Faith Pt. 2 - Giving Evidence to the Unseen

On Tuesday we took a look at faith. We called the blog post, Faith Pt. 1 - The Substance of Hope I highly recommend reading that before jumping into this one. That being said, let's get started.

Hebrews 11:1 says, "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." Yesterday, we went fairly deep into the first half of that verse. Faith is now. And there has to be substance to your hope for your faith to work. But let's look at the second part of that verse. The evidence of things not seen. What does that mean? Well, let's look at the Amplified translation. "NOW FAITH is the assurance (the confirmation, (the title deed) of the things [we] hope for, being the proof of things [we] do not see and the conviction of their reality [faith perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses]."

Faith is the title deed to what we are believing for! I really like that, but let's break apart the second part of that verse. "Faith...being the proof of things [we] do not see,". So, when we are in faith for something, we have it. If someone asks you for proof-your faith is your proof! Glory to God, that means, if I'm taking God at His Word, that I don't need any other proof! I have all my proof right there in my faith, and the example for that is in Hebrews 11:1.

I graduated from tech school in April of this past year, and began searching for a job. I stood on Philippians 4:19 for almost four months, and had no results. Finally, a verse that I had heard, came alive on the inside of me, and saturated my thinking, and became so real to me that real faith, I'm talking Bible faith, the faith that gets results, rose on the inside of me, and I began to confess that scripture over and over again. For two weeks, I spoke the Word, and spoke the Word, and believed the Word! Whenever someone asked me how the job hunt went, my answer was, "I have a job in Jesus' name!" or, even if I hadn't heard anything from any companies, "It's going great!" After two weeks, I had more responses than I had in 4 months of searching (6 vs. 0) and in 3 and 1/2 weeks, I had a job paying almost twice as much as my previous job, and many more benefits than I had before! I had the proof before I saw the end result, and like God, I spoke the end result from the beginning! That is faith!

Praise God! So, not only is faith the proof of something happening, but it is the conviction of it's reality before it has been revealed to the senses! That's the God kind of faith! Let's look at the number one example of this.

Genesis 1. One of the most famous passages of scripture. When the earth was without form and void, what did God say? He didn't look at Jesus and say, "What are we gonna do Jesus? The earth is void! We got trouble here! Holy Ghost, you got any ideas?" No, He used His faith, (remember, Hebrews 11:3 shows us that God create the world through faith filled words!) and spoke the end from the beginning! Faith was His conviction of that reality. When He said, "Light be!" light was. He expected to happen, because in the faith realm, it already had happened. It didn't surprise Him when it manifested in our natural realm! When you speak faith filled words like God does, you need to do the same thing! You speak the end result from the beginning, like it has already occurred.

That means, if you are believing for healing, don't pray, "God, if it be Your will, heal me." Pray like this, "Lord, you said in Your Word that, 'by Your stripes, I was healed.' So Lord, I take Your Word above this sickness, I choose to believe what You say, and according to Your Word, I am healed! I believe that, and I know that I will see it come to pass, in Jesus' name! Amen!"

That is a prayer of faith! That's the kind of prayer that gets results, that gets you an answer! That kind of prayer will cause you to see the Spirit move. Someone once said, "There's something about faith that will cause God to pass over a million people to get to you!" That's because that is how God is pleased-by our faith! (Hebrews 11:6)

Well, that went a different way than I expected, but it was good! God definitely brought this where He wanted it. We're going to continue this series this weekend, Lord willing. Stay tuned for Faith Pt. 3 - Move Your Mountain

Faith Pt. 1 - The Substance of Hope

Habakkuk 2:4 says, "Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith."

Romans 1:17 "For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith."

Galatians 3:11 "But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith."

Hebrews 10:38 "Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him."

Anytime the Bible says something, it is important. I don't believe God wastes words like some of us do. So, if there is something that is repeated four times in the Bible, it is of vital importance.

God keeps bringing various writers back to this phrase, "The just shall live by faith." So, we can readily see that faith isn't just a concept, or a belief, it is a way of life. For the believer, faith is the way we are to live!

We have gotten too loose with what faith means in our modern society. People often will say something like, "I have faith in God," or interchange that with, "I believe in God." Well, that's great. What about Him gives you faith? What about Him causes you to believe? The Word says that even the devil's believe and tremble (James 2:19), so there has to be a piece that we're missing. I believe we have mixed up "faith", and "belief", and when you are done with this series, not only will you be able to tell the difference between the two, you will know how to use your faith to get results.

I looked up the word "live", and I came across this definition, "To conduct one's life in a particular manner; to pursue a positive, satisfying experience; enjoy life." So, we could say it this way, "The just (that's you if you're born again) shall conduct their life in a particular manner, (that is a positive, satisfying and enjoyable manner) by faith."

That means that our lives, as believer's, are meant to be enjoyable! How do we get to enjoy life? We live by faith. Doesn't that fit with what Jesus said in John 10:10, "I am come that they might have life, and have it more abundantly,"? An abundant life is a good life. An abundant life means, I'm prospering in every area of my life, in my spiritual life, in my finances, in my family, in my physical body, in my mind. Total prosperity then, is the same thing as the Hebrew word "shalom", which means, "nothing missing, nothing broken."

So, if enjoying total prosperity (shalom), is the way believer's are to live (and an evangelistic tool to reach the world), how do we get there? How do i enjoy prosperity in my body, in my finances, in my marriage? By faith!

You see, we live in a faith controlled system. What you say, you will have. God didn't set out to create the heavens and the earth, and say, "Man, it sure is dark out. I hope we can light this place up somehow. What are we gonna do Jesus? Holy Ghost, you got any ideas?" No, He spoke the end result before He could see it. He said, "Light, be!" and light was. He was putting into practice the faith principles that Jesus taught us in Mark 11:23-24. But, before we get there, we have to understand what faith is.

Since this universe is a faith controlled system, God created the universe by faith (Hebrews 11 talks about God creating the seen things of the World by things which can not be seen, referring to faith.) So then, it stands to reason that we must learn what exactly faith is.

Well, the number one rule of Bible interpretation is to interpret the Bible in light of the Bible. So, let's look to the Word for a definition of faith. Hebrews 11:1 says, "Now, faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." Don't let that word "hope" throw you off there. Bible hope isn't like our modern usage of the word hope. It doesn't mean, "Well, I hope it will happen." The word hope means, "a confident expectation." So, faith is the substance of things confidently expected. We could also say that hope is the goal-setter to faith.

What do I mean by that? Well, look at the thermostat in your house. By itself, that little old unit wont do anything, just like hope wont, but, when it's tied to a heating or cooling system, it tells the system the goal temperature, and doesn't release your heat or air conditioning until it reaches it's goal! That's what real, Bible hope does. It finds out what God has said about your situation, and it stands on it, and it refuses to back to down, and it refuses to quit! (Remember, we have to find what God said about the situation, because faith begins where the will of God is known!)

We find that scripture the the Lord has revealed to us, and then our hope holds fast to it, like the thermostat holds fast to the temperature it was set to, and no matter what happens, hope refuses to quit. We find in Romans, it tells us that Abraham, against all (natural) hope, believed in hope. He refused to quit, even though it was impossible in the natural.

That's how we have to be, Bless God! We refuse to quit, no matter what comes against us. Your thermostat doesn't care if it's -30 degrees outside! As long as it has power, it will hold to it's setting of 68, and it will fight, and keep working, and keep working, and not give up, and not quit until it reaches the goal it has established for itself. That's how your hope is designed to work! Your hope, based and established on the Word of the Living God, will give substance to what it you have been believing for!

Tomorrow or Thursday, we will take a look at Pt 2 - Giving evidence to the unseen

What Are You Seeking?

This is something the Lord began to speak with me about a while ago, and I was just released to share it. I know many of you probably know about this, but I want to bring it to the forefront of our thinking.

I think that, as a Body, it is time for the Church to get a revelation. Now, this isn’t something that is wildly new, just something that we have lost sight of, in my opinion.

What are you seeking? Are you seeking healing, or the Healer? Blessing, or the Blesser? Revelation, or the Revealer?

Matthew 6:31-33, Jesus is speaking. He says, “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘what shall we wear?’ 32 For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 BUT SEEK FIRST the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” (emphasis mine)

So, we are to be seeking the kingdom of God and His righteousness. I like the way the Amplified translates verse 33. “But seek (^[a^]aim at and strive after) first of all His kingdom and His righteousness (^[b^]His way of doing and being right), and then all these things ^[c^]taken together will be given you besides.”

Aim at and strive after not only God’s Kingdom, but His way of doing and being right. What does that mean? That means we don’t get to decide what’s right and wrong. We must bring right and wrong back to a common standard, and that standard must be the Word of God. That is a constant, never changing standard. When we start deciding what is right and wrong based on our opinions, we are left with shifting sand upon which we try to build a house. I like what Jesse Duplantis says about opinions, “Opinions are transitory forms of thought floating on the ocean of life. They change with every passing wave.”

When we strive after God’s Kingdom, we are aiming at Him. That is something we can never lose. You can never know too much of God, or His Love. Paul, one of the greatest apostles that ever lived, wrote to the Philippian church, and said, “[For my determined purpose is] that I may know Him [that I may progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him, perceiving and recognizing and understanding the wonders of His Person more strongly and more clearly], and that I may in that same way come to know the power outflowing from His resurrection [^[a^]which it exerts over believers], and that I may so share His sufferings as to be continually transformed [in spirit into His likeness even] to His death, [in the hope]”

Now, this is after Paul had been walking with the Lord for 31 years, and He still had “progressively becom[ing] more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him” as His determined purpose in Life.

That’s what we lose sight of today, and that’s really the main purpose of this post. I know myself, I often become so engrossed in, “I need to find favor here, I need healing, I need prosperity,” that I stop seeking the Provider, and start seeking the provision. That is not a healthy place for the Body to be, friends. When we stop seeking the One who made it all, we then put something else in it’s place, be it man’s philosophy and reasoning, under the guise of being, “open minded”, or earthly pleasures, and once something is sought instead of the Almighty God, the Source of all good things, it begins to distort our picture of God.

You see, what you put into you will come out of you. In Proverbs, it tells us to, “Guard our heart, for out of it flows the issues of life.” (4:23) Jesus tells us in Luke 6:45 that, “A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.” One translation uses the word “deposit” instead of treasure. So, you will speak based off of what you have deposited in your heart. If you seek the Kingdom of God, His Righteousness, and Jesus Himself, you desire that. You begin to study what Jesus said, and listen for the voice of God. You spend time in the Word, and in prayer. As you do that, you are making deposits in your heart. You are depositing the Kingdom in your heart, and the Righteousness of God in Christ Jesus! Then, when a situation arises, you immediately, without even stopping to think about it, start to bring forth from the treasure of your heart.

Now, if you start depositing the things of the world in there, your foundation isn’t built upon Jesus, and the whole thing begins to crumble. Then, when a situation rises against you, you either don’t turn to the Word at all, or, you turn to the Word without faith established on it, and it wont work without faith.

I could keep going, and probably will at a later date, but I want to leave you with this thought. If God isn’t real to you right now, it isn’t because He doesn’t exist, or He has pulled away from you. The Word says draw near to God and He will draw near to you. I want to encourage you to draw near to Him. Study the Word, and study the Character of God. Begin to seek first the Kingdom, and God’s way of doing and being right, and everything you have been looking for in the past will be added to you.

Subject to Change

I had the Lord drop this in my spirit a few weeks ago, and it seemed particularly relevant with what Dad has been teaching lately, so, I feel led to share it with you.

Discouragement comes to all of us in life. “Why isn’t this working?” “Why did God allow that to happen?” “I don’t understand how this is all gonna work out. I thought God told me to do this.” “No one has ever had to deal with something this difficult before.” We have all either said or thought variations of this in our lives. However, there is good news for you! First of all, God didn’t cause the situation. Give it the John 10:10 test. If it steals, kills, and destroys, it’s from the devil. If it provides life, and life more abundantly, it’s God. Sounds simple enough, right?

Next, remember that you aren’t the only one going through this situation. 1 Corinthians 10:13 says, “No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.” So, God has given you a way out! Bless God, your way out is in the words you speak. The Word says that you are justified and condemned by the words of your mouth. (Matthew 12:37). Start talking the solution, not the problem. Facing a mountain of debt? Check out 2 Corinthians 8:9. “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might be rich.” You know what the two words translated rich here means? Material wealth and finances! Bless God, it’s a grace issue! He became poor at the cross (while becoming the curse of the law for us, so we could live in the blessing, Gal. 3:13-14, Deut. 28) so that we would be rich! Same thing with sickness, or anything else in the curse. He bore it for you, and provided a way out!

Paul said this in 2 Corinthians 4:17. “For our light, momentary affliction (this slight distress of the passing hour) is ever more and more abundantly preparing and producing and achieving for us an everlasting weight of glory [beyond all measure, excessively surpassing all comparisons and all calculations, a vast and transcendent glory and blessedness never to cease!].” Notice that phrase. Our light, momentary affliction. It’s only temporary! Paul continues on, and tells us that we aren’t looking at what is seen, but what is unseen, (remember that faith doesn’t deal with the unknown, only the unseen). Because what is seen is temporal, or temporary. Do you know what that word means? Temporary means that your situation is subject to change!

Your situations are subject to change. As a believer, all you have to do is speak the Word in faith. You say what God says, and watch the results. Check this out. Micah 4:9 (ESV), “Now why do you cry aloud? Is there no king in you?” The Lord is speaking to Zion, and the church is referred to as Zion! Now, according to Revelation 1:6, “[Jesus] has made us kings and priests to His God and Father.” Jesus has made us kings and priests! Bless God! He is the King of kings, but we’re the kings underneath Him! Now, what do kings do when they are faced with a situation? If a king needs something done, he doesn’t fret about how he’s going to do it. He declares it. If the king wants to go somewhere, he doesn’t worry about the cost. He says, “We’re going to go here on this date.” That’s it. Discussion is over.

Does that verse jump out at you a little more now? "Why do you cry aloud? Is there no king in you?" You are a king in Christ, and when you speak what the King of kings has said, in your authority that He has given to you, Heaven HAS to back it. Jesus said that whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven! (Matt. 16:19 and 18:18)

So start declaring what God has said! When you are being discouraged by a situation, don’t look at the problem, look at the solution! Have faith in God! He’s bigger than any situation that you are facing! You declare what He has declared, and do not doubt in your heart. Once it has been declared, it has to come to pass, for God said that His Word would not return unto Him void, but it shall accomplish what He set it out to do. Start declaring, as a king and a priest of the Almighty God, what you see in His Word over your finances, over your health, over your relationships, and over anything else that needs to change, and watch it come to pass!

Man, I just preached myself happy while I was typing this out! Let me know any testimonies you have as a result of taking your place as a King and a Priest of the Almighty God! Be blessed!

I'm Back

Back with a nice video for you. Teaching to come soon.

Where is your Faith?

It's been way too long. I apologize for that. Without further ado, something the Lord has placed on my heart.

The other night, I overheard a most interesting conversation at work. I was in the break room, eating my dinner and enjoying my Believer's Voice of Victory Magazine. Partway through, two of my coworkers came in and sat down. They began talking about flu season. "Every year I get sick!" one of them declared. The other one replied, "I get the vaccine every year, but it doesn't seem to help." Eventually the conversation turned to the dreaded swine flu. H1N1. They were talking about how scared they were of the swine flu, and how they were gonna get it if they couldn't get the vaccine (and if they keep talking like that they will unfortunately get something). I just sat there, and this rose up in my spirit. "Where is your faith?"

We really need to think about that. Where is our faith? Fear activates the devil like faith activates God. God is moved by faith. He responds to that. Fear does the same thing for the devil. If we are afraid of sickness and disease, it opens the door for the devil to place it on us, and God can do nothing to stop it. F.F. Bosworth, in his book, "Christ the Healer" likens it to a game of checkers. Neither person can move out of turn. God sent Jesus, who paid the price for us, and provided salvation and healing, as well as all the other redemptive acts. Now it's our turn to move, and receive what He shed His blood for. When we receive that healing He gave us, He then moves, and we see a change, and then we thank Him for it. It's so simple. John 10:10 says that the devil came to steal, kill, and destroy, but Jesus came so we could have abundant life, or ZOE, the God kind of life. There's healing in that life! There's wholeness in that life!

We have to determine where we place our faith! Is our faith in the disease to attack us, to manifest in our body? Or is our faith in Jesus, and the price He paid on the cross? Do we believe 1 Peter 2:24? The Bible says out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. If you believe in the disease more than God's ability and willingness to heal you and keep you well, you will talk about the disease, and worrying about getting sick.

Oh, but if your faith is Jesus, and His healing power, then you can live above sickness! Above disease! And it will come out of your mouth, "I'm not getting sick! No swine flu is gonna touch me!" Or, as Brother Copeland so simply put it, "I ain't taking no flu off a pig!"

Your mouth measures the condition of your heart.

Where is your faith?

The Hundred Fold Return

I’m gonna warn you right now, this may upset you. That’s ok though, because it’s the Bible. Don’t get mad at me here, I’m just telling you what God said and living it out.

Look in Matthew’s Gospel, the 13th chapter. Jesus is talking here, telling us a very well known parable. The parable of the sower. So, we know what happens. The sower sows on stony ground and it is scorched, and all the other things. I want to focus on the 8th verse. It says, “But other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold.” Jumping down again to the 23rd verse, we find that Jesus is explaining what happened here with the seed. Take a look at the way the Amplified Bible says it. “As for what was sown on good soil, this is he who hears the Word and grasps and comprehends it; he indeed bears fruit and yields in case a hundred times as much as was sown, in another sixty times as much, and in another thirty.” So, we see that there is a principle in effect here. Jesus said that when seed is sown, some reap thirty, some sixty, and some a hundred fold. Now, the seed here is the Word, but there are also other things that we are shown here. Using a farmer as his example, Jesus shows us that this is not just a principle limited to Word. This is a matter of sowing and reaping. Sowing and reaping.

Check out 2 Corinthians 9:6. It says, “He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully.” There is no faith required in that statement. It is a simple matter of fact. You give, God will bless. Thirty times what you gave sounds like a real good return on your investment, or your giving, but God says that you can also get sixty or one hundred times what you gave! That’s exciting, isn’t it? Glory to God. When we give, we must give generously to others.

Let me share a story here from my own life, from seeing the hundred fold work. Last November, I was at Brother and Sister Copeland’s “Washington D.C. Victory Campaign” . Man, it was good. I was able to make two of the meetings with my school schedule, and I sowed into both of the offerings while I was there, on top of my normal tithe. One of the nights, and to be honest, I can’t remember which one it was, Brother Copeland took up the offering, and told us to name our seed. So, I wrote down what I was believing for, and I stuck it in my wallet. I didn’t tell anyone about it, just like the man of God said. Well, needless to say, I forgot about it. Today, while I was spending time with the Lord, He reminded me of this. I thought back to it. A few months after the meetings, my life had drastically changed. I had left of school, and was back home looking for a job. I was in debt just about up to my eyeballs, from school and credit cards, and just being stupid with money for the longest time, although I have gotten much better with it. So, come to find out, I was given a check that was nearly ONE HUNDRED times what I had given over those two nights! So, I had already gotten the hundred fold on one of my seeds, and then, a few months after that, the rest of it came in. I used that money to pay down many of my debts. What a blessing of the Lord! You see, He still meets needs through the hundred fold. I received the hundred fold on my seed! I paid off bills I wouldn’t have been able to pay! Glory! Now, you may say, “That doesn’t work, it isn’t true.” Well, it’s in red, so like Jesse Duplantis says, “Either Jesus is lying, or you’re lying. I pick you.”

What people don’t seem to get, is that God wants to bless you! Proverbs 10:22 tells us that the Lord’s Blessing makes us rich, but without the sorrow that world adds to it! Glory to God! Sowing and reaping, seed time and harvest will be with us as long as the earth remains! Time to put it to work! God’s ways goes totally contrary to the world’s way. The world tells us to work and save and hoard our money. God tells us to give it away!

You see, once you give, and help meet someone else’s needs, God shall supply your every need, want, and desire through His riches in glory, by Christ Jesus! You don’t believe me? Philippians 4:19, and Psalm 37:4. Giving, and being cheerful is delighting yourself in the Lord, so you qualify for God giving you the desires of your heart!

Praise God! The Hundred Fold still works. I feel like Isaac must have, who, we are told in Genesis 26:12, sowed in a time of famine, and received the same year a hundred fold! Praise God! There hasn’t been a recession in Heaven, and God is not a respecter of persons. What He did for Isaac, He will do for you! Start asking God where you need to sow. Not only to make it through this tough financial time the world is facing, but to increase in it! That’s what I have done this whole recession! I am in a better position financially than I was a year ago! The world tells you that can't happen! But, we, as Christians, should be rising above all of this mess in the world! Like the children of Israel when they were held captive by the Egyptians, we can boldly tell the world the answer, and show them that while it may be dark in Egypt, there is light in Goshen! We have the answer out of this mess! It’s giving! Sowing and reaping! Thirty, sixty and a hundred fold return! Glory to God!