Changing Your World Podcast with Creflo Dollar

Christians are under severe attack from the enemy. In this spiritual battle we are fighting, our minds are the battlefield and the arena of faith. The devil relies heavily on suggestion to contradict what God has said to us; the person who does not know their God is open to deception. Not even born-again believers are exempt from Satan’s attacks; he will try to make our love grow cold so that we no longer care what the Bible says. In God’s eyes, our righteousness is not because we do right, but because of our belief in Jesus; we must not let the devil’s lies shake us from this. Jesus was the perfect and acceptable sacrifice for our sins; believing this makes us right in God’s sight, regardless of our behavior. Our trust in Christ makes us righteous before the Father, even when we do not deserve it. To support the ministry financially, text "CDMPodcast" to 74483 or visit www.worldchangers.org.

The coming year will be a pivotal point for Christians. The changes it will bring will include a split within the church in which people fall away from the faith and their love will grow cold. There will be plenty of slander, conflict, and offense, and people will compromise their values; however, we will recover from that. On a global level, governments will team up and become allies in preparation for the anti-Christ, whose mission it will be to destroy God’s church. On a personal level, there will be a vicious attack on our souls, in which the devil will try to get us to question our righteousness in Christ. He will use shame, guilt, and condemnation over our past mistakes and sins to accomplish this. However, our identity is based not on what we do, but on what Jesus did; standing firm on this in the midst of Satan’s attacks keeps us spiritually safe. To support the ministry financially, text "CDMPodcast" to 74483 or visit www.worldchangers.org.

In these last days, we will see unprecedented global changes, but not all of them will be good. Persecution will increase as part of Satan’s targeted attack against believers and against God’s church. The enemy will use shame, guilt, and condemnation as weapons; we are to respond by standing in our righteousness and in our identity in Christ. No matter what our past looks like or what we have done, our faith in Jesus causes God to see us as holy and pure. Believing that Jesus has already taken care of our sins by the sacrifice of His body and blood takes us from being sinners to being saints. Our trust in God and in His grace gives us power over the enemy. Despite the vastness of the universe and all the places where God could have abided, He loves us so much that He chose to live in us; we must therefore never let religion talk us out of who we are in Him. To support the ministry financially, text "CDMPodcast" to 74483 or visit www.worldchangers.org.

Believers have received the gift of righteousness and salvation from God. Just like any gift we receive, this was something we did not have to earn; it was given to us when we believed in Jesus Christ. It is permanent, and came because of our faith in what He did, not because of anything we do. In light of this, we must be careful not to be confused by any doctrine that says otherwise. We were instantly saved and made righteous when we believed; this is our standing in Christ. However, our earthly lives have some catching up to do when compared to our stance; this ongoing process of letting God bring our imperfect earthly walk up to match our perfect standing is our state. Understanding this delivers us from trying to accomplish what has already been accomplished. To support the ministry financially, text "CDMPodcast" to 74483 or visit www.worldchangers.org.

As believers, it is important that we know the truth about our salvation: we were saved because of our faith in Jesus Christ. we did nothing to earn it; it was given as a gift from God. This directly contradicts religious thinking, which tells us that we must work hard for our redemption. Because of what Jesus has done and our belief in it, we have already been made the righteousness of God. This is our stance in Christ, and nothing we do can change that. However, the ongoing transformation of our earthly lives into perfection will continue until we get to heaven; this is our state, which no one but God can change. Trusting in His promise to make the necessary changes in us enables Him to bring our state into balance with our stance. To support the ministry financially, text "CDMPodcast" to 74483 or visit www.worldchangers.org.

Our faith in Jesus’ resurrection is the foundation of our belief as Christians, and the reason we have hope in eternal life. Christ being raised from the dead impacts our daily lives and gives us reason to celebrate. Believers can look forward to spending eternity in heaven with Him when their earthly lives here are done. Some of the benefits we enjoy include forgiveness, power, victory over death, peace, joy, unity, and a purpose in life. Because Jesus is alive, we can have new identities not based on what we do but based on what God says we are—righteous, redeemed, and holy. A proper understanding of what we, as members of the body of Christ, have received keeps us safe from the spirit of division in the world. When we set aside all denominations that separate us, the one thing that unifies us is our belief in what Jesus accomplished by walking out of the tomb on the third day. To support the ministry financially, text "CDMPodcast" to 74483 or visit www.worldchangers.org.

"The cross of Christ marks a major turning point for the entire world. It defines the line between the old covenant of the law and the new covenant of grace. Jesus not only died for our sins, but also to add power and force to the New Testament because the old agreement between God and man was obsolete. The Old Testament was filled with promises God made to man; Jesus’ death was necessary to bring those promises to pass. What was true under the old covenant is not true anymore under the new covenant; before the cross, man was blessed by his works, but after the cross, we are now blessed because of our faith in Jesus. Therefore, we no longer need to fear the curses, wrath, and punishment that were commonplace in the Old Testament. Knowing how to rightly divide the difference between the old and the new keeps us from being confused by false religious doctrines; as believers, clarity on this is vital to our spiritual development. To support the ministry financially, text ""CDMPodcast"" to 74483 or visit www.worldchangers.org."

"Most people do not know how to correctly divide what they read in the Bible. Contrary to what religion tells us, the New Testament does not begin with the gospel of Matthew; it begins with the cross, and Jesus’ death and resurrection. The world still lives under the Old Testament, and knows nothing else. However, what was true before Jesus came is not necessarily true now; the cross changed everything. Because of what He did, we can now receive our inheritance of righteousness, redemption, wisdom, and holiness. When He rose from the dead, it was to lead us and show us how to obtain those promises. Understanding this allows us to walk the path of victorious Christian living. To support the ministry financially, text ""CDMPodcast"" to 74483 or visit www.worldchangers.org."

"To understand the differences between the Law of Moses and the grace of Jesus Christ, we need the spiritual vision to see what God wants us to see. The cross of Christ changed much of what was true under the old covenant, including how to keep the law. We are no longer required to follow a long list of rules, because the Holy Spirit is now available to help us keep God’s moral law perfectly. Because of what Jesus did, we are now blessed and made righteous not by our actions, but by our faith in Him. We therefore must guard against a performance-based mindset that indicates religious, law-based thinking. A major transformation has taken place concerning us in the area of righteousness, blessings, forgiveness, and God’s love; instead of working and striving for these things, they are now available for us to receive by faith. Choosing to accept the truth as it is now frees us from religion and useless self-efforts. To support the ministry financially, text ""CDMPodcast"" to 74483 or visit www.worldchangers.org."

Growing to maturity is part of life. This is true not just on the physical level, but also on the spiritual level. When we get born again, God saves us by grace; He then immediately begins working in us to grow us up from spiritual infants to fully mature adults in Christ. He does this through the Holy Spirit, who demonstrates to us God’s infinite love and undeserved favor. When we become new creations, grace cares for, nourishes and spiritually feeds the man that has been born in us. This is His love in action. We receive the blessings He wants us to have when we stop trying to earn them and simply receive them by faith.

For the new Christian, knowing how to give is essential. We are no longer living under the Law of Moses but under the grace of God; therefore, our perspective on this is important. Most of us have been taught in church to give under the law’s requirements to do so; the result is giving under compulsion, not out of faith in grace. Law-based giving blocks the blessings that show up when we give because we want to; grace-based giving with the right motives unblocks those blessings and allows them to flow into our lives. Paul, the apostle of grace, strongly taught on financial giving from the heart. Giving out of gratitude and thankfulness for how God has blessed us enables Him to bless us with even more increase. When we learn to give the way the apostle Paul taught, we will experience amazing results.

To get a clearer picture of God, we need to understand His unearned, undeserved favor toward us. His grace goes far beyond simply forgiving our sins; it is His way of dealing with those who receive Christ. Grace provides assurance, stability, and direction in the lives of believers. It is not something reserved for when we eventually get to heaven; it immediately begins working in our daily lives the instant we believe and accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior. The beauty of grace is that it is based not on what we do, but on what Jesus already did and our faith in that. We are forgiven, holy, and righteous not because of our efforts, but because God said so. Knowing and accepting our right-standing with God changes our entire lives.

God’s ways of operating are completely different than man’s ways, and much more effective in changing us for the better and causing us to want to live godly. The world uses punishment and threats to correct our behavior; by contrast, God uses mercy and forgiveness. The absence of condemnation gives us the power to overcome what once overcame us. To convince us to reject the world and its sinful ways, God continually reminds us how attractive and beautiful heaven is. He also instructs us to declare in faith the passing away of earth, which is temporary. Yielding ourselves to Him allows Him to work through us to reach others through empathy and compassion, not through judgment. We must not settle for what we see around us, but instead focus on Jesus and on heaven, because the best is yet to come.

An important sign of how mature we are is the ability to control and manage our emotions. God gave us feelings; however, He never meant for them to govern our lives. An emotionally mature person has reached an understanding regarding their thoughts and behaviors, and is therefore able to decide how to best approach an otherwise challenging situation. When we reach this stage, we can find successful solutions to our problems without letting them overwhelm us. In life, we all make mistakes; the key to growing in maturity is learning from them. If we go through something but have no takeaways from it later, we stay the same; by contrast, seeing our mistakes as learning opportunities makes us stronger and wiser. Whenever we make a bad decision, letting God teach us what He wants us to learn from the consequences allows Him to grow and mature us.

Maturing spiritually and becoming more like Jesus should be every Christian’s goal. He is grace; we therefore need the Holy Spirit’s help in transforming us in our spiritual growth, because we cannot do it alone. Our starting point is a personal relationship with Christ; knowing Him results in gradually increasing levels of maturity. A practical understanding of growing in grace hinges on realizing that it happens over time. We must know what it means to receive it ourselves, so that we can give it to others; we can also use the times others hurt us to grow in grace and in forgiveness We grow spiritually by living our daily lives, coming into contact with others, and depending on God to teach us how to respond. It is vital that we make an impact on the world; growing in grace so that we can be more like Jesus enables us to do that.

There is a difference between simply knowing about God and really knowing Him. A genuine, personal relationship with Him should impact us through and through. When we truly know God as He is, with no religious fluff added, we will find the strength to go through things we never knew we could withstand and do things we are not capable of by human means. We will never be sufficient in and of ourselves; all we need to succeed and prosper is God’s presence, and nothing more. Jesus is enough; we do not need to add a single thing. With the Holy Spirit living in us, we will lack nothing and carry in us everything necessary to live with power and authority. In a world that Satan controls and causes to walk in fear, we walk in the presence of God and carry it with us wherever we go; therefore, all is well with us.

It is impossible to live in a way that pleases God without yielding to Him as instruments for Him to use; godly living is a result of submitting to and trusting Him. Although salvation is of God, it is specifically through Jesus Christ. Our own efforts to be good and to do the morally right things, independent from Jesus, will not succeed. Placing our faith in Him does not take away the problems we encounter in life, but does allow Him to deliver us and give us victory over them. We cannot overcome the evil we encounter in the world—and in ourselves—through self-effort, but only through Christ, who lives inside every born-again believer. Jesus sent us the Holy Spirit; depending on Him is the key to experiencing success in life. Relying on the Spirit when we feel our old sinful natures trying to re-assert themselves is how we live godly lives.

We all want to live godly, but this is impossible through our own efforts; we keep bumping into our own sinful selves. Salvation from the penalty of sin is the work of God, alone; we cannot save ourselves. Our belief in Him, without any of our own performance, is all that is necessary for our redemption and justification. This means that we do not have to strive to achieve the kind of high moral living God expects, but simply yield to Him and let Him do His work. Living this kind of life requires that we depend on Him, which is the exact opposite of what religion tells us. No matter what happens in life, we can trust God to watch over us and take care of us. Depending on Him to work through us allows Him to use us as His vessels to do great things, with marvelous results.

If there was ever a time we needed to hear from God, it is right now. One Word from Him changes everything; this is why, as Christians, we need to be in a position to hear Him. Dreams are a powerful way God communicates with us and gives us directions; they were a frequent occurrence in the Old Testament, and He has every intention of continuing these types of interactions with us today. One of the ways God gives us insights and revelations is while we are sleeping. Our success, our prosperity, our deliverance, and many other things concerning His will for our lives are invested in hearing from Him. We can act either on good ideas or on God’s ideas; when we let Him lead us, we will succeed and prosper like never before. When we realize that our dreams are not just random thoughts we have while we sleep, but are actually one of the ways God talks to us, we can begin experiencing supernatural results. To support the ministry financially, text "CDMPodcast" to 74483 or visit www.worldchangers.org. Message and Data rates may apply. You will receive a maximum of two text messages per user response. You can text the word "Help" for assistance or "Stop" to opt out. Visit https://app.securegive.com to view Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.

God has given us many promises, and one of those promises is abundant supply. He is our source for everything we need. However, many people try to get their needs met through a relationship with worldly principles, instead of through a relationship with Jesus Christ. Because of Jesus, believers will never have to fear not having enough. Christ is committed to taking care of us, and He always keeps His promise; this is something we can trust in completely. Believing this gives us peace, no matter the situation. When we remember all the times God has already provided for us and delivered us, we cannot help but worship, praise, and thank Him. To support the ministry financially, text "CDMPodcast" to 74483 or visit www.worldchangers.org. Message and Data rates may apply. You will receive a maximum of two text messages per user response. You can text the word "Help" for assistance or "Stop" to opt out. Visit https://app.securegive.com to view Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.