The Powerful Authority Resident in Being Seated with Christ

Podcast: Light on Life Season Eight Episode Thirty-Two

The Powerful Authority Resident in Being Seated with Christ

We have heard the term being seated with Christ, but what does that mean, and how can knowing the truth of those words make a difference in my everyday life? An article in a San Francisco newspaper reported that a young man who once found a $5 bill on the street resolved that from that time on, he would never lift his eyes while walking. The paper went on to say that over the years, he accumulated, among other things, 29,516 buttons, 54,172 pins, 12 cents a bent back, and a miserly disposition. But he also lost something—the glory of sunlight, the radiance of the stars, the smiles of friends, and the freshness of blue skies. I’m afraid that some Christians are like that man. While they may not walk around staring at the sidewalk, they are so engrossed with the things of this life that they give little attention to spiritual and eternal values. Perhaps they’ve gotten a taste of some fleeting pleasure offered by the world, and they’ve been spending all their time pursuing it. But that is dangerous. When God’s children, who are “seated with Christ in the heavenlies,” give their affection and attention to a world that is passing away, they lose the upward look. Their perspective becomes distorted, and they fail to bask in heaven’s sunlight. Taken up with the baubles of this world, they become defeated, delinquent Christians: buttons, pins, and pennies, but no treasures laid up in heaven. The apostle Paul said, “If ye, then, be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above” (Col. 3:1). To live for the things of this world is to miss life’s best. Let’s set our sights on the heights!1 The heights, the high position, seated with Christ, and the power and authority resident in that fact. That’s our focus today on this week’s Light On Life.

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#S3-020: How Jesus Destroyed Demons in One on One Encounters [Podcast]

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How God Uses Your Inward Conscience to Direct Your Life [Encore Podcast]

Podcast: Light on Life Season Eight Episode Thirty-One

How God Uses Your Inward Conscience to Direct Your Life [Encore Podcast]

Here’s a story that illustrates many people’s views on the role of the inward conscience. “A man consulted a doctor, ‘I’ve been misbehaving, Doc, and my conscience is troubling me,’ he complained. ‘And, you want something that will strengthen your willpower?’ asked the doctor. ‘Well, no,” said the fellow. “I was thinking of something that would weaken my conscience.'” There’s more to the conscience than being a ‘right and wrong’ referee. But that’s what we’ve been taught: that the conscience’s only role is to gauge morality.  Your inward conscience is the voice of your spirit. It’s how your spirit communicates with you. How God Uses Your Inward Conscience to Direct Your Life, that’s the focus of this week’s Light on Life.

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Secrets to Hearing God: The Number One Way God Leads You

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Why God Wants You to Have Spiritual Revelation Flowing In Your Life

Podcast: Light on Life Season Eight Episode Thirty

Why God Wants You to Have Spiritual Revelation Flowing In Your Life

In this week’s podcast, we are headed to the book of Ephesians to take a look at spiritual revelations. That book contains several prayers that Paul prayed for the Ephesian believers. Often, you wonder how or what we should pray for our fellow believers in Christ. Well, the Holy Spirit helped us in this area. He had Paul write these prayers out in detail. We have a record of the exact words that Paul uttered to God the Father for them. Now, you can find these words starting in Ephesians 1:15–23 and Ephesians 3:14–19. If Paul thought that these prayers were important to pray for the Ephesian church, do you think that you can pray the same prayers for your church and yourself? Thank God – the answer to that is a resounding yes. I mean, you are in the church. You are part of the body of Christ. Everything that the Lord laid out in these prayers, God wants you to have. He desires that you flow and move in a revelation of His power. He wants to be filled with strength in your inner being. These prayers are one of the primary prayers that I pray for others. I am praying these prayers for you right now. ‘Father, in the Name of Jesus, I pray for the listening audience concerning this podcast. I ask you, Lord, to grant unto them all, a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of you — in the knowledge of Your Word. Let the eyes of their heart be opened — be enlightened that they may know you in a greater way. Strengthen them with might by your spirit in their inner mind – that Christ may dwell in their hearts by faith. I pray for them now and I thank you for doing it in advance.” You know I have prayed these prayers hundreds and hundreds of times over the course of my life. And I am going to keep doing it. There are spiritual things in these prayers that you need to get a hold of — that you need active and working in your life. These prayers will enrich and elevate your life, just like they have lifted my life. Let’s take a particular look at one of these prayers today. Why God Wants You to Have Spiritual Revelation Flowing In Your Life, that’s our focus on this week’s Light On Life.

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How to Build Your Life Praying Bible Prayers

[Tweet “In the city called the ‘Light of Asia,’ Paul instructs the Ephesians to pray for light, to pray for a spiritual revelation of God’s power.”]

How Running Your God-Given Race Brings Great Salvation

Podcast: Light on Life Season 8 Episode 29

How Running Your God-Given Race Brings Great Salvation

A couple of weeks ago, we did a podcast on ‘How to Run a Steady Race Right Into Glory.’ After that message, I told you to stay tuned for a second installment. So here goes. We are talking about the metaphor of running. After all, it’s a thoroughly scriptural image that the apostle Paul used from the ancient world. But did you know this modern-day fact about running? The percentage of those who own running shoes in America, but don’t actually run, stands at 87%.1 What do you think is the percentage of people who say they are followers of Jesus but don’t actually follow? How many say that they are in the race for God, but if the truth is known, they are on the sideline watching? What is the impact of not running your race? Does it make a difference? How Running Your God-Given Race Brings Great Salvation. That’s our focus on this week’s Light On Life.

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More of Why God Desires You to Live A Committed Life

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Why Destroying Devilish Giants Is Part of Your Spiritual DNA

Podcast: Light on Life Season 8 Episode 28

Why Destroying Devilish Giants Is Part of Your Spiritual DNA

In today’s Light On Life podcast, we are talking ‘giants,’ that is, giant problems, destroying devilish giants as part of your spiritual DNA. Tony Evans says that most of us have experienced our children’s dependence on us to face their fears when they have nightmares or when it’s thundering and lightning during a storm. They’ll wake up, scream, and jump out of their bed. They will walk through the valley of their bedroom, down the valley of the hall, to the valley of your room. They jump in your bed because what they need is somebody to be with them. Your hugging them doesn’t stop the rain, the thunder, or the lightning, but it changes how they face it. They’ll fall asleep in your arms. The fear that they have alone, they no longer have, because Mama or Daddy holds them. You help them face their fears in the midst of their struggles. This is exactly what the heavenly Father does for us when we face our own fears and insecurities.1 You can face devilish giants not because of who you are but because of whose you are. But, there is even more good news than that. You can eliminate these giants totally from your life. Why Destroying Devilish Giants Is Part of Your Spiritual DNA, that’s our focus on this week’s Light On Life.

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The Problematic Irreverance for God

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Why People Who Are Strong in the Lord Thrive

Podcast: Light on Life Season 8 Episode 27

Why People Who Are Strong in the Lord Thrive

In today’s podcast, we are going to be talking strength — being strong in the Lord. We’re talking about strength to run your race — talking about going from one level of strength to another, a higher level of strength. You know the scripture says that Jesus’ followers are to be ‘strong in the Lord.’ Did you know that a person’s mental attitude has an almost unbelievable effect on his strength levels, both physical and psychological? The British psychiatrist, J.A. Hadfield, gives a striking illustration of this fact in his booklet, The Psychology of Power. “I asked three people,” he wrote, “to submit themselves to test the effect of mental suggestion on their strength, which was measured by gripping a dynamometer.” A dynamometer is a device used to measure power. They were to grip the dynamometer with all their strength under three different sets of conditions. The first test was normal conditions. The average grip was 101 pounds. Then Hadfield tested them after he had hypnotized them and told them that they were very weak. Their average grip this time was only 29 pounds. In the third test, Dr. Hadfield told them under hypnosis that they were very strong. The average grip jumped to 142 pounds.1 Now, I am not a hypnosis advocate, but it is noteworthy that they became physically stronger when suggested that people were strong. When the suggestion was that you were pretty weak, the results followed that very suggestion. Why People Who Are Strong in the Lord Thrive, that’s our focus on this week’s Light On Life.

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#S3-015: How the Mighty Names of God Energize Your Life [Podcast]

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How Does the Prayer of Consecration Profit Your Life?

Encore Podcast: Light on Life Season 8 Episode 26

How Does the Prayer of Consecration Profit Your Life?

“Will you please tell me in a word,” said a Christian woman to a minister, “what your idea of praying the prayer of consecration?” Holding out a blank sheet of paper the pastor replied, “It is to sign your name at the bottom of this blank sheet and to let God fill it in as He will.”1 This is an excellent illustration of what consecration is. Today’s Light on Life focus is this area of consecrating yourself to the will of God and a type of prayer that you can pray in this area.

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Why It’s Important to Spend Time Talking to God

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How To Run A Steady Race Right Into Glory

Podcast: Light on Life Season Eight Episode Twenty-Five

How To Run A Steady Race Right Into Glory

This podcast is about running the race God gave you to run. It’s about finishing or completing the vision God gave you for your life. Running the race is a Track and Field metaphor used by Paul in one of his epistles to the churches. Now you may have seen sprinters running the 100 meters or 200-meter event. You know their coaches encourage the athletes under their guise to push all the way through to the end. Break the tape at full speed – don’t coast – don’t let up at 90 meters. Breaking the tape, that’s the picture I want you to have in your mind. Are you struggling in this area? Are you one of those who has trouble completing what they start? Maybe you have piles of stuff that you, in a fiery heat of Spirit-inspired passion, began but never finished. Maybe you are one of those who has trouble staying on even keel. You are up one day and down the next in your Christian experience. You flame up in the heat of consecration at the altar call, but you smolder when you get over into the mundane parts of your everyday life. Helping you is what this is about today. You know it’s not how you start your race; it’s how you finish. That’s the great lesson of the tortoise and the hare. I once heard a very godly gentleman say when he was in the twilight of his life, ‘It takes the same dedication at seventy years of age as it did when you were twenty.’ If you want to ‘break the tape,’ you will have to make some training adjustments — that’s what we are talking about here. How to Run a Steady Race Right Into Glory — that’s our focus on this week’s Light On Life.

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More of Why God Desires You to Live A Committed Life

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Why God Believes You Should Read Holy Spirit Inspired Books

Podcast: Light on Life Season Eight Episode Twenty-Four

God believes in books. He believes in you reading them. The Lord inspired people to write them. He spoke to them in the night seasons and in their secret times of prayer. That should not be a ‘wow’ statement to you since He is the author of the most extraordinary book ever written, the Bible. It is the number one seller on planet earth! He wants you to read His book often, even daily. The Bible is your contact with Him — it is God speaking to you. Your gateway to freedom lies in your reading it, getting your mind renewed to it, and putting it into operation in your everyday life. The Bible details the way to God, the way to heaven, and how to succeed in all your affairs. Many books have been written about the Bible. Most of them are Holy Spirit-inspired works that are aids to help you understand His most exceptional book. These books are not replacements or substitutes. But the Lord did have them written for your benefit. Here are some thoughts to help you engage this material in your everyday life. Why God Believes You Should Read Holy Spirit Inspired Books, that’s our focus on this week’s Light On Life.

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Why Doing the Word of God Is The Ticket to Success

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Why It’s Important to Walk in Love to the Very End

Podcast: Light on Life Season Eight Episode Twenty-Three

Why It's Important to Walk in Love to the Very End

Man is a love product of a love God. He was created in love. Man is sustained by love. And, when He comes to know Jesus as His personal Savior, the very love of God is shed abroad in his heart. By that very love of God, we live and move and have our being. So how can we, today, allow that love which is already in us to dominate our lives? The following illustrates the very love of God towards man. When God was about to create man, says a Jewish legend, He took into His counsel the angels that stood about his throne. “Create him not,” said the angel of Justice, “for if you do, he will commit all kinds of wickedness against his fellow-men; he will be hard and cruel and dishonest and unrighteous.” “Create him not,” said the angel of Truth, “for he will be false and deceitful to his brother-man, and even to You.” “Create him not,” said the angel of Holiness, “he will follow that which is impure in your sight and dishonor you to your face.” Then stepped forward the angel of Mercy (God’s best beloved) and said: “Create him, our Heavenly Father for when he sins and turns from the path of right and truth and holiness I will take him tenderly by the hand, and speak loving words to him, and then lead him back to You.”1 Love is the key — it’s the ticket to success. So how can we, today, allow that love which is already in us to dominate our life and do so to the very end? Why It’s important to Walk in Love to the Very End, that’s our focus on this week’s Light on Life.

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The Anointing in Jesus Life

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Four Things that Will Unnerve Your Spirit Man

Podcast: Light on Life Season Eight Episode Twenty-Two

Four Things that Will Unnerve Your Spirit Man

The great attorney, orator, and statesman Daniel Webster was such an imposing figure in court that he once stared a witness out of the courtroom. Apparently, Webster knew the man was there to deliver false testimony, so he fixed his “dark, beetle-browed” eyes on the man and searched him. According to the story, later in the trial, “Webster looked around again to see if [the witness] was ready for the inquisition. The witness felt for his hat and edged toward the door. A third time Webster looked on him, and the witness could sit no longer. He seized his chance and fled from the court and was nowhere to be found.” 1 That man ran out of the courthouse because his conscience felt guilty about the lie he was getting ready to tell. His spirit was trying to speak to the man. His conscience, the voice of his spirit man, was trying to get him not to do it. Your conscience will do the same. It will try to lead you out of wrongdoing. Learning to listen to it is a part of growing up in God. Four Things that Will Prick Your Conscience, that’s this week’s Light on Life.

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Conscience and the Inward Witness: A Look at the Spirit Led Life

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Why Repentance is a Good Friend and Godly Companion

Podcast: Light on Life Season Eight Episode Twenty-One

Why Repentance is a Good Friend and Godly Companion

D.L. Moody relayed the following on the subject of repentance. He said, ‘The unconverted have a false idea about repentance; they think God will make them repent. I was once talking with a man on this subject, and he summed up his whole argument by saying:

“Moody, it has never struck me yet.” I said: “What has never struck you.” “Well,” he replied: “Some people it strikes, and some it doesn’t. There was a good deal of interest in our town a few years ago, and some of my neighbors were converted, but it didn’t strike me.”

That man thought that repentance was coming down someday to strike him like lightning. Another man said he expected some sensation, like cold chills down his back. Repentance isn’t feeling. It is turning from sin to God. One of the best definitions was given by a soldier. Someone asked him how he was converted. He said: “The Lord said to me, Halt! Attention! Right about face! March! and that was all there was in it.”1 Moody has it right; repentance is ‘a turning,’ but it’s not just for the unconverted. Repentance Is a Good Friend and Godly Companion for the follower of Jesus. Why this is true is our focus on this week’s Light On Life.

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Why Doing the Word of God Is The Ticket to Success

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