Dr. Jim Richards

Take steps to a powerful and steadfast heart which does not waver at the promises of God! The core lie at the root of all religious theology and deception relating to God is this: God is in control of everything; therefore, the horrible condition of the world is the proof that God is not really good and He can't be trusted. Like the children of Israel, when we don’t take steps to experience the power of a fixed heart and immovable trust, we put God on trial and judge Him guilty. But when your heart is persuaded of God’s goodness and trustworthiness, your focus and trust will always be on God and His resources and not on the problem and your own resources.

How do I know when my heart is fixed? Please watch this video as we learn the answer. We can know that our heart is fixed when we do not waver, regardless of the bad report that comes. Why? We remain steadfast on the promises of God. We empty our heart of all personal opinions, are humble and open, and build our lives on the foundation of Jesus’ teaching. If the most valuable thing in your life is your relationship with the Lord and you are anchored in Him, your heart will hold firm in the storms of life.

Where are you, God? Why am I not seeing the results that God has promised? There is something limiting God in our life situation. When we are not seeing results, we need to sort out what is really going on. Approaching God from a perspective that says we’re not sure if this is true or not, is to put Him on trial. Most of the time when we put God on trial, we have already decided He is not true. Every limitation in our lives is a limitation we unknowingly place upon God. Ask yourself: am I able to find fault in my own life without condemnation, creating excuses, feeling inadequate, or needing someone else to blame?

The number one limitation we place on God is that we don’t believe how good He is. Living our dreams is not just about getting God to hand us something; He wants us to be the person that can live the kind of life we want. That starts in the heart through biblical transformation. Our life should be about BEING and HAVING, not becoming and getting, which is the ultimate limiting factor. God rules in our lives only to the degree that we allow Him to express Himself. Ask yourself: Do I believe in a God who is better than I ever imagined and has a life for me that is better than anything I have ever imagined?

A fake religious question asks whether something is God's will. If we don’t know something is God’s will, we can’t be in faith. Most of the time when we are asking if something is God’s will, we are creating a smokescreen. We make resolutions to live a better quality of life but we don’t remove from ourselves those beliefs and destructive behaviors that keep limiting God in our lives. God has already given us everything we need pertaining to life and godliness, so our faith is about the willingness to stop doing the things that limit us. If you know the promises, have the tools to influence your heart, and are willing to follow God, your life will get better.

Everything God has ever said can either give us life or destroy us, depending on the beliefs of the heart and how bad we want it. “The sun that melts butter is the same sun that hardens the clay” is a saying relevant to our lives. People who value their relationship with God more than the promises are not destroyed in their pursuit. If we trust in something else more than we seek God, we won’t hear God’s leadership taking us down the path to get to the very thing we want. Ask yourself: Is there anything in my life that I am afraid to give up in exchange for what God is offering me, or am I going to let go of it and seek God with all my heart?

God’s desire is for us to succeed, but first, our heart must be fully committed to God’s process. If we don’t change the beliefs of our hearts that cause us to cycle through the same mistakes, we will either destroy the successes we make or destroy ourselves so we can no longer have those successes. Jesus taught us how to establish new beliefs in our hearts in a godly way. Once you learn His process and invest in your heart, you will always be in rest as you journey toward your goals.

Do you want 20/20 vision before making a resolution this year? Consider using the biblical tools and resources in this series that will help you see through God’s perspective. Deciding to do something differently brings us to a crossroads, which is a form of repentance. The biblical concept of repentance means turning to God to make the right decisions because you are the one who determines what path you will take to reach your goal. I want to help you choose the way that connects you with God and gives you the inner power to see it through all the way to the end. God always brings us to success and fulfillment doing it His way AND there is never any trouble that comes with it.

Are you ready to make a New Year’s resolution and see it through when you do it God’s way? We did not stick with most of the resolutions we made in the past because we didn’t follow the way God created us to govern our own lives. When we quit before seeing that resolution through, it leads to loss of self-confidence and some form of self-destruction. If you have made a resolution this year but don’t want to face another failure; listen to this series before you put your emphasis on making it happen. Go on a biblical transformation journey with me so that when you make your decision or resolution, you will be empowered to be the person who can live that dream.

A clone is conformed to the image of the world; a believer transforms into the image of the Lord Jesus Christ. God’s ultimate goal of mankind was to become like His Son; He is not trying to make us clones. Clones are influenced to become like other people because the world always pressures by association. But God is trying to develop our character so we are walking in the very best version of us that there can be. This is who we are predestined to be. We want to be conformed to the likeness of Jesus, but all this happens through transformation. Transformation is me becoming who I really am through yielding to God and through that process, everything happens effortlessly.

God wants us to be living stones – not man-made bricks. God makes a real distinction between us being stones or bricks because stones are unique and all different – none is the same shape, size, or color. We are living stones built up into a holy altar (1 Pet. 2:5). It takes every person being who they are in Jesus. God does not want us to be building an altar to Him made of bricks that we shaped. Why? We are not bricks before the Lord. We did not get set free from slavery when we were born again to become like every other Christian. God’s goal for you is to be the best you could ever be, fulfilling a destiny unique to only you.

God is not interested in making you be like anybody else. The message sent out to most people is: you need to be like me. The self-righteous and insecure person takes the position to require everyone else to do what they are doing so they can feel right about themselves. People who are secure in who they are in Jesus will not let others remake them in their image. Most of us have been made to believe that who we are is inherently wrong and that God wants us to be somebody else. But God wants you to be the real you; the righteous version of the real you.

God needs you to be you. God wants you – your personality, sense of humor, and life experiences. He wants you to be the righteous version of that. You’re not trying to become something new – you have already become something new. God says, “I have made you unique. There are things you can do that nobody else can do. If you will just walk with Me and learn how to live your uniqueness in connection with Me, learning to be who you are in Jesus and always having a heart seeking to walk My path, then you will multiply and increase in every way, and My grace will work in you and bring it to pass.”

The good news of the message of the kingdom of God is that nobody outside you is in control of your life. One of the most destructive beliefs in the world spiritually is that God is in control of everything. Jews incorporated their pagan beliefs in with what God said. The moment you become fearful or unwilling to make decisions about the quality of your life, now you have succumbed to being a victim. The golden thread through all the teachings of Jesus is the thread of personal responsibility. Every one of Jesus’ parables teaches us to make choices that will always guarantee a good outcome.

The message of the Kingdom is what Jesus has done for us and whether we believe His teachings. My first priority after being born again is to seek the Kingdom and His righteousness. Jesus’ whole message was about how to enter the Kingdom of God and experience the resources of heaven. When Jesus taught the principles of the Kingdom, He was not telling us how to be born again. He was telling us that if we want to live in righteousness, this is what it looks like. When we take His yoke – accepting His teachings, making Him Lord, and applying the Word of God in love – we will find rest.

When we are born again, it is only then that we have the capability of perceiving there is a kingdom of God. In John 3:3, Jesus makes a distinction between being born again and being able to perceive there is a kingdom of God. What is it that opens our eyes? Jesus’ ministry and teachings were about the kingdom of God and lost people cannot perceive this internal realm. The Kingdom is an environment where individuals willfully submit to the Lordship of Jesus and personally connect with God in their heart, whereby they experience the resources of heaven.

God's goal is that we live in the Kingdom with such an incredible quality of life that we influence and touch the lives of others. We fall short of how good God is when holding to our own reality; therefore, we can’t go through that portal of our heart and enter this realm where we realize all the resources of God are right here for us. If God's goal is not our goal then we will never hit that target. When you make this your goal: “I am going to live in this Kingdom realm and enjoy the goodness of God and then pour that out on the world around me,” then that path you walk will take you ultimately to use the keys of the Kingdom and find everything you need.

We did get an operator’s manual in the Bible, but because people don’t trust what God said, they struggle to work a plan. Jesus taught us everything we need to know to have life at its best, and He taught us the keys of the Kingdom – the operating system for a believer who intends to have the abundant life. Jesus said, “Those who hear my words and put them into practice will be the one who builds his life on the rock” (Mt. 7:24). When we apply any of the Word by walking in love, we will be in harmony with the Lord Jesus Christ. The challenge of every believer is this: do I believe Jesus the Son of God emptied Himself and became a man in every way like as me?

Planet Earth becomes a place of death or life based on the entire collective beliefs and expectations of the people who live here. What is happening in our nation is the last big push to overthrow true civil justice and to establish a socialist government where the government’s word replaces God’s morals, values, and standards. It is not God bringing the downfall – it is iniquity bringing it. A constitutional Republic with freedoms will only work as long as people adhere to the morals and the values that Jesus taught. God is just and fair to everyone, but every man shall be equally responsible and face the same standard of justice.

No matter how bad the wickedness is on Planet Earth, God will always move to recover, redeem, and protect us. God will always try to get us out of this mess we have gotten ourselves in. And even when the world reaches such wickedness that it is on the brink of destruction, He will show up and give us 1,000 years of peace and goodness. When we are standing before God and know we don’t deserve something, He does whatever goodness He does anyway. God's goodness always goes beyond because God is more generous than we deserve and expect. (1 Cor. 2:9)