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The Power of Faith

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The Just Will Live By Faith

The Scripture tells us that the just shall live by faith. This principle is true for both Old Testament and New. God has chosen faith as the only way His people can relate to Him. And for a very good reason. Faith puts the responsibility for our Salvation upon the Lord. Only if God initiates, manages, and completes the work of Salvation can it be sure. If left to me and my efforts then the day will come when, at some point, I will fail to meet the requirements for Salvation. Faith enables God to do the work of Salvation. This is very, very, good news! Read Romans Chpt. 4.

Faith Comes by the Word of God

We cannot manufacture faith in God. Believing anything does not produce faith in God. If we want faith in God then that faith comes only by the Word of God. The kind of faith that saves, heals, and delivers is the faith generated by the Word of God. His Word alone has the power to impart the kind of faith that produces an overcoming life. As we take His Word into our heart, and mind, then we find that God Himself becomes resident within our heart. Faith does not come by will power and we can't to work it up. The only way to have faith, and to live in the power of faith, is to plant the faith generating Seed of the Word of God into our heart. Read Romans 10:8-17.

The Seedbed of Faith

Think of our heart as the seedbed of faith. The more Seed put in the ground the larger the crop. The more Word we put into our heart the more faith will be produced. If we have made a decision to live by faith then the next step is to plant God's Word into our heart.

Seed Needs Good Ground Care

Knowing what the Word of God says is not the same as planting the Word within our heart. Even the Devil knows, and understands what God says. We plant when we choose to live by what God says. Our choices determine where and what we plant within our heart.  It is as we choose to give God's Word the ruling position over our heart and mind that the planting process begins; submitting ourselves to the Word is planting the Word. We plant when we give the Word authority over our thoughts, our actions and our behavior. If we make the Word our worldview then we are planting a good garden that will produce precious fruit. The Word of God cannot produce faith under any conditions. If planted in rocks, weeds, or dry ground it will not grow. If weeds, worms, and disease are allowed to infest the garden of our heart then the Word will not be able to produce healthy fruit. The Word must be watered, weeded, and then waited upon prior to receiving the harvest. To grow faith - first the blade, then the ear, then the full corn, takes time. Overcoming faith is the result of bring the Seed of the Word to harvest. It is at harvest that we see the fruit of the Word. The Word of God, if allowed to blossom and grow within the heart, always brings victory, always produces the fruit for which God sent it. Read Isaiah 55:10-11

 Faith Works

Real faith does not lie dormant within the heart but is alive and grows. If faith does not express itself through an overcoming Christian life then the reason is that the Seed of the Word has not been planted, or if planted, not allowed to grow. The Seed of the Word in good ground will always produce good fruit. Read Matthew 13:1-9.

The Sword of the Spirit

The Written Word is the Sword of the Spirit, meaning the Word of God is the power of the Holy Spirit. It is easy to see the written Word as less powerful than a supernatural event.  But that is not true. It is faith that allows us to use the Sword of the Spirit over our enemies. It is faith that enables us to stand. It is faiths that shield all the fiery darts of the Evil One. As we plant the Word in our heart, we are actually planting the power of the Holy Spirit within our heart. We are told our victories are not by our own might, not by our own power, "but by my Spirit, says the Lord." Planting the Word in our heart is God's way for us to live by His power. When He, through His Word, lives in our heart then He, by His Spirit, fights on our behalf. He gives His Word so He can bring us the victory,

The Planting Process

How do we plant the Seed of God's Word within our heart? The first and most important step is to make a decision to believe the Word of God. If we're still on the fence then we can never plant the Word within our heart, and as a consequence, can never have a faith that will lead to victorious living.

The second step of planting is to protect the Seed. Birds are notorious for eating seeds. Thoughts that oppose the Word of God are like birds that eat freshly planted seed. The thoughts of the Natural Man will war, fight, oppose, threaten, deny, and negotiate. The Natural Man is in partnership with the Spirit of this World and the mind of the Natural Man is the natural enemy of God. The Natural Man opposes God at every turn. His purpose is to prevent the you, the New Man, from planting the Word of God within your heart. This War is real and every Christian has to make a decision to win this battle of the mind. Every Christian has to learn to manage their inner world of thoughts and emotions. Every Christian must learn to manage their self-talk. Every Christian must learn to live and walk in the power of the Spirit. Listen to the counsel of the Holy Spirit:

2Co 10:3  For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: 
2Co 10:4  (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) 
2Co 10:5  Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; 

The third step is to speak the Word of God to our thoughts and emotions. The Word of God will defeat every opposing power. Speaking the Word of God to ourselves renews the mind and releases the power of God over our life. Speaking the Word to ourselves becomes the context of fruitful living. We memorize, think, and speak the Word of God over our mind, over our emotions, and over every part of our lives. Darkness will say that using the Bible to effect permanent change is foolish but we take every thought captive and remind the Devil that he is a liar because God said "man does not live by bread alone but by every Word that proceeds out of the mouth of God." Deut. 8:3

God bless you,

Jim

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Thank you,

Jim