive. It’s a matter of soaking in God’s beliefs from His Word. As these beliefs become rooted in my …

And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. John 8:32 (NKJV) Are you stuck trying to change something in your life and feel like you’re hitting your head against a brick wall? No matter how hard you try to change a habit, break an addiction or set a new pattern in your relationships, nothing seems to work. God’s Word says it’s the truth that sets us free. That means what keeps us bound isn’t our behaviour or performance—it’s simply a lack of truth. In the areas we’re living in ignorance or believing a lie, we will continue to be trapped. When the Word talks about “knowing”, it’s more than knowing something intellectually. It’s talking about an experiential knowledge. For example, …

And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. 1 John 5:11 (NKJV) Over the past few days, we’ve been talking about the new life you have as a believer. This life means you have all of Christ’s power and ability dwelling inside you. However, many of us are trying to clean up our lives by ourselves. We try to follow a bunch of legalistic, religious codes, thinking our good behaviour will earn us the right to God’s blessings. The trouble is, it’s impossible to live the Christian life on our own strength. For the early church, Christianity wasn’t so much about following a religious code. Instead, they walked out the power of Christ’s resurrection. Everywhere they …

Just as we have borne the image of the earthly [the man of dust], we will also bear the image of the heavenly [the Man of heaven]. 1 Corinthians 15:49 (AMPC) The good news of the Gospel is not just that Jesus came to die for you and forgive your sins, but that He gave His life to you. So many believers today are living defeated lives. They may believe they’re forgiven and that they have a place in Heaven, but they’re still living with intense guilt. Some will call themselves “sinners saved by grace,” but that term has been taken out of context. You were a sinner, but now you’ve been saved by grace. You have right-standing with God. If you’re a believer, Jesus did more than deal with …

Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 6:11 (NKJV) If someone passed away from a terminal illness and you had a power that could bring them back to life. That would be great, but unless you could also cure them, it wouldn’t matter how many times you resuscitated them. Their disease would kill them again. On the other hand, if you could cure their illness, but could not revive them, that wouldn’t do much good either. A healed corpse is still dead. It’s the same with us. It wasn’t enough for Jesus to deal with our sin (spiritual disease). We also needed Him to bring us back to life spiritually, or …