The Seed

The word of God is powerful and likened to a seed in the parable of the sower.  In the natural, there is potential for growth in the life of a seed but it has to be activated. The seed can be left in the garage on a shelf for a long time and it will remain as it is, but when it is brought into the right environment, planted and watered, the potential is released and the seed begins to grow.

When we were saved, The Seed, Jesus Christ, came to dwell in us.  All the potential for growth and fruit is in us from that moment on.  However, we can have all that potential in us yet not activate the power in that seed.  The anointing abides in us but we need to activate it and release it so that the inherent power brings about all it was created to do.

The question is how?  I believe it can be activated by our faith.  Jesus said, "all things are possible to him who believes." Mark 9:23

"Therefore I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, BELIEVE that you have received them, and they shall be granted you." Mark 11:24

The word, that powerfully packed, creative, faith building seed, has the life and power to change, equip, teach and guide us. The huge, over and above, exceedingly and abundant power is available to us all, though our believing that what God says, God means and brings it to fruition.  "So it is my word that goes out of my mouth it will not return to me empty but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it." Is 55:11

Notice that God declares His word and will as a package in this declaration and we have opportunities to speak His word into our situations until we "get it".

In the natural, a seed needs to be watered to grow.  So too, we need to constantly water and nature that seed in us with the words of our mouth.  If we are choosing to speak God's word and not continually speaking against it by negative, dark words, or choosing to believe the negative circumstances surrounding us, we will release the potential of that seed and fruit and harvest will be the reward.

 God is not a man, that he should lie, nor the son of man, that he should repent. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not make it good? Num 23:19  His word is eternal and even angels harken to the voice of the Lord to do His bidding.  Our basic problem is that we don't approach the word with childlike faith, full convinced that if God said it, He will bring it about.

I see so many Christians passively allowing sickness to come upon them.  They seem to accept it as their lot or the season in life, yet God said "I am the Lord who heals you." Ex 15:26 and "by His stripes we are healed." Is 53:5. The apostle Peter in quoting this scripture used the past tense, "you were healed." 1 Pet 2:24.  Yes, we were healed, two thousand years ago on the cross.  He bore our sicknesses as the same time as He bore our sins.  I do get amazed at how passive we are.  Flu season comes around, and everything in our media advertises it and we agree, "flu season, I hope I don't get it." My husband and i actively speak against flu all the time by declaring, "we don't do coughs and colds, for even though a thousand my fall at our side and ten thousand at out right hand, the plague shall not come nigh our dwelling." Ps 91:7. Have we had colds, yes, but the day will come when our confession (agreeing with the seed) is going to make the connection between head and heart and the faith seed in our hearts will override the analytical thoughts and we will BELIEVE God's word over and above sight-feeling.  As Jesus said, "be it unto you as you have believed," and "your faith has made you well." The main point I am trying to make here, is that we are actively proactive in speaking God's word over our lives, for the Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence (there is an enemy seeking to kill, steal and destroy) and the violent (our proactive fight against him) take it by force. Anyone passive in a war looses.  Yet God has given us keys for victory.

Some might say, Jesus touched those who He healed, If He touched me I would be healed too!  Remember Jesus is the Word and as the bible teaches, this word is in our hearts, "we also believe and therefore we speak." 2 Cor 4:13. This is not "blab and grab".  We speak because we are saying what God is telling us to say (our confession) and our faith comes from hearing the word.  
Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever (Heb 13:8).  He hasn't changed.  He willed to heal when He walked the earth, and paid for it by his stripes and now lives to intercede as our High Priest for eternity.  Healing is just one aspect of the redemptive cross for us today.  We only have to believe, put our faith into action, believing the atonement will have full effect in our lives and agree with God, (which is our confession as we voice His words back to Him in prayer.)

  

Throw off Limitations

What limits us in our walk with Jesus?  For each of us, the answer may be vastly different but the following ideas may be common ones that we all face.

1.       We have a wrong view of God.

We make God small in our own minds and put Him in a box, confined to our small minded thinking.  The heavens cannot contain the Almighty God, our Father and His hand created everything visible and invisible.  He is the God that splits seas, raises the dead and lets the rain fall on the just and the unjust.

Isa 40:26  Lift up your eyes on high, And see who has created these things, Who brings out their host by number; He calls them all by name, By the greatness of His might And the strength of His power; Not one is missing.

Jesus told the story of the Master who went away on a long journey and before leaving gave to his servants, according to their ability, talents.  One he gave 5, to another 2 and to the final one 1.  On his return he summoned the servants to see what they had done with the talents he gave them.  The first two servants doubled their talents whereas the last had an issue with the character of his Master.

Mat 25:24  "Then he who had received the one talent came and said, 'Lord, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you have not sown, and gathering where you have not scattered seed.

Mat 25:25  And I was afraid, and went and hid your talent in the ground. Look, there you have what is yours.'

The scripture is not clear as to how this servant had such a bad report on the character of his master yet even today there are people who think of God as a vengeful God waiting to send a bolt of lightning to fry them.  Many people do not understand the unconditional Love of the Father heart of God.   The master in this account did not need to give his servants anything.  He owed them nothing, yet he gifted them and trusted them to use what he had given them to the best advantage.  We often do get a wrong picture of God, fashioning Him in the image of man instead of us being fashioned in His image.  God has gifted all of us and yet when He wants us to use the gift, we come up with all kinds of excuses, looking instead and our inadequacies instead of looking at His adequacy.   The master did not defend his character yet brought a huge indictment upon the lazy servant, informing him that if he believed so bad a report, it should have compelled him to do the best he could with the talent he had been given.

2.       Doubt and unbelief

Jesus could not do any mighty miracles among his home town in Nazareth because of their unbelief.  They refused to recognise Him as the Messiah and so did not recognise His authority in the spiritual realm and were in fact offended by Him.  They were offended because He was the kid that grew up and played with their kids in the town.  They were familiar with Him and His family and because they were familiar with His humanness they could not believe that He was also divine.   In fact, they were so offended by Him and His claim to be the Messiah they wanted to throw Him off a cliff.

Jesus has given us a blank cheque on Heaven’s account with this scripture:-

Mar 11:23  For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Be removed and be cast into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says.

What stops us receiving is the doubt we have in our hearts.  What we can see with the “eye of faith” we can speak into being.  In fact scripture clearly teaches us that we must call those things that are not as though they are.

Heb 11:1  Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Heb 11:2  For by it the elders obtained a good testimony.

Heb 11:3  By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.

Everything that we see around us was first of all seen in someone’s imagination before it was physically brought into reality.  God created this way too.  He imagined creation and He spoke it forth.  When we do not have the faith in God, we will not step out boldly to declare, to share or to touch the needs of humanity.  This will definitely limit us in our walk with God.

 

3.       Unforgiveness

Jesus gives us a provocative insight into unforgiveness with the parable of the master who calls his servants in to pay back the debts they owe him.  One servant owed a large fortune and the master calls for him, his family and all their belongings to be sold to pay off the debt.  This debt was large and the servant fell on his knees to beg for mercy and patience.  The master had compassion on him and wiped his debt clear.  You would think that this servant would have left rejoicing but he went and found someone who owed him a small amount and demanded immediate payment.  His debtor immediately fell to his knees begging him for mercy and patience but instead of giving the same compassion he had received, the servant ordered that he be thrown into prison until the debt was paid.  Jesus continued the story with:-

 Mat 18:33  Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?'

Mat 18:34  And his master was angry, and delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due to him.

Mat 18:35  "So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses."

 We have been forgiven a huge debt of sin by God through the cross of Jesus Christ and our forgiveness cost Christ His life.  When we will not forgive others we are treading on dangerous ground.  God clearly teaches us that if we do not forgive, He cannot forgive us.  Unforgiveness opens the door to satan, the torturer, to bring a root of bitterness into our lives, and this has the ability to shipwreck our faith and continually torment us.  Yes we may have been hurt and hurt bad, but we need to trust God to deal with the situation on our behalf and we need to forgive more for our sake then for the one who has hurt us.  Forgiving others does not mean that we condone what they did but God is clear that He is the only one who can avenge justly.  We need to release the perpetrator into His Loving hands and move on with life.

God has an awesome plan for all our lives.  We need to keep our hearts sweet in His presence and grow in the grace and knowledge of Him.  Those who know their God will be strong and do exploits, as the scripture exhorts us.  We need to make the decision to just believe and trust.  God will never let us down and He will allow us to bring His Kingdom to earth as we co-labour with Jesus Christ. What an awesome privilege He has given to us.  Step out and step up in faith, amen!

Overcoming Faith

"These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." Joh 16:33

Jesus had overcoming faith and He calls us to overcoming faith too.  Like a boxer in the ring, the game is not over until one of the opponents doesn't get up anymore.  Jesus understood that trials and tribulations, that left hook, would come as we do have an opponent (adversary)( 1 Pet 5:8) who wants to defeat us, discourage us or disappoint us.  Jesus, Himself, had some bouts with the enemy in the ring but remained always the Victor.  We may take a blow, but we need to get up again and again.

Luke 4 tells us Jesus was "full of and controlled by the Holy Spirit".  This is one key for us to have overcoming faith as scripture admonishes us to be continually filled.  (Eph 5:18)  We need to walk in the Spirit so we won't fulfil the lusts of the flesh, leaning on the Holy Spirit's power within us. (Gal 5:16)  Lust is very destructive and totally opposed to the desires of the Holy Spirit.  Lust is idolatry, desiring something so much we place it in front of God, forsaking His desire for us.  The devil tempted Jesus with the lust of the eyes by showing Him, in a moment of time, all the Kingdoms of the earth.  "Come on Jesus, look at all this magnificent beauty you can rule over, all of it yours, if you bow down before me."  If, that's the operative word! The "if" promises much but delivers nothing. Just once, do it just once.  Fleeting pleasures, the stolen moment! It satisfies temporarily but then brings pain and broken relationship, guilt and shame.  How many illicit love affairs have opened up a wave of untold misery and widespread hurt?  It shakes the very core of a family unit and its destruction is long-lived unless healing comes through the mercy of God's Hand.

The Amplified version of Luke 4 says that Jesus was tried, tested exceedingly. For forty days He ate nothing and was hungry.  satan challenged Jesus "if you are the Son of  God command this stone to turn into bread."  satan challenged Christ's identity.  He knew who Jesus was, but at a time of great physical discomfort and need questioned Him in an effort to force evidence, proof of who He was.  I believe that this is another key to overcoming faith, our identity, who we are in Christ.  If we know we are children of God, we are more likely to act like children of God.  Knowing the price God and Jesus paid for us to be adopted into the Kingdom as children keeps us in love with the Saviour and humble.  Being rooted and grounded in His Love compels us to want to please Him and love others.  Meditating on His Love helps us respond to Him more and more.  But as Jesus said, "Man cannot live on bread alone but by every word of God."(Luke 4:4)  The key to finding our identity is in the Word of God, which is another one of the keys to overcoming faith.  We must study God's word to know how to overcome.  Even as Jesus brought the Word of God, the sword of the Spirit" against satan's accusations and demands, so must we.  "This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith." (1 Jn 5:4) 

Faith is built on the promises of God's Word and the knowledge of His character.  This is how God reveals Himself to us, through His Word.  It is no wonder that satan attacks the Word with everything he can.  No wonder over the course of history, the bible has been banned, burnt and attacked and branded as only a bunch of stories.  Jesus used the Word against all the wiles of the devil.  The Word is our offensive weapon against the kingdom of darkness and it is the revealer of the wickedness that rules in our flesh.  The Bible shows us what in our hearts – gets to the very core of our motives.  When we see ourselves in the "mirror" of the Word we will repent.  When we understand how God sees us "pre-conversion", evil, wicked, sons of the devil, sinners and yet still in this state, He came to die for us, we can understand the depth of His Mercy and unconditional Love for us.  That He desired relationship with us is phenomenal.  That God gave His only begotten Son for us, has to be the greatest love story of all time.  Jesus said that "those who mourn will be comforted."  When we understand the truth and repent, He comforts us with restoration, forgiveness, mercy and puts us in the right relationship with Himself.  WOW!  That is life changing Truth.  The devil has no defence against the truth, so he, being the father of lies, deceives us into believing the opposite of what God has said.  We are defeated when we choose to believe a lie over the Truth.  This also affects our worship, which is another key to overcoming faith.

satan wanted Christ's worship.  God deserves our worship but will not force any to worship Him. satan wants worship because he wants to be God.  This is the pride that led to his eviction from heaven, wanting to be exulted over God.  satan promises fame, fortune and power to those who will give him worship but he delivers a death sting instead.  Reminds me of Nebuchadnezzar who demanded Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego to worship his statute or be thrown into the fiery furnace.   Forced worship never works.

God is the One and Only God and there is none like Him.  God desires our voluntary worship in response to His Love and to who He is and what He has done for us.  Those who worship Him become more like Him.  This is the principle laid out in Ps 135:6 that those who worship false idols become like their idols.

Yes, we can have overcoming faith even amidst the trials and tribulations that come our way.  As one translation of the opening scripture says, cheer up! Cheer up!  Just found another key.  Cheer up!

 

Hope in God

Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. (Rom 15:13)

Hope, what a powerful state of mind. Hope is what people need to navigate the ups and downs of life, yet so many live without hope in the world and so many souls are cut short by choice because of the feelings of hopelessness. Christians should be people of great faith and abounding hope.

Faith and hope are closely intertwined and are two sides of the same coin. When we have faith in God and His promises, hope rises in our hearts, even as an eagle rises up on the updrafts of the breeze, to soar into the future with confidence and joy. Life is out there to enjoy when hope fills a heart and so it is that our hope in God and His promises gives us light, bouncy steps, even in adversity.

Be of good courage, And He shall strengthen your hearts, All you who hope in the LORD. (Psa 31:24)

I love the way that David, killer of giants, could pen so much about the hope in found in God, when so much of his life appeared to be in a state of hopelessness. Spending much time in the wilderness, running away from a king determined to kill this young, ruddy youngster who stood against and defeated Goliath, David sets his heart and eyes upon God. The giant who defied the whole army of Israelites and left them quaking in their boots, was killed by a young boy with a large heart of hope in God and a single stone flung from a child's sling.

Goliath had hope in his strength and height, and cocky he was too, but he was no match for the faith and hope in "the LIVING GOD" residing in the heart of this shepherd boy.

Behold, the eye of the LORD is on those who fear Him, On those who hope in His mercy, To deliver their soul from death, And to keep them alive in famine. Our soul waits for the LORD; He is our help and our shield. For our heart shall rejoice in Him, Because we have trusted in His holy name. Let your mercy, O LORD, be upon us, Just as we hope in You. (Psa 33:18-22)

What giants have you quaking in your shoes?

A marriage that seems hopeless?
A wayward child?
Financially broke?
Divorced?
Family who wants nothing to do with you?
Unsaved loved ones?

There is an answer in God for every one of these giants. Put your faith and hope in God and strengthen your heart in the fact that God is forever watching over you and He will never leave you nor forsake you, and if you listen to Him, He can change the outcome of every situation, and you will be able to say with confidence what David said:-

Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him for the Help of His countenance. (Psa 42:5)

And, hope does not disappoint. (Rom 5:5)