God, Who Are You? I Need To Know

GOD WHO ARE YOU?

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I NEED TO KNOW

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WRITTEN BY PHYLLIS COOK

COPYRIGHT

COPYRIGHT © 2021 PHYLLIS COOK

Revised Edition 2023

COPYRIGHT BIBLE VERSION INFORMATION

Scripture taken from these sources.

(NKJV) New King James Version

The New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Used by permission. All rights reserved.

(NIV) New International Version

THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

(NLT) New Living Translation

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, IL 60188. All rights reserved.

(KJV) King James Version

Scripture quotations marked (KJV) are taken from the King James Version and is listed as Public Domain.

All rights reserved! No part of this book may be reproduced in any way or form without permission of the author and publisher.

ISBN 979-8-98-53713-5-2

Contents

GOD WHO ARE YOU?

COPYRIGHT

AUTHOR’S COMMENT

INTRODUCTION

FREEDOM TO DREAM GREATER DREAMS

TRUE IDENTITY

HIS IMAGE

SEEING GOD

DWELLING PLACE AMONG HIS PEOPLE

A PROMISE FROM GOD

JUST THE RIGHT FIT

JESUS, THE DWELLING PLACE OF GOD

THE VOICE OF GOD

SNEAK PREVIEW

THE ACCUSER

JESUS DEFEATS TEMPTATION

THE ENEMY’S FEAR REVEALED

VALLEY OF DECISION

CROSSING THE BORDER?

THE PERFECT MAN

FINAL TEMPTATION ON THE CROSS

FORGIVENESS BREAKS THE CURSE

HE GAVE HIS BEST

A NEW BEGINNING

MIRACLES OF JESUS

LOVE COVERS A MULTITUED OF SIN

WE ARE HIS DWELLING PLACE

MARRIAGE NOT MADE IN HEAVEN

GIANTS IN THE LAND

MARRIAGE MADE IN HEAVEN

GOD, WHY GIVE THE TEN COMMANDMENTS, IF THEY KILL?

HIS IMAGE VS IDOLS

PUTTING AWAY FOREIGN GODS

THE IMAGE ON THE CROSS

KEEP YOUR EYES ON THE PRIZE

PURGING YOUR CONSCIENCE

FOR CONSCIENCE’S SAKE

MY TESTAMONY

OVERCOMING EVIL WITH GOOD

TAKE THE FULL ARMOR OF GOD

BAPTIZED, COME UP OUT OF THE WATER OR NOT

HE PAID THE PRICE

WHAT ABOUT MY BODY?

KEEPING OUR FAITH FIT THROUGH COMMUNION

THE SPIRIT PROMISE FOR ALL NATIONS

THE GIFTS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

HIS POWER LIVES ON

DOWNLOADING HIS SOFTWARE

JESUS, ARE YOU MY LORD AND MY GOD?

ENTERING HIS COURTS

LIVING BY GOD’S NEW LAW, THE COVENANT OF FAITH

TRUE KNOWLEDGE

LIVING SACRIFICE

GIVE AND IT SHALL BE GIVEN

SONS AND DAUGHTERS

1ST HISTORY OF THE FIRSTBORN RIGHT

2ND HISTORY OF THE FIRSTBORN RIGHT

CHOSEN

IF MY PEOPLE

THE REAL HERO

THE BREATH OF GOD GIVES LIFE

THE ANTIDOTE

ALL WORDS MATTER

OFFERING LOVE

FIGHT THE GOOD FIGHT OF FAITH

THE OFFERING OF THANKSGIVING IN EXCHANGE FOR MIRALCES

ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN

MY HEAVENLY FATHER

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

AUTHOR’S COMMENT

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son (John 3:16).

First of all, I want to say that I am very thankful that I have someone special in my life, who is here for me no matter what is going on, good or bad. I can trust him to keep me through all troubles, trials and temptations that may come up against me. We don’t live in a perfect world as of yet and we all face some kind of issues almost on a daily basis.

There are so many stories in the bible that help us to understand who God is, why he did the things that he did, and what he has planned for our future.

Throughout these lessons, I may go back and forth through the different stories to show their connection or relationship to one another. As I do, I try to add more depth to the stories as I go through each lesson.

I believe that the bible is the inspired, living word of God and he gave it to us to reveal himself. It has survived throughout history to assist us in knowing him even though he is invisible.

He promises that if we seek him, we can have a happy and eternal life now and in the forever! He may be invisible, but we can truly see and hear him in our own imagination, as we learn about him in his historical stories. As we put His-story all together like we would do with a jigsaw puzzle, we can see the whole picture more perfectly. Each lesson goes a little deeper to reveal who God is.

As part of my investigation, I wanted to know who God was, and how is it that he loved me and you. With some of the things that happened in the bible, I did not understand how God seemed so cruel at times and at other times full of mercy. But as I studied different stories, I realized my thoughts about him were somewhat distorted. After reading through some of the stories and asking God some question about why things happened the way they did, he gave me answers that made more sense. I found out that all the things that he has done are things that prove his love.

The spiritual environment around us is just as real as we are, and more so! We might as well get used to the idea, and that there will be a time when we will fully be a part of the invisible realm that we can’t see right now. It is better to learn about it now and be prepared. We can know without any doubt that there is something more to look forward to in the future that comes from the spiritual environment.

There is an invisible enemy that we can’t see. He wants us to be afraid or weirded out by supernatural and spiritual things, so that we will not seek God. He wants us to be so fearful of God that we will avoid him altogether. I have found that God is awesome and loving. I hope to reveal to you all that God, the Father and his Son went through to eliminate any fear you may have of him, as well as any fear brought on by the invisible spiritual enemy.

I am learning that everything God does has a purpose. He is revealing his plan to us through what we learn about Jesus. We have power to live forever because of Jesus! The whole book centers around Jesus, who is the answer to all life’s questions. He truly is the savior of the world and I want to prove it! I hope you will be blessed by some of my finding!

INTRODUCTION

Like a script playing out on stage, God has written out his dream plan and chooses us to live it out if we accept. It is an awesome plan that will be done to give us everlasting peace and joy. The more we seek out the truth about our existence, the more we gain an understanding or revelation of why we do exist and how to live out his plan for our lives to the fullest.

There are good and bad forces that work behind the scenes of our realm of existence that we can’t see. It is a realm were angels look into the affairs of mankind for our creator, while godless creatures work to wipe us out. Do you ever wonder why there is so much division and chaos in this world? We can see the good and the bad playing out all around us but can’t see where the influence is coming from.

Who are the real enemies against mankind and where did they come from? These enemies have been trying to discredit us before God as bad actors. And the bad guy in charge of them is Satan.

Find out who these enemies are, what their leader’s goal is, and why! It can revolutionize your life! His entities are the real bullies producing chaos and discord from behind the scenes of life. They can only accomplish any part of their agenda through the minds of people who accept their thoughts knowingly or unknowingly as their own. They twist the meaning of truth into a lie and call lies the truth. They are the real culprits that cause division between us all, through their deception and influence.

God’s presence has always been here all throughout history. He has given us his wisdom, his principles and promises through his written script, so that we can apply them to our own lives. When we diligently practice these truths, they can impart freedom, good health, success, and prosperity. All of heaven works together with us to make sure God’s word and will, his plan, is accomplished. You can’t possibly believe that God isn’t here after you read all about him in my lessons. The truth is, God has not only been here from the beginning, he has given us a star performer who has already secured our future and redeem us all, if we accept him.

A brief look into the following scientific subject matters of life itself can help us to understand some of the biblical writings that have been divinely reserved throughout all of time. They are: (a) the different levels of consciousness, (b) facts regarding the body, the blood and DNA (c) atoms, (d) the light spectrum, (e) the seasons of seed time and harvest time, and lastly (f) the survival of our own bodily and spiritual existence.

The bible tells us how God works behind the scenes on our behalf. It gives us history lessons on how others broke through barriers, defeated invisible enemies, and accomplished great things in their own lives and the lives of their loved ones because of their relationship with God! When we learn what God has done for others, we have a better tendency to believe in him for ourselves. It makes it easier to accept and believe in him as we familiarize ourselves with his words, feelings, and desires.

There are numerous stories in the bible that help us to understand who God is, why he did a lot of the things that he did, and what he has planned for the future. These lessons cover some of the stories.

We can learn so much about our wonderful creator, when we look at how he treated others. We can learn of his love when we see how he interacted with: Angels, Adam and his sons, Enoch, Noah, Job, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, David, Elisha, Peter and Paul the apostles, and the rest of the church. Not to mention his chosen women like: Eve, Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel and Leah, Tamar, Mary the mother of Jesus and Mary Magdalene. Every one of God’s stories are written so that we can believe in him.

We all need someone who has got our backs no matter what is going on in our lives, bad or good. We don’t have to face our difficulties alone! God does not want any one of us to perish. But the reality is that we have our own free will and there are some who choose to reject him.

We have access to all good things: love, Joy, peace, freedom, forgiveness, healing, and miracles. Hebrew 11:1 says, Faith is the substance of things hoped for, and the evidence of things not seen. Faith is the substance that brings together all the components needed to manifest God’s good will for us, when we believe and act on our God given right. We need to know what that right is!

I would not be here today, if it wasn’t for God. I know what it is like to be a victim of anxiety, depression, and fear because it almost destroyed my life.

I tell my story of how I was set free from unseen enemy forces tormenting my thought life. These forces kept me from living my best life with their mind-altering assaults of defeat. I had to learn how to disregard and stop the lies of the enemy forces from becoming a reality in my life by submitting my life to Jesus Christ and following his lead. I received back-up in resisting the bullying thoughts of enemy forces through the Holy Spirit, for he is here to help us.

Jesus, the Son of God, healed the sick, cast out devils, raised the dead and more! He said that he came to give us a more abundant life! It is not a coincidence that he was born of God, died during Passover, rose from the dead on the day of Firstfruits, and the promise of the Holy Spirit was sent on the day of Pentecost. Jesus was sent to dealt with the curse that came about through Adam.

He himself was the first to receive a glorified eternal body and he will never die again! He is the proof that there is life now and after death. He died and rose again, so that he could lead us into eternal glory to be with him, where there are no bullies, no pain, no sickness, no loneliness, no poverty and no more death!

There is no more curse for all who are in Christ Jesus. This means that we have access to the Kingdom of God and his blessings right here and now. God’s script says so! All good things are possible for us through God’s own Son, Jesus Christ!

God loves us and has got our backs if we let him!

FREEDOM TO DREAM GREATER DREAMS

LESSON 1

As children, we should have the freedom to dream big dreams for the future. As a child, I envisioned myself becoming a teacher and an artist. I also had a desire to see the world. I also dreamed of growing up and meeting my prince charming, my knight in shining armor, the one person who would sweep me off my feet. He would whisk me away to be with him and we would live happily ever after. We all want to live happily ever after.

We all need unconditional and complete love from someone we esteem higher than ourselves who can catch us if we fall. One who is always available when we need them for encouragement, love, attention, and protection. We need a love that is much deeper than what we can get from our parents, our spouses, our children, and our friends.

There are so many of us that have come from broken homes as children. Even some of our own parents have come out of some kind of difficulty in their own childhood. One’s trust (confidence, faith, and hope) can be crushed through unforgettable and traumatic events.

Jesus will never let us down! He is the answer to our completeness! The truth is, Jesus is the real prince of peace that expresses and reveals the love that we need. He loves us unconditionally no matter who we are, or what we have done in our lives. Jesus is this prince charming of my childhood dreams!

Sometimes I wonder why I was ever born, and what I am supposed to be doing with my own life. Is there a purpose for my existence? I want to get it right, don’t you?

We don’t immediately go to be with Jesus when we accept him, but he does come to us. He wants to love us and others through us. He wants us all to know that he loves us even though we are not perfect.

We all make mistakes and wrong choices in our journey through life. I make a lot of mistakes myself that affect others, as well as sabotage my own life. Then I wonder, what in the world am I doing to myself and others that I love so deeply? There have been times throughout my life when I would think back to the mistakes I had made and wished that I would have done things differently. There are times when the more I try to do my best in a situation, the harder it becomes. I am very thankful that God is a loving and forgiving God and he does not give up on any one of us. He wants us to go forward and create new and better life events as we learn from our past mistakes. There are scriptures that relate to exactly how it feels to make wrongful choices. Even some of the characters in the bible came up against roadblocks which hindered them from becoming the best that they could. But God got them through them all.

Paul, who was noted as a great leader in Christianity after Jesus had ascended up into heaven became the author of various books in the New Testament. In his books, which were actual letters written to different churches, he talked about having the same spiritual battles that we face every day. These battles are between good and evil. There is something and/or someone that gets in the way to hinder us from our best efforts. Here is what Paul wrote in a letter to the church in Rome.

Romans 7:15 (NKJV), For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do.

This scripture is quoted from the New King James Version (NKJV) of the bible. It is a little hard to follow what he is saying. There are so many other versions of the bible online. If you have a hard time understanding what something means in one version, you have the option of reading it from another. It might help to understand what is being said by reading the different versions.

The New Living Translation, which is another version of the bible, reads it this way. It says in (NLT), I don’t understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate.

Why do we do some things without thinking them through first? Or, we may have thought it through to the best of our knowledge before taking action, and things still did not turn out right. Where does this come from and why do we struggle with it?

Sometimes having more of the right information about a situation can help us make better decisions. We have to learn from our mistakes and use them to do better the next time.

The reason that we struggle with tough decisions and wrong thinking is because of what Adam and Eve did in the beginning of mankind’s existence, so let’s start there. God had told Adam that he could eat the fruit from all the trees that he created in the Garden of Eden, except from the tree of knowledge. It was a tree pertaining to good and evil and if he took from it, he would die. Then God made a woman for Adam and Adam called her name Eve. They both ate the forbidden fruit which leads to death and now death has been passed down throughout all generations. Since then, all of mankind has been constantly struggling with thoughts of good and evil, with sickness and disease, and ultimately facing death at some point.

In the book of Romans, where Paul said, I don’t understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate, he was admitting that he did not always win the battle of doing the right thing. He had the desire to do the right thing, but still struggled with something that was working against his own will to do good.

Romans 7:19 (NKJV), For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice.

Romans 7:20 (NKJV), Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who does it, but sin that dwells in me.

Paul is a Christian! Why would he say, "it is no longer I who does it, but it is sin that dwells in me, if he is a Christian?

It sounds like he blames his weakness on something bad or sinful that is in him, but not his actual self. He had recently been converted from the belief system of the Old Testament laws to the new laws of Christianity. He had always desired to please God in everything he did, but he also faced battles that were going on, in his mind. I don’t know exactly what he was referring to that he thought was so sinful in these verses, but whatever it was, he recognized that it was not part of his new Christ-like nature. It was a thought, deed or hindrance that he did not approve of. Instead of accepting it as a part of his new nature, he condemned it, not himself. He describes it as though it was a separate entity that he called sin. He did not let it overtake his feelings and put him under condemnation.

Before Paul (formerly called Saul) had become a believer in Jesus Christ, he had been a persecutor of the Christian church movement. He did believe in God, and thought it was in God’s best interest to stop this movement. He thought it was a cult so he went from town to town trying to stop them.

Acts 8:3 (NKJV), As for Saul, he made havoc of the church, entering every house, and dragging off men and women, committing them to prison.

Saul (who became Paul after his conversion) thought he was doing the right thing by protecting his religious beliefs about God, until the following happened that changed his life forever.

Acts 9:3-5 (NKJV), As he journeyed, he came near Damascus, and suddenly a light shone around him from heaven. Then he fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’ And he said, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ Then the Lord said, ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting....’

In this verse, Jesus himself confronted Saul and told him that the people he was persecuting were his people. From this experience, Saul asked for forgiveness and became a true believer in Jesus Christ. He dedicated the rest of his life to transforming others to the new Christ-like nature. He wanted to share his newfound experience with others. He was forgiven for all and any sins he had ever committed by accepting Jesus, the Son of God as his savior. He wanted others to know about Jesus and how they could be redeemed from their own sins too.

Romans 8:1-2 (NKJV), Paul said, There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.

After Saul was renamed Paul, he developed a strong faith. But he still had struggles, and so do we. Paul says to walk not after the flesh which means to not give into the corruptible nature and desires caused by mankind’s fall. Paul knows by experience that it can be hard to do so continuously, without making mistakes. We are not our own god. We did not make our own bodies or the world that we live in. As long as we live here on earth in our bodies, we are limited by our bodies. Like Paul, we should strive to do the best we can, even though we don’t always do.

It is not necessarily a bad thing that we are limited by our own bodies. We can’t see and hear everything going on around us with our eyes and ears. For example, we can’t see sound waves or some light rays, but we know that they exist.

There are spiritual forces that we can’t see or hear directly that are good and bad. We are somewhat protected by our bodies from being exposed to full-fledged evil that lurks in the spirit world. We can’t normally see them with our natural eyes. There are also angels sent by God who work behind the scenes in the spirit realm for the benefit of mankind. The bible says they battle for us against evil forces.

On our own, we are not experienced enough to take on these forces that can hurt us. On the other hand, we have a God in charge of it all. He is experienced in dealing with the bad and the good in this world and everywhere else. These spiritual forces that we can’t normally or physically see and hear can affect us through our thoughts.

Bad thoughts can come from spiritual forces at work that are separate from our own thoughts. The main character in charge of it all is called the devil. This enemy can pick a fight with us (through our thought life) in an attempt to stir up the wrong feelings. His spiritual influence can cause us to become stressed out, confused and unsure of our own ability to resist bad desires and thoughts. He wants us to except his thoughts as our own. For example, temptation is a real strong weapon of the enemy. Temptation can cause us to make bad decisions instead of doing the right thing. The enemy tries to use our minds as his battlefield, and if we don’t resist his persuasive thoughts, they can cause chaos in our lives.

The enemy has been around since before Adam and Eve, and he has had plenty of experience preying on human weakness. He knows our weakness can be manipulated through the five senses. For example, a bad habit can become a stronghold when doing it obsessively in order to satisfy selfish motives and desires. If we focus on something enough, it can become a habit. It may satisfy temporarily and then leave us wanting more. In some cases, it actually causes chemical reactions in the brain. It affects the whole body by giving withdrawal symptoms.

We were made by God to have desire toward him, and to have a loving relationship with him. Before the fall of Adam and Eve, the bible says that the Lord God came down to where they were and visited with them daily (Genesis 3:8). Things were perfect between them all. Their desire was all good toward each other, and they probably never question anything before. They had just assumed and trusted God about everything.

The devil, who worked through the serpent appealed to their five senses, in order to trick them into wanting something they thought they didn’t already have. He even twisted the truth about what God said into a lie. He told them that they would not die. He persuaded them to question and disregard what God had said. He caused them to sin (give offense) against God by feeding them thoughts that appealed to their senses. They listened, they saw, they touched and may have even smelled the fruit, and then they tasted. If the enemy would have never given them the suggestion, they would have not even thought about eating from the forbidden fruit tree.

When we do things that we think we shouldn’t, we then have feelings of condemnation. Then these feelings affect our future decisions. They cause us to think about or focus on thoughts like, I messed up. Why did I do such a stupid thing? I am worthless. I did it again. etc. Paul even said, Oh wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? in Romans 7:24-25 (NKJV).

He realized that we are far from perfect. If we dwell on negative things that we have done or that we do, we start to think that it is how we are. We accept it as our nature and identity. This in turn, keeps us stuck in that state of mind, and it affects our decisions the next time.

Throughout this study, we will find that we can be overcomers through what Jesus did for us all. When we study the man Jesus and how he gave his life, we find freedom from condemnation and unbelief. Once we learn and get it into our heads that we are loved by God, and are made righteous in his sight through Jesus Christ, our state of mind starts to change for the better.

We have to realize that there are spiritual forces that send thoughts our way. All thoughts do not necessarily originate from our own thoughts. Once we get this revelation, we have access to a new spiritual weapon of warfare through the armor of God. We can resist it instead of claiming it as our own.

The laws that the enemy uses against us to take us down are called the laws of Moses. They are also referred to as the laws of sin and death. It doesn’t matter if we know these laws for ourselves. The enemy keeps a record of all failures against God’s laws and tries to bring them to our attention. He first tempts us to do the wrong thing. Then he tries to give us self-condemning thoughts that we are a failure in the eyes of God. As we try to get it right the next time, he knocks us down by tempting us to do it all over again. His goal is to keep us practicing the wrong thing. He does not play the game fairly. He wants us to be stuck under his influence, and then he can control our thoughts to live a life of condemnation and defeat. If he can keep our focus on blaming ourselves, he can keep us from moving forward to do better things.

Once we realize that accepting Christ as our redeemer wipes out any penalty against us, we gain the upper hand. Satan has no ground to accuse us anymore, and his power over our lives is no longer in force.

If you don’t know your rights, how can you defend yourself? If you are in Christ, you are not under the law of sin and death, but under the law of grace, and grace is all good. You are living in freedom from unbelief and can create better dreams for the rest of your life.

Let’s say you have been practicing a bad habit, and then let’s turn that around and focus on learning a good habit. For example, if you want to become good at a sport like football or basketball, then you have to practice. If you never teach yourself what works for you, how can you get good enough to score. You may get lucky now and then, but not all the time. You work on getting your body and mind in alignment to be able to hit the target. You work on were to stand, the force that you have to propel the ball, and the position of how to hold the ball before you throw or kick it. You practice until you get it figured out. You are teaching and changing your mind and body coordination. You don’t stop there. You continue to practice.

There is nothing wrong with the word habit itself, which also means addiction. These words have gotten a bad rap. A definition of addiction is being dependent on a particular substance, thing, or activity. Ideas or suggestions can come from a good source or a bad source. Some of the other words for the word addiction are craving, compulsion, repetition, want, need, requirement or obsession. These words all affect and connect with feelings. Addiction can be anything you love to do or hate to do, but still do it. It depends on what you are addicted to. Is it good for you or is it bad for you? Does the addiction produce good or bad results? Does it pertain to life or death?

In this same chapter of the book of Romans 7:4-5, Paul talked about two kinds of fruitfulness. One was the (good) fruit of God and the other was the (evil) fruit that leads to death. How do we habitually or continually produce the good fruit or good life events?  This fruitfulness Paul writes about can be described as the results we expect to achieve by our actions.

The book of Galatians tells us what good fruit is.

Galatians 5:22-23 (NKJV), "...The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering (being tolerant of others), kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control."

Paul says, Against such there is no law!

The good fruit always produces an abundant harvest. Just as farmers inspect their crops to separate the good from the bad, their focus is on the food they want to produce. This is what Paul did with the good and the bad. He remembered that he was not under the law of condemnation, but under the new law of grace. In this way, he could continue to focus on the good and move forward.

After his conversion, he went through so much in his ministry. He was shipwrecked, robbed, imprisoned, bitten by a poisonous snake and many times without food and shelter. The bible tells us that when he was bitten by a poisonous snake, he just shook it off and had no harm. God saw him through it all.

Romans 8:10 (NIV), "But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness.

In Romans 7:24 (NKJV), when Paul had said, Oh wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?, he goes on to say in the next verse that he knows what to do about this inferior feeling of worthlessness. He said, "I thank God-through Jesus Christ our Lord!" He got his focus right back on who Jesus had made him to be, which is in the righteousness of God.

Paul the apostle of Jesus Christ was determined to do his best to do the right thing. He would not let earthly passions and difficulties imposed on him by others keep him from finishing his course. He was obsessed with pushing through toward his goal. He was addicted to completing his cause.

He speaks about his determination in the book of Acts.

Acts 20:24 (NKJV), But none of these things move me; nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus.

Paul had many miracles under his ministry, and he loved his work. To him, all the bad things that happened did not compare to the joy he felt in helping others. God used him to perform marvelous miracles for people who were suffering in one way or another. He healed people of crippling diseases and unclean spirits. And, he raised the dead! He won thousands to accepting Jesus as their savior. He had a purpose for his existence. He expressed God’s love to others by all the things he did for them.

One time, he and his traveling companion Silas were put in chains and imprisoned. They began to pray and sing songs of praise to God. As they were singing, the earth began to shake and their chains fell off, as well as the chains of all the other prisoners. It was a mighty demonstration of the power of God to set the captives free.

We have one chance to live this life. I want it to be the best that I could possibly have. My life is far from perfect, and I have made a lot of mistakes and still will. But I am not giving up and want to press through like Paul says in Philippians 3:13.

Philippians 3:13 (NKJV), One thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead.

There was a reason that Paul was determined and excited about reaching his goal. There was a prize at the end of his race. Don’t let your life be in vain. God has something in store for everyone who excepts his Son, Jesus.

You could think of this new lifestyle or way of living in Christ as being comparable to a sporting event of football or basketball. The idea is to cross the goal line or score points when throwing the ball into the target area. We have a star player and his name is Jesus.

Paul was determined to reach his goal and accumulate points (or victories) with as many souls as he could. Even in sports, mistakes are made. But you learn from them, you let them go, and move on. The whole point is to win. You will not loose with Jesus as your front-runner, your coach and your leader. The end of the bible tells us that he won the race already for us.

In Philippians 3:14 (NKJV) Paul said, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Someday, we will have perfect unflawed bodies. We will know and live in the perfect love, joy and peace as children of God forever. 1 John 3:2 says we shall be just like Jesus is right now. He is surrounded in the love of the Father and so will we. The prize at the end of our race is a life of peace, love and joy. It is accomplished by the nature and purpose of Jesus Christ, the perfect Son of God. So, run your race with your head held high!

TRUE IDENTITY

LESSON 2

In studying about God, I have come to realize something about the whole ordeal of why we struggle with life. It has made me down-right angry that we were made from a pure and loving God and yet have to fight our way through life to stay afloat. As a young adult I used to feel like