WHAT DO WE ALREADY HAVE?

Table of Contents

1. Introduction: Worship and Hermeneutical Truth
2. The Danger of Misinterpretation
3. Understanding 1 Peter 2:24 in Context
4. The Nature of Spiritual Healing
5. Personal Testimony: Lori’s Healing Journey
6. The Burden of Misapplied Faith Teachings
7. What Do We Already Have? — Our New Spirit
8. We Have His Nature, Character, and Possessions
9. We Have His Power
10. How Is It Released and Revealed?
11. The Role of Love in Revelation
12. The Role of Righteousness
13. The Importance of Hearing Christ
14. Fixing Your Eyes on Jesus
15. Living Free of Guilt and Condemnation
16. Closing Prayer and Blessing

Introduction: Worship and Hermeneutical Truth

The service opens in worship. Pastor Leonard praises the Lord—“Hallelujah Lord, we magnify Your name, Jesus”—and humorously greets his wife before beginning. He remarks that he both looks forward to and hesitates about delivering this message because it reveals the truth that may challenge prior teaching. He stresses again his emphasis on being “hermeneutically correct,” explaining that failure to study Scripture in context leads believers into mistruths.

He gives examples from Romans 3:10—“As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one.”—and Romans 3:23-For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.”Without proper context, people believe Paul is calling everyone permanently unrighteous. In reality, Pastor Leonard explains, Paul is contrasting humanity’s state before Christ’s finished work with righteousness now given through faith. He says, “Through faith in Jesus Christ, we have been made righteous. Therefore, being made righteous, we have peace with God.” Misreading these passages traps many of God’s children in lies that deny the fullness of life Jesus came to give.

The Danger of Misinterpretation

Pastor Leonard warns that without proper hermeneutics—knowing to whom the passage was written and under which covenant—believers continue living in guilt and condemnation. He admits he himself once preached messages incorrectly because of poor interpretation. “For years,” he confesses, “I erroneously preached that ‘by His stripes you were healed’ meant physical healing.” He states this misunderstanding has left many feeling condemned, believing their lack of physical healing proves weak faith.

He reminds the congregation that he and Lori have a divine desire “to see God’s children freed from guilt, shame, and condemnation so they can experience the fullness of His love.”

Understanding 1 Peter 2:24 in Context

Pastor Leonard turns to 1 Peter 2:23-25- “Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously: Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed. For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.”

He carefully walks through the passage, showing that Peter speaks of reconciliation, not physical disease. “By whose stripes ye were healed,” he says, is figurative—spiritual healing. It refers to the restoration of fellowship between God and man through the removal of sin and the impartation of righteousness. The “healing” is deliverance from guilt, shame, condemnation, and the mental separation that sin produced.

The Nature of Spiritual Healing

He emphasizes: “God was never separated from us; man was separated from God in his mind.” Citing John 3:16-“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son…”—Pastor Leonard notes that from Genesis onward, God always sought man. The false belief that God was angry or avoiding humanity “couldn’t be further from the truth.”

 Humanity’s sense of separation was internal, caused by guilt and condemnation. God removed sin so that the mental wall could fall. True healing is restoration of peace and intimacy with God, not simply physical recovery.

Personal Testimony: Lori’s Healing Journey

Pastor Leonard shares a personal story about Lori. Years earlier, she suffered agonizing illness—her large intestines had shut down. She tried diets and natural remedies, but remained in pain. When told, “By His stripes you were healed,” she declared faith, but her body still suffered. For two years, Leonard says, “I could never ask her how she was doing.” The church culture of confess-and-deny made genuine conversation impossible.

Her mother’s concerned questions—“How are you doing?”—only deepened Lori’s guilt as she felt pressured to answer, “I’m healed,” even while suffering. This created condemnation and confusion, not freedom. Leonard recounts confronting a pastor who publicly questioned Lori’s faith during a service, standing up to defend her dignity: “She knows what she believes. Let her be.” The room fell silent. “I had to protect my wife,” he says, “from guilt, shame, and condemnation.”

He then recalls another woman in that same church who had been in a car accident and was pressured to confess healing despite severe injuries. “She was weeping,” he says, “and they piled more guilt upon her.”

Pastor Leonard clarifies: “Yes, God wants us healed. Yes, it is His will. But today we must find out what we already have and how it is released.”

The Burden of Misapplied Faith Teachings

He describes how wrong hermeneutics has caused believers to think, “If I’m not healed, it’s my fault.” They are told they lack faith or are “digging up their seed.” This mentality imprisons believers. The truth, he teaches, is that our righteousness and spiritual completeness already exist in Christ; faith is not self-effort but revelation of what is already inside.

What Do We Already Have? — Our New Spirit

“Firstly,” Pastor Leonard says, “we already have a new spirit. We are a spiritual being.” Quoting 2 Corinthians 5:17- “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”—he explains that believers’ spirits are perfect, holy, and righteous, containing everything needed for life and godliness.

He adds Romans 6:5- “For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection.” This shows our union with Christ in death and resurrection.

Ephesians 2:5-6- “Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ… And hath raised us together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.”

Colossians 2:12-13- “Buried with him in baptism… hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses.”

And Colossians 2:10- “And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power.”

These verses reveal, he says, that what we already have is a new, complete spirit made in the image of Christ.

We Have His Nature, Character, and Possessions

Pastor Leonard continues by saying, “Number two, you have His exact nature, character, and possessions.” This means that as believers, we share in the very essence of Jesus Christ.

He cites 1 Corinthians 6:17- “But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.” Through union with Christ, our spirits are joined with His Spirit.

He then reads Romans 8:32- “He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?” God has already given us everything because He has given us Christ Himself.

Next, he turns to 1 John 4:17- “Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.”

Pastor Leonard emphasizes that we are not trying to become like Jesus — we already are like Him in spirit. “As He is, so are you,” he repeats, reminding the congregation that every believer carries Christ’s nature, character, and all He possesses.

We Have His Power

“Number three,” he declares, “you possess His power. This is what you already have.”

He references Romans 8:11- “But if the Spirit of him that raised Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.” This same resurrection power gives life to our mortal bodies.

Then Ephesians 1:19–21- “And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come.” 

He follows with Philippians 4:13- “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.”

And 2 Corinthians 1:21- “Now he which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God.”

“See?” he says, “that means made powerful.” Pastor Leonard stresses that this anointing—this divine empowerment—is not something we’re waiting for. “This is what we already have.”

How Is It Released and Revealed?

After listing what believers have, Pastor Leonard moves to the next question: “How is it released? How is it revealed?
He explains that we’re looking for the inner release of these spiritual truths to our outward lives — for revelation to bring manifestation. He notes that no one in Scripture ever acted on their own strength: “Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Noah, Joshua, Moses—each received revelation from God first.”

Faith, he says, cannot be forced. “You can’t muster it up. You can’t grow it like a muscle. It comes through revelation.” Then he reads 1 Corinthians 2:10-16 in full, declaring that the Holy Spirit’s purpose is to uncover what God has already given us.

“But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God… Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.” He emphasizes verse 12 — “that we might know the things that are freely given.” The Spirit removes the cover—like taking the lid off a container—to reveal God’s gifts within. “That’s His assignment,” Pastor Leonard says. “To take off the covers of our minds, to reveal to us what God has given.” Once the Spirit reveals it, believers can walk in agreement with it, faith rises, and they take possession of what’s already theirs.

The Role of Love in Revelation

“How does this revelation take place?” Pastor Leonard asks. “By understanding His love for you.”

 He cites John 17:23- “I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.”

 Then Ephesians 3:15–20- “Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God. Now unto him that can do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us.”

“When that happens,” Pastor Leonard says, “the fullness of God is released and revealed.” Love opens the flow. Revelation doesn’t come through striving—it comes through knowing you’re loved.

The Role of Righteousness

Next, he teaches that revelation is also released through knowing we are righteous.

He reads Romans 3:26- “To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.”

 Romans 4:25- “Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.”

Romans 5:1- “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

And 2 Corinthians 5:21- “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.”

He says, “You have to know that you’re righteous through faith in Jesus Christ. God is just and right to declare us righteous.” Understanding righteousness removes all barriers of guilt and condemnation, allowing believers to rest in the finished work.

The Importance of Hearing Christ

The next way revelation is released, he explains, is “by continuing to hear about Christ.”

He quotes Romans 10:17- “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”

He clarifies the Greek nuance: hearing “the Christ” — the anointed one and His anointing. “Faith comes with hearing about Christ,” he says, emphasizing that faith is not self-generated but imparted through hearing the truth about Jesus.

He reminds listeners of the Gospel model: “No one in the Gospels was healed without hearing of Christ first—whether it was the woman with the issue of blood or the centurion.” Their faith was a response to hearing, not human effort.

“Continue to hear about Christ,” he concludes. “That’s how what you have inside is released.”

Fixing Your Eyes on Jesus

Finally, Pastor Leonard says, “Number four—by fixing your eyes on Jesus.”

He reads Hebrews 12:2- “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

 When believers fix their gaze on Jesus instead of their symptoms or circumstances, revelation flows and peace remains.
“Now that we know what we have,” he says, “and now that we know how it’s released, let us live as God intended — free of guilt, shame, and condemnation, fully accepted, fully loved, and at rest with our Father.”

Living Free of Guilt and Condemnation

Pastor Leonard prays that believers would understand their completeness in Christ — that they would never again live condemned for not seeing outward results fast enough. He says, “We must find ourselves in complete acceptance, fully loved, and at complete rest with God our Father.”

He gives thanks for the truth of God’s Word and for the revelation of what we already have in Christ. The release and revelation come through the Spirit, not toil or striving. “It doesn’t take work or effort,” he says. “It just takes revelation.”

Closing Prayer and Blessing

Pastor Leonard prays:

 “Father, we thank You for the truth of Your Word. We thank You for the truth of what You have given us—of what we have. And we thank You that You instruct us in Your Word, the ways that it takes for what is inside us to be revealed. And it doesn’t take work or effort or toiling or striving. It just takes a revelation of Your precious Holy Spirit.”

He continues, “Father, I pray right now across this room and across the airwaves that all that they have will be revealed. It will be released, and they could come into agreement with it and believe that they’ve received it—take it, because it’s theirs, Lord. We give You praise, honor, and glory, in Jesus’ name. Amen.”

He closes warmly, “I hope you were blessed by that message. I know it may get me in trouble with religion, but I don’t care because it’s about truth and about ridding His people of guilt, shame, and condemnation.” He mentions communion will resume next week, explaining humorously that he forgot to order the communion cups. Then he offers his familiar blessing:

“Know this — I love you. Pastor Lori loves you. If you need anything from us, don’t hesitate to call. Remember, as you go, you are the head and not the tail. You are the top and not the bottom. You are above only, blessed coming in and blessed going out — all because of Jesus and faith in Him. In His name we pray, amen.”

We hope this article has blessed you. Share this teaching with others so they, too, can understand what they already have in Christ — righteousness, new life, and the love of the Father revealed through His grace.