Changing Your World Podcast with Creflo Dollar

The world we live in is filled with negativity, despair, and hopelessness. However, studying the Bible reveals to us how we can experience victory despite what’s going on around us. In the Old Testament, David the young shepherd provided a strong example of how to overcome challenges. Despite the fear around him when Goliath showed up, David never gave up hope; he faced a giant much bigger than himself and slew him. Our strength lies in spending time with God; hearing directly from Him in the midst of the situation causes us to prevail. To support the ministry financially, text “CDMPodcast” to 74483 or visit www.worldchangers.org

Deceiving ourselves trips us up on our spiritual walk. When we deceive ourselves, we’re blind to the assumptions we make and think we’re right when we’re actually wrong. Much of this is delivered through the pulpit; wrong doctrine deceives us so that we don’t see the truth of God’s love and grace. Letting the Holy Spirit guide us in how to live keeps us humble and protects us from pride, which is closely intertwined with self-deception. Sharing God’s perspective though Jesus Christ gives us the spiritual vision we need.  To support the ministry financially, text “CDMPodcast” to 74483or visit www.worldchangers.org

The most dangerous thing about self-deception is that when we’re operating in it, we don’t even know that we’re being deceived. Failing to be true to what we believe is right causes us to rationalize and make excuses. Deceiving ourselves causes a disturbance in us that we can’t reconcile, because deep down inside, we know exactly what we should do. Fooling ourselves in this manner results in spiritual blindness us to the truth. The best way to avoid this trap is to follow through and live the Word of grace after hearing it; this powerfully internalizes the truth as it is now. To support the ministry financially, text “CDMPodcast” to 74483or visit www.worldchangers.org

Feeling like we’re inadequate causes us to focus solely on ourselves instead of on God, and brings us into self-effort to try to improve ourselves. We’re delivered from this emotion through our belief in Jesus Christ and our dependence on Him. The world has plenty of “solutions” for the negative emotions associated with condemnation, but trusting in and relying on Jesus is the only permanent one. To support the ministry financially, text “CDMPodcast” to 74483or visit www.worldchangers.org

Change is necessary for growth, and if we’ve been born again, our own lives should demonstrate transformation. Others should be able to look at us and notice some type of difference or alternate route taken as a result of our Christian walk. Yielding to the Holy Spirit’s prompting and beginning to think in line with Him begins changing our lives radically. Letting God direct and guide us as we change is similar to the metamorphosis a caterpillar undergoes in becoming a butterfly. When we cooperate with Christ in this process, our lives will be totally different and unrecognizable from what they were previously.   To support the ministry financially, text “CDMPodcast” to 74483 or visit www.worldchangers.org

When we get born again, we receive a new nature and become as perfect and flawless in God’s eyes as Jesus, Himself. God sees everyone who has accepted Christ as completely righteous. However, we’ll still continue falling short and committing sinful acts while on our Christian journey. The difference between the old and the new is that God no longer holds our sins against us because our old, sinful selves have died. We’re not what we do, and we don’t become sinners again when we sin; our new identity is based in Jesus, not in Adam.   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’ll 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. 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

God wants to empower us. Specifically, He wants us to be able to break free from addictions, cravings, and lasciviousness. Submitting to a change in identity—from who the world tells us we are to who Christ says we are—delivers us from addictive behavior. Seeing ourselves the way God sees us through Jesus changes our thinking, which subsequently changes what we do. Looking to Christ is the only way to find freedom from our sins.  To support the ministry financially, text “CDMPodcast” to 74483 or visit www.worldchangers.org

Being conscious of our sins is not the way God wants us to live. By contrast, being aware of how God sees us in Christ—innocent and free—lets us focus on our righteousness. We are forgiven because Jesus has dealt with our sin. We are not what we do; bad behavior does not separate a person from God, but rather the sinful nature of a person before they get born again. Living under the law always creates guilt and self-condemnation for failing in our self-efforts to perform good enough to please God; by comparison, living under grace redefines our identity. It restores us to the fact that He originally created us as righteous, blameless, and holy. Believing that God decided to make us just like Him even before the beginning of time keeps us anchored in our true identity when the world bombards us with messages to the contrary. To support the ministry financially, text "CDMPodcast" to 74483 or visit www.worldchangers.org.

What we focus on dramatically impacts the quality of our lives. An awareness of sin, and the shame and guilt it brings, comes from the knowledge of the law. It causes believers to see themselves as unworthy and condemned because of their failures, and makes them think they must work to get into heaven. By comparison, being aware that we are innocent comes from knowing that Jesus has redeemed us and made us righteous. We will never experience the freedom grace brings if we remain conscious of our sins. Jesus, who is perfect and flawless, went to the cross and exchanged His perfection and righteousness for our imperfections and sinfulness. Choosing to be in Christ therefore empowers us to walk in the Spirit and frees us from all condemnation. To support the ministry financially, text "CDMPodcast" to 74483 or visit www.worldchangers.org.

The devil is always actively working to destroy us. One of the ways he makes inroads in our lives is by getting us to be more aware of our sins and shortcomings instead of our righteousness. God sees born-again believers as innocent and acquitted of all accusations the enemy has made against us. We must therefore be more conscious of what Jesus has done for us under grace than sin, and the shame and guilt that accompanies it. Focusing on grace instead of on the law shows us that we are no longer sinners, but saints. Accepting our stance in Christ positions us to enjoy eternal life in heaven with God. Choosing to live under grace frees from the law’s curses and reveals to us our righteous stance in Him as citizens of heaven. To the ministry financially, text "CDMPodcast" to 74483 or visit www.worldchangers.org.

An awareness of sin is Satan’s number one weapon to keep believers stagnant and paralyzed in one place. His strategy is to constantly remind us of our mistakes so that he can control us through guilt and shame. This spiritual paralysis is not a good place to be because being conscious of sin keeps us from receiving the liberty that Jesus gave us. The battle started in the garden of Eden when Adam and Eve sinned and went from being innocent to feeling guilty, ashamed, and afraid. This led to the temporary establishment of the Mosaic Law until Jesus came. Now that grace has come, God invites us to live under it so that sin will no longer have dominion over us. Thankfully, because of what Jesus did, we have been pardoned, forgiven, and declared innocent. To support the ministry financially, text "CDMPodcast" to 74483 or visit www.worldchangers.org.

Deceiving ourselves comes with serious consequences. Telling ourselves a lie so often that we eventually believe it blinds us to the truth by producing a false view of our circumstances. Personally, it damages relationships and stunts our personal growth; in leadership, it leads to poor decision-making because leaders may overlook problems or crucial feedback. Failing to deal with self-deception keeps us from growing and developing spiritually. By comparison, seeing the truth of God’s love and how it applies to us gives us our lives back. A willingness to face our real selves just as we are, despite the pain involved, is how we avoid being deceived. Accepting our authentic selves without buying into a cheap copy of ourselves lets us be who God made us to be. To support the ministry financially, text "CDMPodcast" to 74483 or visit www.worldchangers.org.

Deceiving ourselves trips us up on our spiritual walk. When we deceive ourselves, we are blind to the assumptions we make and think we are right when we are actually wrong. Much of this is delivered through the pulpit; wrong doctrine deceives us so that we do not see the truth of God’s love and grace. Our success in life hinges on knowing our true identity as His righteous children. God wants to show us that we are His reflection; understanding this prevents us from being deceived. Letting the Holy Spirit guide us in how to live keeps us humble and protects us from pride, which is closely intertwined with self-deception. Sharing God’s perspective though Jesus Christ gives us the spiritual vision we need. To support the ministry financially, text "CDMPodcast" to 74483 or visit www.worldchangers.org.

God has great plans for our lives, but those plans are blocked when we deceive ourselves. Deceiving ourselves makes us spiritually blind to the truth of a situation; this is something God wants to deliver us from. Self-deception springs from the fall of man in the garden of Eden, and our sinful nature that resulted from it. The devil works through this and tries to convince us that our identity is based on our bad behavior instead of on God’s Word concerning our righteousness. What was true under the law may no longer be true under grace; we fool ourselves when we think we must live by an outdated covenant. The lies we believe about ourselves neutralize us. Recognizing who we are in Christ and believing what God says about us opens our eyes to the truth about ourselves. To support the ministry financially, text "CDMPodcast" to 74483 or visit www.worldchangers.org.