THE PROBLEM

In the beginning, God made everything very good, but it didn’t stay that way. God made mankind as three-part creatures: spirit, soul, and body. The soul is the mind or heart. God made Adam and Eve rulers over the physical realm. Lucifer, one of the powerful archangels God created, became proud and wanted to be God. You now know him as Satan. Satan convinced Adam and Eve to eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil after God had commanded them not to eat it. They obeyed Satan instead of God and activated a spiritual law. Here’s the law: whoever you yield yourself as a servant to obey, that’s whose servant you are. Adam and Eve became slaves of Satan, and Satan became ruler over the physical realm. All the children of Adam and Eve inherited that slavery. They were born slaves of Satan. Since you were born, Satan has been working through the flesh of your body to build fleshly strongholds in your minds. These strongholds are intellectual and emotional barriers between you and God. They are all based on lies. Satan doesn’t want to let you go. He wants you as his slave forever.

ANTICHRIST

And Satan will have a brief kingdom here on earth. He will have a great tribulation period. Jesus said that if God didn’t cut this time short, no one would survive. In preparation, Satan has led his followers to create a false-prophet system through which he can lie. He has captured every means of mass communication, education, and media. They all give a coordinated message. And now, they’re using sophisticated mind-control systems like Neuro-Linguistic Programming and Nudge. The fallen human mind is already compromised, and it can’t fight these systems on its own. You need Jesus and the wisdom that flows from Him.

THE SOLUTION

God promised to reverse this problem and defeat the anti-Christ.

Jesus came and paid the price to buy us back. He plans for us to be born as His sons and daughters and to grow up into the image and likeness of Jesus Christ. He didn’t plan for you to remain as a baby. He wants you to grow up.

BORN AGAIN

When you are born again, Christ is born within you. You can’t come to Christ unless the Father calls you. The Father leads you to the Son. When you listen to the Father, His faith comes, and you believe. That activates God’s grace, and God’s grace works a work in you. Your spirit is cleansed and changed. Your spirit is joined to God’s Spirit, and you are seated with Christ in heavenly places. Your sins are pardoned. Your mind, or soul, is also partly changed. You may find you no longer are tempted by certain sins. And yet, you still must grow up.

FIVE KEYS

Here are the five keys: leading, faith, grace, righteousness, and holiness. When you’re born again, the Father leads you to Christ, faith comes and gives you access into God’s grace, and grace in you makes a commitment to follow Jesus.

Once you’re born again, you face many temptations, problems, and challenges. You have to make many decisions. With each decision, you can choose to obey Christ or Satan. There is no middle ground. If you try to be double-minded, you follow Satan. God leads you. Satan tempts you through your fleshly nature. When you listen to God, faith comes. You get grace through faith. Grace does God’s righteousness through you. Grace does God’s acts and says God’s words through you according to the faith that came by God’s leading. God’s righteousness results in a transformation called holiness. Each time you yield to God, you overcome some part of the strongholds in your mind. You become an overcomer. You don’t overcome everything at once, but you overcome one step at a time. You are overcoming step by step. You are walking in the Spirit and keeping step with the Spirit.

Leading

Christ is The Word of God. Literally, He is God speaking. Christ is the Light that lights every person who comes into the world. God reveals Himself to every person. He speaks to every person through the things He has created, through the conscience, through those who follow Him, through the Bible, and through other means the Bible mentions. The Bible is the Word of God, and you can’t read it without hearing Christ speak to you. Satan and the fallen human mind will try to counterfeit God’s leading.

Faith

When you listen to God, God’s faith comes to you. Jesus Christ is the Author and Finisher of this faith. It’s authored when God leads you. It’s authored when God gives you His wisdom. It’s finished as you yield the members of your bodies to God’s grace. Satan and the fallen human mind will try to counterfeit God’s faith with presumption.

Grace

Grace is a free gift. The Bible tells us about the free gift of righteousness. Grace is the power of God for righteousness. Satan and the fallen human mind will try to counterfeit God’s grace with human will-power.

Righteousness

Righteousness is God doing His works through you. God’s grace says God’s words and does God’s acts through you as you yield the parts of your body to His free gift of righteousness. Your part is to yield. God won’t force you. Satan and the fallen human mind will try to counterfeit God’s righteousness with human effort and self-righteousness.

Holiness

Holiness is a change in your nature. When you yield to God and allow Him to do His works through you, two things happen. First, you deny yourself. You deny those strongholds in your mind. You deny Satan as your slave master. You die to self and you die to the world. Second, God plants the seed of the word, which is Jesus Christ, in your heart. Your mind becomes less corrupted. You become more like Christ. Satan and the fallen human mind will try to counterfeit God’s holiness with self-worship and pride.