Tag Archives: measure of faith

Let’s Get Our Bounce On!

09 Sunday Nov 2014

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Get Our Bounce On

A final word: Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. ~ Ephesians 6:10, NLT

When we put our relationship with Christ Jesus (our spiritual Household of Faith childship) into practice, we soon realize that we will have to battle with His enemy. This battle is the reason why we daily must wear our spiritual armor, daily wield the Sword of the Spirit, and daily be filled with the Holy Spirit so that we will be able to maintain our peace, our cheerful spirit, our strength, and our power, all of which come from Creator God’s Holy Spirit.

Now, if we, for example, have been given the abovementioned kind of protection (spiritual armor), weaponry (Sword of the Spirit), and Power (Holy Spirit Baptism), and if we are using everything we have been given, why is it that so many of us still are walking around looking defeated? How is it that Satan keeps beating our butts? Why are we spiritually fatigued?

The above last question reminded me of this old saying: “Put some pep in your step,” which is similar to the expressions: “Get some get up and go” and “Put a tiger in your tank.” The problem with all of these clichés is that, when placed alongside the measure of faith godly truth, they beg the question: If we have THE measure of Faith that causes us to trust Father God with our future, then why hasn’t that measure of Faith, which actually is a portion of His Faith, manifested enough power and strength in us for us to endure our present days? Said clichés also beg the question: If we have THE measure of Faith that enables us to set our minds on Father God, instead of on our circumstances, or on our problems, or on our inadequacies, then why don’t we have enough Faith to invigorate us—to keep us from dragging ourselves from here to there?

The truth is that we ought to have a bounce in our step (fervor for the spiritual life we have been called to live)—a bounce that is just as powerful as EVERY ounce of faith that is within us. In fact, even a mustard-seed Faith is powerful enough to symbolically AND literally move mountains (cf. Matthew 17:20). With this God-kind of Faith, when our eyes are on Jesus Christ and His Glory, without even thinking to do it, we will walk with a lively step (bounce); raise our heads high, looking skyward; and engage God’s enemy with the highest degree of combat readiness: war clothes, weaponry, vigor, conviction, confidence, strength, power, and so forth.

For many of us, however, the moment despair clouds the sunshine of our love, which is our Faith in Jesus Christ, that is when we immediately lose the pep to our step—there’s NO bounce, NO get up and go, NO tiger in our tanks—our heads are bowed low, and exuberance is NOWHERE to be found. Nevertheless, the Divine Truth also is that the Faith that believes in a God who will make a way (Future Tense) is the same Faith that gives (Present Tense) us the power to be energized, resilient, joyful, authoritative, powerful, and operational in the Lord’s ministry, even in the midst of our trials and tribulations.

We have liberty in Christ Jesus (cf. Galatians 5:1), which means we are delivered from any and all of the trappings that come with every kind of religious ceremony and superstition. For this reason, we never should allow ourselves to become a slave to either our day-to-day cares or the storms of life. Indeed, there is nothing that should hinder the freedom we have to live and move and have our being in Christ Jesus.

We are awesomely and amazingly made, and on top of that we have been given every spiritual gift we would need to indefatigably battle Father God and Christ’s enemy. These Divine Truths are why we should get our bounce on, now. Bounce with me, all who are God’s sons and daughters! AMEN.

~ from Faith and Wisdom: A Rhema Word in a Dry and Thirsty Land (2006); edited

BUILDING OUR OWN FAITH!

31 Friday Jan 2014

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Build Your Faith

And Jesus, replying, said to them, Have faith in God [constantly].  Truly I tell you, whoever says to this mountain, Be lifted up and thrown into the sea! and does not doubt at all in his heart but believes that what he says will take place, it will be done for him. ~ Mark 11:22-23, AMP

For by the grace (unmerited favor of God) given to me I warn everyone among you not to estimate and think of himself more highly than he ought [not to have an exaggerated opinion of his own importance], but to rate his ability with sober judgment, each according to the degree of faith apportioned by God to him. ~ Romans 12:3, AMP

Therefore, my dear ones, as you have always obeyed [my suggestions], so now, not only [with the enthusiasm you would show] in my presence but much more because I am absent, work out (cultivate, carry out to the goal, and fully complete) your own salvation with reverence and awe and trembling (self-distrust, with serious caution, tenderness of conscience, watchfulness against temptation, timidly shrinking from whatever might offend God and discredit the name of Christ).  [Not in your own strength] for it is God Who is all the while effectually at work in you [energizing and creating in you the power and desire], both to will and to work for His good pleasure and satisfaction and delight. ~ Philippians 2:12-13, AMP

 

In order to remain spiritually strong and spiritually healthy, we must EXERCISE our individual spiritual Faith muscle! It’s our responsibility to build our own Faith muscle! If our own Faith is weak, flabby, atrophic (wasting away, withering), or false, then it is our own fault – NOT God’s!

It is so sad but so true that most people strongly dislike exercising—they have an acute aversion to physical workouts. Even though they know that physical exercise is “good” for them, because it will strengthen their muscles, strengthen their bones, improve their mental health, improve their mood, control their weight, and etc., they often put off exercising primarily because they know that in order to obtain their goals they first must allot plenty of time and expect to experience much bodily pain.

Now it appears that the abovementioned reasons for why most people put off exercising (too time consuming and too painful) are not only the same reasons why many of God’s children have an intense distaste for physical exercise and, thus, will avoid doing it, but also the reasons why they often have no desire to engage in spiritual exercise. Too many people who say they are followers of Christ Jesus seem to have no desire to devote the time nor any desire to endure the pain it will cost them to do what it takes to increase the strength in or gain more power for their Faith muscle. This, however, is the undeniable truth as to why their spiritual Faith muscle repeatedly fails them in their times of need, and why they repetitively are asking/begging God to give them more Faith or to increase the strength and power levels of their Faith.  

The above-stated physical and spiritual exercise analogy is why this blogger does not understand why so many Christians keep teaching and preaching that WE should ASK God to INCREASE and/or STRENGTHEN our Faith, or give our Faith MORE POWER. The Divine Truth is that God already has given each one of us OUR own measure of Faith (the degree of Faith apportioned by God), which is our individual portion of His Faith! For this reason, He doesn’t need to increase or strengthen or empower our individual Faith any more than He heretofore has done, because He has given us ENOUGH Faith to make us born again believers, to make us victorious saints, and to make us powerful followers of Christ Jesus—powerful enough to literally move mountains, which means that even if our measure of Faith is as small as a grain of mustard seed It still is strong enough and powerful enough to remove a mountain from where it is located on land and throw it into the sea (see Mark 11:22-23 also Matthew 17:20)!

Furthermore, God’s Word tells us that our mountain-moving measure of Faith automatically INCREASES and/or gets STRONGER and becomes more POWERFUL when we put our own measure of Faith to use—when we EXERCISE our own measure of Faith by WORKING OUT our own Salvation (see Philippians 2:12-13), and by evaluating our God-given ability with sober judgment in accordance with our own measure of Faith (see Romans 12:3). Once again, God gave all of us who are His sons and daughters everything we need to live holy, righteous, and victorious lives on this Earth (see 2 Peter 1:3), and that EVERYTHING includes more than enough Faith!

Let there be no doubt about it. It is our responsibility to live out our God-given Faith in Christ Jesus, even more so during the many storms of life that come our way! Unfortunately, it is sad but true that the painfulness we encounter that causes most of us to have an aversion to working out our own Salvation happens every time we EXERCISE our own spiritual muscle of Faith while we are facing the various kinds of storms that frequent our individual lives.

Oddly enough for many believers in Christ Jesus, it is because most of us frequently can’t understand why God didn’t keep us from the soreness, distress, and other unpleasantness we suffered in our past storms that we often stop exercising our Faith, while we are in a present storm. This very poignant and unquestionable truth is why we all need to understand this also very frustrating yet undisputable Truth: God allows us to weather the storms (to be all right in spite of experiencing great difficulties and/or serious problems) that come into our lives so that we realistically can evaluate (judge, appraise, determine) just how fake or true, weak or strong, flabby or firm, atrophic or developed, and/or powerless or powerful our own Faith is in the God we say we love, we obey, and we TRUST! Our evaluation definitely will show us just how spiritually strong and spiritually healthy we are, as well as point out how important it is for us to continue with our Faith’s spiritual workout regime.

 

A word to the wise should be sufficient.  Shalom . . . .

The POWER of Prayer

07 Monday May 2012

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POWER of Prayer

 

that the communication of thy faith may become effectual by the acknowledging of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus. ~ Philemon 1:6, KJ21

What is the POWER of prayer? The POWER of prayer is FAITH (TRUST) in God, Christ Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and the Word of God. Furthermore, our Lord teaches us that we must pray in FAITH, and never doubt. When we pray in this kind of FAITH, we then can ask whatever we desire, in Jesus’ name (authority), and not only believe that we will receive it but also we can expect to receive it (cf. Matthew 21:22; Mark 11:24; John 14:13-14; John 16:23).

Christ Jesus agrees, because He teaches us that we must:

…Have faith in God. For verily I say unto you, that whosoever shall say unto this mountain, ‘Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea,’ and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass, he shall have whatsoever he saith. Therefore I say unto you, what things so ever ye desire when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them. ~ Mark 11:22-24, KJ21

Specifically, this FAITH that the Lord speaks about comes from hearing the Word of God (cf. Romans 10:17). This FAITH also is the measure of FAITH that God gives to us—His Faith, the same measure of FAITH Christ Jesus had.

Having said that, it is important to note here that before we can be sure that we are using the POWER of prayer correctly, we have to understand that this FAITH, which the apostle Paul calls our measure of faith (cf. Romans 12:3) is ENOUGH faith. We also have to agree with apostle Paul, who says in Galatians 2:20 that our measure of faith is the same quantity and quality of FAITH that Christ Jesus had.

Please notice that in the King James Version of Galatians 2:20 Paul says that he lives “…by the faith of the Son of God….” Now, several English language versions translate this portion of this verse as “…by faith in the Son of God….” However, this blogger believes that the King James Version, the 21st Century King James Version, and the Complete Jewish Bible, just to name a few, translate this verse correctly. That is to say, in the mentioned believed to be correct translations of Galatians 2:20, the apostle Paul is NOT saying that he lives by the faith he has in Christ Jesus, but rather he is saying that he has that same quantity and quality of faith that Christ Jesus had!

The point here is that every one of us who is born again, saved, justified, and who is being sanctified has received the same exact measure of faith. Additionally, the truth is that none of us use ALL the FAITH we’ve been given.

The main reason why we do not use ALL of the FAITH we have been given is because we often think that we don’t have ENOUGH faith to accomplish successfully what God has given to us to do. That is why we often pray to God to give us MORE faith, and why so many spiritual leaders teach that, if God hasn’t blessed us with financial increase, or physical and spiritual healing, or reconciled our marriages, and so forth, then it must be because we don’t have ENOUGH faith!

The Divine Truth is that, if we are not getting the results we KNOW God wants us to receive, then we either are asking for something God already says we have, or we are asking for something that only will satisfy our selfish wants, or we just don’t know what to pray for nor how to pray. Put differently, when we seem to not get what we prayed for, the reasons very well could be because: We should have been praying for the removal of our sensual unbelief instead of praying for MORE faith (cf. Matthew 17:21; Mark 9:29; James 1:6; see also Romans 8:26-27); or we should have been praying to know how and when to release the healing POWER that already is in us instead of asking God for His healing POWER (cf. Romans 8:26-27); or we should have been praying for the removal of our greed, lust, and selfishness instead of praying for MORE money, a bigger house, a more expensive car, etc. (cf. James 4:2b-3; see also Romans 8:26-27); or we should have been letting Christ Jesus, who is making intercession for us, continue to intercede on our behalf and continue to handle the mediation between God and us instead of trying to do His work for Him (cf. 1 Timothy 2:5; Hebrews 7:25; Hebrews 8:6; see also Romans 8:26-27); and so forth.

The bottom line is this: If we used ALL of the FAITH God already has given us; that is, if our measure of faith is functional (operating in us 24/7), then our measure of faith will work more for us once we acknowledge EVERY GOOD THING that God already has given us, which includes ALL the FAITH that we need (cf. Philemon 1:6).

For our FAITH to work more for us, we additionally need to understand that the POWER of prayer is also the POWER of God (the POWER of His Holy Spirit). God uses His POWER not only to hear but also to answer our prayers that are in agreement with His Will. That we must pray in harmony with the Will of God is why Christ Jesus tells us that our prayers need to be about us hearing and obeying God’s Will on Earth just like the angels hear and obey His Will in Heaven. Therefore, there are NO “magic formulas” for us to follow that will give us powerful prayers, because God’s answers to our prayers are not based on how eloquently, lengthily, passionately, silently, or loudly we pray, but rather His answers are based on whether or not we willingly have submitted to His Perfect Will and are living/doing/following His Moral Will (cf. Hebrews 12:9; James 4:7a; Luke 22:42; 1 John 2:3; 1 John 3:22; 1 John 5:14).

Christ Jesus agrees that getting God to answer our prayers has more to do with our submission and obedience than it has to do with our eloquence, or long-windedness, or redundancy, etc., for He says:

But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions as the heathen do, for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. Be not ye therefore like unto them, for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of before ye ask Him. ~ Matthew 6:7-8, KJ21

 AND

In this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father who art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth, as it is in Heaven. ~ Matthew 6:9-10, KJ21

In addition to praying according to God’s Will, the apostle Paul makes it very clear that even though the POWER of prayer is also God’s POWER, God only will respond to us “…according to the power that works in us” (cf. Ephesians 3:20). In other words, it is possible that we can hinder how, when, or even if God responds to our prayers, like we know and trust He is capable of doing, if we have NO power in us, or, more important, if we do not believe that the power that is in us is the same Divine POWER that our Lord had.

The Divine Truth is, if the Word of God, Christ Jesus, and the Holy Spirit are NOT living on the inside of us, or if they are inside us but, as earlier mentioned, we doubt that they will work for us the way they work for others who have been abundantly blessed, financially prospered, miraculously healed, and so on, then we won’t get the results we want. On the other hand, once we totally are submitting to God’s Will, willingly are being obedient to His commands, and genuinely are acknowledging EVERY GOOD THING that God already has given us (primarily the POWER that works in us), as well as once we are trusting without doubting, believing and expecting to receive, and demonstrating the right motives, we then are ready to speak (pray) in FAITH, releasing the POWER and AUTHORITY that is within us that move God to hear and answer our prayers.

To sum it all up, the POWER of prayer is the FAITH that God gives to us—His Faith, the same measure of FAITH Christ Jesus had. Thus, the FAITH we have in God, in Christ Jesus, in the Holy Spirit, and in the Word of God comes from hearing the Word of God (cf. Romans 10:17). When we pray with the POWER of this FAITH, which would be minus any doubt that comes from sensual unbelief (a trust in our feelings, our emotions, our vision, our hearing, our circumstances and situations, or a trust in the opinions of others), then we will have the kind of FAITH that enables us to believe and receive whatever we ask.

Finally, the POWER of prayer also is the POWER of God—His Holy Spirit’s dunamis (power) and the exousia (authority) in Christ Jesus’ name. It is this POWER and AUTHORITY that God uses when He not only hears but also answers our prayers that are in agreement with His Will. Then too, God reveals His Will to us through His Word and by His Holy Spirit.

Taking into consideration that we are submitting totally to God’s Will, are being willingly obedient to His commands, and genuinely are acknowledging EVERY GOOD THING that God already has given us, we then will know that we are ready to speak (pray) in FAITH, releasing the POWER and AUTHORITY that is within us that move God to hear and answer our prayers. For the record, the mountains that Christ Jesus says we should speak (pray) to MOVE because of our God-given FAITH and God-given POWER and AUTHORITY that flow out of our hearts in word form (prayer). As a result, just as God promises, when we believe and never doubt, and when we have the right motives, then, by the power that works in us, we will receive whatever we say (cf. Mark 11:23; Ephesians 3:20; James 4:3)!

Fast And Pray To Remove Sensual Unbelief

05 Saturday May 2012

Posted by in Devotional

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Unbelief . . .

And straightway the father of the child cried out and said with tears, ‘Lord, I believe; help Thou mine unbelief!’ ~ Mark 9:24, KJ21

 

The incident with the “epileptic” boy serves as a sharp contrast between the three chosen disciples’ Mount of Transfiguration mountaintop experience and all of the disciples’ valley frustrations about their inability to heal ALL manner of sickness and disease. In Mark chapter 9, Christ Jesus’ disciples could not heal this “epileptic” boy. For this reason, when the boy’s father confesses to Christ Jesus that he believes yet has unbelief, no doubt because of the disciples’ failure, his confession is presented as a symbol for the root cause of the disciples’ frustration problem.

Christ Jesus’ disciples profess with deep faith their confidence in their Lord to do supernaturally the naturally impossible. However, their own sensual unbelief (a trust in what they ONLY can see, feel, hear, smell, or taste) ends up hardening their hearts (human spirits). As a result, it is their sensual unbelief that keeps their hearts and minds from professing with deep faith that same level of confidence in their own ability to do supernaturally the naturally impossible, even though they have been given the Lord’s power and authority.

Sensual unbelief results from us paying more attention to the physical world and/or our natural senses, or paying more attention to the opinions of others, instead of focusing on the Divine, Supernatural Truth of God. Consequently, we keep looking to Christ Jesus to do for us what He ALREADY has done in us! He has put in us our measure of faith (enough trust in God) and our measure of power and authority (enough dunamis and exousia) to perform miracles, signs, and wonders for others, as well as for ourselves. But, regrettably, our own sensual unbelief (ignorance about or unwillingness to trust) in the supernatural in us hinders us from doing what IS supernaturally possible for us to do, if we ONLY would believe.

Because what we see, feel, hear, smell, or taste often is contrary to the WORD and the promises of God, we then doubt (have sensual unbelief) in our hearts. As our doubt increases, and as our circumstances continue to appear to go against God’s WORD or His promises, we redouble our dependence on or trust in our five senses, or in mankind’s opinions. Moreover, because doubt (sensual unbelief) and faith cannot occupy the same space in our hearts at the same time, our doubting hardened hearts always will cancel out our faith, which is our total trust and belief in the Holy Spirit working through us!

For this last reason, Christ Jesus teaches us on the importance of faith, prayer, and fasting, as their roles in our lives pertain to the removal of our sensual unbelief. That’s right! Contrary to popular opinion, when the disciples ask Christ Jesus why they couldn’t cast out the demonic spirit (cf. Mark 9:28), the Lord’s response, “This kind can come forth by nothing but by prayer and fasting” (Mark 9:29, KJ21; see also Mark 9:17-29; Matthew 17:14-21; and Luke 9:37-43a), does not refer to His disciples’ need to fast and pray in order to cast out the foul spirit. He tells them that they needed to fast and pray, because that would be the only way for them to remove their sensual unbelief. Their unbelief being the reason for why they could not get rid of the foul spirit is made crystal clear in Matthew 17:20.

Therefore, since Christ Jesus already had given His disciples His power and authority over “…unclean spirits to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease” (Matthew 10:1, KJ21; see also Mark 6:7 and Luke 9:1), these disciples did not fail to heal the boy possessed with that foul spirit of epilepsy, because they had not fasted or prayed before performing what would have been a Divine miracle. They failed at casting out this particular demonic spirit, because of their own sensual UNBELIEF!

Let us then learn to fast and pray whenever we are dealing with our own sensual unbelief so that God will remove that sensual unbelief from our minds, and in so doing, save us from hardening our hearts against the supernatural workings of the Holy Spirit.  AMEN.

Please read my blog entry: Speak To Your Mountains.

Speak To Your Mountains

12 Saturday Mar 2011

Posted by in Faith and Wisdom

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Move your mountains (obstacles), and don’t try to climb them….

Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, ‘Why couldn’t we drive it out?’  He replied, ‘Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.’ (Matthew 17:19-20, NIV; cf. Matthew 21:21-22; Mark 11:22-24; and Luke 17:6).

Why do believers preach, teach, sing and write about seeking God for the strength to climb their MOUNTAINS, when Jesus the Christ never taught us to do any such thing? Indeed, He told us that even FAITH that is as small as a mustard seed is FAITH that’s powerful enough for us to say to our MOUNTAINS, “Move from here to there,” and they will move.

In this world, both the saved and the unsaved people will go through seasons when life’s challenges will seem to be overwhelming. Now, while the unsaved usually will respond in ungodly ways to those circumstances and situations that occur during their overwhelming seasons, the absolute truth is that believers (saved individuals) should not be responding to their circumstances and situations in ways that might suggest they are not saved. In other words, God’s  children should never give in to the temptation to talk about how BAD their problems are, or about how HARD it is for them to climb the rough side of their mountains.

Basically, a mountain (problem) is a barrier, meaning anything in this world that keeps believers from completing God’s Will. Naturally and spiritually speaking, a  mountain is anything that slows down or impedes believers’ progress in the Kingdom of God!

Therefore, it is not enough that believers talk to their mountains about how BIG their God is. It will not do believers any good to declare to their mountains that they serve a mighty BIG God, if believers do not have the FAITH to respond to their mountains the way the Word of God says they should do?

The harsh reality is the knowledge about how BIG their God is, in and of itself, will not produce the overcomer’s results that Jesus the Christ says people of faith should achieve. Then too, praying and fasting will not move any mountain, either. For sure, the Lord also never told believers to pray, in the “churchy” way, to God about their mountains, or to fast, in the “churchy” way, so that their mountains will be removed. Why not? Well, it simply is because prayer and fasting ONLY deal with unbelief, or the lack of confidence in God’s Word (cf. Matthew 17:15-21; Mark 9:23-29). Thus, believers’ lack of faith is the main reason why most mountains in their lives never seem to go away, and/or never seem to stay away once they do leave!

Without a doubt, it is our faith that moves God, and not our knowledge of how Big He is, or our knowledge about all things being possible with Him, or our fasting and praying. The Lord COMMANDS us to speak to (COMMAND) our mountains, in His name (authority). Now, since God already has given us our measure of faith, it then is our responsibility to speak to our mountains (to tell them specifically and clearly to MOVE), instead of trying to use our words about how BIG our God is to intimidate our mountains, or instead of trying to climb our perilous mountains by enduring each tortuous journey a few footholds at a time, or, lastly, instead of trying to pray and fast them away.

Now, it does not matter whether believers’ measure of FAITH is the size of a mustard seed or a mustard bush. What really matters to God is that whenever believers DOUBT (don’t have 100 percent trust in Him or in His Word), they cancel out their measure of FAITH. For sure, FAITH and DOUBT cannot occupy the same space at the same time!

The Divine Truth is that God, by way of Jesus the Christ’s atoning sacrifice, has given believers the supernatural power of His Holy Spirit and His sovereign permission and authority to use this power. Thus, His God-given power is demonstrated when believers use His God-given authority, and His God-given authority becomes evident when believers speak His Word! For these reasons, born again Holy Spirit baptized believers ALWAYS should do what Jesus the Christ has commanded them to do about their mountains: They should speak to their MOUNTAINS and tell them to move, and then believe in their hearts that their mountains “will move” (Matthew 17:20b, NIV). As Jesus the Christ also says: “Everything is possible for one who believes” (Mark 9:23, NIV).

Please read my blog entry: Fast And Pray To Remove Sensual Unbelief.