Today we continue our new series entitled, “God Loves You”, under the overall theme for the year of, “Supernatural Manifestation.” Yesterday I introduced you to a verse in Paul’s letter to the church in Galatia, where the Apostle teaches us that true faith works by God’s love. If we are going to see the supernatural power of God manifested in our lives, we must get to the point where we are convinced God loves us.
Paul said, “For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love” (Gal 5:6). Paul contrasts the human effort of the Law of Moses, with the God-effort we see in the Covenant of grace Jesus died to establish. Let’s seek to glean a few things from this point.
So what does this mean to you today? Let’s see:
- For years many preachers (myself included) have preached against emotions, teaching that we must rule our emotions and not allow our emotions to rule us. However, if we are not careful, we might lead people to temper their emotions to the point where they serve God more with their head than with their heart. This is why I believe many Christians today, in an attempt to live by faith, stand on God’s Word and declare it over their lives, more as a matter-of-fact, than as a reality; more with their head than with their heart. This kind of cold-hearted, mind-centered faith is void of true power because it is more head-acknowledgement than heart submission.
- Faith is not about you telling God what to do, because believe me, you can’t. Faith is not you grabbing a scripture and declaring it over and over, commanding God to perform it in your life, as if God is your servant and He is at your beck-and-call. No, faith is about agreement with and submission to God’s will.
- Living by faith is about dying to self daily, submitting your will to God’s will, accepting what He wants to do in you by His grace, and then seeking to pursue it by faith. This cannot be done with your head. You don’t die to self in your head. You die to self in your heart.
- Faith works by love, because faith works when you are convinced God loves you and that He wants to use you for His glory, because of His grace and not your performance. It is because of God’s unrelenting love towards you that you willingly die to self, that you accept His will over you own, and that you attempt to perform His will by faith.
- Jesus was so convinced that the Father loved Him, that He trusted the Father enough to say, “Not my will, but thy will be done.” With those words, Jesus died to self in His heart, to the point where He willingly accepted the cross for us, trusting the Father’s plan, even though it was going to cost Him much natural pain.
- Do you trust God enough to put His will above your own? Are you so convinced of God’s love for you that you willingly accept His will and pursue it by faith, even when it goes against what you wanted to do? That, my friend, is living by faith.
- When you are convinced God wants to heal you because He loves you, you speak words of faith from a believing heart and the belief of your heart accesses God’s grace for healing.
- When you are convinced God wants to deliver you because He loves you, you speak words of faith from a believing heart and the belief of your heart accesses God’s grace for deliverance.
- When you are convinced of what God wants to do in your life because He loves you, you are able to release faith from your heart and pursue His will with fearless confidence, because at that point your faith will be rooted and grounded in God’s love, not human effort.
Closing Confession: Father, this is a year of Great Victory for me. The revelation of Your love for me is changing me from the inside-out. You love me just like You loved Jesus. You love me because You are so good, not because I am. I accept Your Love. I believe Your love. I embrace Your love. I am changed by Your love. I become Your love. I am Your child, I live my life by faith in You, and my faith is rooted and grounded in the fact that You love me. When I am sick, I know You want to heal me because You love me, therefore I exercise faith for healing based on Your love. When I am bound with a situation or issue, I know You want to deliver me because You love me, therefore I exercise faith for deliverance based on Your love. When I am facing whatever I am facing, I know You want to help me through it, to give me the victory, because You love me. Therefore I exercise faith for the victory based on Your love. This is a faith that is birthed from LOVE and that works by LOVE! I declare this by faith. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
This is Today’s Word! Apply it and Prosper.
