Victory Life KY

FaithTime III

Episode Summary

The NT tells us, we are to walk by faith, not by sight. You see, living by faith, not senses, not emotions, not intelligence or experiences, will require genuine faith.

Episode Notes

• 2 Corinthians 13:5,NLT- “Examine yourselves to see if your faith is genuine. Test yourselves. Surely you know that Jesus Christ is among you; if not, you have failed the test of genuine faith.”

• Are we willing to evaluate ourselves honestly, to test our faith? We’ve all gotta ask ourselves, how teachable are we, really?

• Make no mistake, a faith life is a completely different life.

• The NT tells us, we are to walk by faith, not by sight. You see, living by faith, not senses, not emotions, not intelligence or experiences, will require genuine faith.

• This is why God tells us that we're to examine ourselves, to test our faith walk. 

• Unfortunately there's a lot of Christians that won't even acknowledge they need help with their faith. Even though with our new creation lives it’s really the only way we navigate the Kingdom we’ve been born into.

• MSG, The fundamental fact of our existence is that this TRUST in God, this FAITH, is the firm foundation under everything that makes life worth living. It’s our handle on what we can’t see. 

• Faith actually starts as a conviction in the human soul, established by the unveiling of the truth in God’s word with, to the degree that you have this fixed expectation from what God has told you, you have this divinely inspired trust.

• 2 Corinthians 5:7,AMP- We walk by faith, not by sight, living our lives in a manner consistent with our CONFIDENT BELIEF IN GOD’S PROMISES.

• Living this way starts with our thinking. There’s no way our believing can be right until our thinking is right. Then James takes things a step further by driving the point home that our tongue is the rudder of our lives. RIGHT THINKING = RIGHT BELIEVING = RIGHT TALKING 

• When Jesus told the disciples to have faith in God, He instructed them to speak faith to their situations, to their mountains. 
• But he started the lesson with this statement, “If you’ll not doubt in your heart but believe what you say” In other words, we’ve got to line our words up with our faith.

• Jesus is very clear in the fact that speaking faith from our hearts, effects change in our world, from His.

• This is why, according to Jesus Himself, speaking divinely inspired words over our situation is exactly the kind of corresponding action James is talking about.

• Why do you think Jesus told us to put the Kingdom of God first? Because just like our natural lives here demand focus, intentionality, development, make no mistake, so does our new lives.

• We’ve gotta get this, living this kind of life requires focus, and a key to living a more focused life is avoiding distractions.

• And when we talk the problem more than the promise, we're distracted.

• Because God has designed us to live by faith, we’ve got to get to the place where we allow what He says to shape and strengthen what we actually believe. How we actually live.

• Just like with the father of our faith Abraham. Remember last week I brought up the fact that God changed Abram's name to Abraham, changing what he was saying about himself. And this is exactly what we’ve got to do with what God says about us today. What’s God calling you?

• Romans 4, Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be sure to all those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all. 
• This is what the Scriptures mean when God told him, “I have made you the father of many nations.” This happened because Abraham believed in the God who brings the dead back to life and who creates new things out of nothing. The God who calls things which do not exist as though they did.

• I love Mary’s statement when the angel spoke her, “According to your word, let be unto me.”

• Seriously, everyone of us operate within the boundaries of our current beliefs. You see, I believe Jesus is looking for some faith people today like Mary. According to your word Lord.

• Lets turn it around for a second, how many times did Jesus tell people, “according to you faith, let it be so?”

• The more I look at the life of faith, at believing, and I know I talk this all the time but our thinking is key. Faith truly is a mind set. Maybe we should say it like this, faith is an attitude.

• Think about it, our attitude pretty much determines our approach to our life.

• Consider this, which one describes you, you see the difficulty in every opportunity, or the opportunity in every difficulty?

• Ephesians 4:23-24,NIV- “Be made new in the ATTITUDE of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.”

• Take president Lincoln for example, very few people had a clue who he was until the weight of the civil war revealed his way of thinking, his mind set, his attitude.

• Truth is, most of us, like our father of faith Abraham, are just one attitude adjustment away from stepping into the name change God has for us. Discovering that next level of success. Overcoming that challenge. Being the change in that situation.

• And this is why it's absolutely vital we continue growing in our faith because at the end of the day, everyone of us live within our own self-imposed boundaries of what choose to believe or not.

• This is why there’s a lot of wonderful Christians that find themselves in unbelief concerning something Jesus says simply because it makes no sense.

• Jesus faced the same unbelief with His disciples. Repeatedly He asked them, "How is it that you have no faith?" Faith isn't intelligence or emotion, it's 100% spiritual.

• And this is why the created was never intended to prove God. This is why Jesus told us to go and tell, not go and prove. The proving is God's responsibility.

• Romans 1:17,NLT- This Good News tells us how God makes us right in His sight. This is accomplished from start to finish by FAITH. As the Scriptures say, “It is THROUGH FAITH that a righteous person has life.”

• “Through Faith,” Through a divine conviction in the soul, established on the truth in God’s word, to the degree that you have this fixed expectation from what God has told you. 

• Something God is continually reminding of, especially when I'm examining my faith walk, is my love walk. After all, He's the One who told us that our faith only works through love.

• Galatians 5:6,NIV- For in Christ Jesus, The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.

• Let’s go back to Paul's instructions in Corinthians;

• 2 Corinthians 13:5,MSG- Test yourselves to make sure you are solid in the faith. Don’t drift along taking everything for granted. Give yourselves regular checkups. You need firsthand evidence, not mere hearsay, that Jesus Christ is in you. Test it out. 

• Bottom line, if we're going to test our faith walk, it starts by testing our love walk.

• Self evaluation isn't something we're always open to. Think about it, human nature leans toward blaming something or someone. (Adam and Eve)

• Truth is, if we're not willing to self evaluate, the odds are pretty high that there's no way we'll be open to it from another person.

• Romans 15:5-6,NIV- “May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of mind toward each other that Christ Jesus had, so that with one mind and one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

• And this is why He told us to walk by faith not by sight, because we would never be successful walking in love, only walking by sight.

• Here's another reason the right attitude is so important, without it we could look right past the person God's wanting us to influence.

• Or connect us with the one He's been leading our direction to influence us.

• Remember, faith is always expecting Jesus to be right in the middle of what our situation might be. 

• 2 Corinthians 5:7,AMP- We walk by faith, not by sight, living our lives in a manner consistent with our CONFIDENT BELIEF IN GOD’S PROMISES.

• Because God has designed us to live by faith, we’ve got to get to the place where we allow what He says to shape and strengthen what we actually believe. How we actually live.