Powerful Thoughts, Powerful Words

Review According to Your Faith... before reading

Thoughts are powerful...so powerful that they affect the direction of our lives!

A persistent fearful thought causes stress, which medical science has proven causes pre-mature aging and a variety of physical ailments. Job explains the calamities that befell him..."For what I fear comes upon me, And what I dread befalls me." [Job 3:25]

We also know that Jesus told many who came to Him for miracles "According to your faith be it done unto you..." and fear is nothing more than faith in or dread of what horrible things may happen.

We see how powerful fear thoughts are...what about the power in positive, life-affirming thoughts of blessing? The Bible calls positive expectation Hope, and tells us that Faith is the substance of things hoped for! [Hebrews 11:1]

According to Your Faith...

...be it done unto you. How many times did Jesus say that to those who came to Him for miraculous intervention? And what exactly was He saying to them?

Everyone who came to Him came in faith. They believed that they would get what they were seeking...they could see it coming to pass in the eye of their heart. They mixed that inner vision with words and action.

In essence, they had already conceived of a life different than the one they had. They chose life, blessing, instead of death and the curse. They were, in fact, already delivered—Jesus never said "I healed you, or I raised your child from the dead."

He was demonstrating the power within, the power of faith—believing 1) that what we say is going to happen, and 2) that we receive the instant we pray. [Mark 11:22-24]

Ephesians 3:20 says it this way: 'Now to Him Who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us...' Go up a couple of verses in that chapter, where the Holy Spirit, through Paul, says that God would grant us, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man.

As a Man Thinks...
Most people have heard Proverbs 23:7 quoted...'For as he thinks within himself, so he is.' And of course there's Joel 3:10...'Let the weak say, "I am a mighty man."'

I believe these truths demonstrate 'according to your faith be it done unto you.'

You don't read much about faith in the Old Testament. We know that Noah and Abraham and Moses had faith because we are told in the New Testament that their actions constituted faith. We see David believing in the Lord's deliverances, and then we see him delivered.

Some may call it positive thinking, but I think it's faith. Faith in two places—the heart and the mouth. The heart, where the vision of blessing grows from the Word and from the indwelling Spirit...and the mouth, where agreement with God and His Word is decreed.

Think From the Desired End, Not Of It
If it is true that 'as a man thinks, so is he...' then our access to God's blessing is between our ears. Change how you think within, or as Romans 12:2 says, '...be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.'

[Aside...note that the will of God is not tragedy, horror and misery...see John 10:10]

So we see that life-changing faith, the 'be it done according to' kind of faith, begins in the mind. See the unseen, the already answered prayer—think from the end, not of it.

We also know that all of the promises of God are 'yes' in Him [2 Corinthians 1:20]—Jesus spent 4 chapters of John telling us that the Father would give us whatever we ask [John 14-17, 1 John 3:22]. We can believe we receive when we pray!

The Mouth
The second place faith is in in the mouth. Job 22:28 says "You will also decree a thing, and it will be established for you..." Then of course there are the Psalms and Proverbs, books of wisdom that are all about using the mouth to reign in life.

Back to Joel 3:10...let the weak say "I am a mighty man." Not 'let the weak say "Dear God, I'm so weak..please help me!"' God is the Great I Am—we are created in His image, filled with His Spirit, and we are instructed to say 'I am' to change our lives.

Agree with God. He says 'by His stripes you were healed.' So you say 'I am healed.' And don't just say it over and over, like some rote, meaningless ritual. Meditate on being healed, see it, think from being already healed...then decree it with power!

His Word, His Command

Psalm 29 describes the voice of the Lord and how it causes change in physical reality...He commands and it is done. We see this throughout the Bible, from Genesis 1 to the close of Revelations. His words are commands—they are settled forever [Psalm 119:89] and all things are His servants [Psalm 91:91].

But wait...didn't He say that all things have been given to us, richly to enjoy [1 Timothy 6:17]? That all things belong now to us? [1 Corinthians 3:22]

Where's the disconnect?

I believe it lies in our lack of understanding of how things really work, who we really are in Christ and what words really are.

God's Words Are Commands
Psalm 68: 11,12 sheds much light on this.

'The Lord gives the command [Heb. emer, usually translated word]; the women who proclaim the good tidings are a great host [Heb. tsaba, or army]; 

[and this is the word or command from the Lord that they proclaimed...] "Kings of armies flee, they* flee, and she who remains at home will divide the spoil!" 

* In the original Hebrew, the word they is not there. So it actually reads “Kings of armies, flee, flee!” A command rather than a statement.

Obviously, the men have gone out to battle. It is the Lord's will that they reign in life [Romans 5:17] so He issues the word, or command. The thing is, His works were settled before the foundation of the earth [Hebrews 4:3] and His word is settled forever [Psalm 119:89]. So He's already given the command that they succeed...and we know that the voice of the Lord changes physical reality.

But we also know that man [male and female mand] has free will, which he executes with his mouth. [See The Tower of Babel in Fabulous Finds] So we can choose the blessing—His commands [Deuteronomy 30:15-20]—or the curse, the consequence of living outside of His blessing [words, commands].

I see it like a spiritual game of telephone...The Lord gives the word, or command, to the women who have stayed behind, and they 1) agree with it, and 2) proclaim it into the earth for their army. They are, in fact, the army [host] behind the army, bringing God's command of victory into the earth for those fighting at the front.

Would the natural army have succeeded without the command of victory coming into the earth? Only if they were physically bigger, badder and better equipped!

Without the word [command] of God working actively in our lives, our success is proscribed by our natural abilities and limitations.

Created in His Image
We are created in His image, filled with His Spirit. The importance of our words in shaping our lives is manifest throughout scriptures—we are like Him, and our words are commands, too. Ephesians 4:24 tells us to '...put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.'

Jesus said if we believe that what we say is going to happen, it will be granted him [Mark 11:3] and James compared our tongue to a ship's rudder or horse's bit. The entire book of Proverbs talks about the power of words in natural life.

You Mean Faith Confessions?
The Faith Movement has done great things for the Body of Christ. It has paved the way for us to understand who we are in Christ and how things work upon the earth.

But I think that, in large part, the message has been misunderstood.

We have taken the powerful truth that faith is in our hearts and in our mouths and have ritualized it to a set of spiritual prayer beads.

First, we have not realized the full truth that our old spirit was crucified with Christ, buried with Him in baptism and raised up together with Him and seated with Him in heavenly places. This is an actual, quantum fact. The only Spirit residing in our earthen vessels is Jesus and The Father, by the power of the Holy Spirit. We are the temple of the Lord and we have this treasure in this earthen vessel. In our reborn Spirit, we have been made complete in His fullness, filled up to all the fullness of God. And we live in two places—on the earth and seated in heavenly places.

What???? How dare I say such a thing!

Well, it's all in the Logos of God—His written Word, or command. These truths have been commanded upon us, for us, to us...it is His will, His command that we be filled up to all of His fullness.

His Logos—His Word—was made flesh and dwelt among us [John 1:1]. And we who have believed are the Word multiplied [Acts 12:24], the Body of the Word in the earth.

But this rebirth has taken place in our spirits—our hearts—not in our minds or in our flesh. Our spirit—the Spirit of God—has spiritual eyes to see the unseen, spiritual ears to hear the Word, the spiritual Mind of Christ, the anointing which teaches us all things [2 John 2:20,27]. 1 Corinthians 2:12 says that we have received the Spirit Who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God...and we know that He has chosen to freely give us The Kingdom [Luke 11:32]!

Back to Faith Confessions, Please!
Oh yeah, I did wander a little bit there. But I think it was necessary to give some background before completely blowing your minds!

Okay. The truth is that Jesus did tell us to speak to physical things, and to believe that they would obey. And He demonstrated it over and over again in His earthly walk. Then He told us that we would do greater works than He did [John 14:12]!

Unfortunately, we have somehow turned these powerful truths into meaningless repetitions.

For example, Joel 3:10 says 'Let the weak say, "I am a mighty man."

So we sing this, over and over, and we repeat "I am a mighty man [or woman], I am a mighty man, I am a mighty man, etc etc"

What we don't realize is that the voice—the spoken word—is to be used to command the natural! We are created in His image, and when reborn, have His Spirit in fullness within us! So instead of repeating faith confessions over and over, hoping that somehow they will come to pass, we must speak God's forever settled word as a command out into our lives to reign in the natural!!

The key to Mark 11: 22-25 is to have faith in God! Give the command to [whatever—tree, mountain, wind, body, money, etc] and know that it will happen! Jesus taught this, and then continued to demonstrate it over and over again. When caught in the storm, his disciples wakened Him to help, and He said to them "Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?" Or in other words, why didn't you do it and let me sleep? Haven't you learned anything?

The Short Version
To summarize:

• Word are commands, from the spirit to the natural...this is true for God as well as man, both regenerate and unregenerate 
• God's Word, or command, is settled forever...we bring it to pass by seeing and hearing it with our spiritual eyes and ears, and giving the command or Word into the physical realm 
• Then, at that moment, we choose to believe that what we say happens. 

We are not speaking vain repetitions in the hope that they might [please oh please oh please] come to pass...we are giving the commands settled from before the foundation of the world into our lives, to prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God! [Romans 12:2] To bring the blessings that are already ours from the spirit into the natural, physical realm...to reign upon the earth! [Revelations 5:10]

One More Thing...
And just to make sure that His will for us was unmistakably clear, He stated unequivocally "So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; it will not return to Me empty, without accomplishing what I desire, and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it." [Isaiah 55:11]

In Romans 12, He says that His will is good and perfect and acceptable. James 1:17 tells us that every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with Whom there is no variation or shifting shadow. And Psalm 84:11 says 'The Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord gives grace and glory; no good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly.'

In other words, His will for us is wonderful...He commanded it and He expects it to come to pass! We need to agree with Him and command His words out of our mouths.

Do you know why God can't lie? [Numbers 23:19] Because if it wasn't true when He started the sentence, it would be true by the time He finished! The creative power of His Word never fails.

Never question the power of His forever settled Word, or His purpose for it to accomplish what He sent it for. In fact, nothing can stop it from producing physical, natural results, except us! We can choose cursing instead of blessing, death instead of life. We can choose not to believe His word, or not to believe it specifically for our own lives. We can choose not to understand how the universe works and go our own way.

Just Do It!
Yes, you have to choose whether to obey or rebel...it's that simple. Discard any brainwashing you may have received about the so-called Faith Movement, or Positive Confessions, or [fill in the blank]. Or any excuses, such as I don't want to, it's too weird, I don't believe that works, my pastor thinks it's heresy, etc etc.

I've laid out a good, solid Biblical argument. Now it's up to you to read the Scriptures for yourselves and decide whether to obey or not. I'm not trying to be harsh, I'm trying to help you see how to move God's blessings from the Spirit to the natural.

We are One Spirit With the Lord and we are created to reign in life. The commanding power of the spoken voice, from the spirit through the mouth, is the tool by which we do this.

In Conclusion...No, Really
The Word is called the Sword of the Spirit, and it comes out of the mouth. Jesus puts it this way in Luke 6:45..."The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth what is good; and the evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth what is evil; for his mouth speaks from that which fills his heart."

Remember, ' But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves...' [2 Corinthians 4:7] The Holy Spirit, through Paul, prayed that we be strengthened with all power [Colossians 1:11]—strengthened with power through His Spirit in our inner man [Ephesians 3:16].

Why is He in us, in fullness, in all power? Is He some sort of spiritual hitchhiker, along for the ride? Or is it to empower us to do the works of Jesus, and greater works than those? Is it to prove His good will in our lives to the world and to those enemies arrayed against us? Is it to enable us to reign in life, to receive every blessing..health, wealth, angelic protection, blessings upon our children...favor, wisdom, love, joy, peace...all already settled in heavenly places and in our spirits?

Psalm 84 explains quantum realities:

'How blessed is the man whose strength is in You, in whose [lit. their] heart are the highways to Zion! Passing through the valley of Baca [weeping] they make it a spring; the early rain also cover it with blessings. They go from strength to strength, every one of them appears before God in Zion.'

In our hearts—our spirits—are the highways to Zion! Hebrews 12:12:22 says that we have already come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem! We are already seated with Him in heavenly places [Ephesians 2:6], and from there we make our places of weeping a spring! Hallelujah!

Give the command! Make His will so in your life! Say, as Mary did, "May it be it done to me according to your word..."

Hallelujah!

Faith Revisited

Ever been believing God for something, I mean really convinced that the Word was true, in spite of circumstances? Standing on the Word, seeing it as already finished, speaking it out into the world, and then...wham! You wake up filled with doubt and fear...what if it doesn't work? What are you going to do? Etc. etc. etc...

If so, you are not alone, trust me! Re-read my post on Fear—it discusses this very phenomenon. Fear is a spirit, sent to kill, steal and destroy.

But the good news is this...in your reborn spirit, you are One Spirit with the Lord, and you have His faith! In your spirit, you have the faith to move mountains and calm seas. Because your spirit is filled with God, you are filled with His power and attributes—you have this treasure in earthen vessels [2 Corinthians 4:7].

In fact, in your spirit you have the Mind of Christ! [1 Corinthians 2:16]

Your Beliefs, Your Reality

Satan has no power over believers—he deceives us into using our own power against ourselves! He uses fear and deception to lead us away from the truth of the Word. We create false beliefs, which in turn create false realities. And since 'as a man thinks within himself, so is he...' those false beliefs create a false identity, which in turn creates a false reality.

For example, 'I could never do [fill in the blank]' is, for a believer, a false belief. The truth says "All things are possible to him who believes."

Jesus repeatedly told people seeking His help "According to your faith, be it done unto you." He was in fact showing us spiritual law, how to operate in life. Faith is based on a person's beliefs, whether good or bad, and creates their own personal reality.

Destiny?

The great thing about the Word is that it IS truth.

What it says is true, even though it may look at the moment that it is not.

Destiny, as the world sees it, is fate, locked and loaded. As Christians, our faith—in our hearts and in our mouths—give us the power to reign in life. We are not pawns of some destiny carved in stone.

We do, however, have a spiritual destiny. Our destiny as a born-again child of the Most High God, is one of blessing, power, health, wealth, angelic protection, favor, blessed offspring, days of Heaven upon the earth. Not to mention the very Zoe—the Life of God—within and eternal life in heavenly places [where you are seated already].

So if your current circumstances don't look like that right now, remember your destiny. You are what the Word says you are...believe it, see it, confess it. It MUST come to pass.

It is your destiny.

God's Good Will 2

Last week at church they sang a song about saying 'yes' to the will of God. It was sung in an attitude of self-sacrifice...sort of 'even though Your will may be terrible and may not be what I want, I will do it.'

What rubbish! How about saying 'yes' to the will of God as revealed in the Word? How about saying 'yes' to His desire to give you the desires of your heart? Or saying 'yes' to 'by His stripes you were healed...' or 'He will give His angels charge over you to guard you in all your ways...?'

Instead of screwing up our courage to accept Him killing our children or burning our churches down or losing our homes, how about saying 'yes' to His revealed will of blessing and wealth and health and glory? To long life and honor? To seeing our children's children? To our sons being blessed within us...to their well-being being great? These are all scriptures!

Daily Power Confessions

Here are just a few words to confess whenever feeling down or defeated...this is just a start, by no means an exhaustive list.

• By God's doing, I am in Christ Jesus, raised up and seated with Him in heavenly places
  
• I am one Spirit with the Lord--strengthened with all power in my inner man, the temple of the Holy Spirit
  
• I am the Word multiplied in the earth, born of the incorruptible seed that is the Word of God, a new creature in Christ Jesus
  
• I am the righteousness of God in Christ, Who has been made unto me wisdom from God, righteousness, sanctification and redemption
  
• All things belong to me, I belong to Christ and Christ belongs to God
  
• God has given me all things richly to enjoy--it gives Him great pleasure to give me the Kingdom
  
• I believe that what I say happens--it only takes a tiny bit of faith to move mountains and trees
  
• As He is, so am I in this world

Lumps of Clay

'The idols of the nations are but silver and gold, the work of man's hands. They have mouths but they do not speak; they have eyes, but they do not see; they have ears, but they do not hear, nor is there any breath at all in their mouths. Those who make them will be like them, yes, everyone who trusts in them.' [Psalm 135:15-18]

This is an amazing passage. But to understand what is really being said here, we need to go back to the beginning...

Genesis 2:7 says 'Then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.'

The Targum Onkelos, an ancient Aramaic translation says '...and man became another speaking spirit.' God breathed Himself into the lump of clay, and man, both male and female, became another speaking spirit!

Meditate on that for awhile. Talk about being made in His image!

The Yad of God

Pre-Reading
Psalm 136 [key verse is 12, but read the whole chapter]
Isaiah 59:1
Isaiah 49:22
Isaiah 50:2
Isaiah 60:21
Isaiah 66:22

Also, please refer to an earlier post, Yad, for important background...

Yad
We know that, for man, the power [or yad, which means 'hand' in Hebrew] of life and death is in the tongue. [Proverbs 18:21] Two other frequently quoted meanings of yad are 'strength' and 'power.'

So we know that man can work either with his physical yad, or hand, or the yad in his mouth. But we are made in God's image, and He does all things with the Yad of His Mouth!

Fear

Fear is a spirit. You think it's an emotion, but it's actually a spirit. Listen to Job 4:12-16 describe it perfectly:

'Now a word was brought to me stealthily, and my ear received a whisper of it. Amid disquieting thoughts from the visions of the night, when deep sleep falls on men, dread came upon me, and trembling, and made all my bones shake. Then a spirit passed by my face; the hair of my flesh bristled up. It stood still but I could not discern its appearance; a form was before my eyes; there was silence, then I heard a voice...'

2 Timothy 1:7 tells us that God has not given us a spirit of timidity—fearfulness, cowardice, fear—but of power, love and discipline. Hallelujah! Our reborn spirit is one of power, love and discipline!!

Think about this...if fear is a spirit, what is it's purpose? To deceive us into stopping or changing our direction. Why? Because wherever that spirit is standing to bring fear and dread is the the edge of your promised land.

Remember the giants in Numbers 13? Right at the edge of fulfilled blessing! And the spies said '...we became like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.' Not the other way around! They became afraid and felt small and defenseless—and that's how the giants saw them! They demonstrated Proverbs 23:7...'For as he thinks within himself, so is he.'

A Clue
Look at it this way...it's a clue.

Wherever fear manifests itself in you life, you know you're on the brink of fulfilled blessing in that area. God has already blessed you—spirits of fear are there to deceive you into believing otherwise, to keep you from walking in the fullness of abundant life.

Romans 12:2 tells us to be transformed by the renewing of our minds, that we may PROVE what the will of God is, that which is GOOD and ACCEPTABLE and PERFECT. If we are deceived we cannot prove how wonderful His will is, and that is the whole point.

So, if you're afraid of money issues, know for a certainty that you are already rich...if you're afraid of public speaking, know that you will have tremendous success in speaking. If you're afraid you're not going to get your healing, know for sure that you are already healed and that the spirit of fear is trying to make you believe otherwise.

Because faith, or belief, is how we access the things freely given to use by God.

The Highways to Zion

The highways to Zion are supply routes!

'How blessed is the man whose strength is in You, In whose heart are the highways to Zion! Passing through the valley of Baca they make it a spring; the early rain also covers it with blessings. They go from strength to strength, every one of them appears before God in Zion.' [Psalm 84:5-7]

The strength, the blessings, the provision--come from Zion through the portal in your heart! And passing through the valley of Baca [weeping] they make it a spring. They make it a spring! Not God, they! They make! They go from strength to strength!

In other words, the heart is the portal to Zion, but we must access it by faith! We have to exercise our part! So pass through the valley of weeping--you pass through--don't stay there, pass through! Decide--set your intent--to pass through!

Then, make it a spring! You make it a spring--a spring of refreshing, of blessing, of provision! You decide...'I'm passing through this valley of weeping, but while I'm here, I'm making it a spring of blessing!' Hallelujah!

In your heart are the highways to Zion...use your supply route, travel back and forth...make your life a watered spring! His will be done on earth as it is in heaven!

Faith etc.

We have the faith of God inside because we have Him inside. Faith is so powerful that it only takes a pinch--the size of a tiny mustard seed--to move a mountain!

A Very Little Thing
In Luke 12:26, Jesus called adding an hour to a man's life a "...very little thing..." We consider such a thing impossible--when medical reality says that's it, we see adding hours or days or years to a dying life as an impossibility that only a mighty miracle can accomplish. And of course, we've been brainwashed to believe that it might not be God's will to heal, He might want to kill [or 'take' in Christian-speak] instead of restore, depending on the whimsy of His Benevolence.

But Jesus, who also said that nothing would be impossible to us [Matthew 17:20] and that all things are possible to him who believes [Mark 9:23] calls adding an hour to a man's life a "...very little thing..."

Possibilities

ALL THINGS are possible [to him] who believes...

Pas [gr], meaning each, every, any, all, the whole, everyone, all things, everything. All means all.

All things ARE POSSIBLE [to him] who believes...
Dunatos [gr], meaning able, powerful, mighty strong, mighty in wealth and influence, strong in soul. To be able to do something, having power for something. Dunatos is from Dunamai, meaning to be able, have power. Looks like it might be related to Dunamis--strength, power, ability, power for performing miracles, the power and influence belonging to riches and wealth. In other words, possibility power.

All things are possible [to him] who BELIEVES...
Pisteuo [gr], meaning to think to be true, to be persuaded of, to place confidence in the thing believed.

In other words, you have the power, strength, might and wealth to do any and everything when you are persuaded and have confidence in your ability to do so. Jesus summed it up when He told people "By your faith be it done unto you."

It's a verse of unlimited potentiality...a quantum verse. Believe it! Meditate on it...see it as true in your life. Close your eyes and watch it in your imagination--the eyes of your heart!

Related posts: All Things, Anything?

Eternal You

We have such a limited view of spiritual reality...a sort of spiritual tunnel vision, if you will. Yes, man was separated from God by his own doing, but Jesus came that we might be reunited with Him. That's the story of the Gospel!

'For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.' [Romans 8:28,30]

He foreknew us! Ephesians 1:4 says '...just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him.'

Chosen before the foundation of the world! Foreknown! That's more then seeing us through the ages and predicting that we would come to Him...He knew us, before the foundation of the world! We existed then, we exist now, we exist forever on Mt. Zion. [Hebrews 12:22-24]

These are amazing, quantum thoughts, straight from the heart of God! 2 Timothy 1:9 says that His purpose and grace was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity...not for all eternity, but from all eternity! 1 Peter 1:1,2 puts it this way '...who are chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father...'

He knew us from old; therefore, we existed from old. In Christ, from before the foundation of the world. We are with Him in Revelations and from before the foundation of the world....we are eternal beings, living for a time in these earthen vessels.

In fact, the Greek word for 'eternal' is aionios—without beginning and end, THAT WHICH ALWAYS HAS BEEN AND ALWAYS WILL BE, never to cease, everlasting. Not just forward, as we tend to think, but backward, too.

Who Knew?
If these things are true, and since they are straight from the Word, they must be, why do we have such limited knowledge? It seems as if we are awake to only a small portion of our lives, eternity, the reality of God and who we are in Christ.

I think this must be what the Holy Spirit was saying in Ephesians 5:13, 14...'But all things become visible when they are exposed by the light, for everything that becomes visible is light. For this reason it says, "Awake, sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you."

When we allow the light of God's Word to shine into our thinking, the realities of the Kingdom are revealed. We can lay aside all preconceived notions and limitations and finally step into our calling—to reign in life through the One, Christ Jesus.

It's Time
It's time to lay aside our darkened thinking, to renew our minds to the realities of God's will for us. Time to step into His glorious light and realize that we live in two realms of existence...ambassadors in the earth, citizens of Heaven. Living here while seated in heavenly places in Christ. Foreknown from the foundation of the earth, with Him at the final trumpet of Revelations. Eternal, one with Him, full of His glory. Hallelujah

Why We Don't Trust God

The primary reason we don't walk in total victory in our lives is that we just don't trust God.

Those who have experienced a true re-birth, who have been born of God and are now one Spirit with the Lord, long to trust Him and His Word.

We read the Word and are afraid of the scary parts. We read the good promises and figure they're not guaranteed. We're afraid to really trust Him because His will for us might be to live in a hut in China and starve, or to 'take' our kids [what we really mean is kill our kids...] or worse. Maybe it's not His will for us to be healthy, maybe He'll want us to suffer with cancer, or paralysis, or [whatever]. And maybe the prosperity message is a lie...He really wants us to do without to prove our holiness. Or my personal favorite, it's ok to have some things but we shouldn't go overboard...

HORSE HOCKEY!!!

The Name of Jesus

As Christians, we have great respect for the name of Jesus. We are taught to pray in His Name to the Father, and this is correct.

However, I don't think we really understand what that means. We tend to tack it on before the 'Amen' as sort of a spiritual rabbit's foot...'gee, I really hope this works!'

To get a deeper understanding of what it means to pray 'in Jesus Name' we must grasp the truth that we are one Spirit with the Lord. We pray in His Name because it's our name, too--we are His Body in the earth! When He approaches the Father, I'm pretty sure He is heard and receives any request He might make.

But wait...we're not coming to the Father in our name, or by our righteousness...we're coming in our new position! We're in Him, and He's in us, and we bear His name because we are one with Him. So when we come, praying according to the Father's will as laid out in the Word, we know that we are heard.

'This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him.' [1 John 5:14,15]

How do we know His will? His Word is His will. Don't ask anything that goes against His Word...it's that simple. [see Anything?]

Of course, there are always the blanket prayers in John 14-17 to cover things not in His Word...but His Word gives us the parameters within which to live and pray.

So when you pray, pray from your new position in Christ Jesus--one Spirit with the Lord, His Body in the earth, in His name

You Haven't Lost Your Faith...You've Been Deceived

You may feel afraid, defeated, faithless...you may feel deserted by God and alone. Worry over your current situation may keep you sleepless by night and anxious by day.

You may wonder if you've lost your faith.

I've got great news for you--your faith is part of who you are as the offspring of God!

When you claimed Jesus' sacrifice as your own, in the spiritual realm, you died and rose with Him, and were seated with Him in heavenly places. I John says that you are born of God, an heir of God and fellow heir with Christ [Romans 8:17]. You are now one Spirit with the Lord--if you could see into the spirit, you'd look just like Jesus. By God's doing, you've been made the righteousness of God in Christ [1 Corinthians 1:30].

So your new spiritual DNA is that of your Father and Elder Brother. Faith, hope, love--these are part of who you are, not things that you must strive to get. When you're feeling defeated and faithless, remember...IT'S A DECEPTION!!!

All Things Revisited

This is so good that I just have to re-post it. I think it's worth the re-read...

'...all things are Your servants.' [Psalm 119:91]

I awoke in the middle of the night with this verse in my head. David is talking about God here but I began to realize that we are heirs of God! Heirs of God, and fellow heirs with Christ [Romans 8:32], to whom belong all things! [1 Corinthians 3:22,23]

Knowing this, and knowing that we are one Spirit with the Lord, made complete in Him, it follows that all things are now our servants, as well!

This is why Jesus instructed us to speak to things--mountains, trees, storms, etc. He knew that we were called to reign in life through Him, and He was demonstrating how to live in the earth as a Spirit-filled man.

God Isn't Holding Back 2

[ref God isn't Holding Back]

It is, in fact, our unity with God that assures us of the power and blessing of Him.

It isn't that God has made wild, hard-to-believe promises in the Word and sometimes we get lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time to get them. Or that some people drew the lucky ticket in life and others didn't. Or the worst ones...it is GOD'S WILL that some are blessed and others are not, and last but not least, the dreaded GOD IS TEACHING YOU SOMETHING THROUGH THE CANCER OR BY KILLING YOUR CHILD OR BY BLOWING YOU HOUSE OVER WITH A TORNADO OR BURNING YOUR CHURCH TO THE GROUND.

Why would God be out burning down churches? Why would He be doing things that, as a man, would get Him sent to jail or, in Texas, executed? HE'S NOT OUT KILLING CHRISTIANS OR THEIR CHILDREN!!!

[I realize that it's wrong to 'shout' by using all caps, but c'mon people...get real!]

The Helmet of Salvation

The helmet of salvation is part of the full armor of God, which we are instructed to put on in Ephesians 6.
First, think about that...we are told to put on the full armor of God...His armor! [Ephesians 6:11, 13] Not kid-sized armor, or 'junior' armor, but the same armor that Isaiah 59:17 describes: 'He put on righteousness like a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on His head; and He put on garments of vengeance for clothing and wrapped Himself with zeal as a mantle.' This is the same armor that the Holy Spirit, writing through Paul, instructs Christians to put on.

If we're told to put it on, we must be able to put it on, and it's got to fit. Ephesians 6:10 prefaces the instruction to put on the full armor of God with 'Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might.'

Not only His armor, but His power—His strength and might! These are incredible promises, often glossed over in Sunday School but never really meditated on until they become spiritual reality.

God Isn't Holding Back

"I do not withhold from Myself, and you are One with Me."

I was praying and heard this very clearly. I know, from multiple scriptures discussed in this blog over the last months that this is true, from a biblical point of view.

However, hearing it from the Father Himself opened up a new layer of reality. I can see now that any hint of lack or failure of any kind, any implication that He might be holding back blessings for any reason at all, is a lie. It might be subtle or shouting in my face, but it's still a lie.

This is a tough belief to accept, because we've been so thoroughly brainwashed by religion and culture alike to believe otherwise. Even though we know that all things already belong to us [see All Things]...and that's hard enough to really wrap our minds around...this is another level altogether. This is why all things belong to us!

Outside or Inside?
As the race of man, we all tend to believe that God, or gods, as the case may be, are 'out there' or 'up there' or in a temple or on a shelf somewhere. New Agers claim that they are gods and are vilified for it.

Why is that?

I believe, and this is just my opinion, that it is because after Adam and Eve severed their relationship with Him, God was only out there. For millennia, God was indeed separate from man, and could be found only through specific visitations or in the Holy of Holies in Jerusalem. For those who worshipped idols or other kinds of gods, they were always in a specific place--a temple, a tree, a household idol, Mt. Olympus, etc.

But the whole point of sending Jesus was to create a new race of beings—He was the Last Adam [1 Corinthians 15:45] and the Firstborn of Many Brethren [Romans 8;29]. He was to bring many sons (offspring of man) to glory [Hebrews 2 :10]. We suffered and died with Him, were buried with Him and raised up together with Him—we are One Spirit with the Lord! We dwell in two quantum universes...on the earth and in heavenly places. We've already come to Mt. Zion—to the city of the Living God, the Heavenly Jerusalem! [Hebrews 12:22]

God's will was to rectify the separation created by the Fall. When He first breathed Himself into Adam, His plan was to be One with His child. When that fell apart, He sent Another to create sons and daughters that were One with Him—full of His Spirit, filled up to all the fullness of God. [Ephesians 3:19]

I Peter 2:9 says 'But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR GOD'S OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light...' We are the Word multiplied in the earth!

Remember...
So remember, next time you start to fall for the party line that God is withholding [fill in the blank] for [whatever reason], IT'S A LIE!! He doesn't not withhold from Himself

Exact Representation of His Nature

'And He [Jesus] is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power...' [Hebrews 1:3]

Jesus Himself is the radiance of His [God's] glory...the exact representation of His nature! Hallelujah! If you've spent any time at all on this blog, you know what that means...so are we!!

Huh?
Remember...we are One Spirit with Him! Dead, buried, raised up together with Him, seated with Him in heavenly places. Full of God, strengthened with all power in our inner man.

If we could see ourselves in the Spirit, we would look just like Jesus, Who looks just like God. We are HIs Body in the earth, with His authority and power--He has freely given us all things with Jesus [Romans 8:32]

God knows it, and Satan knows it. Angels know it...they are ministering spirits, sent out to render service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation! [Hebrews 1:14]

The only people who don't know it is us. The Deceiver has hoodwinked us into powerless, pathetic creatures who are mere shadows of what they're really called to be.

I say it's time to become truly humble--to believe what God has said about us, and throw out everything else. Time to be the exact representation of His nature in the earth...to prove what is the good and acceptable will of God to those who need Him so.

The radiance of His Glory! Hallelujah!

Vessels of Power

The Holy Spirit, through Paul, prayed that we be '...strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might...' [Colossians 1:11] and that He would grant us '...according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through the Spirit in the inner man...' [Ephesians 3:

Remember--we are one Spirit with the Lord [1 Corinthians 6:17] and the Word multiplied [Acts 12:24]--the Spirit of HIm Who raised Jesus from the dead dwells within us [Romans 8:11]

Keeping those facts in mind, let's look at Hebrews 1:3 '...He [Jesus] upholds all things by the word of His power.'

His power is so great that it UPHOLDS ALL THINGS--all things--by just the WORD of His POWER! And He is in us, making us whole, making us complete...'For in HIm all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, and in HIm you have been made complete...' [Colossians 2:9,10]

Yikes
Now I realize that this truth is too big, too wonderful to completely wrap our brains about...the same power that upholds all things is in us...we have this treasure in these earthen vessels! [1 Corinthians 4:7]

One Spirit With The Lord

We are one Spirit with the Lord, we have the mind of Christ, we are clothed with Him in baptism, we are the temple of the Holy Spirit, we are joint-heirs with Jesus. These are all scriptural facts.

Jesus said in John 14:23 "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and my Father will love him, and We will come to him, and make Our abode with him."

Then, in verse 26, He explains how this will be done: "But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you." He brings the word to our remembrance, so that we can keep it.

In other words, if we love Jesus and keep His word, we become the abiding place for the Trinity!

Ephesians 3:16-21 describes this in greater detail—the Father strengthens us with power in our inner man through His Spirit—this power is from His riches in glory. This power enables Christ to dwell in our hearts through faith, and allows us to be rooted and grounded in love.

Referring to John 14, this must mean that the Holy Spirit empowers us to love God and to keep the word. We will then come to a place where we can know, in all dimensions, the love of Christ, and be filled up to all the fullness of God.

Verse 20 reiterates how this is to be done—through the power that works within us! And verse 16 states that this power comes from the rich treasury of His glory [AMP] through the indwelling Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit living within us is the Spirit of God joined to our recreated, reborn spirit—we are an expression of the Godhead in flesh form, just as Jesus was!

And the whole Body of Christ comprises the fullness of God! Therefore we are together a living organism, designed to work together as the fullness of God in the earth, enforcing satan's defeat and putting him under our feet.

More Than We Ask Or Think
Verse 20 says that The Father can do more than we can ask or think...infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts hopes or dreams [AMP] through this power that works within us! Verse 21 tells us why He will do this—that the Father may be glorified in the Church [which is the Body of] and in Christ Jesus.

When we begin to walk in unity, in victory, enforcing satan's defeat through the power of the Holy Spirit, God will be glorified. He is not glorified through strife and defeat!

Ephesians 3:10-12 tells us the purpose of the church clearly:

'...in order that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places. This was in accordance with the eternal purpose which He carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and confident access through faith in Him.'

Ephesians 6:12 explains that our struggle is against these very rulers and powers in the heavenly places—however, in chapter 2 verse 6, it is emphatically stated that we are seated with Jesus in heavenly places. Ephesians 1:21,22 describe that as being

'...far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in the one to come. And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fulness of Him who fills all in all.'

Ruling Class
So it is clear that we were created before the foundations of the world to be the instrument to destroy satan. We do this in union with God, empowered by His Spirit, seated in a position of authority and conquest. We are to exercise that authority over the defeated enemy, thus putting him under the feet of Jesus [under our feet, because we are seated with Him, and are His body].

Psalm 110:1-3 prophesies this very scenario—Jesus ruling from and through Zion! Ephesians 1:10 states that we were chosen '...with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things upon the earth.'

We are to administrate the conquest of satan and his army in heavenly places and here on the earth! Knowing this is essential to victorious living—I John 5:4 says 'For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.' Since we know from Hebrew 11:1 that 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.' [AMP] Wow!

We must believe that these things are true, that they are ours, and that faith in the spiritual reality of reigning in life through Christ is what brings about our victory! I John 4:4 says 'You are from God, little children, and have [past tense, meaning already] overcome them [evil spirits] because greater is He who is in you that he who is in the world.' Double wow!

Who We Are
Individually, we are also the temple of the Holy Spirit—one Spirit with the Lord, with the mind of Christ, clothed with Him in baptism, the temple of the Holy Spirit—joint-heirs with Jesus. John 14:23 is written for individual believers, while Ephesians 3 is written to the Body as a whole.

But for the Body to function properly, individual believers must first be walking in the fulness of God and in the victory of Jesus, or Body unity and victory will never be a reality. Just as our physical bodies are given life through the Spirit of Him Who raised Jesus from the dead, so it is with the Body of Christ [Body of the Anointed].

I John 4:17 says '...as He is, so are we in this world' and refers to the risen Jesus—we have died and been raised with Him and have already been recreated! Verse 16 of that same chapter states '...God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.'

Colossians 2:9,10 says 'For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority' We are in Him, and He is us, both individually and collectively as the Body of Christ.

Once we begin to understand, individually and collectively, that victory for us and for Him in the world has been God's plan from the start, we can have confidence in our position in Jesus. In Genesis 22:17, God tells Abraham that his seed will possess the gate of their enemies—in Galatians 3:16,He explains that the 'seed' is singular, not referring to the many natural offspring of Abraham, but to Jesus and His Body. Verse 29 reinforces that thought: 'And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise.'

We are each one the singular seed of Abraham, because we have been '...created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared before hand, that we should walk in them.' [Ephesians 2:10] Our work is to possess the gates of our enemies—to do victory on satan individually and collectively until he is completely under the feet of Jesus.

Then the end will come.

It Is Finished
However, we must understand this: these things are already accomplished. Jesus' defeat of satan was complete—we are taking back the natural world from him in the name of that defeat, and it will happen because God said it would.

We have already inherited the world—the last will and testament of Jesus says so. David was prophesying future events when he said '...the humble will inherit the land, and delight themselves in abundant prosperity.' [Psalm 37:11]

When we humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God, He will exalt us. [I Peter 5:6] True spiritual humility is not grovelling in the dirt before God—He created us in His image, as creatures of dominion. True humility is simply the act of doing what Adam did not—believing God and obeying Him—choosing His ways over our own or over the devil's!

And in doing that, we are exalted to be joint-heirs with Jesus, children of the Most High God, seated at His right hand in Christ Jesus, reigning in life through Him. Hallelujah!

All Things

'...all things are Your servants.' [Psalm 119:91]

I awoke in the middle of the night with this verse in my head. David is talking about God here but I began to realize that we are heirs of God! Heirs of God, and fellow heirs with Christ [Romans 8:32], to whom belong all things! [1 Corinthians 3:22,23]

Knowing this, and knowing that we are one Spirit with the Lord, made complete in Him, it follows that all things are now our servants, as well.

This is why Jesus instructed us to speak to things—mountains, trees, storms, etc. He knew that we were called to reign in life through Him, and He was demonstrating how to live in the earth as a Spirit-filled man.

In fact, I believe this is how Adam ruled the garden before he fell. He had dominion over plants and animals—all things—but after he separated himself from the life of God, he was forced to rely on his natural abilities alone. Forced into bondage to the very world he was set in to dominate.

Think about Mark 11:23..."Therefore I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they will be granted you." But what about God's will? God's will is manifest through His Word...and in His Word He has freely given us all things. Jesus knew the Scriptures, both written and yet-to-be written, that gave us all things richly to enjoy—He Himself taught in John 14-17 that whatever we asked in His name, that would He do.

All things belong to us, and we belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God [1 Corinthians 3:22,23]. And all things are our servants, too.

A Child or A Son?
Galatians 4:1-3 says 'Now I say, as long as the heir is a child, he does not differ at all from a slave although he is owner [or lord] of every thing, but he is under guardians and managers [or stewards] until the date set by the father. So also we, while we were children, were held in bondage under the elemental things of the world.'

In other words, while we are children, things rule us, even though all things belong to us. As we mature and begin to understand who we are in Christ and that our calling is to reign in life and administer the Kingdom, we begin to see that things are our servants because we are heirs of God and they belong to us now.

Even angels are said to be '...ministering spirits, sent out to render service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation' [Hebrews 1:14].

Paradigm Shift
No reality without a perception of reality is the first rule of quantum physics, according to visionary physicist John A. Wheeler. [Mind into Matter, Fred Alan Wolf, Ph.D., Moment Point Press, Inc, 2001]

What this means is that it's not real to us unless we believe it is. So it is with the promises of God. Religious error and worldly heresies have led us away from the truth because it is simply too big to believe...

If it's too hard to believe at first, meditate on the scriptures. Think about Jesus bringing many sons to glory...about Jesus being the last Adam—a race bound by natural limitations—and the Firstborn of many brethren, a supernatural race of God's offspring in the earth.

Start to see yourself as a supernatural being, walking here in the earth but also seated at the right hand of God in Christ in heavenly places, an heir according to promise. See all things as being your servants, yourself as an administrator of the Kingdom in the earth, walking in love and power.

In Colossians 1:11, the Holy Spirit prays that we be strengthened with all power in our inner man. All power, all things...

It's true. It's true because God says it is, because He has rested from His works. Hallelujah!

How Big is Your God?

I've got some startling news for you...God is as big as you think He is, at least in your life. That's what Jesus meant when He told people "By your faith be it done unto you."

If you think healing has passed away, then you're not going to get healed. If you think it might be His will for you to get healed, but it might be His will for you to suffer, to teach you [whatever]...then you're probably not going to get it, either.

If you think God is glorified in your lack, then you will live in lack all the days of your lives, despite the Bible's many verses to the contrary. If you think you can have some things, but shouldn't expect or want too much, then that's what you'll get, as well.

His Will
Ah, yes...there's the question of His Will.

I've got another news flash for you. His Word is His will. Jesus is His will. Everything Jesus bore on the cross, He bore for you so you wouldn't have to. His will is that we live on earth as He lives in heaven...remember the Lord's Prayer? "Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven."

You see, God doesn't have two standards...one for heaven, another for earth. When Jesus talked about binding and loosing in earth what was already bound or loosed in heaven, the actual Greek words are allowing and forbidding. Yes, we allow or forbid in the earth, and it is already accomplished in heaven. Another quantum brain twister!

Soul Prosperity
I think His will is pretty much summed up in 3 John 2: 'Beloved [yes, that's us], I pray that in all respects you may prosper and be in good health, just as your soul prospers.' What does that mean, exactly?

We are triune beings, just like God...created in His image, actually. We are a spirit, we have a soul, and we live in a body. The soul is everything except our spirit and our body--your mind, your will and your emotions.

Our spirit has been reborn and we are now one Spirit with the Lord [1 Corinthians 6:17]. Our body is the temple of God, of the Holy Spirit [I Corinthians 3:16, 6:19]. Part of the work of the Holy Spirit is to give life to your mortal body! [Romans 8:11]

Your mind, however, must be renewed to think like God thinks, according to the Word and the anointing which teaches you all things [1 John 2:20,27]. David often talked to his soul, telling it what to believe...a good practice, I think, which helps to rein in wild, unruly thoughts. Take charge of your thoughts--make them serve you, don't serve them!

We can see from the Word that prosperity and health is God's will for us, and that it comes through the soul. That's why Romans 12:2 tells us to '...be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect..' I think Paul emphasized that God's will is good because he knew the deceiver would work through religious doctrines to tell us that His will was sickness, tragedy and poverty. Or worse, it might be His will--then again, it might not be--leaving us with the impression that God is capricious and cannot be trusted. Since there is no Bible proof that these things exist in heaven, I think we can be sure that they are not the will of God in the earth.

And don't forget Proverbs 23:7...'For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.' [NKJ]

God is Sovereign
Many say "But God is sovereign, He is in charge. Everything will work out the way He wants it to--whatever will be, will be."

Yes, God is sovereign, and what He did with that sovereignty is to give us authority in the earth. He told us to heal the sick, to cast out demons...He told us to talk to trees and mountains and they would obey us. We are to reign in life, through the One, Christ Jesus [Romans 5:17] and are to administer the Kingdom on the earth [Ephesians 1:10] This is why we are to be strengthened with all power in our inner man [Colossians 1:11]--so that we can do our jobs!

Proverbs 18:21 says 'The power [Hebrew yad, or hand] of life and death is in the tongue' [see Yad] which clearly puts the ball in our court. God told Israel "See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, and death and adversity...I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. [and here' the big hint...] So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants..." [Deuteronomy 30:15, 19]

A quick aside here...notice how He lumps life, prosperity and blessing together, as well as death, adversity and the curse. Interesting...then He tells them 'Pick life, you dummies!' [I'm paraphrasing here, but you get the point.]

How we live is clearly our choice. Yes, God is sovereign, but He chose to give us wills to direct our lives [see The Power of Purpose and The Power of Purpose Revisited].

My Dad is Bigger Than Your Dad
So we see that God has given us free will to choose either blessing or cursing, and we choose it with our mouths.

How much can we choose? How big is your God?

We know from several verses that He has already given us all things [2 Corinthians 1;20; 1 Corinthians 3; 22,23; 1 Timothy 6:17; Romans 8:32] and we are told that all things are possible to him who believes. The sky is the limit! Nothing is impossible with Him!

He has already given us all things, and told us that nothing is impossible for us...how? Because He said so, and His Word is settled forever! Because His word does not return to Him without accomplishing what He desires [Isaiah 55:11]. Because He lives within us to back His promises...'Now to Him Who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us...' [Ephesians 3:20]

Another aside...Isaiah 5:11 says that His word is His desire. So His desire is that we walk in love, in peace, in wholeness and abundance, with angels guarding us!

Anyway...when Jesus explained that we could move mountains [Mark 11:22-24] He prefaced it by saying "Have faith in God." Why? Because God is backing us with His power!

God is limited by our beliefs of what He will and will not do. Psalm 78:41 says Israel pained, or limited God! They could not enter the Promised Land because of their unbelief! [Hebrews 3:16-19] The Promised Land was God's idea...total abundance! But they limited Him by their unbelief and did not enter His best will for them...it was not until those with the slave mentality passed away that He could finally bring them into His rest. And He did it by a man who had believed Him all along--Joshua!

When Jesus went to His hometown, '...He did not do many miracles there because of their unbelief.' [Matthew 13:58] The Word teaches that it is we who limit God...He has already given us all things richly to enjoy!

Change your ideas about your Heavenly Father. See Him as unlimited in His grace toward you, and realize that it is only your beliefs that limit His work and provision in your life.

Visual Prayer

"Have faith in God.

"Truly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Be taken up and cast into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says is going to happen, it will be granted him.

"Therefore I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they will be granted you." [Mark 11:22-24]

This is one of Jesus' most quoted passages, but how do you actually do it? What does it really mean to believe you receive?

Let's Pretend!

Ok, let's play a game.

Let's pretend that everything in the Bible is true. Close your eyes...we're going to pretend that we are filled up to all the fullness of God, and that everything we say comes to pass.

The Hebrew word 'dabar' means both word and thing...so let's pretend that everything that comes out of our mouths are actual little things that float out like bubbles and go 'pop' and land fully grown on the earth!

Let's pretend that Satan has been stripped of his weapons and that we have authority over all his power...that all he can do is deceive us, and we don't fall for it, ever. No matter how things look, we have the power to see the invisible provision that is all around us. See how he runs away from us!

Let's pretend that we can talk to physical, natural things and they obey us. That we can talk to trees and mountains and money and fish and donkeys and rooms...and they obey us.

Oh, this is fun!

More...
Now let's pretend that we're capable of being in two places at once. That we can walk on earth in these wonderful 'earth suits' but we're also seated at the right hand of God in Christ in Heaven!

Let's pretend that nothing is impossible to us--we're Super People, a new race in the earth! That the Creator of all things is our Father, and that the Glorious King Jesus is our big brother! And that our job is to reign upon the earth! Let's have beautiful robes and crowns and scepters!

And don't forget to pretend that we're always surrounded by enormous warrior angels that guard us in all our ways! That their job is to minister to us because we're heirs of God.

Let's pretend that everything belongs to us. That there are great and wonderful tables set before us, that our every heart's desire is granted, that our Father has given us all things richly to enjoy.

You Get The Idea...
Ok, doesn't that feel great? Now do it several times a day and see what happens. Close your eyes and see the unseen. Believe the Word and refuse to be moved.

Close your eyes and see your desires fulfilled--see the Word as true in your life, and be the person you long to be.

Have faith in God.

The Great I Am

God is all the things He says He is, and He is them for all eternity, past, present and future. He is them to us, individually and collectively as the church, and His Word is settled forever. [Psalm 119:89]

In fact, the instant the words 'I AM...[fill in the blank] came out of His mouth, He was that very thing! He cannot lie, because the second He speaks, His words become reality! His names were not only a description of Who He was, but in declaring them, He became the substance of each name!

And because our new self is created in the likeness of God in righteousness and holiness of the truth [Ephesians 4:24], we are also the things He says we are now. He is the great I AM...we are I am's, too! In Ephesians 5:1 we are told to be imitators of God, as beloved children! Therefore, we are to be like Him! I John 4:17 says '...as He is, so also are we in this world.'

Be like Him
We are one Spirit with Him—He is in us, and we are in Him. [ref Stop Begging—It's Inside!] In fact, Peter writes '...for you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring word of God.' [1 Peter 1:23] We are born of the same seed planted in the womb of a young virgin, 2000 years ago!! He is the Word, and we are the Word multiplied!

In fact, The Father Himself told us how to change our lives...'Let the weak say, "I am a mighty man."' [Joel 3:10] The books of Psalms and Proverbs are filled with references to the power of our speech—and Jesus told us to talk to mountains and trees.

Can you see it? God, the Great I AM is telling us to proclaim who we are...'I am a mighty man!' 'By His stripes, I am healed.' He told us to see the unseen—the already accomplished promises of God--and speak them into existence! We are told to '...put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.' [Ephesians 4:24]

Glory?
It is imperative that we develop a consciousness of who and what we are now—eternity is not a time-oriented existence.

Colossians 1:13 says the we have been delivered from the domain of darkness and transferred to the kingdom of His beloved Son. These things have already taken place, and we are eternal beings, recreated in our Father's image! We are everything that He says we are now, and satan is forever defeated in our lives now!

2 Corinthians 3:17,18 says: 'Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.' What this means is this: as we behold His glory, we are transformed into the same image by the power of the Holy Spirit. Same image! Hallelujah!

In fact, just before His death, Jesus prayed for us. "The glory which You have given Me, I have given to them, that they may be on, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world my know that You sent Me, and love them, even as You have loved Me.'

Yes, in the Old Covenant, God said that He would not give His glory to another [Isaiah 48:11], and we here that preached on a regular basis. But we are not another! We are one with Him and He has already given His glory to us!!

The whole idea of salvation was to bring many sons [Gr. Huios, meaning offspring of man] to Glory! Jesus was the last Adam, and the Firstborn of Many Brethren!

The Great I AM spoke the Word—the Word became Flesh and dwelt among us. Then the Word multiplied and grew daily.

Now
Therefore, realizing that we are now members of the kingdom of God, we are to walk by faith and not by sight. Faith is sight it is seeing into the kingdom of God, and walking by what God says instead of walking by natural sight, which is fixed on a dying and decaying fallen world.

It is the eternal view, from God's viewpoint. He sees our needs met now, and so should we. Hebrews 11:1 says that faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen, and Romans 10:17 says it comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ. This is spiritual hearing, hearing what Jesus says to you—rhema, or the spoken word of God, which comes out of logos [the written word of God].

It is His will that we awaken from our sleep and become strong sons and daughters, administering His Kingdom on the earth [Ephesians 1:10]. He desires that we come to the place where we see everything that He has said is true now, and has called us to reign in life through the One, Christ Jesus. [Romans 5:17]

The Quantum Table 2

[ref The Quantum Table, Stop Begging--it's Inside!]

What is This Quantum Table for the Believer?
It is the fulfilled Word of God...

• 'In Whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge' [Colossians 2;3]

• 'For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, and in Him you have been made complete [full]...' [Colossians 2:9,10]

• '...heirs of God and fellow [joint] heirs with Christ...[Romans 8:17]

• '...heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him.' [James 2:5]

• '...all things belong to you, and you belong to Christ; and Christ belongs to God.' [1 Corinthians 3:22,23]

• 'For as many as are the promises of God, in him they are yes; therefore also through Him is our Amen to the glory of God through us.' [1 Corinthians 1:20]

• 'He Who did not spare his own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will he not also with Him freely give us all things?' [Romans 8:32]

• Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us--for its is written "Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree"--in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we would receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.' [Galatians 3:13,14]

• '...through Him everyone who believes is freed from all things, from which you could not be freed through the Law of Moses.' [Acts 13:39]

• 'But thanks be to God, Who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place.' [2 Corinthians 2:14]

• '...God, Who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy.' [1 Timothy 6:17]

• 'Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ [Messiah] is born of God...For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world--our faith. [1 John 5:1,4]

• 'Beloved, I pray that in all respects you may prosper and be in good health, just as your soul prospers.' [3 John 2]

Just the Highlights
These are just the highlights--a fraction of the blessings that belong to us in Christ, for every blessing in the Old Covenant is ours as well, and none of the curse! Hallelujah!

See it, believe it, speak it. It belongs to you.

The Quantum Table

Psalm 23:5 states 'You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies...'

Where exactly is this table?

It is a quantum table...prepared for us in the Spirit.

In the Presence of My Enemies...
David describes this table—an obvious metaphor for abundant provision—as being laid in the presence of his enemies.

The table is where the enemies are, which can't be in heaven. We don't have to wait until we die to sit and partake of the table. Our enemies are those arrayed against us, and they are here, where we are. We cannot see them, but they are here. And the bountiful table is here, as well.

It's a lot like Hagar's well, or Isaac's ram, or the coin in the fish's mouth. We know that our every need is already met by His riches in glory [Philippians 4:19]...it's the table laid before us, in the presence of our enemies!

Don't Make Him Mad...
Psalm 78:19 says 'Then they [Israel] spoke against God; they said "Can God prepare a table in the wilderness?" They were questioning His ability and willingness to provide for them in a hostile environment. 

Verse 21 and 22 explain His reaction...'Therefore the Lord heard and was full of wrath; and a fire was kindled against Jacob and anger also mounted against Israel, because they did not believe in God and did not trust in His salvation.'

Deuteronomy 28:45-47 reinforces this idea. "So all these curses shall come on you and pursue you and overtake you until you are destroyed, because you would not obey the LORD your God by keeping His commandments and His statutes which He commanded you. They shall become a sign and a wonder on you and your descendants forever. Because you did not serve the LORD your God with joy and a glad heart, for the abundance of all things..."

So don't make Him mad. He has already provided everything for us in Jesus.

How? By His Word.

'For as many as are the promises of God, in Him they are yes; therefore also through Him is our Amen to the glory of God through us.' [2 Corinthians 1:20]

'So then let no one boast in men. For all things belong to you, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or things present or things to come; all things belong to you, and you belong to Christ; and Christ belongs to God.' [1 Corinthians 3:21-23]

"Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has chosen gladly to give you the kingdom.' [Luke 12:32]

Believe in His ability and His willingness to provide in a hostile environment—believe that His table is here, now, in the presence of your enemies. And partake!

Let the Redeemed of the Lord Say So

I have been made the righteousness of God in Christ. I am one Spirit with the Lord—He and the Father dwell in me by the Holy Spirit

I am a new creation in Christ—old things have passed away, all things have become new

I am redeemed from the curse of the law...
• from being oppressed and robbed continually
• from being oppressed and crushed continually
• from being the tail and not the head
• from dread of heart
• from lack and poverty
• from miserable and chronic sickness

And the blessings of the Law are mine...
• I am the head and not the tail
• I am blessed going out and coming in
• I serve the Lord for the abundance of all things
• Everything I touch prospers
• I am far from oppression for I do not fear
• All things belong to me—I prosper and am in health as my soul prospers
• Jesus has been made unto me wisdom—therefore riches, honor and long life are mine
• No weapon formed against me or mine shall prosper, but every tongue that accuses us in judgement I will condemn
• No evil befalls me, the evil one touches me not
• I will see my children's children
• I leave an inheritance to my children's children

My children are blessed of the Lord
• Their well-being [shalom] is great
• They are taught of the Lord
• They are delivered from all things
• They are mighty in the land—all who see them say 'Surely they are the offspring blessed of the Lord'
• Because we have made God our refuge, they are protected by angels...no evil—no accident or sickness—befalls them, the evil one touches them not
• They are 10 times better than their peers in every branch of literature and wisdom