Dr. Jim Richards

Religion has created a sterile, non-feeling concept of God. The result is people tend to attempt to relate to God legally, through doctrine, instead of relationally. All God has ever wanted from mankind is a relationship. Nearly every word that describes our connection to God is either in the form of family or relationship in general. The Bible portrays a kind, loving God that has the capability of every emotion we have. The one difference is He is never led by His emotions. One of the most exciting things is, just like any love relationship, we can bring pleasure to God, so much so that He rejoices, sings, and dances over us! Join me this week and discover more about bringing pleasure to God.

So many events in the Bible have been translated to make God seem to be a hard taskmaster: quick to judge and punish, but slow to forgive and restore. This is just not true! The truth is God is slow to anger! Ps. 145:8-9 says it best, The Lord is gracious and full of compassion, Slow to anger and great in mercy. 9 The Lord is good to all, and His tender mercies are over all His works. We are the object of God’s affection; He longs for us to have the best life possible. Yet we run from Him because of what we believe about Him. Join me this week as we discuss the reality: we are the object of God’s affection!

When we came to Jesus we wanted more than church attendance and a bunch of rules. We wanted a relationship with the Almighty God; we wanted to know Him and His power; we wanted to be connected to Divine purpose! It’s amazing how all that passion and expectation can slowly diminish over the years. But it doesn’t have to decrease; in fact, it should increase as we walk with God. For most of us, religion took us off track. But your heart will come alive as you discover God’s passion to have a heart to heart connection with you, and just how easily that connection can be restored. Join me for Connecting to the Heart of God and begin to discover what you really wanted when you gave your life to Jesus!

There is a reason we call what Jesus did at the cross a finished work: it is because His part is finished. There isn’t one thing God needs to do, beyond what Jesus has already done, to provide us with all that pertains to life and godliness! Religion tells us we must wait to find out God’s will. But Jesus has already established God’s will. So no matter how it seems, we are never waiting on God! Faith is not based on what God will do in the future; it is based on what He has already done through Jesus. Join me this week and discover how to move beyond waiting on God and begin to harmonize with God!

The two events that shape nearly everything else we believe about God are: the creation of the universe, and the creation of man! Until we know, grasp, and believe all the factors of God’s nature that are inherent in these two major events we will have questions and conflicts about God’s character and nature! Join me this week and discover why these two events are so crucial to your faith!

One of the ways to know exactly what God will and will not do is to know the terms of the covenant! Our covenant is a binding contract between God and Jesus that clearly establishes our benefits, rights, and privileges. Mixing the Old and New Covenants may be one of the greatest causes for a lack of confidence in God! Join me this week and I’ll help you become steadfast in the New Covenant, sealed with the blood of Jesus. This can put an end to wavering in the face of pressure!

Unshakable faith doesn’t come by simply memorizing and quoting a lot of scriptures. Unshakable faith comes when we first discover who God really is: what His character is, what we can count on Him to do and not do. The person who knows the answers to these questions will never be moved! Religion tries to make God unknowable and contradictory. But nothing is further from the truth! One of Jesus’ primary goals was to show us God; to show us how to interpret and apply God’s Word! After all, knowing God as Jesus presented Him is the secret to experiencing eternal life! Join me this week and let’s make the journey to Developing Unshakable Faith!

Wavering is the place of torment where one minute you’re feeling that God has the answer for you and you’ll trust Him; then in the next minute you’re looking at the crisis and feel like you’ll be swallowed alive! This shifting back and forth is tormenting. Join me this week, and I’ll show you how to put an end to wavering!

In the Old Testament God told the children of Israel they weren’t getting blessed as good as He wanted them to be. He said He would have given them honey from the rock, but they only believed for water! (Ps 81:16) That is the state of every believer on earth today. None of us are experiencing life as good as God is offering! Like the children of Israel, we put limits on God. He is always offering more than we believe. Join me this week; I want to help you move past your boundaries and take the limits off God!

One of the most miserable places to be is in the gap between the promise of God and its manifestation - that place where it seems like God’s promises are not true. You know they’re true, but you just seem stuck in that horrible gap! This is where most people give up their faith in the promises of God. Join me this week and I will show you how to break out of that gap, where nothing is happening, and into the promises of God!

Have you ever felt condemned because someone said you didn’t have enough faith? Nearly everyone has felt that. But what’s worse is when you’re facing a challenge and you can’t get the breakthrough you need, then you start believing you don’t have enough faith. Since you had enough faith to get born again, you have enough faith for anything! Faith is a gift! You don’t need more faith; you simply need to activate the faith you have. Join me this week and learn the simple, Biblical process for bringing your faith to life!

Almost everything we know about spiritual warfare is reactionary, fear based, and most of it is not based on the victory of the Lord Jesus at the resurrection! Jesus modeled what our lives could be like if we truly understood Satan’s strategies, our authority, and how to use it. When we put our attention on the devil we take our eyes off Jesus; we stop moving in faith and begin moving in fear. The battle we are called to is the good fight of faith. This week I’ll show you how to fight your battles without ever focusing on the devil; I’ll show you what it means to fight the good fight of faith! End the fear and feel the faith!

In order to win over any opponent it is essential that we recognize his strategies. When we don’t see his strategies we are never in proactive mode. Ignorance keeps us blinded to reality; ignorance causes us to only recognize the attack after it has occurred. So many believers spend their entire lives in reactionary mode. They are always trying to recover and get back on their feet. Join me this week and you will learn how to always see every trap that is laid for you. Instead of always trying to recover, you’ll win the battle before it starts!

As a result of Jesus’ resurrection and Jesus’ complete victory over the devil, we have complete victory over the devil! Paul prayed that we would open our hearts to the revelation that the resurrection power that conquered sin, the grave, and all principality and power is the same power that works in us. This week I want to change your view of Satan. I want you to no longer see him before the cross; I want you to see what happened to him as a result of the cross. You’re going to see that he fears you more than you’ve ever feared him!

Renewing the mind is one of the essential components for putting on our new identity in Christ. The sense of that identity makes us capable of functioning in it and in all the victories we share with Christ. Renewing the mind is not just learning new information. It is about learning how to think, how to bring all the pieces together, so we understand. An essential part of putting on the mind of Christ is the willingness to interpret everything we believe in light of absolute truth. This week I want to share the absolute truth about satan. It might change everything you believe about him, and it might eradicate everything that makes you fear him!

If someone asked you, “Where do you stand in your view of the devil?” what would be your answer? Or if someone asked, “Are all of your views about Satan based on the New Covenant, or is it a mixture of Old and New Covenant?” how would you reply? Most of us don’t really know where we stand with the devil, as it pertains to our beliefs. Too often it’s a mixture of Old and New Covenant beliefs, a hodgepodge of scripture and superstition. The result is we do not know how to live in a definitive, absolute victory. If you’re ready for your entire struggle with the devil to end, join me this week!

We all find ourselves being pulled in a certain direction or toward certain emotions, temptations, or struggles. Or perhaps we just can’t understand the unseen power that holds us or pulls us in these destructive directions. Join me this week and learn to break free from the one power that can hold you where you are! It’s the last place we look, but the first place the Bible tells us to assess!

There is nothing worse than getting in a “stuck state,” i.e. one of those places that you just can’t seem to move beyond! We all have some stuck state, some area in our life that we have never been able to resolve. It may be finances, romance, fear, pain from the past, or any number of issues. This week I want to help you understand why you are stuck, and how you can easily move forward to the very best God has for you!

Most of the limitations in our life are a product of our self-perception. There are four primary sources of self-perception: how others view us, our personal performance, how God views us. The fourth source is the most destructive because it is a complete illusion, but it is the source upon which most rely: what I think you think about me! Join me this week and free yourself from the opinions of others and move yourself to the only reliable source of self-perception: what God thinks of me! This simple paradigm shift will free you from the control of others. It will bring you to a freedom in life that you may have never imagined!

How many times have you found yourself stuck in your relationship or some other area of life and simply could not find the answers you needed to move forward? In these times we desperately seek God to give us an answer. Too often we feel that He is not hearing and responding to our prayers, but little do we know that He has heard and answered. We don’t need for God to tell us something new; we need revelation knowledge about what He has given us in Christ. Join me this week and discover how simple it is to receive revelation knowledge! Revelation knowledge will take you beyond planning, scheming, and doing the best you can do. It is God’s wisdom for your circumstance!