My beautiful husband, Chris Corbin, thank you for always believing in me. You have always encouraged me and supported me in all I dreamed of. I love you more than words can say. You are my best friend. I thank God every day for you in my life.

Mom, I love you, and I thank you for teaching me about Jesus from when I was very little, which is what saved me. I truly know that I finally cried out to the Father because of what you taught me when I was young. You planted all the seeds, priceless.

Katherine and Tom Ruonala, I want to thank you for guiding me in how to make this dream come true. Also, thank you for believing in me and supporting me through this. I am privileged to be under your leadership and planted in good soil at Glory City Church.

I want to thank Chris Wyman and Darya Crockett for editing, Yvonne Parks at PearCreative.ca for designing the bookcover and interior, and Charity Bradshaw for all the coaching to make this book happen.

Thank you to my amazing friends Chris Wyman, Diane Pretorius, Loren Jaremenko, Tracy Winn, Chantelle Wilks and Sharon Wilks for believing in me and always encouraging me during this book process. I could list a whole lot more. I am truly supported, and I thank you all.

My beautiful children, you two have my heart. Adon and Paige Corbin, again I thank God every day for giving you two to me; it’s a privilege to raise you both. My heart burns for you both. I love you.

Melissa Corbin is a warrior for Christ and loves deliverance ministry. Her heart burns to see people freed from strongholds of the enemy and no longer bullied by his lies. She is an author and a passionate speaker about her testimony and the Gospel that reveals our value.

Through her writing and speaking ministry, she shares the truth of God’s Word and the identity carried by His children, crushing every negative lie they believe about themselves. This is the very thing Jesus did for her. Step by step, this permanently changed Melissa’s negative thinking and self-image into what God says about her.

Today, she is filled with endless hope and joy, and her life is no longer defined by what the world says or what life throws at her. Melissa and her husband have two beautiful children and live in Brisbane, Australia.

Let me start this chapter with a short introduction explaining how this story began with my mother and father. My mother’s name is Trudy Jennifer Shepherd. She was born on a small island called Barbados in the Caribbean and raised on a plantation with her mother, father, three sisters and three brothers. Her father was a farmer who did well providing for his growing family.

My mother noticed from a young age that she was seeing signs of depression in herself, and as she got older, this depression started to take ahold of her, slowly becoming a downward spiral in her life. At age twenty-four, she travelled to Australia with her high school friend to explore—‘escaping from the island fever’, as she called it.

It was during this trip she met a handsome gentleman named Grant Alistair Williams who was from New Zealand. That’s when her life changed forever…

They started dating and eventually, with Mom becoming pregnant, they decided to marry before I came along, which was April 21, 1976 in Brisbane, Australia. They named me Melissa Lee Williams.

Mom and Dad just couldn’t get along, due to their constant fighting, as they were two very different people in every respect. Mom was a very gentle, quiet reserved lady, suffering with depression, which obviously clashed with Dad who was the complete opposite. He couldn’t keep still and always had to be the life of the party with his crude jokes, daily drinking and unpredictable shocking behaviour in public, which included fist fights with other men, to Mom’s horror.

It was very easy for Dad to lose his cool, as a man only had to look at him the wrong way before feeling an unexpected blow from my father’s quick fist. He suffered from uncontrollable anger that had stemmed from deep hurt due to his past life, which my mom never knew about fully at the time when they came together. Dad had this anger towards men, which stemmed from his very unhealthy relationship with his own father. Fighting to prove a point was his solution to everything. When you put two very broken people together, it will not work out, especially not without some divine intervention!

Due to their major differences, Mom left Australia, taking me when I was fourteen months old back to the support of her family in Barbados. Dad decided to follow her shortly after she returned to the warm, sandy island, hoping to make things work, but sadly it didn’t. Dad’s shocking behaviour and subsequent trouble with the law made it easy for Mom to finalise her decision, which eventually led to Dad leaving Barbados when I was two years old. He was no longer seen or heard from for many years.

For me, it was a rough journey that had many hurts and regrets, but eventually that bumpy road led me to Jesus. I love how God can take our mess, loving us just where we are as He transforms us from the inside out, turning our turmoil and tears into joy, and offering us an eternal life of peace with Him!

My life is now made complete with Jesus my Saviour. I have become excited about my future, with Jesus being my healer and best friend. I believe we all have a valuable story that can be used to help and inspire others. Everyone has a valid testimony. God made it very clear to me for many years that I was to write this book, and the thought of writing a book about my vulnerable moments scared me to my core, but what scared me even more was not obeying God’s call…

As you are about to read my life’s journey from my past leading up to now, you will notice that at the end of the chapters in this book, I have shared nuggets of truth as I know them now, truth that crushed the lies I used to believe about myself and God.

It is important to me that I elaborate on the truths I have learnt over the years, truths that changed me, in the hope these truths will help crush the lies that some people might believe about God the Father and themselves. This will show you how I applied these truths to my life, which transformed my mind into healthy Christlike thinking, that led me into living a joyful life filled with hope as I overcame the storms with Jesus by my side.

I have a heart and a passion for teaching truth and destroying the lies from hell. My heart burns for what the Father’s heart burns for, for the people all around the world, because every soul matters to our Father! I hope this book stirs you up for the One who burns for you and loves you more than any person can—Jesus. So, here’s my story of how I was rescued and redeemed by grace.

What is love? To me, love is a deep, pure affection towards someone and expecting nothing in return, no strings attached, with no expectations, just selfless pure love. Love motivates me to always try to see the good in a person, to see the gold that I believe is in every human. I believe this world is angry and hurting, as we can obviously see when we look at the news or even just around our communities. This is because people do not know how accepted and loved they are by the heavenly Father, and probably all they have ever known growing up was the opposite of pure love.

This reminds me so much about my father’s testimony, which I will share later on in the book. How can one love purely when they have never experienced what true love looks like? When they have never been told about the Father’s relentless love for them?

Love is always patient and kind; it encourages, protects, comforts those in sorrow, gives, listens and its mercy never runs out, always willing to forgive. Love never gets tired of doing good, and love does not do good in order to get something back in return. There is no love found in jealousy, and love actually takes delight and rejoices when someone beams with hope, joy and victory.

Love is never found in self-seeking. It never criticizes, isn’t easily angered, doesn’t condemn, never holds offence, nor does love play with bitterness. Love holds no records of wrong nor does it remind people of their mistakes. Love comes with no judgement, just loves people where they are, wanting the best for them, seeing their great worth and priceless value.

To me, love always will look like something. Whether it’s giving your time, a gift, a simple embrace, kind words or meeting people’s desperate needs. This love I have just expressed reminds me of someone. Someone who has always loved like this from the beginning and forever. Jesus. He doesn’t just love, He is love.

If my happiness was based on how many people loved me, I would be an unstable mess. But my joy comes from Jesus saying, “I am enough; I am all you need.” Now I can love freely with no expectations because my identity is in Him and Him alone.

Our journey began in 1977 when Mom and I arrived in Barbados to live with her parents on 881 acres of land. This plantation was called Drax Hall, which was located in the middle of this tiny island in the Caribbean. The house is over three hundred years old. I remember the huge old mahogany trees towering everywhere with the occasional green monkey perched on a branch. There were lush green gardens and endless dirt roads with fields on both sides of growing vegetables, but mainly the plantation was consumed with sugar canes.

During the day, all you heard was the chirping of birds, the tractors’ engines roaring by and the strange yet soothing sounds of the whistling frogs and crickets at night. The house was massive with thick concrete walls that were unpainted on the outside, leaving it with a rough grey look from the finishing of the cement.

As a young child, I was looked after by my mother, my grandparents and two uncles named Dirk and John. My mom’s other siblings either married or moved out on their own. These two brothers who lived with us were my mom’s youngest siblings out of the seven and couldn’t have been more opposite. John was a fair-haired, gentle blue-eyed man who had a passion for math and science, anything that challenged his mind. Whereas Dirk was a brown-eyed man more on the tough and rough side, loving his music, guitars and enjoying the attention of the beautiful ladies.

My mom’s mother was Beryl Shepherd, who I called Granny. It seemed like she was always in the kitchen from morning till evening cooking homemade meals for us to eat. The inviting smells leaking from the kitchen on a daily basis was irresistible.

My grandmother had eleven siblings, and her upbringing wasn’t an easy one. She had a rough childhood, as she told me many horrible stories of how her father used to beat her violently. Fear would grip her as she ran to her mother for safety; however, there wasn’t much her mom could do, as she too was silenced and stilled with fear. Her father dabbled a lot in the occult, and his actions for many years made his emotional stability very questionable.

Now my grandfather, Clarence Shepherd, who I called Papa, had nine siblings. His childhood also wasn’t easy. He endured some hard times with frequent verbal abuse and hard punishment from his mother. His father wasn’t in the picture much, and this can do a lot of emotional damage to a child. I know this pain also. It’s amazing how in most cases a father’s absence can negatively shape one’s life and their thinking.

My grandfather didn’t ever say much, as he was never a big talker, which I believe was due to his childhood upbringing. However, I admire him for not allowing his upbringing to stop him from being the hardworking man he was, always providing for his growing family. My grandparents were committed to raising every child the best they could despite the difficulties that came with looking after a large family in those times.

During the week, the employees worked every day Monday to Friday ploughing fields, planting and selling vegetables—the expected things you would see on an active plantation. I became friendly with the workers, especially the African ladies, occupying my days with them, mainly during school holidays. I was in awe of these tough women who perfectly balanced large woven baskets on their heads, bending over for hours, weeding or picking vegetables in the fields during the day in the unforgiving scorching Caribbean sun.

I remember often climbing up a ladder that took me to the top of an old nonfunctioning windmill to sit with the ladies during their lunch break. How I so enjoyed their company, as I was an only child. They noticed me and asked a lot of questions. They laughed with me and gave me their undivided attention, which is what I craved. When I left their presence, I felt important and noticed.

At the Drax Hall house, Granny hired a maid named Millie who came daily to tend to the cleaning and ironing, as the house was huge and Gran couldn’t manage it all by herself, especially due to her always being in the kitchen.

When the piles of clothes had to be ironed, Millie always did this upstairs, and I loved nothing more than sitting on the dark, cold wooden floor, looking up and watching her iron, hour after hour. She always listened and giggled at my childhood babble. I was drawn to these ladies who worked on the plantation either in the field or in the house. I felt acknowledged, basically by anyone who would give me the attention I so eagerly sought.

My grandfather was always busy overseeing and caring for the needs of the plantation. Even though there weren’t many words exchanged between Grandad and me, we had a special relationship. I was like his daughter, more so than a grandchild, as he took on the father role with me. Sometimes he would invite me to crawl into his favourite old recliner during the evening to watch golf. I snuggled beside him in silence as he drank his rum and Coke with his arm around me. It was hard for him to say I love you, show affection or anything that stirred emotions. You know what? I loved him just the way he was, and even with his few words, I knew he loved me.

As for Mom, she picked up on how lonely I felt and believed it was due to her deep depression. As much as she loved me, it was challenging for her to even interact, much less play fun games with me. She spent most of her days when she was at home lying in bed curled up and sleeping, as that was her greatest escape from life.

The enemy was trying to mould me from a very young age, telling me who I was NOT. His repetitive whispers were, ‘You are worthless. Look, even your father doesn’t want you. Are you forgetting that he left you? You are a burden to your mother. You will always be lonely and rejected. You’re a mistake’. Those were the first set of lies that were being fed to me by the enemy when I was little. Unfortunately, I swallowed and digested every poisonous one.

As the years rolled by, I believed those lies more and more as the enemy kept reinforcing them through circumstances that occurred, therefore becoming what seemed to be my reality and truth. I began to step into a false identity crisis because my value was measured by how people treated me and how much they said, ‘I love you’.

I believed I was unlovable. Is something wrong with me? Am I not worthy of being loved? Maybe that’s why Dad left me and Mom doesn’t spend time with me, I thought. This identity crisis is an awful place to be, and that was where I camped, listening to the stranger’s voice for many years because I didn’t yet know my Shepherd’s voice.

The enemy’s goal is to attack the belief system of every believer. In an identity crisis, we start to believe many negative things about ourselves as we come in agreement with what the enemy is saying about us, instead of agreeing with what God our loving Father is saying.

Dan Mohler once said: God isn’t concerned when the devil speaks; however, He is concerned when we believe his lies (paraphrased). When our happiness is dependent on other people to fulfill and complete us, that to me is a red flag. That way of thinking and believing is asking for many letdowns. If we put high expectations on people, our emotional lives will never be stable.

Think about it. One day we will be doing well when they show their love for us, and the other times we will be feeling down when they aren’t noticing us. Our identities are also not found in how much money we make, the jobs we have or even our ministries. It’s only found in Christ Jesus as we become one with Him, one with our Majesty. Never allow the world to define you, only Christ.

One day as I was on my knees in my media room worshipping, Jesus walked into the room, knelt on the carpet in front of me, piercing my eyes with His, and asked, ‘Melissa, if no one loved you on this earth BUT only Me, would that be enough?’

Quickly I replied with tears streaming down my face, ‘Yes, Lord, Your everlasting eternal love is enough. Sorry for dwelling on the ones who don’t love me when I should be dwelling on the ONE who does’.

Another day as I was worshipping at home, God gently interrupted and said to me, ‘Melissa, do you know I loved you the same when you were lost in darkness as I love you now that you are found in righteousness?’

Wow, this all but blew my mind that He loved me the same then when I lived in sin and in total darkness as He loves me now that I live in holiness and righteousness. He didn’t love the sin, but He loved me! The Father was saying that His love didn’t increase for me when I surrendered to Him. His love for me has always been the same, relentless and unmeasurable.

If you were a parent and your child did wrong, would that make you love them less? Or if your child did a good thing, does that make you love them more? No, you love them relentlessly with no measuring stick. What good or bad they choose to do is irrelevant regarding your love for them.

When sin entered the picture from the Fall of Adam in the garden, it caused mankind to spiral into an identity crisis, by us no longer looking like the image of God, our Father. What is the image of God? Love. Sin entering caused us to become self-centred, jealous, enraged, lustful, greedy, bitter, competitive and ungrateful, basically giving into what the flesh desired and no longer looking anything like our Father. Not one of us is a mistake. We are all predestined to be here, as He knew our names and saw our faces before we were even conceived. God was never going to give up on us and watch us perish; He’s a good Father.

God our Father loves us so much that He came to earth clothed in humanity and known as the Son of God. He was to be crucified for our sins so we can be reunited and forever in right standing with the Father. When we repent and surrender to Jesus, He looks at us just as though we never sinned, with a clean slate.

I realised He wasn’t in heaven looking down on me with a pointing finger, shaking His head with disappointment and disgust, but in fact was actually loving me just where I was in my mess, longing for me to live my life in eternal freedom, wrapped in His arms of love and acceptance forever. This shook my world, causing every lie I believed about God and myself to be highlighted and come crashing to the ground.

I discovered that the almighty, all-powerful and all-knowing God always had a plan from the very beginning to save His children, as He knew Adam and Eve were going to choose sin eventually. This was not what He wanted to occur, but He will not interfere with our free will. There was no plan B with God. He knew from the beginning how and when His perfect plan would play out for us children to be rescued, redeemed and restored back to Him, due to the sin that occurred in the garden that caused separation from our holy and pure Father.

I love this post I saw: ‘When God saved Israel, He sent Moses. When God saved us, He sent no one; He came Himself ’.

This supernatural love God has towards me began to resonate within, causing all the stinking thinking I thought about myself to dissolve, as I learnt how valuable I am to Him. This is why drastic action was taken to rescue and redeem us. While we were still sinners, Jesus willingly died on the cross.

It says in the Bible:

This scripture challenged me, so I studied it and realised it said so much. The moment I gave my life to Jesus, He instantly forgave me of everything I ever did. I became born again in the spirit. He then came to make His home inside me, His Spirit with my spirit. Now I am holy, righteous and as pure as Jesus is. As He is, so are we in this world. Jesus’ blood doesn’t cover our sins; it removes them all!

That’s how the Father saw me? Clean? Just as if I never sinned? My past doesn’t define me but Christ does? Could this be true? Absolutely! The Father is saying our past is no longer mentioned or remembered and has no residue on us. He actually says in the Word that He remembers our sins no more.

This revelation blew my mind concerning His endless compassion and fresh new mercy towards me daily. This is how my identity in Christ became real to me as I read the Word, seeking understanding from the truth that pierced my heart. The truth will set you free, the Bible says. The Gospel is not to condemn us, but to expose our value.

My identity found through Christ also started to make me understand and see the bigger picture of my existence as to why I was here. My purpose here is to have a forever personal, joyful, loving relationship with our heavenly Father, loving Him with all my heart, and to share the Good News with a lost and dying world, so everyone has a choice not to perish and to know they’re loved by their heavenly Father.

You see, I was blind before I allowed Jesus to come in, since I was living in a condemned victim mentality and listening to the enemy’s whispers, constantly beating myself up with no mercy. But now I finally see! So, I asked myself why do we play with condemnation, which is what I did for so many years? Why did I care what the enemy whispered? After all, he’s the father of all lies.

How do we know when the enemy is whispering to us? It’s actually easy to recognise. Anything that comes into your mind that is perverted, condemning, lustful, cruel or self-centred, basically anything that doesn’t look like Jesus—rest assured it isn’t you. It’s the enemy trying to tell us who we are not and trying to convince us that those negative thoughts are our own, which could lead to condemnation, which we are not to entertain. Temptation is another attack in hoping to get us to step into sin, but being tempted is not a sin, only if we bite the bait. Jesus was tempted in every way but without sin.

That’s why it is so important that:

I no longer hate myself, blaming the world for everything that didn’t go my way. I am a daughter who has been found by my Father from the moment I surrendered to Jesus, which began to slowly change my belief system with every passing day. What we believe is how we will live. If we think right, we will speak right and then live right. Living right comes from personally knowing the Father and knowing who we are in Christ now, since our old sinful nature is dead.

He wants us to believe and receive this free love gift in faith, which is salvation and eternal life that only comes from believing in what Jesus Christ did for us. How can this gift that sounds too good to be true be free with no strings attached? I used to ask myself.

This is how I thought of it. When a friend or family member comes to you and gives you a present for your birthday or special occasion, did you have to work or beg for it? No, that’s why it’s called a gift, inspired by love.

No one has to buy you anything they don’t want to, but they do because they love you. Love is the motivation. It’s beautiful when we receive gifts with gratitude and appreciation. Think about it. If Jesus paid for it already, we don’t have to work for our salvation. All we have to do is believe, repent and receive the gift of salvation that Jesus paid for with His pure innocent blood. Imagine your friend buys you a lamp and you go inside the same shop insisting to pay for that lamp that’s already purchased. It was paid for already! Just thank your friend and receive it with gratitude.

Let me share with you a short scenario I use to explain what Jesus did for us. Imagine someone pointing a gun at a child who made a mistake, and the person holding the gun says, ‘This child has to die for the wrong they did; there has to be consequences!’

The loving parent would jump in front of their child with open arms and say, ‘No! Punish me instead. I will take my child’s place’. In a heartbeat I would do that for my children without hesitation. This is what Jesus did for us. Remember, God doesn’t just love, He IS love. What does the Father see and feel when He looks at us? To me, the cross says it all. Creation didn’t cost God anything, but our salvation cost Him everything!

Only our Saviour Jesus can truly and deeply satisfy us, never disappointing, and loving us to the measure that our soul needs daily. This intense love we struggle to fathom, this love that is bigger than us, makes me fall to my knees, sometimes speechless, as I am overwhelmed with His goodness. This reality concerning the cross has impacted and changed the way I see my Father, others and myself. Life becomes so worth living when you digest the truth! He completes me. My identity is in Him. Period.

My mom’s oldest brother, Andrew, told her about how his life was drastically changed due to his new relationship with Jesus. Soon she also dedicated her life to the Lord, yet my mother was still struggling with great despair, not knowing she was in a spiritual battle that has tormented many members of our family. She was at war with an enemy she didn’t know much about at that time, not being fully aware of his evil strategies and schemes.

Mom has blamed herself for not being the engaged mom she wanted to be, but she was not to blame for this torment that she had been suffering with since she was a child. At that time, she lacked the understanding about how to recognise and reject a lie from the enemy, as being depressed is not who God created her to be. Depression is not from God and does not exist in heaven; therefore, I consider it an illegal attack.

Mom wasn’t aware of the great authority she carried as a believer, to cast these strongholds down with the truth from the Word of God. Like me, she believed the lies of who she was that were whispered by the enemy. Mom felt like she was dying inside, struggling just to make it through each day. I didn’t understand the depth of her situation when I was growing up. I was just a kid wanting my mom’s attention, especially since Dad wasn’t around, which made me expect it from her even more.

Ongoing deep depression is one of the hardest things someone can go through. It’s a very lonely road as you begin to slowly isolate yourself, because being social is a huge challenge mentally and physically.

My mom found it very difficult keeping up with discussions and participating with what was happening around her. It was like a heavy fog that was constantly following and surrounding her. Sleep became her best friend, as it’s a temporary escape, but unfortunately when she woke up the nightmare began again. Depression makes your desire to live dwindle, and your focus turns completely on yourself, disabling you to think rationally or to think about anyone else.

You become consumed with yourself. Self-pity becomes over-whelming, and you start asking questions in your mind. What’s wrong with me? How can I escape from this? Where is my joy? Why do I feel so alone even though I have people around me? Why do I have no desire to make an effort for anything? The self-analyzing and self-loathing become tormenting, and you eventually just want to give up. Soon, negative patterns in your thoughts become a daily norm.

It becomes difficult to think positive thoughts, much less speak positive words, which can create a victim mentality leading to suicidal thoughts. This was my mom in her worst times, but she kept pushing to get through every day with the monotony of her painful life because of me.

I remember many days coming in from playing outside or walking past the bedroom during all hours in the day and seeing the same thing: Mom lying there as if lifeless, curled up in despair that she couldn’t shake off. Now my uncle John also played the father role, along with my grandad, which I am so grateful for. John taught me how to ride a bike, helped with my math homework, sometimes played board games at night with me, and even punished me when it was deserved. Everything a typical parent would do.

However, Uncle John kept a secret for a long time before he ever eventually shared it, a secret he was battling with from a young boy just like my mom. He was severely insecure and paranoid, not liking himself at all, he once told me. Feelings of rejection, self-loathing, unworthiness and depression had struck another family member. Some other members in my family I know suffered with this sadness in their own way, but as far as I was concerned by what I witnessed, John and Mom seemed to be the worst.

The doctors believed it was a condition with the brain and also many other reasons that ‘could be’ the problem. I know doctors mean well and bless them for it. God most definitely uses doctors to help us, but what a lot of doctors don’t know or some don’t believe is what the Bible says in Ephesians 6. John eventually tried nearly everything medically in Barbados and even overseas, as he was desperate. I know now who the culprit was for this torment that was harassing and lying to my family: Satan.

It hurts my heart when God is blamed for sicknesses and unfortunate mishaps that happen to us; there is no sickness, depression, confusion or chaos in heaven. Was Jesus ever depressed or confused? No. These things don’t come from our Father; they come from the enemy. God is not the author of confusion and suffering. He doesn’t make mistakes, and there are no ‘oopsies’ with God. His knowledge and understanding has no limits. He is unlimited knowledge, and He is all wisdom, therefore leaving no room for error. So as far as I am concerned, due to His perfection and holiness, I can’t blame Him for anything that goes wrong; instead, I cry out to Him for help.

Would we as loving parents give hurtful and harmful gifts to our children here on earth? No. So why would God give poverty, physical and mental sicknesses, just to name a few, to His? Think about it. He is either a good Father or not; there is no in-between, and I have tasted and seen that the Lord is good!

God is everything opposite to what the enemy stands for. So yes, He is a good Father! We must remember the Bible is not only to expose our value, telling us who we are in Christ, but it’s also our weapon against the enemy; it’s our sword. In this world we live in, we NEED to know the Word of God, because when we do, deception doesn’t stand a chance.

Authority in Jesus’ name is something I realised I had from a tender age due to a spiritual and tangible war I was in, which you will read about in the next chapter. Believing the enemy’s lies keeps us in bondage in many different areas, but remember we have free will to choose what we believe, claim and stand on. My mind was the battlefield that needed victory, and the Gospel of Jesus Christ was how I conquered this war of lies.

Christlike thinking is what brings true and everlasting freedom! To me, it’s the biggest miracle that changed my life. Knowing who I am and the authority I carried in Jesus’ name enabled me to resist lies with the truth and stand on a foundation that is God’s unshakable love for me.

Who am I, you might ask? I am holy, righteous, I have been given all authority through Jesus, I am pure, justified, victorious, peaceful, full of joy, accepted and unconditionally loved by the Father. I am healthy in body, soul and mind. As He is, so am I, the Bible says. That’s who I am.

The enemy hates it and trembles when believers realise their true identity as they step into great authority through Jesus Christ, shaking off the lies with the Word of God in confidence and boldness, making decisions to change the way they think and speak. We will win our battles with authority and victory in Jesus’ name because the Bible says:

Authority demands obedience. We see Jesus casting demons out of many people, as they had to submit and obey. Even the waves and the wind had to obey as He said, ‘Quiet! Be still’. We have this same authority because the Holy Spirit lives inside of us!

I remember when I was outside gardening and I was stung by a wasp. I ran inside to show my husband in panic, then took him outside to show him where it happened exactly. He found a nest, which explained the attack; I must have gotten too close to their nest without realising.

It felt like a red-hot needle in my arm as it got red, swelled a bit and was quite painful. Within a couple of minutes, I remembered I didn’t have to put up with this and commanded in Jesus’ name for every symptom to go. As soon as I finished my prayer, everything suddenly stopped. The redness, swelling and pain was gone! Like nothing happened. I ran inside to show Chris, and he was absolutely amazed.

I also remember a while back when my son was having a hard time at school and my heart was breaking for him. I quietly cried in my bedroom and asked Jesus to please change the situation. All of a sudden, He said, ‘Melissa, why are you begging? You are not a beggar. Who are you?’

‘Lord, I am Your daughter, daughter of the King’, I replied.

‘Well then use the authority I gave you; know who you are’.

I then started to command change in Jesus’ name for Adon’s best interests, and the very next day everything changed! He came home happy for the first time in a very long time. I will never forget that as long as I live.

I will share with you one more experience. I was in the kitchen cooking and had my pot of stew in the oven for three hours as the recipe requested. I took the pot out when it was finished cooking and placed it on the stovetop. Within one minute of buzzing around the kitchen, I forgot it had been in the oven for hours and quickly grabbed the knob of the lid with my bare hand, lifting it up. Oh, the pain!