Grace and Truth (Part 46): The Fruit of God’s Spirit (Faith vs. Sight)

by Rick

Note:  Today’s is Veteran’s Day in the United States.  Isabella and I are veterans. We honor those who have served and who are serving.  We also honor their family members. The freedoms the United States offers are still extremely sought out.  This nation is still the symbol of hope for most of the free world. But these freedoms are not free. They come at a great cost.  They come as a result of extreme sacrifice. So if you know a veteran, please honor them today. Thank them for the freedoms you enjoy!

Today we continue our series entitled, “Grace and Truth” by continuing to look at by continuing to look at The Law given under Moses vs. the Grace provided by Jesus.  Our main scriptures are John 1:14 & 17.  Let’s look at them again.

(John 1:14 New International Version)

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

(John 1:17 New International Version)

For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

In this series we studied Galatians 3, 4, and 5.  We finally got to the fruit of the Holy Spirit. We are going through all the fruit of the Spirit.  We have been dealing with “faith that prevails” for a few days.  We will continue today.  

(Galatians 5:22,23 The Passion Translation)  

But the fruit produced by the Holy Spirit within you is divine love in all its varied expressions:

joy that overflows,

peace that subdues,

patience that endures,

kindness in action,

a life full of virtue,

faith that prevails,

gentleness of heart, and

strength of spirit.

Never set the law above these qualities, for they are meant to be limitless.

So what does this mean for you today?  A few things.

1.  The opposite of faith is natural sight.

In 2 Cor 5:7 the Apostle Paul famously said, “We walk by faith and not by sight.”    For years I did not understand what Paul meant.  I would hear someone repeat, “We walk by faith and not by sight”, and I would say, “Amen”, but I really did not know how to put this into practice.  To get an understanding of what the Holy Spirit, through Paul, was teaching, we must get a grasp of the context of the passage.

In 2 Corinthians the Apostle Paul teaches us of what is almost like an alternate universe.  It is a realm where God’s dreams for us live.  It is a place where God’s perfect desires are on display.  Once we are Born-Again, the Holy Spirit allows us to peer into that realm.  We get to see what God planned for us. We get to discover our true purpose and potential.  We get to discern God’s will, God’s best, God’s heart. But we can’t peer into this realm with our natural eyes.  We must peer into this realm with our Spirit.  This is where faith comes in.  To live by faith, the Father expects us to live in the earth based on what He allows us to SEE in His realm.  

Faith is peering into God’s realm and then coming back to the earth realm and living off of what you saw.  Faith is peering into God’s will and then coming back and aligning your will with His. This is why the opposite of faith is not doubt.  The opposite of faith is not fear. The opposite of faith is natural sight.  

2.  Earthsuit senses vs. Spirit-led faith.

You are a spirit.  Your spirit is the real you.  Your spirit will live forever in one of two places.  You ARE a spirit, you possess a soul (which is your mind, emotions and will), and you live in a body (for now).  The body you live in, for now, is an earthsuit. Your body is how you communicate with this world. You use your body to relate to this world through your five physical senses.  When you can validate something with your senses, it makes “sense” to you. But God does not communicate with you through your body. God is Spirit. He communicates with us through the Holy Spirit, who is connected to our spirit, once we are Born-Again.

Before you were Born-Again you lived your life based on what you were able to see in the natural.  You lived your life based on the input your body (your earthsuit) received from this world. But now that you are Born-Again you are supposed to live based on what you SEE (or perceive) in the Spirit.  The Holy Spirit living inside of you gives you input from God’s realm. If you can understand that, then it makes sense why the Easy To Read Version of 2 Cor 5:7 reads, “We live by what we believe will happen, not by what we can see.”  Paul’s point is that as believers we are not supposed to live by what we can see with our natural eyes, but rather by what we perceive in the Spirit.  If you are able to do that, you are living BY FAITH. Faith is the ability to perceive what God reveals and to then make decisions, in the natural, based on what you received in the Spirit.

3.  Maturing to live by what you PERCEIVE and not what you SEE.

a)  You were born natural to this world.  As you matured you learned to relate to this world by what you saw and by the input your senses received from this world.  The day you were Born-Again everything changed. You are now natural to God’s realm. The supernatural is now natural to you.  Now you are supposed to live by what you can SEE in the Spirit and by the input your Spirit receives from God’s realm.

b)  Once you are Born-Again, the Bible teaches you to live by what you can perceive from God and not by natural sight anymore.  God wants you to get to the point where what you SEE in the Spirit is more real to you than what you can see with your natural eyes.

c)  The day you get to the point where what you perceive from God is more real to you than what you see in this world is the day you will be truly living by faith.

d)  Faith makes decisions in this world based on what is revealed from God’s realm.  This is how we experience heaven on earth.

e)  Faith perceives the will of God and stands on what is revealed, even when it ‘flies in the face’ of what you can see in this world.  You can’t do this without God. You would never be able to do this without the Holy Spirit.  This is why FAITH is a fruit of God’s Spirit.

That’s enough for today.

Declaration of Faith

Father, I live by faith and not by natural sight.  I live by what I perceive in the Spirit and I am not moved by what I see in the natural.  What You reveal to me about me and my future is more real to me than what I see in this world every day.  I live my life based on what You reveal, even when what You are telling me is in stark contrast to what I see in this world.  I am not moved by what I can see in the natural. I am only moved by what I see in the Spirit. I live by every Word You speak to me.  I live my life based on Your reality, even when it ‘flies in the face’ of the reality I see in this world. Living in-sync with You may mean that I seem out-of-sync with this world, and that’s okay.  I live by faith and not by natural sight! I declare this by faith.  In Jesus’ name. Amen!

This is Today’s Word.  Apply it and prosper!

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