Dr. Jim Richards

Seeing God as He really is ends all problems with faith, peace, and relationship. The prophet Isaiah said that the failure to see God as He is causes people to blaspheme His name continually. People blame God for things because of what religion has taught them. But at some point we must decide if we will believe God’s revelation of Himself or religion’s deception! God is good and only good; when we see Him as He has chosen to reveal Himself, all we see of Him is lovable, trustworthy, and faithful. Join me this week with a short message about the problem with perception.

What would change if you thought someone was angry with you and then found out they stood up for you and even protected you when others meant to hurt you? The first thing that might change is the way you felt about that person. Not only did you find out they weren’t mad at you; you found out that they cared enough to fight for you! This is what happens when people discover how God really feels about them and what He has done for them! Join me this week for one of the most important revelations of your life. It could change everything you believe about God! It could open you up to an entirely new world of peace, faith, and joy!

The Bible warns of reaching a place where we are past feeling, sensing, and hearing the voice and presence of God in our heart. When that happens we think God isn’t speaking to us or leading us; it seems that He is never protecting us. Religion wants you to believe God has left you. But the truth is, any time we can’t sense or recognize God speaking and ministering to us in our heart we have reached that place of either not being able to hear or not willing to hear. But God never quits speaking or leading, even when we stop listening! He wants to lead us in paths of righteousness; beside still waters; in green, lush pastures; to a place of peace, protection, and provision. Join me this week and let’s talk about opening our heart to God in a way that we hear His every whisper and experience His every expression of love.

When the Bible says, “God so loved the world,” that is not the same type of love He expresses to those who love Him back. The Bible speaks of a relationship with God where He shares His secrets; He shows us things to come; He reveals His ways, and so much more! That’s not the relationship He has with everyone. It is the relationship He offers to everyone, but that is not the relationship everyone wants. The person who doesn’t open his or her heart to God can’t hear the intimate secrets God is attempting to express. As Jesus said, let him who has ears hear what the Spirit is saying. If we’re not hearing these wonderful realities that God seeks to share, it doesn’t mean He isn’t attempting to share them, it means we don’t have a heart to hear them! It’s like a committed, single man dating someone who is dropping hints about marriage; they’re just not into that. Join me this week and let’s discover more about moving into that intimate place where we always hear His voice, feel His love, and experience His leade

Anything we talk about but don’t actually experience soon becomes boring and uninteresting. In fact, something happens to us psychologically after we have talked about something for a time but not really experienced it; we convince ourselves that we actually tried it and it wasn’t that great! Many people talk about the love of God for years and then find themselves disillusioned, empty, and searching for things to satisfy their longing for His deep love. If asked why they walked away from God, they would say something like this, “I tried that God thing; it just wasn’t what I was looking for!” Those are always the words of someone who had the doctrine without the experience. Join me this week and begin the shift from talking about God’s love to experiencing it!

In a world filled with terrorism, and political and corporate corruption, Young people are giving themselves away sexually, women are spending millions on plastic surgery, men are body building and buying expensive cars, everyone wants to wear the latest, hottest clothes. Why? Everyone is trying to attract attention in hopes of finding love. Only God’s love can fill the deep void and hunger we have for a perfect love. Knowing and Feeling God’s perfect love is the solution for all that plagues our society. Join me this week and let’s discover how God’s love is the root of emotional stability!

In years gone by there was a total emphasis on our need to love God. Religion attempted to force us into feelings of love as if they could be worked up through some religious manipulation of our emotions. In recent years a new brand of religion has totally ignored the need for us to love God and put all the emphasis on God loving us. Both of these religious extremes ignore the fact that in a relationship both parties have to be in love! We love God because He first loved us. If we’re not deeply in love with God it indicates that while we may be able to quote scripture about love, we may have a well-constructed doctrine of love; but we are not, in fact, experiencing God’s love. If you’re ready to move beyond mere information and doctrine and to experience God’s love, join me this week for Experiencing Perfect Love.

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!