Tag Archives: Saints

Bring Out the True You

Bring Out the True You

What would happen when God brings out the true you? Let me take a look; oh boy, does it look really good and awesome in here.

You ARE light.

Ephesians 5:8 does not stutter or soft-pedal the timeline. “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light.” Past tense: darkness. Present tense: light. The verse is like a divine GPS that refuses to lie about your location and a permanent time-stamp upgrade that deleted the old files for good. That is why people are simply wrong—not merely off by a degree, but flat-out incorrect—when they keep confessing in the present, “I am a sinner… I am the worst of sinners.” According to the Word you are light right now. You were darkness once. The same clean break holds for sinner versus saint, darkness versus righteousness. You were once locked in the kingdom of Satan like a prisoner in a blacked-out dungeon. God has already conveyed you into the kingdom of the Son of His love, the doors behind you have slammed shut forever, and the transfer paperwork is already filed, stamped, and celebrated in heaven.

The faithless keep making this mistake because it keeps them sin-focused. Their consciousness stays glued to darkness, sin, and the enemy, no matter how many “God-centered” or “gospel-centered” banners they wave on the outside like cheap parade floats. It is like insisting on wearing the old muddy prison jumpsuit long after the King has already fitted you with royal robes and burned the jumpsuit, or playing the broken vinyl of guilt while the new album of righteousness is already streaming in high definition. As a man thinks in his heart, so is he. Hebrews 10 exposes the old law’s real failure: it was a constant reminder that cultivated a consciousness of sin—an endless guilt commercial that never stopped running, a dripping faucet that kept the whole house awake all night. Day and night their thoughts, even the subconscious ones, circled how sinful they were like a broken record stuck on the worst track. That is what the law produced. In Christ the whole point is the opposite. You do not carry a consciousness of sin anymore—not even in the quiet corners of your mind. That old identity is past, gone, nailed to the cross and buried under three days of empty-tomb victory.

Now you deliberately cultivate a consciousness of how righteous you are, how full of light you are, how packed with God’s goodness, power, love, and every promise you are. Think of it as rewiring the mental hard drive so the Spirit’s truth becomes the default operating system, flipping the switch from a dusty basement of guilt to a sunlit throne room of favor. When that runs through your mind—even while you sleep, when the nighttime theater used to play the old horror flick—the Holy Spirit is right there saying yes like a proud coach on the sidelines. Because those thoughts line up with the Word, He engraves them deeper, renews your mind, and transforms you. You become what you think by the power of the Spirit.

Thinking “I am a sinner, I am darkness” is not spiritual humility. It is an open invitation, a foothold handed straight to the demonic realm—like leaving the back door unlocked, putting out a welcome mat, and hanging a neon “Demons Welcome” sign. The Bible warns us not to give the devil a place, and that is precisely what a sin-consciousness does. It lets the enemy reinforce the lie until your actions start matching the confession, turning you into an unwilling actor in a script he wrote. Let’s not be faithless. Stop starring in the endless rerun of your pre-cross horror flick. The credits have rolled. The lights are on. You are the light. Walk in the light. You are righteousness. You are full of goodness, full of God’s love, full of the promises of God. Saints, you are the righteousness of God now and forever—so quit the old movie and start living the bright sequel God already filmed.

Bringing out the TRUE YOU.

That bright sequel is exactly what it means to bring out the true you. The true you is not some hidden, struggling, half-saved version still waiting for a future upgrade. The true you is the light you already are. To bring out the true you is to bring out light, righteousness, the mind of Christ, goodness, and the material blessings that flow from the finished work of Jesus. Joel Osteen once said, “God’s not trying to take something from you; He’s trying to get something to you. He wants to bring out the true you. The true you is more blessed, more fulfilled, more successful, more peaceful than you can imagine.” I do not endorse everything Osteen teaches, and the phrasing may not be the most technical or precise way to state the doctrine. Yet the statement itself is perfectly fine. There is nothing truly wrong with it. In fact, saying the doctrine this way is good precisely because it exposes the faithless. They take issue with it the same way they take issue with any clear declaration that the finished atonement delivers present blessings. It is similar to the idea of moralizing. The Bible itself moralizes for the Christian, as Vincent Cheung points out in passages like James 5 and the prophets. The more technical term might be that Scripture teaches us to apply examples to ourselves, but “moralize” works just fine. The same is true here. It is fine to say that when God brings out the true you, He brings out righteousness and blessing.

The faithless push back hard against this. One of them, let’s call him Johnny Billy for convenience, objects that God’s sovereign will ultimately determines life or death, so “giving and taking away” can still mean God removes things you consider blessings that come through Christ’s work. He points to James 4, Peter, and Job, claiming it may not always be God’s will that we live tomorrow. This is obviously stupid. The same book of James says that if a doctor tells you that you have stage-five cancer and will die within days, the prayer of faith will raise the sick. James teaches that we can know what will happen tomorrow when faith is applied to the promises and finished work of Jesus. The same is true for the wisdom James mentions. Even death can be voided by faith. Hezekiah prayed and God gave him fifteen more years. Some passed death outright and went straight to heaven. Johnny Billy insists James is telling us we are still dependent on God’s sovereign will for these things, and that He can give or take them away. No. James says our wisdom for tomorrow and healing that escapes sickness or the death sickness would cause is dependent on our faith, not on some vague, unrevealed sovereign will that contradicts the promises.

As to the give-and-take language, God already did the giving and taking away in the finished atonement of Jesus. God took away our sins, sickness, curses, poverty, and lack and gave them to Jesus, who already suffered for them. And God has already given us righteousness, the blessing of Abraham, riches, healing, the position to use Jesus’ name and get whatever we want, and all spiritual blessings. God will not take away the righteousness He already gave through Jesus. God will not take away the healing He already gave by Jesus’ stripes. God will not take away the gospel of Abraham He already gave me through Jesus becoming my curse. Not only is God truth and logic, but He did these things and through the blood and death of Jesus made it a publicly revealed contract that He will do all the good things He accomplished through His Son to us. Thus it is impossible for God to take away my health when He is in a blood contract that says He will only give me the benefits of Jesus’ atonement, which is health and healing. The Bible tells us who makes us sick, and it is Satan. Sickness is the devil’s middle finger to the atonement of Jesus, and the faithless join in with Satan by flipping off the cross (Acts 10:38).

Johnny Billy also claims that many of the blessings that come with salvation in Christ are promised in the next life, not this one. A glorified body freed from sickness and death is paid for in the atonement, he says, but we are not promised that now and cannot claim a right to it now. This is the classic already-not-yet fallacy that Vincent Cheung has exposed. The Bible’s emphasis is what we have now, not later. The faithless emphasize the opposite. Jesus healing and healing and healing is to show what we have now, not later. Matthew 8:17 tying this into the atonement makes it doubly so. Johnny makes a category error with his term “glorified body.” It is correct that a glorified body will not experience sickness, but that has no logical or categorical relevance to being healed in this life. Since a glorified body cannot be healed—it is already perfect—healing can only categorically be applied to this life. Since healing is in the atonement (Isaiah 53:4-5, Matthew 8:17) and direct promises guarantee healing on the demand of faith (James 5:15), then our unglorified bodies now are promised health and healing on faith.

Johnny Billy notes that Osteen almost certainly means material gain, emotional happiness, and physical health. This is good. Why is that a problem when the atonement not only included forgiveness but Jesus taking my poverty to give me His wealth, and taking my sickness to give me healing? Why do the faithless like Christians to suffer so much? Because they are the ones helping them to suffer. They are the ones who persecute the ones teaching the gospel and then say the gospel causes persecution.

Beyond the negative critique is the point Osteen makes that is right on the money. We are the light now, not later. We are righteous now, not later. We are the mind of Christ now, not later. We are goodness now, not later. We are lovely now, not later. We have all spiritual blessings now, not later. Our inner man was created in the knowledge of Christ when God caused us to be born from above. We have an incorruptible seed in our inner man right now. Thus, to bring out my inner self is to bring out righteousness, goodness, the mind of Christ, an incorruptible inner man already made in the knowledge of Christ. This is me right now. If this is not you right now, you are not saved and are going to burn in hell forever.

The whole point of water baptism is to demonstrate in ritual that the old man is dead and gone. The sinner Oshea is past tense. The righteous Oshea is present tense. At the end of the day the only mind that matters is God’s mind. The only reason I needed to be saved from sins is because in the mind of God He held a record of sins I committed. It does not matter if I acknowledged this record in God’s mind or not. If God thinks it is true, then it is. But the knife cuts both ways. In God’s mind right now, present tense, He only sees a record of perfection and a God-level rightness on my list. God’s thoughts about me are the only thoughts about me that matter and are true. I am righteous because God thinks I am His righteousness. Faith is agreeing with God.

“God, I agree with You. You think I am God’s righteousness, and so I am. You are correct. You think I am light, goodness, and perfect. I agree with You. You are correct. Thank You for giving me Your one and only Son to save me and make this my new reality. You are so good and so loving to me. Thank You.”

In the passage where Paul says we have the mind of Christ, it says the Spirit is in us to show us all the freely given good things God has given us. The finished atonement of Christ is a total salvation for all of life, both spiritual and material. Thus, for God to bring out the true us would mean to bring out how righteous I truly am, as much as how healthy I am, and how rich I am in Christ. I have rivers of living water in me; thus, to bring out the true me would be to bring out rivers of living water out of me. I have the Spirit; thus, to bring out the true me is to bring out the Spirit of God who anoints us to heal the sick, resurrect the dead, and preach the gospel to the poor. To bring out the true me is to bring out the Spirit who alone knows God. I have the blessing of Abraham; I have God as my exceedingly great reward, which in context is mostly about material blessings. Thus, to bring out the true me is to bring out exceedingly great material blessings.

You are the light. The true you is light. Walk in it. Let the Spirit bring out rivers. Let the finished work produce the health, the wealth, the power, the righteousness that already belongs to you. Agree with God’s mind. The old files are deleted. The new operating system is running. Live as the children of light you already are.

Send Freedom To The Oppressed

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me,
Because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor.
He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives,
And recovery of sight to the blind,
To set free those who are oppressed,”
(Luke 4:18 LSB)

“You know of Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him,”
(Acts 10:38 LSB).

“On a Sabbath Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues, 11 and a woman was there who had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not straighten up at all. 12 When Jesus saw her, he called her forward and said to her, “Woman, you are set free from your infirmity.” 13 Then he put his hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and praised God.
15 The Lord answered him, “You hypocrites! Doesn’t each of you on the Sabbath untie your ox or donkey from the stall and lead it out to give it water? 16 Then should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years, be set free on the Sabbath day from what bound her?”
(Luke 13:10-16 NIV).

“Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.
“Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven,”
(Matthew 18: 18-19 NIV).

Jesus isn’t just here for the spiritualized allegories; He’s the ultimate freedom fighter, breaking chains of demonic oppression like it’s his day job. He’s passed on that Spirit-powered liberation toolkit to us.

It’s all fun and theological games when you read the words, apply basic reading comprehension, follow the rules of logic, and let the Bible interpret itself… until you bump into a doctrine you don’t like. Suddenly, there’s a line in the sand. Will you be faithful to let the Bible be your only first principle of knowledge and authority, or will you swap it out for some human concoction of observations? Will you atone for the Bible’s so-called “mistake” of its radical faith doctrine by sacrificing it on the altar of your own observations and sensations? When Christians do this, they’re being religious, but not in the good “fear of God” way. It’s more like a religion, a sacrifice, and a doctrine straight from central casting for demonic doctrines.

In Luke 4, Jesus reads from Isaiah, applying it to Himself. He says the Spirit of God has anointed Him to proclaim the good news. Then He adds He’s anointed to proclaim freedom to captives and sight for the blind. Notice the pause in the “proclaiming” parade, where Jesus shifts gears to say He’s anointed to set free, or “send freedom” to the “oppressed.”

Although some Christians love to spiritualize and allegorize the Bible as if they were a Buddhist drunk on the blood of mystics, we’re going to fear God and stick to what’s actually written. The beauty of spiritualizing the Bible is you control the narrative, bending definitions like playdough when you don’t like what you read. You might argue, “Works are works, grace is grace, and these categories are set in stone,” but your tune suddenly changes when its not about your pet doctrines. Then, suddenly, everything’s up for reinterpretation. They can’t heal the sick, and their prayers might as well be on mute when they pray; therefore, they rewrite the Bible in their image, making prayer outcomes as unpredictable as a coin toss. They make the bible a reflection of their own image.

What does Jesus mean by being anointed to set free the oppressed? Are we to spiritualize this too? If Jesus says He’s anointed to proclaim the good news, does that mean He’s just sending out spiritual vibes? No way. When He talks about giving sight to the blind, He means actual, physical healing, not some metaphorical eye-opening. The repeated examples make this as clear as day; to claim otherwise is like saying your brain’s still loading from the ’90s dial-up era.

Our focus is on Jesus saying He’s anointed to “set free the oppressed.” Not just to “proclaim” freedom, but to actively do the freeing. To keep letting the Bible interpret itself, let’s look at where Jesus sets the oppressed free. The most direct wording comes from Peter in Acts 10:38, where he says Jesus was Spirit-anointed, by the Father, for this exact mission. It’s likely Peter is thinking of Isaiah 61 and remembers Jesus’ calming of it, because they resemble each other so much. However, instead of “set free the oppressed,” he uses “healing” for “oppressed.”

The Bible teaches that sending freedom by the Spirit heals those made sick by demonic power. Peter sums up that all the sick Jesus healed were under demonic oppression, not merely cursed from Adam’s fall. Luke 13 gives a direct example of Jesus, anointed by the Spirit, healing a woman oppressed by Satan for 18 years. She had a physical defect caused by demons. Jesus called her a daughter of Abraham, indicating her election, as He does not call all Jews children of Abraham. Despite her status as one of God’s elect, Satan oppressed her with sickness for many years, making her bow and look at her feet in torment.

Jesus was not there to “use signs to confirm His ministry,” but to fulfill an old promise to Abraham. These are two different categories. He said it was necessary, for a daughter of Abraham to be healed on the Sabbath. The sabbath, was the day that God provides. Thus, is not merely a sufficient reason, but a necessary reason that God provides healing for the children of Abraham on the Sabbath. He promised to bless Abraham and his children, and this included supernatural health and healing. This is obvious from what God promised Abraham and the context. And Jesus affirms that healing must be given to Abrahams children. 

The specific word Jesus used was “bound,” and “set free.” Jesus was anointed to set free the oppressed. He found a lady bound by demonic sickness and so Jesus set her free. Notice, Jesus did not preach to her about healing, or other aspects of the gospel. Rather, he went straight to her and commanded the healing, “Woman, you are set free from your infirmity.” This is exactly what Jesus said. He was anointed to set the oppressed free. Not to merely proclaim it, but to do the freeing Himself.

Peter, in his Pentecost sermon, explains that Jesus was promised the right to pour out the Spirit for power as a reward for His atonement and resurrection. This Spirit baptism is for missional power, distinct from inward sanctification. The Book of Acts shows this empowerment through speaking in tongues, healing, visions, prophecies, and other miracles. Jesus was the forerunner, anointing us with the same Spirit. We are to preach the gospel and free the oppressed, as seen when Peter healed a cripple. His statement would get him kicked out of many churches for stealing God’s glory and not acknowledging God’s sovereignty. Peter does not preach, but commands, saying, “What I have, I give, in Jesus’ Name, Walk.”

The man, like the woman, was “bound” by demonic oppression through demonic power. Words are not enough for their situation. Preaching will not cut it. These oppressed people’s only hope is unstoppable power. We have greater power. And faith is the only way to get it. Jesus and Peter, loosed them from their torments. Jesus said we would do these things, saying, “whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”

In the context of Matthew 18, forgiveness is mentioned, but so is faith to ask for and receive anything. Matthew 16 also discusses this, where Jesus promises to build His church on Peter’s declaration of Him as the Son of God, stating that the gates of hell will not prevail against this confession. In this context He says, “what you lock I will lock, and what you unlock I will unlock.” This suggests a broad application for this conferred authority, which Jesus gave to us who confess He is the Son of God. It’s an all-encompassing power. It is the same faith used for salvation, healing, moving mountains, expanding His kingdom, forgiveness, and asking for our desires. Consider using faith to receive wealth for funding gospel work. Not only did you unlock a financial door here on earth, but by sowing this back into God’s work you have unlocked treasure for yourself in heaven. Faith opens doors on earth, in heaven, and beyond; it’s the master key. Jesus teaches to give to Caesar what is “his,” and if you command a mountain to move with faith, it will obey “you.” You cast out demons, free souls, and what you loose on earth will be loosed in the next life.

Now, for us, the baton’s passed. Jesus promised the Holy Spirit for power, not just for personal holiness but for mission work, as seen in Acts with miracles galore. Peter, taking after Jesus, healed a cripple just by commanding it. He said, “What I have, I give, in Jesus’ Name, Walk.” We are commissioned with the same power and authority to do the same. We don’t need to beg God for it. It’s a packaged deal with the finished atonement of Jesus. You already got it. If you need to be baptized in the Spirit, then ask by faith and receive.

Unless your faith’s been stuck on dial-up, it’s time to log into the divine network and start freeing folks from their physical and spiritual shackles. Remember, in this game of faith, you’re not just playing; you’re meant to change the scoreboard.

[Grok 2025, personal. Helped with proofreading and a few witty summaries.]