Several years ago the Holy Spirit began to lead me to train myself to respond in faith in each situation I encounter in life.

Now, am I claiming that I respond perfectly in faith all the time? Of course not. Am I claiming that I perfectly understand everything that goes on in life. No way.

I’m just sharing my story with the hope that you will receive encouragement for your own life.

You may or may not know that God radically changed my life 1,790 days ago…but who’s counting. Meeeeeee!

The most important thing He changed is the way I perceived Him and the way I perceived His Word – the Bible. I now read and understand the Bible through the lens of grace. Or another way to say it is I now read the Bible in light of Jesus’ finished work.

This has totally changed the way I see the Bible as opposed to how I used to read it with a law-based mentality.

As a result of beginning to see the Bible through the lens of the cross it became easier for me to apply this next verse to my life.

2 Corinthians 1:20 says,

20 For all of God’s promises have been fulfilled in Christ with a resounding “Yes!” And through Christ, our “Amen” (which means “Yes”) ascends to God for His glory. (NLT)

You see, one right belief, according to God’s Word, can lead to another and another and another!

If you want to know very specifically how the Holy Spirit has helped me change so much of my wrong believing to right believing I encourage you to get a copy of my book, I Tried Until I Almost Died. It’s not only my story of freedom, but shows you how you can live in freedom as well.

This reality show that I am now playing a part in – and you can too – is totally based on the promises in the Bible.

Here’s an example:

The devil likes to lie to me and tell me things like:

  • What if you have a car accident and die?
  • What if you have a heart attack and die?
  • What if you come face to face with a violent person and you die?

And on and on and on and on his list of lies go…

I know you know exactly what I’m talking about because you experience the same type of junk from the devil.

But several years ago I came across the following group of verses in Psalm 91 and especially got a revelation on verse 16 and I absolutely refuse to let it go.

Psalm 91:14-16 say,

14 
“Because he set his love on Me, therefore I will save him;
I will set him [securely] on high, because he knows My name [he confidently trusts and relies on Me, knowing I will never abandon him, no, never].
15 
“He will call upon Me, and I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble;
I will rescue him and honor him.
16 
“With a long life I will satisfy him
And I will let him see My salvation.”
 (AMP)

As a result of meditating on these verses, and especially verse 16, here’s how I’ve trained myself to respond in faith to the devil’s lies.

When he lies to me while I’m out driving and says, “What if you have a car accident and die?” I say, “I won’t.” I continue on, “Now that would be impossible wouldn’t it because God promises me in His Word that I will live a long life.”

Oh, I am so coppin’ an attitude right now while typing this. A bad attitude toward the devil and his lies and a good attitude toward the Word of God!

Furthermore, when he lies to me and tells me something is going to happen to one of my kids or my husband, I announce the very same things to him. “Absolutely not, I say, not only will I live a long, healthy life, but my entire family will.”

And our family talks about God’s promises regularly. My husband and I are teaching our girls how important it is that they believe God’s promises for themselves. We are teaching them that although we have a certain amount of authority over them and can speak God’s Word over their life, they need to believe His promises for themselves. We cannot do their believing for them. They have to choose what they are going to believe.

What if the devil lies to me and tells me I might have a heart attack and die? I respond, “Not happening!” In fact, I declare that I have a strong, healthy heart.” And I once again remind the devil that “it would literally be impossible for me to have a heart attack and die young and live a long life at the same time.”

But I can only be this bold if I also believe that God’s promises in the Bible are more real than my current reality. Not that I’m having heart trouble, but even if I was…

Does this mean I stick my head in the sand and deny reality all together. Nope. That’s not necessary.

Jesus did say this:

I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have [perfect] peace. In the world you have tribulation and distress and suffering, but be courageous [be confident, be undaunted, be filled with joy]; I have overcome the world.” [My conquest is accomplished, My victory abiding.] – John 16:33 (AMP)

Sadly, before I began to read the Bible through the lens of grace I focused more on the first part of this verse AND I wrongly believed back then that God gave me trouble to teach me lessons in life. But the Bible does not say that.

The fact is, we live in a fallen world and although we will encounter trouble, the good news is, Jesus has overcome the world! 

This is the best news for you if you have received Jesus as your Savior because that means Jesus, who has overcome the world, lives in you. This my friend, is the ultimate reality!

Romans 8:37 says, 

Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors and gain an overwhelming victory through Him who loved us [so much that He died for us]. (AMP)

Seriously, reading the Bible through the lens of grace is so thrilling. I feel like running around the city right now!

Ok, so what about this next lie from the devil?

What if he says:

“What if you come face to face with a violent person and you die?”

As I said before, you and I have to continue reading, studying and speaking forth these amazing promises in God’s Word so we get to the point where we develop a genuine heart belief that, as believers, His promises are our reality.

Yes, I have images flash in my mind from time to time of me coming face to face with a violent person and what could happen. It’s hard not to with everything you see on the news and on TV these days. And I am actually really careful about what I watch on TV and hardly ever watch the news. But when this happens to me I do not entertain these images and you shouldn’t either. I have learned to immediately see them as lies and denounce those lies right then and there.

I’ll think or say. “Oh no that will never happen to me or my family. In fact, a violent person will not so much as step a toenail on my property or in the vicinity where myself or my family is with the intent of harming us. Thank you Father that we are covered and protected by the blood of Jesus and no one will even have a desire to come close to us with the intent of harming us!”

I LITERALLY BELIEVE that whatever had to happen for God to remain faithful to His promise would happen because I believe so strongly what God has promised me in Psalm 91:16 – a long life. So that promise is the basis for my belief in this area.

I believe it and I receive it by faith and I encourage you to as well.

Believing this promise and all the other ones found in God’s Word has helped train me to respond in faith when these lies come. It’s a process for sure, but as we read, study and meditate on God’s word, we can grow stronger in basing our life on His amazing promises to us!

Honestly, I think I’ve come to the point where I feel the devil is almost doing me a favor by lying to me because I’m so convinced that he is a liar and in fact the father of lies as Jesus Himself said in John 8:44 that when he lies, I choose to believe the exact opposite of what he says.

The devil does not have the last laugh my friend. You and I do because we have the opportunity to believe and live according God’s promises and ALL of God’s promises have been fulfilled in Christ with a resounding “YES!”

All doesn’t mean some. All means ALL.

So go right ahead and cop an attitude – a bad attitude toward the devil and his lies and a good attitude toward God and the truth of His Word!

If you have not yet made Jesus your Savior and received the wonderful joy that His finished work on the cross has provided for you to live in, please visit my page here titled Jesus In The Driver’s Seat. On this page I explain the good news of the gospel and you will have the opportunity to pray a prayer of salvation, making Jesus your Savior! Jesus loves you and His arms are wide open!

Sandra McCollom

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