Hey everybody, welcome to this month’s World Changer letter. This month, we will be going to a video World Changer letter and providing a written text if you want to take notes and study the information. This month’s message is crucial and will be something you can practice immediately.
To watch the video, simply click the video image below. If you prefer to read the text, scroll below the video to continue reading.
I want to talk to you about the most important decision you’ll ever make. I know you must be thinking, “Man, this just sounds like a scam or a promotional type thing,” but it’s not. I know the most important decision you will make, and I’m going to share that with you at the end of this message. I will show you how to become more effective at decision-making because, after all, decision-making is really at the heart of our faith. Our faith leads us to make decisions.
Not too long ago, I had a really serious life-threatening situation and ended up in the hospital. I was in the hospital for a couple of weeks. A problem that needed to be corrected just was not happening. So, my doctor said, if this doesn’t change by tomorrow, we will have to keep you in the hospital longer. We’ve got to solve this problem before we can move on or before we can let you go home.
After the doctor left, I didn’t brood about it. I didn’t get upset. I just pondered, thought about the Lord, and trusted. I wasn’t even really praying and saying, “Oh, God, God, God, give me an answer, give me an answer.” It was just in my heart. I was just trusting that God would lead me down the right path. Suddenly, just in the blink of an eye, I had the inspiration to change something that I was doing that the doctor told me I could do to help me be more comfortable and sleep a little bit better. I didn’t ask anybody. I just stopped doing it, and the following day, when they came in, there was such a dramatic change in my numbers that they sent me home.
That was amazing because, in the worst-case scenario, this could have cost me my life, and at best, it would have caused me to remain in the hospital, be away from my family, and go through all kinds of hardship. When these types of negative and difficult things happen, it can affect our trust in God. So, I want you to realize that in every situation we’re facing, we have the power to make the decisions that will change that situation. I’m talking about a power that is not just a natural thing. It’s not just about intelligence. It’s about the Word of God. It’s about making a way for the Spirit of God to work through us.
“…in every situation we’re facing, we have the power to make the decisions that will change that situation.”
We fail to understand that everything that ever happens in our lives happens because of our decisions. In other words, whether directly or indirectly, once we reach an age of responsibility when our parents or somebody else is no longer making decisions for us, we come to a place where everything that happens in our lives is the direct or indirect outcome of decisions that we’re going to make.
I don’t remember how many times the word faith is used in the New Testament. I believe it is only used twice in the Old Testament. Many people say, “Well, it’s because everything changed from the Old Testament to the New Testament.” No, it didn’t. God didn’t. The only thing that changed from the Old Testament to the New Testament is the Covenant that God made. All the principles of faith are the same whether you’re reading the Old Testament or the New Testament.
The one difference is that, in the New Covenant, we have a finished work through the Lord Jesus. Because we have a finished work, we have a basis for making every decision we ever need to make. We don’t have to call anybody. If we know the Bible, there’s really nothing we need to pray about. If we’ve studied our Bible, we will know what we need to do.
Throughout the Bible, whether the Old Testament or the New Testament, godly, responsible decision-making becomes the key to our quality of life. Until we are willing to make godly, responsible decisions, the truth is that God cannot work in our lives because He never violates our will.
For example, when you think about repentance, so many things that the Bible presents to us, people only relate to them in a religious formulated way. When you think about repentance, you tend to think about somebody going to an altar at church and begging God to forgive them. That is not at all what repentance is. When we repent, we simply decide to stop believing one thing and begin believing something else. That’s basically the heart of repentance. It’s really just making a decision. When we’re trying to bring peace and resolve issues in our lives, we’re renewing our minds. Renewing our minds is simply making a decision that ultimately will determine what we believe because we make decisions based on what we believe. By making those decisions, we reinforce what we believe.
People relate to what I’m about to say in ceremonial, religious-type ways and miss the whole point. One of the things that Jesus taught was the principle of binding and loosing. In Matthew 16, Jesus and the disciples are walking around the countryside and come to Mount Hermon. Interestingly, Mount Hermon is probably one of the most wicked places on the face of Planet Earth other than Babylon. It is believed that Mount Hermon is where the fallen angels crossed over from Heaven into Earth. All over Mount Hermon, there are altars erected to Baal.
Jesus is at the darkest place in the country, and He starts having a conversation with the disciples. So, He asks, “Who do you say the Son of Man is?” And Peter acknowledges Him as the Christ, the Son of the Living God. Jesus isn’t speaking only to Peter. He’s talking to anyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God. Matthew 16:19, “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on Earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on Earth will be loosed in heaven.”
“…the Kingdom of Heaven is when we are abiding in a realm wherein we experience all the blessings of Heaven. We can do that here on Planet Earth. We don’t have to wait until we die.”
When the Bible talks about the Kingdom of Heaven, it’s not talking about where you go after you die. The Kingdom of Heaven is a realm that we enter into now. Ultimately, we will go to Heaven, and Jesus will come to rule and reign on Planet Earth. But the Kingdom of Heaven is when we are abiding in a realm wherein we experience all the blessings of Heaven. We can do that here on Planet Earth. We don’t have to wait until we die.
The Amplified Bible provides a slightly expanded translation that’s very accurate to the original language. He says, “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind or declare to be improper or unlawful on Earth must be what is already bound in Heaven.” So, when something begins to happen in my life, I don’t resolve this problem just by going and finding a scripture and saying, “Oh, I’m going to claim this scripture.” I have to know how the scripture was resolved in heaven. Anything that Jesus conquered through His death, burial, and resurrection is unlawful in my life today. I have the keys to the kingdom, and the keys of the kingdom say that I can decide for myself based on the Word of God that if this is improper in heaven, then it’s improper in my life today.
He goes on to say, “Whatever you loose or declare to be lawful on Earth must be what is already loosed in Heaven.” So, if something’s happening in my life that shouldn’t be happening, I can declare it unlawful. Or if something should be happening in my life, I can declare it lawful in my life and speak it forth. I love Psalm 119:89. He says, “Forever, oh Lord, your word is settled in Heaven.” Everything that God did through the Lord Jesus Christ is settled in Heaven. There’s nothing to pray about, there’s nothing to think about, there’s nothing to talk God into, there’s nothing to try to get God to do. We just have to know and decide if we believe what God says about the finished work of the Lord Jesus in Heaven.
Job 22:28 is a scripture that spoke to me decades ago and really affected my thinking about the whole concept of making decisions. The Amplified Bible says, “You will also decide and decree a thing, and it will be established for you, and the light of God’s favor will shine upon your ways.” I’ve always known that we had to decree something. I understood that. I understood the concept of faith enough to realize that I have to use my authority, but I missed the whole concept of making a decision. In the New Covenant, because we have the finished work of Jesus, I can look at what He has done. And before I go to make this decree, speak to a situation, send it away, or demand that it depart from me, I can first look at what Jesus accomplished through His death, burial, and resurrection. And based on that, that’s where my absolute confidence comes from.
“No, you have no right in my life, or you’re not in my life. I need this in my life. I tell you to come into my life right now.” It’s deciding and decreeing. I want to help you learn how to make great decisions that will consistently come to pass. Usually, if we decide something and it’s not coming to pass, we think we need to get more faith. It doesn’t matter how much faith we work up if we believe the wrong things. If we can’t look at the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus and say, “This is what happened there,” then really, it’s almost nothing more than positive thinking. There’s nothing wrong with positive thinking. I love positive thinking. However, positive thinking and faith are not the same thing.
There are several reasons people struggle with making decisions. First, most people need to learn what was established in Heaven through the Lord Jesus Christ. I have a powerful series called Three Days That Changed the World. If you listen to many of my messages, you will find that I always teach people to base everything they believe on the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. That which is true in the Bible only comes to fruition when we believe it based on what happened on the cross, what happened in the grave, and what happened through the resurrection. That is the Gospel. And if you don’t have all three of those components, then you might know some of the good things that we have that you can declare legal, but you might not know what has been bound/done away with that you can declare to be illegal in your life.
Second, which is so predominant, is that religion has created or presented a concept of God that makes Him seem fickle. It makes it appear that He can change His mind at any time. He can’t. God does not make a decision and then change His mind. God does not establish a truth and then say, “You know what? I’m not going to do that.” The Apostle Paul wrote, in 2 Timothy 2:13, that even when we are unfaithful, God remains faithful. So, I might struggle and flounder and go through some stuff, but God doesn’t walk away. He doesn’t change His mind about the promises of God for me. And when I return to my senses and turn to God with my whole heart, I can then step into and experience His faithfulness.
Third, we don’t believe God’s Word is absolute. As we just read, God’s word is forever settled in Heaven. If you want a great Bible study about the Word of God, read Psalm 119. It will open your eyes to all of the characteristics and dimensions of the Word of God that will change your world.
Fourth, we usually think that we’ve got to wait for God to do His will or to make the decision for us. The absolute truth is that He made the decision on the cross of Christ. God made every decision relating to us. He said in Galatians 3:13, “You are redeemed from the curse of the law.” 2 Corinthians 1:20, “All the promises that God’s ever made are ‘yes’ and ‘amen’ for you in Jesus.” Colossians 1:12 says, “You’re qualified for this inheritance because you’re in Jesus.” So, all of these things have already been accomplished. There’s nothing left for God to decide concerning those things. You say, “Well, then what would I pray about?” It’s according to how you define prayer. But you know what? Since we’re not trying to figure out what God’s will is, I can look at Jesus’ finished work and see the will of God. All of my interactions with God are about Him teaching me, giving me comfort, Him working in my life. It’s never about me trying to determine God’s will. He clearly established His Will at the Cross of Christ. So, if you think you’re waiting on God, you are fooling yourself.
On a more practical side, when deciding on a life plan or something, we think we need to know the entire plan before we act or take the first step. We don’t need to know the entire plan. As a matter of fact, the concept of the mystery of the Kingdom of God is that we get God’s plan in segments. God gives us the word, and we know all about eternity that’s coming. He gives us the big picture. But seeing and grasping that big picture has to do with what we’re experiencing in our hearts.
When we see a truth in our hearts and realize it is ours, we need to begin walking in it. We need to start making decisions based on it. We don’t have to know all the steps because the mystery says you should take the one you know right now. That’s the whole concept behind the mystery of the Kingdom of God. We have the misconception that if we know the entire plan, we can trust the plan, which means we don’t trust the one who gives us the plan. If the Lord is my shepherd and He’s going to lead me in a path of righteousness, I don’t have to know the path because I know the person and follow the person who does know the path. We want to trust the One who has the plan, not just trust the plan.
So, what is the most important decision you’ll ever make? It will sound like I baited and switched you, but the real truth is that the most important decision you will ever make is the one you make right now. The most important step you have to take is the step you take right now. You do not need to concern yourself with any step beyond the step you’re taking right now.
“You do not need to concern yourself with any step beyond the step you’re taking right now.”
I have closed millions of dollars worth of business deals just because I got inspiration from God. I knew it was within the boundaries of what Jesus finished through His death, burial, and resurrection, but I wouldn’t have the whole plan.
A lender once tried to steal $4 million worth of our property, which I had paid down to around $900,000. I spoke with an ex-employee of the lending agency and he told me I was right. He said, “They’re coming after your property. They’ll add new requirements every month, costing you a fortune.”
So, I’m like, “Okay, God, what do I do?” I’ll never forget the Lord impressing me to talk to a local businessman who buys up property. But he buys it at 50 cents on the dollar. So, the most he would pay me would be $450,000. I thought, “Man, I’m going to lose $450,000.” But see, that was the step God was giving me right then.
I agreed to that step and went to talk to this man. While sitting there talking to him, he told me what he’d pay me for our property – $450,000. I asked, “Will you finance the other $450,000 I owe the lending establishment?” He agreed. So, he paid me the $450,000 and bought the mortgage for the remaining $450,000.
I had no idea what was going to happen next. I realized that when people saw we were managing our debt responsibly and reducing our debt, they stepped up without me having to do anything and began contributing to paying off all of our property debts. We did that primarily so that we could put all the finances that came in into ministry.
I love Jeremiah 6:16. I call it standing at the crossroads. It says, “Thus saith the Lord: stand ye in the way, and see, and ask for the old path, where is the good way, and walk therein. And you shall find rest to your souls.” Interestingly, the word ‘ways’ is like the word ‘path.’ So, when you’re standing at the crossroads where there are two ways you can go, and you’re trying to sort out this decision, the old way, the established way, is based on the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. Make your decision based on that, and you will find ‘the good way.’ You will find the way where you have rest. You will find the next step to take.
I hope you enjoyed it and that it helps you. My goal is to send out a free message like this every month. I hope it encourages you.
I’d like to ask you to consider helping us reach the entire world. We are launching Bible schools in prisons and churches all over the world so that we can raise up disciples who become leaders who will reach their city.
The day is very quickly coming when we can no longer travel around the world and preach the Gospel. I’m telling you, this is coming to an end. I don’t know if you saw it, but a federal judge recently made it against the law or declared it against the law to pray in public in America. Hopefully, that will get overturned. But my point is that it’s getting harder to take the Gospel to the world. So, we are putting our efforts into training pastors and leaders around the world to reach their cities.
I want to equip you to make incredible decisions. I want you to see how easy it is to make life-changing, powerful decisions. Really, you’re moving in faith. But the problem is that if you use the word “faith,” immediately, your mind goes to everything you’ve learned about faith in the last 50 or 60 years, which is not completely wrong, but it’s pretty off-base.
We will do this in our World Changer letter for as long as I feel that is God’s direction. I want to invest in you monthly. I usually give you a World Changer letter chock-full of things that will help you. But I want you to know how much I appreciate every prayer you pray and every dime you give to help us change the way the world sees God. You may ask, Jim, why is your motto changing the way the world sees God? Because Isaiah 54 says that the problem with the world is that people don’t see God as He is. The day will come when the Gospel of Peace will be preached, and we will see God as He is. Then we’ll say, “How lovely on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news.” All I can say is, “Thank you so much for laboring with me and all our world changers to change how the world sees God.” Feel free to share this video with anybody you want – anybody you think it will help and bless.
I will be talking to you again real soon. Don’t forget to join me in CyberChurch every Thursday when I release a new message, free of charge, that you can share with anybody you want, use for home Bible studies, or however you want to use it.
We will begin adding a few testimonies to this. I want you to hear more about what is happening through your giving, and we will make that possible in some way.
Blessings to you. I’ll talk to you again soon.
Dr. Jim Richards
DrJim@drjimrichards.com
P.S. Please enjoy these testimonies:
Three Days that Changed the World was one of the teachings that brought about the most incredible changes in my and my wife’s lives! It corrected so many wrong, unscriptural views of what Jesus accomplished on the cross. We believe that it is a requirement for a proper understanding of who Jesus is and why His death, burial, and resurrection are the “too good to be true” news! Get it…now!
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I just finished Three Days That Changed the World, and it is awesome. I never knew a lot of the things Dr. Richards taught. Every believer needs to hear this.
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I am so thankful for Three Days that Changed the World. I purchased the MP3 version three days ago and have been listening to it every day. It has not only changed the way I see Jesus, but it has also strengthened my faith.
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Thank you for sharing the gospel via the internet. I just started listening to your teaching on prayer, and your teaching on Faith was awesome!
God Bless You Abundantly!
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God Bless you for making this wonderful series available to us! Your teachings are life-changing from the word of God!
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These are powerful teachings. Thank you for sharing them with us, Jim, and Impact ministries. I have put into practice what I’ve learned from you, and it really works.
Thank you for helping us…
Change the Way the World Sees God!