Peggy Joyce Ruth

Proverbs 21:2 says. "Every way of a man is right in his own eyes; but Jehovah weighs the heart." When we don't intentionally seek God, we end up justifying our own actions. David justified not going to war in the Old Testament, just as many times we justify not doing spiritual warfare under the New Covenant. God wants to show us the things we don't see about ourselves. If we cry to God and have a heart that is after Him, He will show us our blind spots so we can repent and turn completely from them.

How do we partner with God to bring His Word and will into reality? Sickness came on the earth by man's choice to sin. God created everything perfect in the Garden of Eden, and He now desires our lives to be completely redeemed, but it is not automatic. Through the blood of Jesus every part of our redemption has to be accepted and fully received. God is never sending the sickness or tragedy. He is always working to redeem us from it.

Healing is a part of our covenant with God. We must be intentional in taking in the promises in the Word on healing. In Matthew 8:2-3, Jesus sets a precedent in the Word regarding healing. A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, "Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.” Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Immediately, he was cleansed of his leprosy. Because of Jesus' word, we know biblically that God wants and is willing to heal us.

What does the Word say on healing? For starters, the word Salvation means: health, healing, deliverance, protection, and provision. God's salvation offers us everything we will need in this life and in the life to come. The Word of God can be either a preventive medicine or a cure, depending on what we need at the time. When we need to work with God for the Word of God to become part of who we are.

When we were born again, our old sin nature died and was buried with Christ. Baptism is a picture of us being resurrected into newness in Christ. So when we are born again, we are resurrected in Christ. We are no longer a singular person. We are put in Jesus. So every good thing in Christ has been made available to us. We need to come to the place where we believe we are a new creation in Christ Jesus to truly be able to overcome sin.

How do we turn loose of fear and the world's thinking, and securely grab hold of God's promises? We must become like a child. We cannot approach Psalm 91 or the promises of God from adulthood. We are not to become childish but childlike. As adults, we wrestle with the knowledge of good and evil because of Adam and Eve's choice to sin, but to receive only from the Tree of Life, we must again become like children.

One of our priorities as Believers is to destroy the works of the devil. In 1 John 3:8 it says, "The Son of God came to destroy the works of the devil," and then in 1 John 4:17, it says, "In this world we are to be like Jesus." Now we cannot destroy the devil in our own reasoning or strength. We must remember we are in a spiritual battle, and it takes the spiritual weapons Jesus has given us to overcome. When the battle is won in the spirit, circumstances will change in the natural.

The world believes that intellectual knowledge is power, but that is part of Satan's plan to get us to worship our mind and intellect. Satanism, the New Age, and even "normal" worldly thinking teach some form of mind control. But it is not God's way. The Holy Spirit is meant to be in charge of our lives and our mind.

Are you aware of the call of God on your life? Every Christian has a full-time ministry in the Kingdom of God. Some know they have a calling and step into it too soon, and others are in the middle of their training, unaware they have been called. But God has a training process He wants us to go through before we can walk in the anointing.

Guilt is a weapon that comes against Christians. It is the subconscious need to be punished. When we have repented and put our sins under the blood of Jesus, God has forgotten our sins, but many times we have not. Guilt is not the conviction of the Holy Spirit. It is not a burden God wants us to bear.

So many people go through life thinking they don't have a choice, "whatever will happen, and there is nothing you can do about it." But with God, this is not true. We have been given a choice. In Deuteronomy 30:19, God says, "I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live." Life and God's abundant life are not out of reach. God is giving us life, but we don't receive it by default; we must make a decision to choose life for ourselves.

It is easy to forget what is most important. Truly, everything in our Christian life flows from our relationship with God. We don't want to take for granted the gift of having a personal relationship with God. Knowing God and praying is a two-way street, and there is no substitute for time alone with God. The closeness of drawing near to God is the source for everything good in life.

There is a creative power in your words. Our words partner with God's Word or the enemy's chatter. Our words not only impact our own lives but also the lives of our family and friends around us. We must learn the authority our words carry so God can use them to change people's lives for the better.

Don't get into fear when you hear the word predestination in the Bible. Everything God has planned for our lives is good, but we do reap what we sow. There is good news: God has not "sovereignly" willed bad or evil for our lives. He is always working to bring good, but our own choices dictate whether we partner with God's plan for our lives.

What falls under God's sovereignty? And what falls under man's free will? This is a question worth answering. There is so much confusion in the body of Christ around this subject, but the Word clearly has the answer.

Many churches only teach about salvation and going to heaven, but that leaves us ill-prepared for the battle we face here on earth. God is training us in the same way parents train their children to prepare them for life. If we listen, we will realize God is preparing us for what we will face next. He is giving us the power to overcome the battles against the enemy. God is preparing us to overcome in the end days.

The biggest step in walking out of manipulation is recognizing when we do it. And the best way to not be manipulated is to recognize when we are being manipulated. Both come from places we don't see God as our source, and places we do not fully have our identity worked out. Manipulation never happens when there a trust in God.

Everyone has been through the pain of being used and manipulated. The places we manipulate are the places we don't see God as our source, places where fear and unbelief are still being allowed to operate. We must not be the ones operating in manipulation, nor can we allow others to manipulate us.

We are all in a spiritual battle. It is vital to remember that God has set us up to win every battle, but we must receive and operate in God's resurrection power and walk in His spiritual armor. In our own strength, we cannot defeat the enemy's principalities and powers. We will have victory when we learn to walk in the strength of God's might with His armor.

Understanding the Old Covenant is the foundation for the New Covenant we have with God. The Bible can seem overwhelmingly complicated and hard to grasp, but truly, there is an order to how the different books have been laid out. This teaching will give you a general overview and understanding of the Old Testament.

The scary thing about deception is that when you are deceived, you don't know you are deceived. If we want to know the truth badly enough, God will pull us out of the lies step by step. Deception says, "I'm right!" With no heart to hear or learn anything. Deception is the blind spot, but truth is the spot remover. We all need truth from God's Word and truth spoken by close friends who can see our blind spots.

Joy is the Lord's strength for these chaotic times. Joy is not an emotion; it is a character trait of God. Learn how to stay in the joy God has given you.

There are many different ways to hear God's voice. God does speak audibly at times but there are other ways that are usually more common. Sometimes, we can be so stuck on hearing God's voice audibly that we are missing how He is speaking to us. Don't put God in a box. He has many ways He wants to speak to us.

Have you trained yourself to know what is coming from the voice of God and the enemy? We must learn to adjust our hearing from listening in natural to listening in the Spirit. There are some secrets to learning to focus and position ourselves correctly while we are learning to discern God's voice.

Please listen to this teaching as many times as it takes to start truly overcoming the enemy and getting his schemes underneath your feet. It is vital that believers learn to walk in their God-given authority. God put mankind in authority over the earth, but we handed it over to Satan in the garden. Now, through what Jesus did on the cross, we have been given authority over satan, sin, sickness, self, and situations.

Prayer should be fun. It should not be ritualistic. Prayer is a conversation with our heavenly Father, who loves us. Just like we enjoy having long talks with our friends or earthly parents, we can have an even greater enjoyment in our relationship with God.

Jesus is different than every other religion. Every other religion's principles could exist without their founders, but Christianity could not exist without Jesus. Christianity is not simply a doctrine; it is a person. It is more than rules; it is a marriage with Jesus that changes us from the inside out.

Our battle is not won by fighting in our own flesh and blood strength but by fighting the enemy in God's strength. Even though we are fighting in God's strength, it is still OUR struggle. It is OUR warfare, and we must learn how to fight and overcome the enemy. If we don't know we are fighting with principalities and powers, we are already losing. Until the power of Satan is broken, there are different strongholds over individuals, homes, churches, communities, regions, and nations. According to 2 Corinthians 10:5, it is OUR job to pull down strongholds that exalt themselves above the knowledge of God.

Self-pity is a magnet that draws bad things to you. It keeps you immobile, always looking inward and rarely toward God. When God didn’t approve of Cain’s offering, he got into self-pity instead of asking God where he was wrong. He continued down the road of self-pity and then self-destruction.

Are you recognizing the generational curses in your life and family line? Many believers do not see their problems as generational curses. They do not realize that God has given them the authority to break curses that have been passed down. The good news is that God has redeemed us from the curse and wants to move us into His blessings.

When we let offense set in our hearts, it can become deadly. How you handle opportunities to be offended will determine whether you grow or not spiritually. Offense can trip us up, cause us to stumble, and ultimately entice us into sin. Offense is something we need to get rid of completely. Ask the Lord if there is any area where you have been offended, and then repent to the Lord until you feel that area is cleared up.

Do you really believe that God is for you? What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? -Romans 8:31-32. God is not a man that He should lie. His Words are true, but we have a choice to either take God's Words to heart or the enemy's.

It is so very important for us to know the character of God. Do you know how your heavenly Father acts? Do you know God's character well enough to know when someone says something wrong about Him? When we blame or get disappointed with God for things that are coming from the enemy, we open a door that is very hard to close. But thankfully, now we are under a better covenant where we can see the true character of God and shut the doors open to the enemy.

It is so very important for us to know the character of God. Do you know how your heavenly Father acts? Do you know God's character well enough to know when someone says something wrong about Him? When we blame or get disappointed with God for things that are coming from the enemy, we open a door that is very hard to close. But thankfully, now we are under a better covenant where we can see the true character of God and shut the doors open to the enemy.

Faith builder! Within every testimony of what God has done is the power to do it again. If God has done a miracle for one person then you can be sure He will do it for you!

It is so very important for us to know the character of God. Do you know how your heavenly Father acts? Do you know God's character well enough to know when someone says something wrong about Him? When we blame or get disappointed with God for things that are coming from the enemy, we open a door that is very hard to close. But thankfully, now we are under a better covenant where we can see the true character of God and shut the doors open to the enemy.

No matter the attack, don't stop on what God has assigned you to build. God will do the heavy lifting if we submit to Him and His plan. But it is important to remember that even God's plans come under attack from the enemy. There are attitudes (the enemy) and actions (from people) that will come against us when we begin God's work. We must stay on the wall and keep building!

Gift-giving has been a Christmas tradition since the wise men brought gifts to Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. Every gift and everything we find in the Word has a physical and a spiritual application.

We are being programmed consciously and unconsciously by culture and media to believe we are victims. The enemy wants to classify you as a victim. It is part of his plan to destroy us, but God never created victims. He created overcomers.

God wants to speak to us. He is working to develop a deep knowing in us, but when we look at and take in the wrong things, we miss His voice. There is no limit to what God would show us, but we limit ourselves by how much we receive from Him. We are the deciding vote on whether we take in God's light or the darkness.

People often think they cannot hear God's voice because they are looking to hear an audible voice. But God speaks in a different way than we are accustomed to in the natural. John 10 says that we know His voice. Developing a sense of "knowing" is the key to truly hearing God's voice.

Are you taking time to make your thanksgiving personal to God? It is easy to go through the motions and give thanks, but in His Word, God instructs us to give thanks to God. One of the most valuable things we can give God is our thanksgiving, it is a way we can give back to God what He has given us.

Do you know our Thanksgiving Heritage in America? Jamestown and Plymouth were both early settlements. One town was only after gold and greed, and they paid the price. The other was sent on a mission by God and considered Him in everything they did. God blessed them every step of the way.

How do you tell the difference between the flesh and demons? Flesh is self or self-will. When we reason away following God's Word or elevate our opinions above His Word, that is flesh. Did you know the deeds of the flesh amount to idol worship? Colossians 3:5 says, "Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry." We must learn to cut off the flesh; it attracts the demonic realm to our lives.

In the Old Testament, circumcision was physical, but in the New Testament, God circumcises our hearts. Our flesh is anything that thinks or acts independently from God. Even though we are born again, we can still choose to live in the flesh. It's not until we have the flesh cut away that we can love God fully with all of our heart, mind, and strength.

Many believers are unknowingly involved in witchcraft, but God is calling us out of witchcraft and idolatry. Being ignorant of what God's Word says about the occult is not an excuse. We must partner with God to root out all occult practices from our lives.

Do you not want to pray because you feel your prayers are not being answered? That is not how God intended it; He designed our prayer life to be fun. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results. -James 5:16. If prayer always produces a wonderful result, we will always want to pray. That is the place God wants to get us to.

The world is desperately looking for peace. People think that if they had enough money, they would find it. If they could keep their minds entertained, they would have peace. Or if they had a meaningful relationship, they would find peace. Everyone is looking for a safe place for peace, but the truth is that Peace was already given to us 2000 years ago.

Jesus said "Be of good cheer. I have overcome the world." -John 16:33. If we are to be like Jesus, we are to be overcomers in this life. Satan is the god of this world, and we must learn to overcome all of his schemes and assignments. And at the root of all the enemy's schemes is fear. No matter what you are facing, it can always be traced back to fear.

Jesus said that it was to our advantage that He left the earth because the Holy Spirit was coming but many times we forget the Holy Spirit is the third person in the Trinity. The Holy Spirit is a power force on the inside of us that we get to know as our friend. He is a wind that moves us, leads us, and empowers us to do God's Works on the earth.