Ridiculously in Charge

Imagine waking up tomorrow morning and being handed a choice between two very different worlds. In the first, the devil is either invisible or invincible, God is somehow disappointed with you, and you are mostly a victim of whatever the day throws at you. In the second, the devil is a defeated loser, God is a good and loving Father, and you are a son or daughter of the kingdom who is ridiculously in charge.

Here is the surprising part. Both worlds are on offer every single day. And which one you actually live in has far less to do with your circumstances than you think, and far more to do with your mind.

For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say "No" to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope.

Titus 2:11-14 (NIV)

This is where grace has been carrying us. The law could never save you. It demanded one hundred percent perfection, it could never be kept with the right motive, and it could never change you on the inside. Grace does what the law could not do.

But the grace that saves you does not hand you a license to sin. It hands you a new heart. It quietly rewrites the golden rule. You no longer simply do as you would like to be done by. You begin to do as has already been done to you.

The message that changed the world

What God has done for you is what saves you. Remember the woman who said even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from the master's table? What God has already done is the whole meal. It is also what moves you, because now you are motivated by love and not by fear of the law.

And what God has done ushers you into a new dimension of living. You start to live your ordinary days knowing that the devil is a defeated foe, God is a good and loving Father, and you are a prince or princess of the kingdom.

From that time on Jesus began to preach, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near."

Matthew 4:17 (NIV)

When Jesus said the kingdom had come near, He was announcing that a new dimension of living, the very dimension of God, was now available to you. And if you choose to live from that dimension, you can have a profound impact on this one, the earth you walk on every day.

But to walk there, you have to change your mind. You have to change how you see things. Every time you read the words in Him, in Jesus, in the Spirit, in faith, this is what is being pointed at. It is the kingdom of heaven, and it is open to you today.

What repentance really means

The word repent means much more than being sorry for your sins and promising not to do them again. It literally means to change the way you think, to change your view, to change your mind.

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

Romans 12:1-2 (NKJV)

To repent is to stop believing a lie. And there are three lies you have to lay down: a lie about the devil, a lie about God, and a lie about yourself.

Change your mind about the devil

In the world most people live in, the devil is either a superstition you can laugh off or the most powerful force in the universe, someone to be terrified of. Neither is true. In the kingdom, where everything has been set right, the devil is a complete loser.

Colossians tells us Jesus disarmed the powers and made a public spectacle of them. First John says the Son of God appeared to destroy the works of the devil. James says to submit to God, resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Peter warns you to stay alert, yes, but the enemy only appears to be a roaring lion. He is more like the Wizard of Oz, a loud voice hiding a small, exposed fraud.

Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.

Colossians 2:15 (NKJV)

One of the oldest lies is that God is behind everything the devil does. Read the Old Testament with care and you will see men crediting God for things God never sent. But the enemy is a thief who comes to steal, kill, and destroy. God brings salvation; the devil brings destruction. On this point you cannot afford to be confused.

Change your mind about God

God is your Father. God loves you. God is always in a good mood. He does not suddenly turn cold based on what you did or did not do this week. When you read the Old Testament, remember that every Old Testament saint had an incomplete, sometimes even mistaken, view of God.

No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.

John 1:18 (NIV)

God told Moses that even Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob did not fully know Him. Moses himself once said, "I do not know you." So please lay down the fear that you must have perfect theology before God will accept you. Accurate ideas about God are a gift, but they were never the price of being loved by Him. Knowledge puffs up; love builds up.

The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word.

Hebrews 1:1-3 (NIV)

Jesus is the true and complete picture of God. If you want to know what the Father is like, look at Jesus. He is not out to get you. He is out to rescue you.

Change your mind about yourself

This is the one that changes everything. In this kingdom, in this in Him dimension, you are completely free. You are not a victim being acted upon. You are a free person whom the Father has put ridiculously in charge.

So do not let anyone take you captive by making you try to earn what you already have. That you cannot yet see something in the natural does not mean you do not have it. If you speak and think and act only from what your eyes report, you are living in the flesh, and you leave yourself open to control and manipulation.

I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.

Matthew 16:19 (NIV)

Whatever you allow will be allowed. That is how much authority your Father has handed you. And notice what this means: God Himself is not trying to control you. He wants your service to come from the inside, because you want to give it, not because you were forced from the outside. When a person is truly free to do whatever they want, they finally reveal who they really are. This is exactly why one of the fruits grace grows in you is self-control.

Now live like it

This is the message that changed the world. The devil is defeated. God is on your side as your Father. And you are now ridiculously in charge. Whom the Son sets free is free indeed.

You are no longer a victim. You are a powerful person with a clear identity, a world changer, the answer the world is looking for. So begin today. Wake up tomorrow and refuse the old world. Choose to live from the kingdom, thank your Father, and walk out the door as someone He has already put in charge.