Dr. Jim Richards

Isaiah 30:18 says, “For the Lord is a God of justice." As we see a lack of justice, the foundations of the earth are becoming unstable. To the degree that man abandons justice based on righteousness, mercy, and truth, to that degree, the very pillars of all foundations of the earth are being shaken. Without mercy and truth, there is no justice! God is incredibly merciful but He is also incredibly just and that justice has an accountability side to it. If we take truth apart from mercy, it will turn into legalism. If we take mercy apart from truth, it will turn into liberalism and no accountability. Turn your heart to God and rule your life based on the justice of God’s Word by walking in love and applying truth mercifully and in love.

The world today presents a version of justice that is totally contradictory to the Word of God, and Christians are accepting that because they don’t know what true justice is. We often ask, “What is fair?” We must decide if man is more just than God. If we don’t believe God is fair, we’ll never trust Him and more than likely, we have been indoctrinated by religion or by Luciferianism. Isaiah 30:18 says, The Lord is a God of justice, and one of the things God says about His goodness is that He is just. Once Jesus becomes the focal point of interpretation of God, we will be overwhelmed at how good God is.

It doesn’t matter where we start—what matters is the day we start over. God wants us to know what to expect from Him. Even if sin has hardened our heart, the moment we come to our senses we will remember the goodness of God and experience His tender mercies. No matter where we have been or how many mistakes we have made, our hope will be restored. God has paid an incredible price for us to have the best life imaginable. He has spent all of creation stooping down and reaching people in trouble, drawing them to Himself and His purposes and Divine life. We can say to God, “Today my eyes are open; I’m turning my heart to you and I accept your forgiveness and restoration; I have not believed it, but I am now.”

God gets the wrap for being mean and hateful, but the truth is that generation after generation He shows love and compassion to people. When God began to declare His name or His goodness to Moses, He started with compassion. In other words, God is filled with loving sympathy for human frailty, does not put people into situations of temptation, and eases the punishment of the guilty. The word “compassionate” is a concept of what happens in the heart of the person receiving compassion. But there is also this concept of compassion happening in the heart of the person who IS compassionate. God as being compassionate, based on the Hebrew word, means “to bend or to stoop in kindness to an inferior, to bestow favor, to implore, in other words, to call that person back to you.”

If we believed what religion told us, it would be impossible to believe that God is fair and just. Most Christians struggle with whether God is fair. If we say that God allowed something we are saying He could have stopped it but He didn’t. Religion teaches that killing our relative was the only way God could get to us and teach us something. But would we go to someone who arranged for the destruction of a loved one for comfort or grief counseling? We won’t go to the person bringing pain in our life to find solutions. We will hold a grudge against God or get angry with Him. Job 35:2 says, “Can a mortal be more righteous than God?"

Clearly, the Bible shows that society and culture influence us, but we are not to solve problems the way modern society dictates. Socialization is an important biblical principle to living in victory and making life work for us. But we are being socialized or programmed by messages developed into society that go against the Word of God. Jesus said to take His yoke, which is His Lordship and His interpretation and translation of the Word of God. We will then have the best God has to offer without selling out to the world.

The glory of God is the view, the reality, the opinion as God sees it. God has a view. His view is real. Our view is distorted by our emotions, limited understanding, and corrupt beliefs of the heart. I want to live in God’s reality; anything less than that is not God’s glory. So, if I want to live in His reality, but I am falling short of the glory of God, it means I am failing to perceive how good He is. The truth is that we already have everything that pertains to life and godliness. Quality of life is improved when we seek to harmonize or get in step with (walk in the spirit) with what God has already accomplished.

We won’t experience the goodness of God if we don’t believe the goodness of God! Just knowing about God is different than experiencing God with all of one’s capacity, according to the Greek word “know.” Scripture says, “Taste and see that the Lord is good” (Ps. 34:8). Believing is in a continuum with experiencing. When we experience the goodness of God, our level and capacity to believe expand greatly. We will be like Him because we will see God as He is, but we won’t see Him as He is until we see how incredibly good He is.

There is a secret to transformation that lasts because it doesn’t require effort. The more time we spend in the presence of God, the quicker transformation will occur. Anything that requires effort, one day we are going to get tired of doing! Transformation takes place because we believe and perceive God as He really is. And to the degree that we see God as He is and abide in His presence and harmonize ourselves with His love, there is a synchronization that happens. A download of power and life transforms us effortlessly and by knowing the truth, we will not limit this transformation.

Redefining words is one of the most subtle and powerful tactics for twisting the truth. Most argumentative questions come to us because people have an agenda and a desperate need to be right. They try to convince themselves what they believe is the truth even though it does not produce peace in their lives. We have the right Scripture but like the rich young ruler, we interpret it with our own definition of who our neighbor is. That is a deceptive word that corrupts, and we don’t even know it. Recognizing this will help reduce conflict and stress and remove confusion in understanding the Bible.

The life we settle for is not the normal Christian life; experiencing God’s promises should be our normal. How do we get there? Jesus located the real need in the rich young ruler's life through questions. We need to be sure when having conversations with someone or reading the Bible that we understand the meanings of the words spoken or the words read. Words can create either a positive or negative image of God. Our perception of God and self are often “less than.” Always read the Bible from this perspective: since this is true, what manner of person should I be? Then apply these truths to your life.

When faced with a negative situation, your first response determines the path you walk and the process you take to get out of that situation. Is your first reaction to ask, “Why is this happening to me?” No matter what hits you or where it comes from, you must navigate in a way not to lose your footing in the battle through hesitation or inaction. You want to have a readiness of mind and to guard your heart in the gospel of peace which means this is your first reaction. Speak the Word of God into a situation and wait for the peace of God that passes understanding. If Job had known what we know, he never would have gone through all that.

God wants us to have the best life possible, but we don’t know how to get there – is it my part or God's part? Join me this week and I will show you how to get there. On multiple levels, you are always creating the world around you for good or bad. God has already done His part by sending His Son and through His death, burial, and resurrection, has given us the New Covenant. Because of that covenant, you already have everything pertaining to life and godliness; your part is to do whatever it takes to believe in your heart about what Jesus accomplished, then make decisions and use your authority in every situation.

If you’ve found yourself in a ditch and don’t even know how you got there, watch this week’s CyberChurch teaching to gain perspective for getting out and never getting in another one! Sin always begins with a sense of lack. The deceitfulness of sin is the hardening of your heart. When you start down a road of compromise, you do not know the end of that road. No matter how small the compromise, hardness of heart begins immediately. This week I’ll share insights from Job’s life that can help you see how to steer your own life more effectively.

The Bible talks about the way of Balaam and the error of Balaam. Join me this week to understand the difference. Balaam was a prophet. He was hired by an enemy of Israel to pronounce a curse on them, but God had blessed His people Israel. If a curse was pronounced on them by God's prophet, that would make God a liar and therefore none of His word would be true. Job's friends believed God had cursed him and they are often quoted as theologically sound, but when God finally speaks He rebukes and corrects Job! Don't adopt the error of Balaam and believe that God has cursed anyone! He is only and always good!

Religion has wrongly condoned and often instigated the blaming of God for our tests and trials, but the Bible clearly states that God tempts no one! Join me this week for a better understanding of God’s interaction with satan and with Job. God cannot be tempted; therefore He was not drawn into a wager with satan about Job’s reaction under duress. God will not curse what He has blessed; therefore, He would not curse or remove the blessing He had poured into Job’s life. God has given us His names, His promises, and His Son as the live demonstration of His own character; and He has given us without revocation the choice to believe Him or not. Will you believe God’s report of Himself?

This statement is often quoted by Christians. Join me this week as I share its true context and if the answer is yes or no. Job is an historical book; it gives an accurate account of events and conversations that took place. It is very important to understand the difference between an account of history and what God actually says. Jesus was the Word made flesh; therefore, we must view every word of God through His life and teachings. If what we hear or believe cannot align with God’s names or the life, teachings, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, then we need to be teachable and allow God to help us understand in a new way.

Job is a book people often refer to when they blame God for their difficulty. Join me this week to examine some reasons we cannot logically do that. One of the ways God has revealed Himself to mankind is by His names. If He brought sickness and death into our lives to teach us, He would have a name that represented that; if He used torment to make us more spiritual, He would have a name defining that. No, God’s names are Healer, Deliverer, Provider! Everything good comes from Him! Criminals and Mafia control by fear with the threat of danger or injury. Is God no better than a criminal?

How can the God who heals you be the God who makes you sick? Join me this week as we look at the truth about Job. Most of what people quote about Job denies the names of God, denies the life and teachings of Jesus, and presents God as an author of confusion and chaos. He is NOT the author of confusion and chaos; Satan is! You can never have solid faith if you have contradictory beliefs about God. Let’s examine together this month what Job really said and what God said about what Job said.

Righteousness has to start from the heart. Join me this week to gain an important distinction between good behavior and true righteousness. The overall concept of righteousness is “as it should be.” No amount of good behavior can produce righteousness, because it has to originate in our heart. We experience life as it should be in our heart when we are first at peace with God. When we believe that He is for us and not against us; when we trust His love rather than expect His wrath; when we seek to know His ways we will develop a hunger and thirst to be like Him. This is righteousness produced in our heart which will bear fruit in our lives.