Creflo Dollar Ministries Audio Podcast

The most dangerous thing about self-deception is that when we are operating in it, we do not even know that we are being deceived. Failing to be true to what we believe is right causes us to rationalize and make excuses. Being true to our sense of what the right thing is relieves us from having to explain our actions; if we are false to our belief, then our excuses make the wrong thing that we are doing appear right. Deceiving ourselves causes a disturbance in us that we cannot 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. This type of thinking is something we must beware of because it is built into the world's norms and values. 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 74483 or visit www.worldchangers.org.

To experience God's best, it is important not to live in deception. This especially applies to us because believing the wrong thing causes us to deceive ourselves. Operating too long in deception can harden our hearts and lead us to believe a lie. We are all susceptible to this; God therefore wants to work with us to help us stop fooling ourselves. Letting Him guide us in this area keeps our spiritual eyes open so that we can see the dangers of associating with the wrong kinds of people and avoid being corrupted. When we see others in self-deception, we must tell them the truth, but do so in love. Studying God's Word concerning this keeps us from falling into this trap.   To support the ministry financially, text "CDMPodcast" to 74483 or visit www.worldchangers.org.

One thing we can count on as Christians is that we will encounter trouble and tribulation. There is no escaping this; however, in the midst of the suffering, we must learn to depend on God as the one who brings us through it all. This helps us to navigate through all the stress that life throws at us. The very nature of His grace demands dependence on Him; grace from God, and our faith in Him, must become inseparable. Trusting God to this degree means that instead of asking Him to take away the pain, we begin thanking Him for going through it with us. Choosing to depend on Him as our source impacts every area that concerns us, including our financial lives. A decision to rely on God as our source for everything we need to succeed impacts our hearts and makes us generous. To support the ministry financially, text "CDMPodcast" to 74483 or visit www.worldchangers.org.

When we pray, we demonstrate our trust and reliance on God. Praying with the right motives does not involve loud wailing and constant repetition to impress others; it is our way of having a private conversation with Him. Prayer reminds us to always acknowledge God's involvement in everything concerning our lives, and that we cannot live apart from Him. It requires our acknowledgement that we are helpless without God, but confident in His ability and willingness to supply our needs. Prayer reflects an attitude of putting Him first, above anything else. This is a significant departure from the religious attitude that emphasizes self-effort. The prayer that reflects our faith in God to take care of us in good times as well as bad helps us maintain the proper mindset. To support the ministry financially, text "CDMPodcast" to 74483 or visit www.worldchangers.org.

As God's children, our heavenly Father has made a commitment to take care of us. This extends not just to our finances, but to every other area of our lives as well. When we have a need, we do not have to strive or toil to take care of it ourselves; we can simply respond to God's promise to handle it. This gives us peace and assurance that we can depend and rely on Him for everything. Trusting in God more than in money gives us the proper perspective on financial giving; it allows us to bless others and make a positive difference in their lives. Money is simply a tool; letting God direct us in what we give financially allows Him to bless us abundantly, so that those blessings overflow and splash into others' lives. It is okay to be wealthy as long as we know how to handle our wealth; using it to help others enables Christians to stand out like a bright light, the way God intends for us to. To support the ministry financially, text "CDMPodcast" to 74483 or visit www.worldchangers.org.

Believers are in a spiritual battle with Satan, who is constantly attacking our minds. Our thoughts determine the course of our lives; we therefore must be aware of what we think. The devil wants to disrupt our lives with suggestions that contradict God's Word; God warns us to be vigilant of his attacks. Our mentality makes the difference between success or failure; this is where the fight takes place. If we do not have an organized system of thought, we will always be at the mercy of those who do. We succeed only when we allow the Word, and the Holy Spirit, to govern our thought lives. The decision to focus our thinking on the Word, and not on our physical senses, allows us to experience success. To support the ministry financially, text "CDMPodcast" to 74483 or visit www.worldchangers.org.

The devil is constantly lying to us. Although he is a defeated foe, he continues to come up with strategies to make us think otherwise. The weapons he uses to kill and destroy us and to get us to accept defeat are deception, distraction, discouragement, and suggestion. Religion is the area he prefers to focus on; specifically, he wants to keep us following the Law of Moses. We fight back and win by changing our way of thinking from religious tradition to the truth of God's Word. What was true under the law is no longer true under grace; now, we do not need to rely on our self-efforts to please God because if we trust in Jesus and in what He did for us, then God is already pleased with us. Believing this helps us maintain our victory. To support the ministry financially, text "CDMPodcast" to 74483 or visit www.worldchangers.org.

Believers are under constant attack from the devil. Although Jesus has already defeated the enemy through His finished works, Satan continues to focus his attacks on our minds in an attempt to convince us that those works have not been finished. He uses fear and intimidation, with the intent of introducing doubt as to whether God's promises will come to pass for us. Our thoughts carry great power; this is why we must think about what we're thinking about. Satan is sneaky and devious; he tries to move us away from listening to God's Word, and toward paying more attention to his philosophies. He knows that if he can capture our attention, he can distract us from paying attention to Christ and push us out of operating in the realm of the supernatural. To maintain the victory Jesus won for us, we must therefore be mindful of who we are looking at. To support the ministry financially, text "CDMPodcast" to 74483 or visit www.worldchangers.org.

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. 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.

Believers are under constant attack from the enemy. There is a battle going on in our minds as to what we do—or do not—believe; the danger of not believing God's Word is that it opens the door for the devil to condemn us. To feel condemned is to feel inferior, as if we are not good enough and do not measure up. Condemnation leads to fear; however, fear tolerated is faith contaminated. Feeling like we are inadequate causes us to focus solely on ourselves instead of on God, and brings us into self-effort to try to improve ourselves. We are 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 74483 or visit www.worldchangers.org.

As Christians, we must understand the nature of the spiritual warfare we are in. The devil has already lost and we are fighting a defeated foe; our fight is now all about how to receive what Jesus died on the cross for us to have. However, most people are not even aware that a battle is even going on; some do not believe that Satan even exists. If we do not know he is real, he takes advantage of our ignorance to attack our minds with contradictions to God's Word. The war actually takes place in our thought lives; we win by knowing precisely what God has said, believing it, and declaring it when we feel the enemy attacking. This involves paying close attention to what we think, and immediately casting down negative thoughts the devil fires at us. We are victorious when we resist false teachings and actively focus our thoughts on the truth of Christ and the gospel. To support the ministry financially, text "CDMPodcast" to 74483 or visit www.worldchangers.org.

Believers are engaged in spiritual warfare. We have a real enemy straight from hell who is determined to kill us; however, although we need to know how to do battle, we do not need to fear. The devil's ultimate objective is to get us to walk away from God, but he cannot do so when we stay vigilant and watchful for his strategies and sneak attacks. It is critical to understand that although we are saved, we still must fight. Standing solid in the Word of God gives us a tremendous advantage; we are fighting a defeated enemy who is well aware that he has been beaten. Satan wants deceit and falsehood in our lives; we combat that by cloaking ourselves with the various truths found in God's Word. Darkness cannot stand against light; the light of the gospel will always be able to break up and disperse the devil's dark deception. To support the ministry financially, text "CDMPodcast" to 74483 or visit www.worldchangers.org.

Life is not the sum total of just the physical things we can see. Christians are in a spiritual battle with Satan, who is determined to make our lives miserable and kill us. With this in mind, we must not blame God for the bad things that happen. The enemy is constantly lurking in the background, waiting for an opportunity to work evil in our lives; he is willing to lie to us with his suggestions if it means he can lead us away from God. We combat his tactics with a thorough knowledge of God's Word, so that when we hear someone speaking to us, we will know whose voice it is. As believers, the choice of who to listen to and what to believe is ours. The ability to use God's Word as armor to defeat Satan gives us the advantage in the fight for our minds. To support the ministry financially, text "CDMPodcast" to 74483 or visit www.worldchangers.org.

In these last days, Satan is battling for our hearts and our faith. He has been working hard to undermine God and build a foundation of deception to make us spiritually blind; the last thing he wants is for us to live under the direction of the Holy Spirit. The enemy works through the spirit of mammon attached to money; he lies to us and tells us he can give us things that only God can give us. His plan is to get us to rely on money more than on God. Mammon hates generosity and giving, especially with our finances; we defeat this evil spirit by giving to show that we trust in God enough to give without fear of lack. Despite what mammon tells us, we can depend on God, who will take care of us and never leave us. Genuine success and prosperity on every level come only from making God our source. To support the ministry financially, text "CDMPodcast" to 74483 or visit www.worldchangers.org.

A proper understanding of salvation requires that we differentiate between our standing and our state as believers. When we got born again, our redemption was fully accomplished because of the finished works of Jesus Christ. This is our stance, which allows us to stand before God holy and righteous as if we had never sinned. However, although we have already been saved by grace, the outward manifestation of our righteousness is a constant and ongoing process of completion. This is our state, also called our earthly lives. Until we get to heaven, our state will not have caught up with our stance. Believing what God says about our righteousness and holiness, and letting Him work in us, will bring us to the point where our state eventually catches up to our stance. To support the ministry financially, text "CDMPodcast" to 74483 or visit www.worldchangers.org.

On our Christian walk, we are gradually becoming more and more like Jesus Christ. Despite our progress, however, there is still a gap between who God says we are and what we see in our everyday lives; although He says we are the righteousness of God, sometimes we still do unrighteous things. Our faith in Christ is a critical component in this; we must believe what God says we are, even when our lives are not reflecting that yet. Our belief in our redemption contradicts what religion tells us, which is that our salvation hinges on what we do; the truth is that we are saved because of what Jesus did, and our trust in that. God never contradicts Himself; although our stance in perfection was forever determined when we believed in Jesus, our state of perfection, which refers to our earthly lives, is still unfinished. This is an important point that confuses many in the church. Understanding this gives us peace and lets God work in us to make us as righteous as He is. To support the ministry financially, text "CDMPodcast" to 74483 or visit www.worldchangers.org.

The devil has always been a thief. As believers, we must be on the alert for his attacks; one of the first things he tries to steal that God gave us is who we are in Christ. He did this with Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden, and unsuccessfully tried again with Jesus in the wilderness; he tries it with us through guilt, shame, and condemnation. Because of what Adam did, we are born into this world already spiritually dead; being born again gives us new life and makes us new creations just like Christ in our spirits. Regardless of what the enemy says to us, we have been united with Jesus Christ and are now one with Him. We have been redeemed and made righteous and holy, not because of anything we do, but because of what Jesus already did. Confidence in our true identity keeps it from being stolen from us. To support the ministry financially, text "CDMPodcast" to 74483 or visit www.worldchangers.org.

One of the major differences between the old and new covenants is the shift away from doing and toward believing. In the Old Testament, the focus was on performing; in the New Testament, the focus is on faith. However, we need precision in this area; what is necessary is not faith in our own performance, but in Jesus' perfect performance and what He has already done. This is what positions us to receive the blessings promised in the Bible. The Gospel of Grace emphasizes the link between belief and obedience; as Christians, we must not stumble and fall back into thinking that our works are more important than our faith in Christ. With this in mind, we must abandon our self-efforts that religion demands from us and simply trust in Jesus. When we believe we are righteous because of Him, our behavior will eventually reflect that. To support the ministry financially, text "CDMPodcast" to 74483 or visit www.worldchangers.org.

We are at war with Satan, and the stakes are high. He and his army of demons are after our souls, our minds, and our emotions. His plan involves trapping us in the world's way of thinking; however, we render him powerless by renewing our minds to conform to God's way of thinking instead. In this fight we can use precision as a weapon; specifically, we are to renew our minds according to the teachings of grace, not according to the Law of Moses. What was true under the law is not necessarily true anymore under grace; we need a solid understanding of this if we are to escape the devil's lies. Therefore, it is essential to focus on the proper covenant if we want successful lives. We win by giving our attention to the finished works of Jesus instead of our own performance. To support the ministry financially, text "CDMPodcast" to 74483 or visit www.worldchangers.org.

We are in the midst of a spiritual battle against the devil, and we gain the upper hand when we learn to control our emotions. Satan tries to use negative emotions against us, but he is rendered powerless when we take authority in the emotional realm. Life is by no means perfect and bad things happen, but God has given us His Word on what to do when we are attacked by negative feelings. Rejoicing and giving God thanks and praise in the midst of a situation may seem strange at first to our intellectual understanding, but He has a good reason for this type of response. Using the Word as a weapon against depression when it tries to sweep us away gives us victory. Using the power of thanksgiving and gratitude is a major way we deal with all negative emotions. Thanking and praising God gives us victory over whatever ungodly feelings we may be experiencing at the moment. To support the ministry financially, text "CDMPodcast" to 74483 or visit www.worldchangers.org.

Understanding how deeply God's grace impacts our lives frees us from toiling in self-effort to please Him. In a world where most people work hard to earn God's blessings, all we need to do is to accept and believe in His finished works. We have already been blessed and accepted as members of God's royal family; this happens automatically when we get born again. He has given us undeserved gifts because we are—and always will be—His beloved children, regardless of what we do. The knowledge that we have been cleansed of all sin and made righteous in God's eyes changes our motives from fear of punishment to a desire to do what pleases Him. This enables us to walk as God's sons and daughters, which is now our true identity. Faith in what Jesus did for us on the cross enables us to continually bring our earthly walk closer in tune with God's will for us. To support the ministry financially, text "CDMPodcast" to 74483 or visit www.worldchangers.org.

God has given each of us an assignment and placed a calling on our lives; to succeed in completing that assignment and fulfilling that calling, we must know who we are in Christ. Through his grace, God has done much for us to determine our identity. His grace has given us the opportunity to get born again; it has made us righteous, holy, wise, and perfect. Even when our earthly lives do not reflect this, this is the way God sees us. When we realize everything that He has done for us, we cannot help but want to serve and obey Him out of gratitude; an understanding of who we already are is the foundation of the worthy walk God has called us to. When we received His Son, God equipped us with everything we need for our Christian journey. Believing in His love for us allows Him to fulfill His plans for us. To support the ministry financially, text "CDMPodcast" to 74483 or visit www.worldchangers.org.

A life of grace focuses on what God has already done for us. We have been saved and delivered, and made righteous and holy; this is our stance in heaven and is independent of our behavior during our Christian walk. When we have accepted Christ, God sees us as faultless, regardless of our earthly state. He then appeals to us to live in harmony with our identity established in Him in light of what He did. The process of harmonizing our natural lives with what God has already declared requires the work of the Holy Spirit, who gradually changes us on the inside. The motivation behind our successful transformation is not fear of going to hell, but faith in God's love for us. Reading the Bible through the lens of grace instead of through the lens of religion gives us a whole new understanding of God's Word. To support the ministry financially, text "CDMPodcast" to 74483 or visit www.worldchangers.org.

Walking worthy of Christ is not something Christians need to strive to do through self-effort. This is impossible through our own merit; we can only do this through faith in Jesus and in His finished works. God chose us to be holy and blameless even before we were conceived; seeing ourselves the way He sees us gives us clarity as to who we really are. Our identity as members of God's royal family was sealed when we got born again. Our journey through life, therefore, is not based on us trying to achieve righteousness, but on the truth that as God's children, we are already righteous. Part of our walk involves extending the same grace and mercy we have received to others; we can do this because we know that we are no longer condemned and no longer need to condemn others in their walk. Genuine belief in what God has done for us out of love humbles us and enables us to walk in a manner worthy of our high calling. To support the ministry financially, text "CDMPodcast" to 74483 or visit www.worldchangers.org.

During His earthly ministry, Jesus prophesied that the approaching end days would be marked by numerous natural disasters as well as immoral and ungodly behavior. We are seeing this right now. One of the biggest indicators is children's disrespectful and dishonorable attitude toward their parents. God is serious about His instructions to children to obey, honor, and respect their parents; children who fail to do this will suffer the consequences. Over and over again in both the Old and New Testaments we see the commands to love and honor our parents because this is part of God's moral law. We all have a choice to make, and the stakes are high; we can either base the relationship we have with our parents on the Word of God, or on the words of the world. The quality and duration of our lives depends on the decision we make in this area. To support the ministry financially, text "CDMPodcast" to 74483 or visit www.worldchangers.org.

In a world that does not know God, having an intimate, personal relationship with Him is valuable beyond comparison. Everything we need in life flows from it; our success and ability to accomplish what is humanly impossible comes not from our own strength, but from walking with Him. It is not enough just to know about Him; we must experience Him firsthand. Knowing God not only changes our lives here on earth, but also lets us begin our eternal lives in His presence even before we die. There is nothing in life more important than a relationship with God; when we are willing to give up everything for Him, we lose nothing, but gain much more. Our priorities should be to place Him before all the flashy, fancy things we see around us in the physical realm. Life is the sum total of who we spend it with; the true definition of success and prosperity is spend our lives with God. To support the ministry financially, text "CDMPodcast" to 74483 or visit www.worldchangers.org.

God does not operate the way we do. His thoughts and actions are completely different from ours, and on a much higher level. Unlike religion, which tells us we must earn God's blessings, God blesses us not because of what we do, but because of who He is. Religion says God will punish us with curses if we do not behave properly; however, Jesus took all of the curses meant for us when He went to the cross. Unlike under the law, under grace, God shows us mercy and favor without us having to deserve it. No one is good enough to deserve God's goodness, but He has chosen to be good to us no matter what we have done. Realizing that He is no longer our harsh judge but now our loving Father increases our faith in Him. To support the ministry financially, text "CDMPodcast" to 74483 or visit www.worldchangers.org.

God's way of thinking and His method of operating are very different from ours. On life's journey, He expects us to encounter detours and stray from the path from time to time. However, unlike people who shame and condemn us for making mistakes, God takes it all in stride. Under grace, He will never judge or punish us for not living godly; He instead reminds us of what He has already done for us, and then appeals to us to live right with that in mind. Instead of threatening us for falling short, He emphasizes His love and mercy. God operates on the supernatural level; unlike natural man, He does not expect us to contribute anything to earn His favor. God shows us grace, not wrath; our belief in and acceptance of this undeserved favor—not our self-effort—is what enables us to live godly lives. To support the ministry financially, text "CDMPodcast" to 74483 or visit www.worldchangers.org.

There is a huge difference in the way God operates and the way mankind operates. Unlike us, He thinks and works on a much higher level than we are capable of. God blesses us not because we are good, but because He is good; the grace He shows us is not based on what we do, but because of what He has done through Jesus Christ. By contrast, man's ways focus on the mindset that says whatever happens, good or bad, is the result of his own conduct; natural man therefore thinks that he must contribute something to earn God's favor. Our faith is critical here; if we doubt that Jesus forgave us of our sins when He went to the cross, then we will not believe that His plans for our future are good. God punished Jesus for our sins, and therefore does not punish us. Believing this gives us a peaceful conscience. To support the ministry financially, text "CDMPodcast" to 74483 or visit www.worldchangers.org.

As Christians, our goal should be to continue along the path of becoming more emotionally mature. One of the signs of emotional maturity is admitting that we do not know everything and that there is always something new to learn. An attitude like this demonstrates flexibility and a willingness to keep an open mind, and positions us for the kind of continual learning that leads to greater wisdom. Conversely, thinking that we know it all is a sign of arrogance; an inflexible mindset that says that our way of thinking is the only correct way leads to strife and arguments. Honestly admitting we have gaps in what we know frees us from having to have an opinion on every topic under the sun; it also pushes us toward greater dependence on God, who does know everything. It is actually a blessing in disguise. Depending on God to teach us what we need to know keeps us humble and enables Him to use us mightily. To support the ministry financially, text "CDMPodcast" to 74483 or visit www.worldchangers.org.

We have all gone through painful times of adversity and trouble, and wondered if God really cared about us. Feeling this way is part of being human; however, God actually loves us very much and cares deeply about our suffering. When we entertain these thoughts, there are some practical ways to deal with them. First, we must realize that God never promised us carefree lives with no trials or difficulties; what He has promised us is His presence and His peace in the midst of the situation. We also need to remember that God uses trouble and adversity to mature us, and that He will always make things right in the end. When the enemy attacks our minds with lies that God does not care, remembering the times He has already delivered us brings us back to the truth. Understanding that God will never abandon us in bad times allows us to see His plan at work so that we can be effective Christians. To support the ministry financially, text "CDMPodcast" to 74483 or visit www.worldchangers.org.

People who are emotionally mature believe in themselves. Although as believers we have learned to have faith in God, our belief in ourselves is based on what God says about us. Someone with emotional maturity is not deluded, and does not have a false sense of self; however, they do have optimism in their God-given abilities. This distinction is important because this mindset equips us to deal with whatever life throws at us. We can only succeed by relying on God; the difference between success or failure is therefore determined by whether we trust in Jesus or in our own self-effort. Our Christian lives can be compared to a journey; although we will encounter obstacles and detours from the path, our destination remains unchanged. We can be confident that we have been equipped with everything we need to successfully finish the journey. To support the ministry financially, text "CDMPodcast" to 74483 or visit www.worldchangers.org.

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.