Decree

 ‘You will also decree a thing, and it will be established for you; and light will shine on your ways.’ [Job 22:28]

A decree is an order, edict, or command by someone in authority.

For comfort, strength and power, decree these over your situation, and remember…if you are in Christ, you’ve been made the righteousness of God in Him, and there is NOW no condemnation for you! [2 Corinthians 5:21, Romans 8:1]

God is FOR Us!

This article has been updated from the original…

Try to remember that GOD IS FOR US!

The next time your hear a fear-based word in your ear [or screamed from a pulpit] that tells you why He may not help you this time, why it may not be His will to heal/deliver/bless, why sometimes the answer is NO, try to remember what the Word says.

‘Therefore there is now NO CONDEMNATION for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.’

 ‘What then shall we say to these things? If GOD IS FOR US, who is against us?

‘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?

 ‘Who will bring a charge against God's elect? God is the one who justifies; who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us.

‘Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Just as it is written, "FOR YOUR SAKE WE ARE BEING PUT TO DEATH ALL DAY WE WERE CONSIDERED AS SHEEP TO BE SLAUGHTERED."

 ‘But in all these things we OVERWHELMINGLY CONQUER through Him who LOVED us.’ [Romans 8:1,2, 31-37]

Please note: God did not cause the tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril or sword…He made us conquerors over these things!

The Father Within [revised]

Wait a minute...I might have just seen something amazing here!

'"Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own initiative, but the Father abiding in Me does His works."' [John 14:10]

 'Jesus answered and said to him, "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.' [John 14:23]

'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, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.' [Ephesians 3:20,21]

Yes, it's true. The Father is within, and He works through us, just like He did through Jesus. We are One Spirit with the Lord! [1 Corinthians 6:17]

And what are those works? Words…the Father within works by words!

Resurrected!

I know I’ve re-posted this a couple of years in a row, but I read it over and just can’t improve on it!

It is Easter, and our thoughts turn toward Calvary once more.

As you meditate on the wonder of the crucifixion, burial and resurrection of Jesus, consider this: the Word clearly teaches that we were crucified with Him!

What!?!
Paul states in Galatians 2:20 that "I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, Who loved me and gave Himself up for me."

Romans 6:6 confirms this: "...knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin."

These are wonderful quantum verses. 2000 years ago, we were crucified with Christ! And not just crucified...buried with Him in baptism [Colossians 2:12] and raised up with Him, and seated with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus! [Ephesians 2:6]

The Door of Your Lips

Your lips—your mouth, your tongue, your words—are a door!

'Set a guard, O Lord, over my MOUTH; keep watch over the DOOR OF MY LIPS.' [Psalm 141:3]

A door? A door to what? A door, or gate, to your life!

'Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit.' [Proverbs 18:21]

Oh, my. How about this?

'But you will CALL your walls salvation, and your GATES PRAISE.' [Isaiah 60:18]

Keys of the Kingdom

Originally written in 2009 and re-posted several times, now expanded and revised…

"I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven." [Matthew 16:19]

I always wondered about the tenses in this verse. The phrase 'shall have been' is a future perfect tense in Greek and stumped me, until I understood the implications from a Quantum Physics point of view.

Reality?
Einstein is often quoted as saying 'Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.' We know that there is much discussion about the past, present and future residing in parallel, and that there is no time or space in the Spirit.

I think Jesus was confirming this. What we bind [or forbid] on earth shall have been bound [already] in heaven...what we loose [or allow] on earth shall have been bound [already] in heaven. These are definitely quantum ideas.

Far More Abundantly

 ‘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, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.’ [Ephesians 3:20,21]

God is ABLE to do exceeding abundantly beyond all WE CAN ASK OR THINK!!!!

I always thought that meant He is able but He may not be willing.

The point is not whether He will or not but that He is ABLE, or MIGHTY, to do what WE ask or think—WE are the point, not His willingness! He makes His willingness known in preceding verses!

‘...that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.’ [Ephesians 3:16-19]

Now that’s willing!

Let's Pretend

I know I’ve posted this a few times before, but it’s such a great exercise in faith that I’m putting it up here again. Enjoy!

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 fulness of God, and that everything we say comes to pass. [Ephesians 3, Mark 11]

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

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! See how the Blood of Jesus and the word of our testimony overcomes him? [In a court of law, testimony is a statement of what has already happened…]

Living in The Answer

I closed my eyes to ask/declare/confess one more time the things that I was ‘believing’ for and I heard/felt/saw “You’re not living in the answer, the Yes. I promised to answer your prayers.”

“You pray—ask or confess—My Word, but then immediately begin to worry, resulting in needless repetition, which only leads to a downward spiral of doubt and fear. I said to trust Me.”

“To live in the answer is to enter My rest.”

OMG.

What did He say at the tomb of Lazarus, when all looked lost? “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. I knew that You always hear Me…” and then He raised him from the dead!

His attitude was one of peace and faith in the finished work of His answered prayer, even though his disciples and the sisters were doubting Him. He stood fast, believing that the answer was already Yes! Read the complete account in John 11.

How could He do that? Because 1) He knew His Father, and knew that His Father considered death an enemy; 2) He WAS The WORD made flesh, and that WORD said “And all things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive:” and 3) He knew that every promise of God was YES—and one of those promises was ‘With long life I will satisfy him and let him see My salvation!’ [1 Corinthians 15:26; John 1:1,14; Matthew 21:22; 2 Corinthians 1:20; Psalm 91:16]

How Do You Do It?
So of course my next question was, ‘Great…how exactly do I do that?’

And I knew the answer—simple faith. Seeing the finished work based on the YES promises of God—what it would look like if it had already come to pass—and choosing with my mouth to believe YES and AMEN to the glory of His works manifested through me by answered prayer.

I BELIEVE I RECEIVE THIS DAY, for today is the day of salvation, and every promise is YES and the AMEN to the glory of God through me!

And then give thanks for the finished work.

Let’s watch Abraham do it…

‘In hope against hope he believed, so that he might become a father of many nations according to that which had been spoken, “SO shall your descendants be.”

‘Without becoming weak in faith he contemplated his own body, now as good as dead since he was about a hundred years old, and the deadness of Sarah’s womb; yet, with respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully assured that what God had promised, He was able also to perform.’ [Romans 4:18-21]

I REFUSE TO WAVER IN UNBELIEF BUT GROW STRONG IN FAITH, GIVING GLORY TO GOD…I AM FULLY ASSURED THAT WHAT GOD HAS PROMISED HE IS ABLE—STRONG, MIGHTY, POWERFUL—TO PERFORM!

And lest you say ‘Yes, but that was Abraham…’ remember—we ARE the descendants of Abraham, blessed with him, in Christ! [Galatians 3:9,29]

An Aside…
I think the translation of the word able [Gr. dunatos] can be a little misleading, because today in our common usage, the word able does not always mean willing. This results in an uneasiness about God’s will—we know that He is able but is He willing?

Dunatos comes from dunamai—to be able, to have power. Another word derived from dunamai is dunamis—miraculous power, might, strength.

According to Stong’s dictionary, dunatos actually means strong, mighty, powerful. In this passage the word able is referring to His power and ability, not His will.

Another place where this occurs is in the great promise of Ephesians 3:20,21…

‘Now to Him who is able [dunamai—to be able, to have power] to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power [dunamis—miraculous power, might, strength] that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.’

Because in common vernacular today we separate ability from willingness, this particular use of dunamai causes doubt in His willingness to use His mighty power for us.

Which, when you think about it, is kinda dumb, because why else would He promise it?

Live in the Answer
Anyway, getting back to the topic, live in the answer, the finished work, when you pray. Live in the Yes and Amen—truly, so be it—to His glory being seen through us by His precious and magnificent promises!

Hallelujah!

The I AM Principle

Originally published on June 26, 2009 as The Great I AM and later re-published in 2011 and 2012 as The I Am Principle. This is once again updated and improved, and even longer than before!

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] Eternity is not linear and not uni-directional!

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! Here are just a few:

Jehovah Jireh—The Lord will Provide
Jehovah Shalom—The Lord is Peace
Jehovah Tsidkenu—The Lord our Righteousness
Jehovah—The Lord my Banner [military reference]
Jehovah Ro'i—The Lord my Shepherd

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. [see 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.

One great example is Gideon...God's angel called him 'valiant warrior' when he was anything but. [Judges 6:12] And a valiant warrior is exactly what he became. But remember, there is no time in eternity, and eternity is forward and back, up and down. So he was really a valiant warrior, even before the angel gave him the Word of the Lord. His works were finished from the foundation of the world!

God changed Abram's name to Abraham...the Father of a multitude when he had no children. [Genesis 17:5] Ditto the above—he was made a Father of a multitude BEFORE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD!

[sorry for shouting, but it's really just too much to think about sometimes]

And then there's Peter...Jesus called him 'Rock' when he was the most volatile of His disciples! Unstable and impulsive, Jesus called him what he was created to be, or more exactly, was FROM THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD!

Think about the prophecies in the Old Testament...each one calling Jesus what He would be, even though He was yet to come. And so it is with us...God has called us many wonderful things in the Word that

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.” “I AM the righteousness of God in Christ!” 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]

Always remember…1) His works were finished from the foundation of the world [Hebrews 4:3] and 2) ALL the promises of God are YES in Him! We are the I AM of His Word because we are one Spirit with His Word! [John 1:1, Revelation 19:13; 1 Corinthians 6:17]

Hallelujah!

Just Be
Just be. Be what the Word says, just because it says so, because it is forever settled, finished from the foundation of the world.

Just be. Don't try to be, or have. Just be. Be healed, be rich, be love. Be One Spirit with the Lord. Be seated in heavenly places in Him...

God doesn't have love, He IS love. He doesn't have power, He IS power. Jesus doesn't have the Word, He IS the Word...and we are the Word multiplied, His Body in the earth.

And He has decreed exactly what we are, just as He decreed "Light, be!" in the beginning.

Be the Word.

Paradigm Shift
What we need is a paradigm shift in our thinking. Instead of thinking the same old way we did before the New Birth, it’s time to put on the Mind of Christ. Put it on, on purpose, because according to 1 Corinthians 2:16, it is is a present possession.

How do we put it on? The same way everything is accomplished in the Spirit…see the unseen—believe—and speak. Also known as FAITH! See it as real today in the unseen realm of the Spirit and speak it out. Faith is the assurance, of things hoped for or expected…the conviction or evidence of THINGS NOT SEEN. [Hebrews 11:1, author’s notes]

Did you know that ‘By His [the Father’s] doing you ARE IN Christ Jesus, Who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption…’

It was God’s doing, and became is past tense. Which means we qualify for every promise related to those traits because we ARE those things now.

Jesus said it clearly in Matthew 5:48…”Therefore, you are to BE perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.” The Holy Spirit, speaking through Paul re-phrased it a little: ‘…in Him you have been made—past tense—complete…’ [Colossians 2:10]

Furthermore, words are spirit, spoken forth into the natural, or physical, realm.

We know this because Jesus said that His words were spirit [John 6:63] and we know that unclean spirits come out of the mouths of the dragon, the beast and the false prophet as well. [Revelations 16:13]

It’s not just Jesus’ words that are spirit…ALL words are spirit. And they have a creative effect in the natural, physical world. But His words are LIFE as well…zoe, the absolute fulness of life, belonging to God, real and genuine [from NAS Greek Lexicon].

Proverbs 18:21 says death and life are in the power [Hebrew yad, or hand] of the tongue!

Out of the heart we bring forth things, both good and evil, through the mouth. [Matthew 12:34,35; Luke 6:45]

This is what we must come to understand to put the I AM principle into action. [see Think Like Jesus]

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]

Hallelujah!

Read Be the Ball, Think Like God, Think Like God 2, Keys of The Kingdom, Decreed, Meditations & Confessions, Substance, Partakers of the Divine Nature, One [more]