Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart. Psalm 37:4 (NKJV) We’ve begun a series about the keys to walking in the authority you have in Christ. These are keys to real change, and they will help you become who you really are: a born-again, power-filled, child of God. We’re going to talk about the second key to walking in our God-given authority: the desires of your heart. You see, desire is a powerful force that can move you either toward faith or toward temptation. Many Christians have been taught that you should never desire anything but Jesus. Although that may sound spiritual, it’s actually not true. It’s okay to desire food. God put that desire there …

For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love. Galatians 5:6 (NKJV) Negative motivation doesn’t work on its own. At first, it seems as if it does because when someone is reprimanded or embarrassed, they try to change. But we need to look a little deeper. Let’s take parenting as an example. If you correct children and never show them love, they develop a negative motivation to change. Sure, they might behave to avoid punishment, at least when you’re looking. But this doesn’t motivate them to want to do what’s right. While kids need consequences, they need love even more. They need to know you love them, believe in them and want what’s best for them. Then they’ll want …

For You have made him a little lower than the angels, and You have crowned him with glory and honor. Psalm 8:5 (NKJV) One of the greatest needs we have in life is to have self-worth. In fact, having great self-worth is vital if you want to walk in God’s promises and the authority you have in Christ. Simply put, self-worth is how much you feel you’re worth. It’s you feeling good about you. It’s feeling the love of God, knowing that you are important and that you aren’t lower than everybody else. And it’s vital because if you don’t feel good about yourself, you won’t live the life God has intended for you. Over time, you may have received criticism that caused you to …

And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Matthew 16:19 (NKJV) When someone comes to work at our church, they are given a key. Each key has a different number, and each number opens doors at different levels of security. However, there’s one type of key that opens every door. When you have that key, you can walk up to any door in the building and open it. This reminds me of Matthew 16:19, where it says that Jesus gave us the keys of the kingdom of heaven. As believers, the type of keys we’ve been given don’t just …

Without having seen Him, you love Him; though you do not [even] now see Him, you believe in Him and exult and thrill with inexpressible and glorious (triumphant, heavenly) joy. 1 Peter 1:8 (AMPC) Do you feel like you can’t be happy until you get your life under control? When situations don’t go well, do you often react in anger or fear? The truth is, emotions come and go. And the devil loves to keep you locked into patterns of negative emotion. These patterns dictate your reactions, colour your judgment and destroy your relationships. But God’s Word teaches us that even when things are going wrong, you can walk around with a smile. How? It’s through faith. Faith produces positive emotions. When you focus on God’s …