20. Live Inside-Out, Not Outside-In (Claim Your Freedom #2)

We tend to look at symptoms, but the Bible calls us to look at the root causes.

So, yes, Jesus said things like, “You’ll know them by their fruit…” That is, you’ll know what kind of people they really are by what manifests around them.

But, He reminds us that what you see on the outside- the fruit- is really an overflow of what’s going on beneath the surface.

John writes about this in 3 John 2. He prays prosperity and health for us (i.e., like the Blessing of Abraham). But, he says that those things directly correlate to how our soul is doing. In other words, our soul is the thermostat (not the thermometer). It controls the outside, the external…

Because of this, we have hope in this life, not just the life to come (see also 1 Corinthians 15:12-19 and Romans 6:6-11). In other words, total salvation starts now.