Happy Friday Afternoon Brothers and Sister! I pray you’ve had a powerfully blessed Monday – Friday, and you are looking forward to great expectation this weekend and the coming week. Praise God!! Everyday we increase.
The past week and a half, the Holy Spirit has brought me to a couple of verses of God’s Word, which of course leads to many other verses. The two verses are:
Romans 8:15
For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.
II Timothy 1:7
For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.
Paul, through the Holy Spirit, is writing that God has given us the Spirit of Faith, not the spirit of fear. The spirit of fear is from Satan. It is an anti-Christ spirit. We know Satan is not a creator. He can’t create because he is the spirit of death. Jesus is the spirit of life. Whatever is of God, Satan will have a counterfeit to it. He takes God’s original creation and perverts it. We all know this. But, do you know if you are not in faith, you are in fear. There is no middle ground – faith or fear.
Hebrews 11:6
But without faith it is impossible to please Him: for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.
Faith moves God on your behalf. Fear moves you – away from God. We cannot move God by our works. We cannot twist God’s arm. The work was done at the cross and the resurrection. God only reacts to our faith – our complete trust; not partial trust, but complete trust. And, as Hebrews 11:6 promises us, God rewards them that diligently seek Him – on this earth and in Heaven.
Romans 8:15 teaches us that fear is from the spirit of bondage. Before we were saved, we couldn’t escape the spirit of bondage. It was who we were inside. It was our nature. When we accepted Jesus Christ as our Savior, we were given a new nature – a Spirit of adoption into the Family of the Most High God – our Father, Abba. The spirit of bondage was removed from us. II Timothy 1:7 tells us the Spirit of adoption inside us gives us power, love, and a sound mind. Whose power? The power of Jesus Christ. Whose love? The love of Jesus Christ. Whose sound mind? The sound mind of Jesus Christ. WE have Jesus Christ’s power, love, and mind in us!! So then, why are we living in a spirit of bondage again to fear?
Ok, so let’s examine fear. What does fear do to us? It paralyzes us, creates stress, anxiety, oppression, terror, sickness, poverty, financial struggle, a lack of faith, unbelief, struggles with being delivered from situations that never should have come to us, bad decisions, addictions, lack of ideas, lack of innovation, lack of business strategies, failure to act on God’s direction, etc. All of this is 180 degrees in the opposite direction of God’s best for us. I know it seems hard to believe, but God never intends for us to suffer any of the above. And, He doesn’t allow it to happen. I know this may rub some the wrong way, but God does not inflict a Believer with sickness, disease, accidents, financial struggle, etc. for His glory. This is simply a heresy Satan has perpetrated in the church. There is verse after verse to support this. All of this ended at the cross with Jesus Christ. Every single sickness, disease, infliction, affliction, poverty, oppression, terror, depression, condemnation, FEAR, etc. was placed upon Jesus at the cross. For the Believer, all of the aforementioned and much more was DONE AWAY WITH at the cross by Christ. It has no power over a Believer at all! It only has the power we allow it to have over us.
Ephesians 3:20
Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,
What power works in you – faith or fear? God is telling us in the above verse He can only do exceedingly abundantly according to the power that worketh in us.
Faith works in EVERY AREA of our lives. I remember when my faith was great in some areas and lacking in other areas of my life. It was like me saying God can do this for me, but He can’t do that for me. How self righteous, how prideful of me to think my Father is limited, that Christ’s death and resurrection was limited in its power, that somehow I had more wisdom and knowledge than my Father and His Word. What did faith do for Abraham, Issac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Daniel, Ruth, Esther, David, Elijah, Elisha, Jesus, the disciples, Paul, etc? It caused them to act like their Father, to think like Him, to speak like Him, to create like Him, to heal like Him, to deliver like Him, to love like Him, to be enriched like Him, etc. God is no respecter of persons. He has no more respect for Moses than He has for you. Folks, this is according to God’s truth. They all received the same measure of faith as you did. No more, no less. And, it is God’s faith in us. Not our human, physical faith.
What is God’s faith able to do? Create the heavens and earth, create every living thing, create man, create spiritual laws, etc. This same faith is in us. The same Word He used is in our Spirit. It is the most POWERFUL thing in all creation – the Word of Faith. And, you possess it and are authorized by the Father to use it. Praise God!
Have a blessed weekend and love in Christ to all,
Larry