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Your Struggle Is Not With People

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It really helps me to remember that my battle is not with people, but with the devil and his evil spirits that are holding people captive. It even helps me pray for people with a greater level of compassion when I keep this in mind.

When I pray, I don’t come against the person themselves in prayer, but the spirit of fear, jealousy, control, manipulation, violence, anger, pride, intimidation, depression etc. – whatever that spirit is that seems to be holding that person in bondage.  

I pray for myself this way as well. For instance, I might pray, “I bind up this spirit of fear that is trying to hold me captive in this particular area in the name of Jesus. I loose a spirit of peace and calm over my life in this area right now. (see Matthew 16:19) God has not given me a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. (see 2 Timothy 1:7) I receive God’s love afresh for myself and I know His perfect love drives out every fear. (See 1 John 4:18)

Jesus gave us Christians authority over all the power of the enemy! This is really good news!

Colossians 2:15 says, “When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities [those supernatural forces of evil operating against us], He made a public example of them [exhibiting them as captives in His triumphal procession], having triumphed over them through the cross.” – AMP

and

Luke 10:19 says, “Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you.” – NKJ

I told you it was really good news. We have been given authority over the devil and his personal assistants and we need to use it!

I do want to make one clarification here in case anyone would have this question. Am I saying there’s never a time to confront a person directly? Definitely not. In fact, I believe in Spirit-led confrontation, but it must be Spirit-led and it must be done in love for it to do any good.

We have to remember that only God can change a person’s heart by His grace. Remembering this keeps us doing our job and allows God to do His job. Sometimes the person is living in such deception that they either can’t see or purposely won’t admit to the fact that they are not living their lives led by the Holy Spirit, but have succumbed to living under the influence of another kind of spirit. We can pray that the blinders of deception be removed from their eyes.

Steve prayed for me all those years that I was living under the influence of a spirit of legalism and thank God he did. I am now free from that spirit’s influence and I am living my life once again under the leadership of the Holy Spirit!

If you have not yet made Jesus your Savior and received the wonderful joy that His finished work on the cross has provided for you to live in, please visit my page here titled Jesus In The Driver’s Seat. On this page I explain the good news of the gospel and you will have the opportunity to pray a prayer of salvation, making Jesus your Savior! Jesus loves you and His arms are wide open!

Your Struggle Is Not With People

by

image

It really helps me to remember that my battle is not with people, but with the devil and his evil spirits that are holding people captive. It even helps me pray for people with a greater level of compassion when I keep this in mind.

When I pray, I don’t come against the person themselves in prayer, but the spirit of fear, jealousy, control, manipulation, violence, anger, pride, intimidation, depression etc. – whatever that spirit is that seems to be holding that person in bondage.  

I pray for myself this way as well. For instance, I might pray, “I bind up this spirit of fear that is trying to hold me captive in this particular area in the name of Jesus. I loose a spirit of peace and calm over my life in this area right now. (see Matthew 16:19) God has not given me a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. (see 2 Timothy 1:7) I receive God’s love afresh for myself and I know His perfect love drives out every fear. (See 1 John 4:18)

Jesus gave us Christians authority over all the power of the enemy! This is really good news!

Colossians 2:15 says, “When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities [those supernatural forces of evil operating against us], He made a public example of them [exhibiting them as captives in His triumphal procession], having triumphed over them through the cross.” – AMP

and

Luke 10:19 says, “Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you.” – NKJ

I told you it was really good news. We have been given authority over the devil and his personal assistants and we need to use it!

I do want to make one clarification here in case anyone would have this question. Am I saying there’s never a time to confront a person directly? Definitely not. In fact, I believe in Spirit-led confrontation, but it must be Spirit-led and it must be done in love for it to do any good.

We have to remember that only God can change a person’s heart by His grace. Remembering this keeps us doing our job and allows God to do His job. Sometimes the person is living in such deception that they either can’t see or purposely won’t admit to the fact that they are not living their lives led by the Holy Spirit, but have succumbed to living under the influence of another kind of spirit. We can pray that the blinders of deception be removed from their eyes.

Steve prayed for me all those years that I was living under the influence of a spirit of legalism and thank God he did. I am now free from that spirit’s influence and I am living my life once again under the leadership of the Holy Spirit!

If you have not yet made Jesus your Savior and received the wonderful joy that His finished work on the cross has provided for you to live in, please visit my page here titled Jesus In The Driver’s Seat. On this page I explain the good news of the gospel and you will have the opportunity to pray a prayer of salvation, making Jesus your Savior! Jesus loves you and His arms are wide open!

Your Battle Is Not With People

by

image

It really helps me to remember that my battle is not with people, but with the devil and his evil spirits that are holding people captive. It even helps me pray for people with a greater level of compassion when I keep this in mind.

When I pray, I don’t come against the person themselves in prayer, but the spirit of fear, jealousy, control, manipulation, violence, anger, pride, intimidation, depression etc. – whatever that spirit is that seems to be holding that person in bondage.  

I pray for myself this way as well. For instance, I might pray, “I bind up this spirit of fear that is trying to hold me captive in this particular area in the name of Jesus. I loose a spirit of peace and calm over my life in this area right now. (see Matthew 16:19) God has not given me a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. (see 2 Timothy 1:7) I receive God’s love afresh for myself and I know His perfect love drives out every fear. (See 1 John 4:18)

Jesus gave us Christians authority over all the power of the enemy! This is really good news!

Colossians 2:15 says, “When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities [those supernatural forces of evil operating against us], He made a public example of them [exhibiting them as captives in His triumphal procession], having triumphed over them through the cross.” – AMP

and

Luke 10:19 says, “Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you.” – NKJ

I told you it was really good news. We have been given authority of the devil and his personal assistants and we need to use it!

I do want to make one clarification here in case anyone would have this question. Am I saying there’s never a time to confront a person directly? Definitely not. In fact, I believe in Spirit-led confrontation, but it must be Spirit-led for it to do any good.

We have to remember that only God can change a person’s heart by His grace. Remembering this keeps us doing our job and allows God to do His job. Sometimes the person is living in such deception that they either can’t see or purposely won’t admit to the fact that they are not living their lives led by the Holy Spirit, but have succumbed to living under the influence of another kind of spirit. We can pray that the blinders of deception be removed from their eyes.

Steve prayed for me all those years that I was living under the influence of a spirit of legalism and thank God he did. I am now free from that spirit’s influence and I am living my life once again under the leadership of the Holy Spirit!

If you have not yet made Jesus your Savior and received the wonderful joy that His finished work on the cross has provided for you to live in, please visit my page here titled Jesus In The Driver’s Seat. On this page I explain the good news of the gospel and you will have the opportunity to pray a prayer of salvation, making Jesus your Savior! Jesus loves you and His arms are wide open!

Sandra McCollom

How to Cultivate Hope

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Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. (1 Pet 3:15) We Christians ought to be a hope-filled people but a mixed-up gospel has made us a wishful people. We ought to be strong in the faith but religion has weakened us […]

542. Repeated Repentance vs. Forever Forgiveness

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Continuing from last week's discussion about 2 Chronicles 7:14, a passage that was directed at Israelites who were under the law... In that first covenant, they repeatedly found themselves in a position of needing to turn from sin whenever a command was broken. They were continuously seeking the face of God, praying, and offering sacrifices so they could be forgiven again and again, over and over. Contrast that with Christ, who obtained a ministry that is much more excellent than the old way that came through Moses. In this new ministry, forgiveness, justification and sanctification came through what He did by the shedding of His blood, once and for all.



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HELP! I Am Trying to Love

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Chained Sad Heart - 900

I've had it with exhortations to love more, or better, or longer. In my youth I sang the song, "What the world needs now is love, sweet love..." I know we should love our neighbors, heck, even our enemies. I can see the damage being done between religious and political rivals. I wish the world would just stop fighting and love one another. Still if I hear another preacher tell me to love more, I'm calling the police to stop the harassment. Surely in today's environment, there must be some regulation that would stop such people from making me feel uncomfortable. Aren't my human rights being violated?

Jesus said, "If you love me, you will keep my commandments." (John 14:15) For years I interpreted that to mean I could and should show my love by keeping Jesus' commands. In other words, I was focused on "keeping" rather than "loving." I should have noticed that such an interpretation, though consistent with popular religion, was contrary to the teaching of Jesus. He made it very clear that we cannot love until we have been loved. We cannot give what we don't have. We cannot tell what we don't know.

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." (John 13:34-35)

The kind of love that was revealed in Jesus is of divine origin. It is galaxies beyond the kind of love humans can generate. He had no need to use people for His own acceptance or significance. He didn't need to be vindicated; there was nothing pressuring him to manipulate others to His view. He loved with nothing to gain personally -- nothing but the joy of seeing another person being built up and blessed. And He didn't have the need to make sure others knew how well He was doing at loving.

When we have been touched by the delight of God's love, we can't help but pass it on. In fact, it would be safe to say that if we are not sharing His love, we don't really have it. This love is God's nature. Some think that before creation, He was so thrilled with the love shared between the persons of the Godhead, He wanted to share it with others, and that's why He created a universe that could experience the same joy He had.

Whether that's the reason He created us or not, we know God wants to share His love. And if God meant to share it, wouldn't those loved by Him do the same? Jesus demonstrated it in His life, death, resurrection, and ascension. He fixed it so that humans could know God as Father, and in that relationship be fully satisfied. They would have no need to prove themselves. They would have no fear of want. They would not need to put others down in order to rise. They would be able to risk loving because they are safe in his care. In short, they could love -- and love doing it.

Trying to love like Jesus does, without being loved by Him, is like trying to breathe without air. It's much more taxing than living by religious standards of behavior. We could technically keep the outward commands of Jesus behaviorally without loving Him, but we cannot accept His love without responding in obedience to His words.

His love didn't just open the door to heaven when we die. It opened the door to share His life now. We get to be partners with Him, as He loves the world He created. We get to be free from our own agendas because we are captured by His. He is meeting all our needs so that we don't demand others to serve us. Living in His love releases us from the anchor of self-obsession and empowers us to be the display of His love.

If love seems hard to you, check to see whether you are focused on keeping His commands or on loving the one who loves you so much. Loving precedes keeping -- and you will love it.

Good Parenting

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Wow, I love to write. I think I could write all day long and not get bored, especially if it meant helping someone. Although I don’t have time to write all day long these days, I get excited when God puts something on my heart to write and post for your encouragement and then the Holy Spirit helps me put it into words. I hope this post on good parenting helps you. Of course, all the glory goes to God…always!

Good parenting takes time…lots and lots of time. This is one big reason us McCollom’s don’t plan such a tight schedule that we end up running from thing to thing to thing. We learned years ago that to be able to listen to our kids and to be able to train them according to the Word of God this would take many, many, many, many conversations over the years; therefore, we purposely leave time in our schedule for these conversations. 

Of course, just like everyone else, I have over scheduled our lives before. (I say I instead of we because Steve really doesn’t fall into this trap) But every time I do over schedule, I find that those parent/child conversations that are suppose to be positive and bring a positive outcome become more of a frustration. When that happens our kids can begin to feel like they are a frustration to us and that is definitely not God’s plan for parenting! 

I just had a conversation with my girls this morning that was not in my plan, but the extra time was in my schedule helping me be able to calmly listen and talk through what we needed to talk through. And most importantly, having that time and not being in a hurry helped me remember to stop and hear from the Holy Spirit before making any decisions or saying anything I would regret. 

I believe this kind of parenting leaves our kids feeling loved. 

Today I encourage you and remind myself with this: 

Let’s leave lots of extra time in our daily schedules for good parenting! We’ll all be glad we did because good parenting is an investment we are making into our kids lives and we will reap the benefit of investing well! 

Let’s pray and ask the Holy Spirit to guide us and then be willing to click the delete button on as many things as we need to in our schedules so good parenting doesn’t end up getting deleted! 

If you have not yet made Jesus your Savior and received the wonderful joy that His finished work on the cross has provided for you to live in, please visit my page here titled Jesus In The Driver’s Seat. On this page I explain the good news of the gospel and you will have the opportunity to pray a prayer of salvation, making Jesus your Savior! Jesus loves you and His arms are wide open!

Sandra McCollom

Seven Ways Religion Damages Hope

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You can learn a lot about hope from watching the movies. When I was a kid I saw The Neverending Story, and for some reason one scene has endured in my memory. It’s the scene where Atreyu is confronted by Gmork, the wolf-like servant of the Nothing. Atreyu asks Gmork why he is helping the […]

540. Jesus Did More Than Enough

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Are you busy working to try to establish or maintain acceptance from God? Is your idea of repentance tied into reducing your sin count so your good works will outweigh the bad? Do you find yourself feeling the need to ask God for forgiveness over and over again? Are you in a constant state of wondering where you stand with God? Our conversation this week will be a reminder that the gospel was never meant to be about us and our performance, but is entirely contained in the Person of Jesus Christ.



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God’s Treasure Chest – Romans 15

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Here’s some of the treasure I discovered while reading and studying Romans chapter 15. I hope this brings you encouragement!

Romans 15:1-2 say, 

1 We who are strong must be considerate of those who are sensitive about things like this. We must not just please ourselves. 2 We should help others do what is right and build them up in the Lord. (NLT) 

Well, I have to admit that I failed in fulfilling this verse recently. Keep in mind, this example I’ll be giving does deal with weakness, but not specifically in regards to what one eats as Paul discussed in Romans 14.

In my situation I was ministering to a lady that a friend of mine put me in contact with purposely so I could help her. There were several areas where she was really struggling to trust God and those same areas, which had also been a struggle for me in the past, are areas where I am now enjoying freedom, BUT the ONLY reason is because of God’s grace .

She just kept making excuses for her situation and blaming others and I was thinking, “Lady, do you want help or not.”

The next day I started reading Romans 15 and verses 1&2 immediately stood out . I knew right away that it was no accident. 

It’s not what I said to her that day that was wrong. In fact, I believe I was able to offer her some genuine help. It was my attitude toward her weakness that was wrong.

This situation reminds me of 2 Timothy 3:16-17 which say,

16 All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; 17 so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work. (NASB)

This is what seeing Romans 15:1-2 did for me. It taught me, reproved me and corrected me. This is something I have no problem with now, but for many years I would have taken something like this in a condemnatory type of way, even though that was never the way God intended for me to receive it. 

I talked about this in my book, I Tried Until I Almost Died. In it I said, …after coming to a grace revelation, I started seeing and reading the Bible from a completely different perspective. Instead of seeing a book of rules, I now see a book full of promises – promises made available to us by a heavenly Father who, rather than waiting to punish us when we step out of line, invites us to step into His presence just as we are.

You see, God wasn’t saying to me through His Word, ‘Wow Sandra, you’ve really blown it royally this time. Man you are so self-centered. Come on. Get your act together girl,’ although this is exactly how I would have perceived the correction prior to understanding God’s nature of goodness, love and grace.

Here’s what I felt God was showing me through His Word this time, now that I was reading it differently. First, God brought the situation from the day before to my mind immediately when I read Romans 15, verses 1 and 2. He showed me that the conversation was frustrating to me as a result of my perspective of just wanting this girl to get over her insecurities and get on with her spiritual journey and that I really wasn’t looking out for her or looking to please her, but myself. Basically, I wanted her to stop feeling sorry for herself, stop making excuses and just listen to me so she could get the help she needed. But God reminded me once again that only He can change a person’s heart. I don’t know about you, but once in a while I still try to take matters into my own hands by attempting to do God’s job. 

This has been a great reminder for me to bear with the failings of the weak!

Romans 15:5 says, 

May God, who gives this patience and encouragement, help you live in complete harmony with each other, as is fitting for followers of Christ Jesus. (NLT)  

See, I love this. Even when we are impatient with another person’s weakness, we don’t have to go into a fix ourself up mode. This verse tells us that it is God who gives us patience and encouragement. It is Him who helps us live in complete harmony with others. And if we want His help all we have to do is ask for it!

Romans 15:7 says,

Therefore, accept each other just as Christ has accepted you so that God will be given glory. (NLT)  

This Biblical truth has helped me in so many areas. For many years I tried to accept others, forgive others and love others, but I didn’t have the revelation that God accepted me, had forgiven me and loved me unconditionally. It was when I got this revelation that I was able to begin to give out what I had finally received from God. 

Of course, I’m not perfect, as you saw by my example at the beginning of this blog post, but I can testify for sure that accepting, forgiving and loving other people comes so much more naturally than it did before I understood how God truly felt about me. 

Romans 15:13 says,

I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in Him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.  (NLT)  

One of the most amazing things that I have discovered on my grace journey these past 4 years is how much of our Christian walk hinges on us being willing to trust God.

Jesus provided everything we will ever need to live in victory through His finished work on the cross… but we have to believe this is true in order to receive. In the New Covenant of God’s grace all of His promises are yes and amen… but we have to believe to receive. God is so amazingly good. He doesn’t just do love. He is love. But again, we have to believe in God’s goodness to receive the enormous benefits that come with right believing! 

Romans 15:14 -15a says, 

I am fully convinced, my dear brothers and sisters, that you are full of goodness. You know these things so well you can teach each other all about them. Even so, I have been bold enough to write about some of these points, knowing that all you need is this reminder. (NLT) 

I simply love the Bible and I love how the Apostle Paul ministered to the church! He ministered with a gracious spirit, believing the best of them, always teaching them wisdom and reminding them (when they got off track) who they were in Christ Jesus and what was available to them through Christ Jesus. 

The apostle Paul said this in Romans 15:16:

I am a special messenger from Christ Jesus to you Gentiles. I bring you the Good News so that I might present you as an acceptable offering to God, made holy by the Holy Spirit. (NLT)  

I’m getting the biggest kick out of studying this chapter. I know I’ve said this before…many times, but I don’t think I’ll ever get over the difference in how I see the Bible now that I am reading it through the lens of God’s grace. It really is like a huge treasure chest to me!

It’s so cool here that Paul said bringing the Good News to them was going to make such a dynamic change in them that he would be able to present them as an acceptable offering to God. Why? Because this Good News was not just any ordinary good news. It was (and is) the Good News about Jesus and what He did for them (and us) through His death and resurrection. Paul knew they would (and we would) be made holy through Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross by the power of the Holy Spirit when they chose (and we choose) to believe this Good News!

Wait a minute Sandra? I thought I had to do all these “holy acts” in order to be holy. 

Nope. All you have to do is believe the Good News about Jesus! But guess what? When you do believe in and receive Jesus as your Savior and you know you’ve been made holy because of Jesus, you will most definitely end up living a holier lifestyle than ever before because your who always affects your do.

But guess what else? You can live as a Christian for years, even decades, and not see the fruit of holiness in your life that should be there. Guess why? Because you somehow skipped getting ahold of the who you are in Christ part and went directly to the what you need to do for Christ part. Sadly, this happened to me.

and…

I believe there are a good number of Christians attempting to live out their Christianity without knowing who they are in Christ. This, my friend, is a very bad recipe for F.R.U.S.T.R.A.T.I.O.N.

But guess what? It can all be turned around when you begin to learn who you are in Christ Jesus! When you do, right doing will begin to flow naturally from your right believing about who you really, truly are in Jesus!

How do I know this? It happened to me! Thank God that He has restored everything the deceiver (satan) worked so hard to make sure I missed.

THIS is why I will be spending the rest of my life reminding others of their true identity in Christ.

Romans 15:24 says, 

I am planning to go to Spain, and when I do, I will stop off in Rome. And after I have enjoyed your fellowship for a little while, you can provide for my journey. (NLT) 

This is very interesting to me how the apostle Paul boldly asked for financial help from the Christians in Rome so he could continue his missionary journey. In today’s world if Paul said something like this some might accuse him by saying all Paul ever wants is our money. But it seems to me from reading some of the different verses in this chapter that this was not the mentality of the early church at all. They were in it to preach the Gospel. They were in it to spread the Good News. This is what they lived for.

Now, I realize one of the reasons there is so much suspicion out there in the area of money is because of the way some churches/ministries have mishandled money. I really do understand that. Believe me, Steve and I are very careful who we give to.

All I’m saying is that reading this chapter really made me want to see the church get back to being united for the purpose Jesus gave us – to Go Into All The World And Preach The Gospel!

And He said to them, Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. (Mark 16:15 -NASB)

Of course, as you know, there are plenty of great churches and ministries out there that are really fulfilling The Great Commission. I’m inspired, after reading this chapter, to begin to pray that Christians worldwide will both find and get planted in a great church that is Jesus-centered and preaches the Gospel and find great ministries that do the same and begin to partner with them to fulfill the purpose Jesus gave to us, His church!  

I can’t think of any better way to invest my money than to invest it into the lives of people who don’t yet know Jesus!

My next and final God’s Treasure Chest post will be on Romans 16.

To find my other God’s Treasure Chest posts on the book of Romans, just click here on My Grace Journey and then scroll down to the topic that says God’s Treasure Chest – Romans!

If you have not yet made Jesus your Savior and received the wonderful joy that His finished work on the cross has provided for you to live in, please visit my page here titled Jesus In The Driver’s Seat. On this page I explain the good news of the gospel and you will have the opportunity to pray a prayer of salvation, making Jesus your Savior! Jesus loves you and His arms are wide open!

Sandra McCollom

What happens if you don’t bear fruit?

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Jesus is a gardener or vinedresser. And like any good vinedresser, when he sees a branch not growing properly he stakes it up and supports it. He does the same with you. Jesus is not looking for a reason to throw you away. In John when Jesus teaches about being engrafted into himself, he promises to lift us up and carry us when we are not producing the kind of fruit that a believer should. Watch the above video for more on this subject.

The post What happens if you don’t bear fruit? appeared first on Forward Ministries.

539. Becoming Christ Conscious Instead of Sin Conscious

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When we focus on our struggles and problems instead of the answer to them, it can be a frustrating endeavor. Jesus came to release the Israelites from a covenant that kept them in a constant state of sin consciousness. His one-time sacrifice was meant to put an end to this. If we're stuck in a mindset that revolves around trying to avoid sin with the commands of "thou shall not," it will generally cause an increase in sin, resulting in self-condemnation. The alternative is giving up and surrendering to the completed work of Jesus Christ.



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