By Faith - Part 3

When I have heard people declare that they have received something “by faith,” or they are walking “by faith,” or they are believing “by faith,” I often wonder, “What exactly does that mean?  What does it LOOK like?” 

Now I know what faith is, and I know I have faith because I’ve received salvation through faith in Jesus Christ.  I know what Hebrews 11 says about faith:  “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”  But I have faced trials and crises that have challenged my faith and the truths and promises in God’s word. I also know that God has spoken promises to me that have not yet come to pass.   I know that we are supposed activate our faith because in James 2 it says that faith without works is dead…I need to put feet to my faith.  But how?  What does that look like?

The very first step of faith is to respond to a crisis, trial, or challenge, by running to Father God and asking, “What do YOU say about this, Lord?”  We have heard the report of the doctor, or seen the bank statement, or witnessed the circumstances.  But what we need to know is God’s perspective, God’s word, God’s promise. We’ve heard the truth, but what we really need to hear is the truer Truth.

All of scripture is God’s promise to us...it is His love letter to all people for all time.  However, we also need to hear the spoken rhema word of God for our particular situation.  Romans 10:17 says, “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the (rhema) word of Christ.” 

How do we hear the rhema word of God?  We need to get alone with Him and draw close to Him.  We worship Him, read His Word, and pray both with our understanding and in our spiritual language.  In 1 Corinthians 14:14 Paul writes, “For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful.”  I don’t know about you, but when the enemy is attacking my mind, I NEED my mind to be unfruitful!  It needs to be silenced by the loud praying of my spirit!  When I am intimate with the Father, and the chatter of my mind is silenced, then I position myself to hear the truer Truth, the spoken word from the heart of the Father.  Once I hear the word from my Father, then I know I have heard the truer Truth about my situation!

When you know that the Lord has spoken to you personally and specifically, then faith fills your being.  The Lord’s word, received in the secret place through intimacy, is the truer Truth on which you hang your faith, and it is the starting point in the journey of walking “by faith.”

Welcome to Your New Life!

I want to share with you a journey that I have been on since the Power and Love Conference came to Gateway Church in July 2010. I was so impacted by the love and amazing teachings of each of the speakers. What most dramatically impacted me was the truth about the new identity we receive when we are born again. Having taught in the church and ministered to the lost for a number of years, I have come to realize that many people do not have a revelation of their new identity in Christ when they are born again.

As I prayed and journaled, I felt that God was giving me something to put in booklet form to be shared with new believers, however, I feel it could be beneficial for veteran believers as well. Last year I spent some time editing what I had written, and a few months ago I felt God was telling me to finish and publish what He had given me. So out of obedience, I completed the editing, created a cover, and had it printed. The booklet above is the finished product of this journey!

What God put in my heart was to write something to give new believers…ones that had just come forward at an altar call, or those on the street or in the workplace who had just prayed a prayer of salvation. I wanted to further explain the gospel in light, non-religious terms, and give them something in writing that they could read and re-read on their own. I also wanted to emphasize how repenting and receiving Christ restores us to God’s original plan for us, and that we have a new identity in Christ.

If you would like to see if this would be a benefit to your church or ministry, you can click here to place an order. Or, if you would like to request a free copy, please email me with your name and address at deborahk@sharetheheartofgod.org.

By Faith - Part 2

Over the next few weeks, I am going to share 5 principles that God taught me about walking, receiving, or believing something “by faith.” These are not a comprehensive list of principles, nor are they requirements…they are merely the 5 principles that God taught me by experience over the last several months. I hope that they will be a help to you in your journey of faith.

The very first thing that God taught me was not to share my crisis, struggle, or whatever I’m trying to stand in faith for, with just anyone. When we received a bad report from the doctor, the first thing that I did was to go to the Lord in prayer. I needed His comfort and counsel. As His words of truth and comfort began to release a measure of faith in me, the enemy was right there at the door of my mind with his words of doubt and fear. It was a battle to reject the lies of the enemy, and hang on to the Lord’s words of truth.

Staying in the Word and staying in constant communion with the Lord was vital for me. I also recognized that I had to be discerning about who I shared with. I needed to only share with a select few friends and prayer warriors who I knew would stand in faith with me, without doubting, and not waiver. I only shared with those who I knew would wage the war of faith and not entertain any thought of anything less than total victory based on God’s word of truth.

Have you ever noticed what happens to your faith when you share your crisis or obstacle with those whose first response is not one of faith? Perhaps you’ve recently lost your job, but God has encouraged you and reassured you that He has something better for you and He will provide for you. You’re feeling faith-filled, positive, and victorious.

Then you share with a friend or family member that you have recently lost your job. Their first reaction is, “Wow, you know I know someone who was in your industry, and they lost their job 3 years ago, and still haven’t gotten job, and are now on the verge of losing their house. But I know God is faithful, and you’re going to be just fine!” Ugh! You can hear the sucking sound as their first statement just suctions every ounce of faith you had from you. It doesn’t matter what they said after their first statement, no matter how encouraging and faith-filled it may be. The enemy uses that first response to bring doubt and fear and steal every bit of faith that God deposited in you.

In our situation, I knew that even a fearful or shocked look on someone’s face would illicit that sucking sound. When I’d merely see a reaction, I could literally feel the faith being suctioned from my being. I would then have to run back to my prayer closet to spend time with Lord, be re-filled with His words of truth, so that I could go on to fight the good fight of faith.

So if you are facing a crisis or challenge, be discerning who you share it with. Protect the faith that God has deposited in you by only sharing with those who will not entertain the enemy’s words of doubt or fear. Share only with those who will seek God’s truth and war to stay in faith with you. “…not all have faith. But the Lord is faithful, and He will strengthen and protect you from the evil one.” (2 Thessalonians 3:2b-3)

By Faith - Part 1

When I have heard people declare that they have received something “by faith,” or they are walking “by faith,” or they are believing “by faith,” I often wonder, “What exactly does that mean? What does it LOOK like?”

Now I know what faith is, and I know I have faith because I’ve received salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. I know what Hebrews 11 says about faith: “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” But I have faced trials and crises that have challenged my faith and the truths and promises in God’s word. I also know that God has spoken promises to me that have not yet come to pass. I know that we are supposed activate our faith because in James 2 it says that faith without works is dead…I need to put feet to my faith. But how? What does that look like?

This past summer our family went through a time of testing of our faith. My faith was stretched and challenged. The battle in my mind was raging. Yet God tells us that without faith, it’s impossible to please Him (Hebrews 11:6). The trials that we faced was an opportunity to grow in faith and grow in intimacy and relationship with Father God.

I don’t know about you, but I learn best when someone teaches by giving me examples and testimonies from their own life. Through this journey these last several months, not only did God reveal His faithfulness and unending love, I feel like He taught me some principles about what “by faith” means. Using my life and testimonies, I’m going to take the next several blogs to describe some of the principles that God taught me about what it means to receive, believe, or walk through something “by faith.” I pray that you might gain a few nuggets that might help you in your journey of faith. “Faithful is He who calls you…” (1 Thess. 5:24)

September 21, 2012

This is a word that God spoke to me in my personal prayer time this morning, and I felt that it is a word for the body of Christ, so I wanted to share it:

There is so much going on in the spirit right now. Things are being rearranged and put in proper order. It seems like chaos and confusion to the human mind, but it is not. I AM putting things in proper order. (I have a picture in my mind where it looks like I have taken alphabet letters and tossed them all up in the air, and as they are falling back to the ground, they are falling into place and into proper order.) What you have experienced in the past have been minor shifts…this that I AM doing now is a major shift….it will cause confusion to some. But if you are abiding in Me and following Me, you will be able to walk through the shift without confusion because I will bring clarity. You will see order where others do not see order.

So if you have been seeing and feeling greater confusion, continue to draw close to Him, and abide in Him (John 15:1-11), and He will bring clarity! Thank you Jesus!

Dig Your Heels In!

As I was worshiping at the Wave last Friday, January 7th, I felt the Lord speak to me a word for 2011:

I saw a picture of me/the body of Christ with their heels dug in to the ground...like the expression, “I’ve got my heels dug in,” denoting stubbornness.  I feel that God was giving me a picture of how our heels need to be “dug in” to our firm foundation...stubbornly gripping ahold of and not moving from those foundational things like holiness, purity, righteousness...but we can only walk in those things unless we know who we are and Who lives in us.  Otherwise they are just religious acts and religious strivings.  It is important that these things---holiness, righteousness, and purity--- be firmly established in us this year.  If they are not firmly established in us this year, then the following years, and what is coming, will be tumultuous for us.  

Ephesians 4:14-15 -  14 As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; 15 but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ...”

God Wants to Give Us a New Garment

This is the word God gave me during worship on 12/19/10.  I didn’t share it then, but pressed into God for greater explanation/revelation during the week, and I shared this on 12/26/10:

God wants to give us a new GARMENT; but first we must remove the OLD GARMENT.

As I prayed and sought God for greater revelation and clarification, this is what I received:

Garments can represent several things:

1) Covering
2) Authority
3) Glory
4) Identity
    a) The way others see us; the way we see ourselves.
    b) Blind Bartimaeus - Mark 10:46-52
In ancient times, your garment/mantle revealed everything about you.

Mark 10:46-52 (Red is my emphasis):

46(Then they came to Jericho And as He was leaving Jericho with His disciples and a large crowd, a blind beggar named Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, was sitting by the road.
 47When he heard that it was Jesus the Nazarene, he began to cry out and say, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!"
 48Many were sternly telling him to be quiet, but he kept crying out all the more, "Son of David, have mercy on me!"
 49And Jesus stopped and said, "Call him here." So they called the blind man, saying to him, "Take courage, stand up! He is calling for you."
 50Throwing aside his cloak, he jumped up and came to Jesus.
 51And answering him, Jesus said, "What do you want Me to do for you?" And the blind man said to Him, "Rabboni, I want to regain my sight!"
 52And Jesus said to him, "Go; your faith has made you well." Immediately he regained his sight and began following Him on the road.

Points:
1) Bartimaeus cried out to Jesus, and kept crying out.
2) When Jesus called for him, Bartimaeus threw aside his cloak/garment (representing his identity as a blind man because he used it to spread out to beg and receive alms) BEFORE he had received anything from Jesus.  He threw it aside in FAITH.
3) Bartimaeus cried out to Jesus, got His attention, threw aside his old identity by faith, then Jesus asked him what he wanted, and Bartimaeus then specifically stated what he wanted from Jesus.
4) We have been crying out to Jesus, calling to Him, asking Him to come, asking Him to intervene in our situation(s), but we must throw aside the old garment by faith.  Now Jesus is asking us specifically, “What is it that you want?” We have His attention, now we need to stop crying out, and we need to be able to specifically articulate to him what we are asking Him to do.


BEFORE WE CAN RECEIVE A NEW GARMENT, WE MUST REMOVE THE OLD GARMENT:

Remove the garment:

1) Like Blind Bartimaeus, it requires FAITH.  We let go of the old BEFORE we receive the new.
2) Remove the way we see ourselves; our gifts; how we function in our gifts
3) Remove all of the layers - sometimes we’ve just layered on the new over the old; after wearing a garment for a very long time, even the garments God has given us can become very heavy (the picture that came to mind was how mattresses become very heavy over time because the dead skin that sloughs off over time and becomes embedded in the mattress making it very heavy).  God wants to give us something NEW.
4) Become spiritually naked; vulnerable; allow God to clothe us with a new garment.

Implications:

1) Personally
2) Local Church
       a) Worship
       b) Prophetic
       c) Other ministries
3) “The Church” as a body of Christ