NEW CREATION REALITIES

Philemon 6

 “That the communication of thy faith may become effectual by the acknowledging of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus.”

One of the things that will make your faith strong and productive is when you understand what you are in Christ, that is, understanding your new creation realities. A lack of understanding of this will make you struggle in your faith walk. 

The way you know this is by looking at every Bible verse that has “in Him”, in whom, etc. find these scriptures and confess them over your life. It will build you up faster than anything and make your faith strong. For instance, Colossians 1:27

“Christ in you the hope of glory”.

When you put attention on Scriptures like this, and make them your meditation, your faith cannot but become strong because you begin to see yourself the way God sees you. You also will see circumstances from God’s perspective.

CONFESS UNTIL YOU SEE MANIFESTATION

Phil 2:16 KJV

“Holding forth the word of life; that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither laboured in vain.”

The words, “holding forth” in the literal sense, means to bring into view. It is when you bring the word into the view of the world or the circumstance that it makes a difference. 

How is the word brought into view? The same words “holding forth” in the dictionary, means to “speak at length”. This means, when you speak the word at length you bring the word into view. Do you see that you have to speak at length for the word to come into view? In fact it comes into view by being superimposed upon the situation over which you are speaking the word. But you have to speak at length to achieve this. 

So when people say a few words of confession and they are wondering why nothing happened, this is the reason why. So how long do you have to confess for? Until you receive manifestation.

EXERCISE YOUR FAITH

     Rom 10:17

     “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”

     2Th 1:3

“We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is meet, because that your faith groweth exceedingly, and the charity of every one of you all toward each other aboundeth;”

Let us look at our passages one more day. Another way to look at the faith that cometh by hearing is to call it head knowledge faith, that is, the faith that is just a head knowledge. This means all the theories about faith is known to such people but that is where it ends. It is in them alright but it has not gone from the head to the heart to make a difference.

  

       Jas 1:25

“But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.”

I believe what will make your faith to grow is when you are a doer of the word of faith not just a hearer. A doer of the word of faith is someone who actively engages his or her faith in something. Another way to illustrate this is to liken having faith by hearing to just eating food. 

When you eat food, your body parts receive nutrients and grow properly but when you go to the gym to work out you develop muscles and you can lift weights. You cannot lift weights because you eat good food, you lift weights because you exercise. It is when you use your faith to lift off burdens that it grows.

      Jas 2:14

“What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? Can faith save him?”

There is no profiting in a faith that is not exercised after it cometh. So exercise your faith today! How? Engage it on something, believe God for something. You can believe God for the salvation of somebody you know that is not yet saved, or believe God for some material thing.

DO NOT HAVE FEAR

Romans 14:22(KJV)

“Hast thou faith? have it to thyself before God…”

“Cultivate your own relationship with God, but don't impose it on others…”(MSG)

I left off yesterday with this words that you ask yourself, rephrasing our text, “have I faith…” I want to pursue this a bit more. Can you answer this question.” Now don’t get religious on me and think it is pride to say you have faith. 

 No it is not. You better know that you have faith to face the challenges of life before they come at you. So I ask again, “Hast thou faith? You may ask how would I know I have it? Firstly, though faith is a spiritual thing, it is real. You will know if it is there or not. Secondly, you can know by the relationship that you have with God. The message bible renders our text thus: “cultivate your own relationship with God…” When you cultivate a relationship with God, faith rubs off on you. 

Thirdly, your relationship with the word of God in definite areas will birth faith in you in those areas. Lastly, actually exercising faith on a daily basis will keep you in shape faith wise. For instance, if you go to a top athlete like Usain Bolt and ask if he can run a hundred metres dash, he will tell you he can do it anytime. Why because he does things that keep him in shape to do it. Though he might put in extra time for practice for a major race, when such is close by, his body is conditioned already to run a hundred metres dash.

FAITH THAT GROWS

      Rom 10:17

     “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”

      2Th 1:3

“We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is meet, because that your faith groweth exceedingly, and the charity of every one of you all toward each other aboundeth;”

We have two statements here that is worth examining lest you think they imply the same thing. They are “faith cometh” and “faith growth”, it is possible for some to think that because faith comes by hearing that it also grows by hearing.

Firstly, the word “cometh by” in the Greek implies where it originates from, that is, your faith originates from, proceeds out of by your hearing. Whereas the word “groweth exceedingly” in the Greek means to increase above the ordinary. So while in Romans 10:17 we get the picture of someone just starting out, in 2 Thessalonians 1:3, we get the picture of something increasing. Now let us look at the meaning of the word grow in the dictionary:

1) (of a living thing) undergo natural development by increasing in size and changing physically.

› (grow up) progress to maturity or adulthood.

› (grow out of or into) become too large (or large enough) to wear.

2) come into existence and develop.

› (with reference to a plant) germinate or cause to germinate and develop.

3) become larger or greater over time; increase.

› develop or expand (an enterprise or business).

› become increasingly

Some words seem to be occurring over and over again: develop, increase, become larger and greater. So we take it that to grow means to develop, increase in size and to mature. So how do you develop, increase or make your faith larger? Is it just by hearing? No hearing just feeds your faith, but doing or exercising your faith is what will grow it, develop it. So use your faith today.

CALL THE THINGS THAT BE NOT AS THOUGH THEY ARE

Romans 4:17

“(As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were.”

Did you notice who it is that call things that be not as though they are? It is not faith preachers. No, it is God Himself. And the Scriptures say we are to be imitators of God. Scriptures also say you and I should have the God kind of faith (Mark 11:22). 

Then we also ought to be calling things that be not as though they were. Let us see again how God called things that be not as though they were:

“For God, who commanded light to shine out of darkness…” 2Corinthians 4:6

This is referring to creation in the book of Genesis. Darkness was the prevailing situation but God wanted light, so what did He do? The Scripture said He commanded light to shine out of darkness, in other words where darkness was He called forth light.

“And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.” Genesis 1:3

So calling the things that be not as though they were is issuing word of command to your situation to yield to your desire or to bring forth God’s will for you. It is looking at your empty pocket and saying you have abundance. It is looking at the symptoms on your body and saying you are healed, you are whole. Be like your Father God and call the things that be not in your life, family, business and finances as though they are.

HOW YOU CAN OVERRIDE FACT WITH TRUTH

Romans 4:17

“(As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were.”

Faith calls those things that be not as though they were. But in the name of confession people call things that be as though they were not. So you ask someone who obviously is attacked with fever how they are and you hear, “I am not sick”. Rather what the scriptures teach is that you respond ‘I am healed’. 

There is a world of difference between the two.  When God called Abram, Abraham and Sarai, Sarah; He was calling the things that be not as though they were. When Jesus told the disciples that Lazarus was asleep, when actually he had been dead for some days, He was calling the things that be not as though they were. If you are going to be victorious in your faith walk, you have to learn this kind of vocabulary of calling things that be not as though they are. 

When you call things that are as though they are not, you are denying a fact, whereas faith is not a denial but an affirmation of truth; the truth of God’s word.  For instance, when you affirm the truth of God’s word concerning your healing over the fact of the symptoms, truth will override fact and your healing will manifest.

CONFESSION: I DECLARE THE BEST OF MY LIFE ARE NOT BEHIND ME NEITHER ARE THEY AHEAD OF ME, THEY ARE HERE NOW!

HOW ABRAHAM HANDLED UNBELIEF

Romans 4:16-21

“Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all, (As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were. Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be. And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sara's womb: He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform.”

The next thing we see with Abraham’s faith is how he handled unbelief. The Scriptures say he staggered not at the promise through unbelief. This tells you when you begin to stagger at God’s word, unbelief is the issue. To stagger means to waver, to be of two minds, which ultimately will make you to withdraw from the promise, is caused by unbelief. 

And we see how Abraham handled it. He also battled unbelief. Rather than give in to it, the Scriptures say he gave praise to God. The result was that rather being overtaken with unbelief his faith grew stronger and stronger as he praised God. But he was able to do that because he was fully persuaded that He that promised was able to deliver. 

This is the cure for unbelief. Unbelief attempts to overtake everyone but you just have to know that you know that you know that God is able to deliver. Let that knowing bring forth praise out of you and unbelief will go out of the window. When you begin to waiver in your faith, know that you are about to be overtaken with unbelief and do something about it.

CONFESSION: I AM A BELIEVER, NOT AN UNBELIEVER. I CAN BELIEVE GOD AND I REFUSE TO WAVER.

WHAT ARE YOU GIVING ATTENTION TO?

Romans 4:16-21

“Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all, (As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were. Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be. And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sara's womb: He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform.”

The next thing we learn about Abraham’s faith is that he did not pay attention to the contradicting physical evidences.

“…he considered not his own body now dead…neither yet the deadness of Sarah’s womb”

Abraham also had to contend with the pressure of contradicting evidences and the Bible says he did not consider them. What does it mean by saying he did not consider them? It means to observe fully, to behold. It implies giving something your full attention, which enables you to perceive. 

By the time you give something that much of attention you will not be able to see anything else and the result of that? A faith that is weakened. The Scriptures said the reason Abraham did not get weak in faith is that he did not give contradicting evidences his full attention. Remember, this is his body we are talking about. It is not something apart from him, so it will take some effort not to notice what is going in his body. 

If Abraham can do that you also can do it. Stop giving attention to people, places and things that contradict your faith. That is the reason your faith gets weakened. However, if you are not looking at the contradicting evidences, you must be looking at something else.

 

      Proverbs 4:20,21

      “My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings.

Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thine heart.”

PRODUCTIVE FAITH WALK

     1Co 1:10

“Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.”

We could apply what Paul is saying here to the body of Christ and to your self, and if you do that your faith walk will be productive earlier than some of you have been seeing. What do you mean I hear somebody asking? Paul by the Holy Spirit says ye all should speak the same thing and that there be no divisions among you. 

Well, there are different parts of your faculties involved in the faith walk and the earlier you learn to make them work in one accord the better it is for you. That is, make your mouth, and your eye and ear and mind go in the same direction when you are believing God for something. How do you make this happen?

Proverbs 4:20-25

     “My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings.  Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thine heart. For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh. Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life. Put away from thee a froward mouth, and perverse lips put far from thee. Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee.”

   

     Let your ear be inclined to what eyes are seeing. Also let your mouth speak what your ears have been hearing and your eyes are looking at. When you do that, what will be in your heart will agree with what your ears have heard and your eyes have seen. 

This is what it means for your faculties to be in one accord and it makes your faith walk produce faster.

GRACE HAS BROUGHT IT

     Eph. 2:8

     For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

     

     If we are saved through faith, what you need to understand to understand is that God will not make faith impossible to acquire nor out of reach of the average person. In fact the Scriptures say he made it to be of faith so that everybody, rich, poor, literate and illiterate, black or white can be guaranteed the promise.

    

     Rom 4:16

“Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all.”

Which means faith is not exclusive to some people, the Scriptures are clear on this: EVERYBODY HAS IT! Each of us has been given a measure of it.

     Rom 12:3

      “… according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.”

Therefore, stop thinking you do not have the faith to have that blessing, start by thinking and saying grace has brought it to you. God’s love and kindness has brought it to you so you have it now.

NECESSITIES OF FAITH WALK

Hebrews 11:24-27

      “By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter;

Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward. 

By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible.”

To live by faith is to know what to esteem as important to your life and living. There are things that must become very valuable to you more than others. You cannot esteem everything the same way. For instance, you must esteem the word of God of greater value than the word of man. You must esteem spending time in prayer and in fellowship with God of greater value than watching television. 

You must esteem fellowshipping with fellow believers of greater value than going to clubs or just being in social gatherings. You must identify things that will build your faith and esteem them of greater value, and give yourself to them. These are necessities of the faith walk.

      Job 23:12

“Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips; I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food.”

CHOOSING TO LIVE BY FAITH

Choosing to live by faith is choosing in a sense affliction because it is choosing to go against the current of life. It is like the whole world is going one direction and you are going the opposite direction. But this is what it takes if one is to succeed in the faith walk.

   “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.

For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8,9)

Living by faith is living by God’s thoughts and ways, and His thoughts and ways are higher than the world’s thoughts and ways. This is why it feels as though one is going through affliction when you start out living by faith. 

So if you are new in this faith walk, and it looks as though you having a tough time living that way, do not worry, it won’t be that way for long. Soon you will get the hang of it and you will begin to fly. I remember when I first had to believe my way through a malaria fever attack, it seemed to take forever before my healing manifested. While it lasted, it seemed as though I saw hell and came back. 

But today the story is different, it is with so much ease that I believe and receive manifestation when attacks come. 

KNOW WHEN TO SAY NO!

Hebrews 11:24-27

    “By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter;

Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward. By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible.”

To live by faith successfully, you must know when to say No! You cannot everything and everybody, therefore you must know when to say No. You must know to refuse things. You must be able to refuse when people want to take up your valuable time set aside for prayer and study of God’s word and do frivolous things.

Acts 6:2-4

“Then the twelve called the multitude of the disciples unto them, and said, It is not reason that we should leave the word of God, and serve tables. Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business. But we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word.”

Faith refuses to give attention to things that will contaminate it. Faith refuses to dwell in the company of those that will negatively affect it. Learn to say No. It is symbolic of your coming of age in your faith.

FACE YOUR FEARS

Heb 11:23

“By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three months of his parents, because they saw he was a proper child; and they were not afraid of the king's commandment.”

Faith is courageous. It is said that courage is not an absence of fear but acting in spite of fear. Faith has courage; this is what makes people of faith to dare things, situations and peoples. What Moses’ parents did was daring the most powerful king alive at that time, which must have required strong courage. 

The Scriptures said it was faith that enabled them to do that. To walk by faith you must face your fears. What ever you are afraid of, confront it today. If you are afraid of heights, look around you for the highest place and go up there. When you know it is the will of God for you to do a thing, go for it, even though you may seemingly be afraid. 

When Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego faced Nebuchadnezzar and the fiery furnace, do you think they were not afraid of fire? Of course, they were, but they yielded to their faith and allowed their faith to speak instead of their fear. Yield to your faith now and do that which you have been putting off to do.

CONFESSION: I WILL ARISE AND DO. I WILL BE STRONG AND OF GOOD COURAGE. I AM STRONG AND OF GOOD COURAGE.

FAITH WORSHIPS!

      Heb. 11:21

“By faith Jacob, when he was a dying, blessed both the sons of Joseph; and worshipped, leaning upon the top of his staff.”

Faith worships, because worship is the highest expression of faith. The person who claims to be living by faith and cannot worship God will not have real faith. Real faith is in the presence of God. So when you find yourself at the place where you have done all you know to do and it looks like it’s not working, worship God.

Matthew 15:21-28

     “Then Jesus went thence, and departed into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon. And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou Son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil. But he answered her not a word. And his disciples came and besought him, saying, Send her away; for she crieth after us. But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me. But he answered and said, It is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it to dogs. And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters' table. Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour.”

Notice, the scriptures said concerning this woman, when she first came to Jesus, she was not answered, then she was called a dog, but what did she do? She worshipped! What did that earn her? Her daughter’s deliverance and a commendation from the Lord that she possessed great faith. You cannot worship God and your faith not be affected.

  

CONFESSION: 

I WILL LIFT UP MY VOICE AND SING, I WILL SING HOLY, HOLY.

FAITH REACHES INTO YOUR FUTURE

      Heb 11:20

      “By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come.”

      Faith sees into the future and brings it into the now. How? By calling things that be not as though they were. That is faith draws things from the realm of the Spirit into the now by speaking of them in the now. If you want to walk successfully by faith you must learn to do that.

      Rom 4:17

     “(As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were.”

      The word for calleth in this verse means to bid things that are far off to come near. This is what faith does, it reaches into your future and brings things into view. So begin now to call out to your future and bring them into view, bring it into your today. Faith calls things that be not as though they were.

CONFESSSION/PRAYER: I CALL FORTH YOUR FUTURE AND BRING IT INTO YOUR TODAY IN JESUS NAME.