You are all new in Christ.

Are you being haunted by the ghost of your past? What I mean is, are you still being tempted to respond to your surroundings like you did before you came to Christ? Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. (2Cor 5:17) Your old self was put to death when you became a new creation. Those old ways of thinking don’t belong to you any more.

It’s unfortunate that we’re not the only ones who know about our past. Our friends and family can expect us to respond like we used to and make it easy to fall into old patterns. Also, we have an enemy with an excellent memory. He knows exactly how to push our buttons.

When that happens, just say no. You don’t have to be tied to old ways of thinking and responding. Rebuke the enemy and he will flee from you. Tell the ghost of old ways to lay down and be dead. Delight yourself in the Lord and He will renew your mind and give you awesome thoughts.

You have actually been renewed. These are not just nice words. But if you don’t live it, then it will not do anything for you. Trust God to make you into what He sees in you.

Faith is just trusting God to be God.

There is a difference between hope and faith. We pray and give our requests to God, and hope that He will answer, because we know that He can. And behold, a leper came and worshiped Him, saying, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean. (Mat 8:2) The leper had hope of being healed because he knew that Jesus had shown the power to do it. He just didn’t know if Jesus would do it for him.

We pray like that a lot. We know that God has the power to do anything for us. We’re just not convinced that He will. What happens when we pray knowing that God will answer? Doors will open. We can pray like that because we know that God loves us immeasurably. He dotes on us. He’s just waiting for us to trust Him to be the amazing Father that He is.

The woman from Cannaan went to Jesus and begged for her daughter to be delivered. She was relentless, because it was so important to her and she knew that Jesus could do it. At some point, she knew that Jesus would do it. Then Jesus answered and said to her, “O woman, great is your faith! Let it be to you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed from that very hour. (Mat 15:28)

He gave the woman her heart’s desire because she believed, she didn’t hope. Know that God wants to bless your desires. Stop hoping that He will and start believing that He will.

Complacency will kill you.

There’s such a danger in being complacent. Jesus warned about this: And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says: Hearing you will hear and shall not understand, and seeing you will see and not perceive; For the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, so that I should heal them. (Mat 13:14-15)

It’s not that God doesn’t want to heal them, the people can’t be bothered to ask for it. Sadly, I understand some part of this. It takes a mental effort to press into the Spirit and see what God has to offer. I have to want it and sometimes I’m just too tired.

But that’s where the danger creeps in. When we can’t be bothered about the things of God because we’re required to understand what may not be clearly spelled out, it’s too easy to pass. And then we lose out. We never receive what is our to have. Our hearts grow dull and we stop hearing the voice of God. Very, very dangerous.

Never allow complacency to get a foothold in your life. You can’t afford it.