Tuesday, August 4, 2009

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!!!

Satan is using the only thing he's got against you--words and images of failure, tragedy, being abandoned by God, etc. His favorite, I'm sure, is 'that's [whatever] probably not His will for you...]

The Truth
The truth is quite simple. If you have accepted Jesus' sacrifice as atonement for your sin, you are a new creation in Christ. You are in Him...and it was God's doing all along! 1 John 4:17 says 'As He is, so also are we in this world.'

You have not lost your faith...faith is part of who you are. Health, wealth, favor, angelic protection, blessings for your kids--these are your new traits in the Spirit. 'For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, and in Him you have [already] been made complete [Colossians 2:9,10]

Any thought of lack or impossibility or failure is NOT from your reborn Spirit. It is a lie, pure and simple...so don't fall for it. Just because it comes in the first person..."I'll never be able to fill-in-the-blank" doesn't mean a thing. It's not who you are--the real you, the inner man of the heart.

Finally...
'Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is o f food repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell [ponder] on these things.' [Philippians 4:8]

In other words, stop focusing on what's wrong, and begin to think about all of the good things. Your salvation, Jesus as your brother, your Heavenly Father, the Holy Spirit Who is there to comfort, guide and strengthen. Wisdom, peace, joy, love, healing, abundance, blessings, being seated already in heavenly places...etc, etc.

You have not lost your faith, or any other part of your reborn spirit. Dwell on that!

Related posts: Lies, Lies, Lies; What Exactly is a Saint, Anyway?; Exact Representation of His Nature