God's Power to Change Your Life

supernatural boldness in the face of the opposition (v. 29). He did (v. 31).

No matter how dark a situation may be, God can turn it around. No matter how hopeless life seems, God brings hope. The same power that enabled Jesus Christ to rise from the dead allows us to rise above our problems.

When Jesus died, one of his last statements from the cross was, “It is finished” (John 19:30). That phrase consists of just one word in Greek, tetelestai, literally meaning “paid in full, canceled.” It was the word merchants wrote on bills when they were “paid in full,” and it was the word stamped on a document declaring that a prison sentence had been commuted. Jesus says this is what he did on the cross. He paid the price in full for every sin we have ever committed. Romans 8:1 tells us, “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” Jesus was crucified on the cross so that we could stop crucifying ourselves. He was hung up for our hang-ups. That’s good news!

“No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.”

Although we cannot always control them, we can control how we respond to them.

The most important thing in life is knowing Christ and experiencing the power of his resurrection.

If you are serious about changing your life, you are going to have to get into the Bible. You need to read it, study it, memorize it, meditate on it, and apply it.

No matter how dark a situation may be, God can turn it around. No matter how hopeless life seems, God brings hope. The same power that enabled Jesus Christ to rise from the dead allows us to rise above our problems

The question is, if God forgets a sin the moment we confess it, don’t you think we ought to forget it too? How long do you remember a bill you have paid? I forget my bills as soon as I have paid them. I don’t worry about last month’s electric bill. Likewise, since Christ has paid our bill in full, we don’t need to think about it anymore.

Jesus Christ knows the things we have done wrong, but he did not come to rub them in. He came to rub them out. He did not come to condemn us; he came to change us. A clean slate is possible! Think in terms of my son’s Etch A Sketch. If he makes a mess of a design or picture, all he has to do is flip it over to wipe the slate clean; then he can start all over again. The Bible says this is what God does with the mistakes we have made. When we come to him, he wipes the slate clean.
In Jeremiah 31:34 God says to the Israelites that he “will remember their sins no more.” This has to be one of the most amazing statements in the Bible — that the God who made the world “forgets.” When we come to him, admit our sins, and ask him to forgive us, he cancels our past. God chooses to forget our wrongs, our mistakes, our failures. That’s good news! Even if we were to die tonight and stand before God in heaven, we could ask him about some sin we committed yesterday, and he would say, “What sin?” He has canceled our past and set us free to get on with the present.
Why God Can Cancel Your Past
What is the basis of this forgiveness?
When Jesus died, one of his last statements from the cross was, “It is finished” (John 19:30). That phrase consists of just one word in Greek, tetelestai, literally meaning “paid in full, canceled.” It was the word merchants wrote on bills when