NOTE: Before I get into the message, I want to point out that today is my wedding anniversary. One of the greatest gifts the Lord ever gave me was my wife. I GET to ‘do life’ with Isabella Piña, and for that, I am truly thankful. She is my best friend, greatest supporter, and an overall amazing woman. There are few things in life better than a Godly marriage. Without Isabella, I would not even be a shell of the man I am today. If you are married, enjoy your marriage. It should be a tremendous blessing. If you are not married yet, please choose wisely. You will be with this person for the rest of your life!
Today we continue to teach on our overall theme for the year: “GREAT FREEDOM.” Within this series, we have been honing in on the importance of your words. We will continue to flow in this vein today.
(2 Corinthians 4:13 NKJV)
And since we have the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, “I believed and therefore I spoke,” we also believe and therefore speak.
(Luke 6:45 Contemporary English Version)
Good people do good things because of the good in their hearts. Bad people do bad things because of the evil in their hearts. Your words show what is in your heart.
So what does this mean to you today? A few things.
1. You are called to imitate God.
a) Since we are God’s children, the Bible teaches us to imitate God, the way children imitate their parents (Eph 5:1). Yesterday we saw that our God calls those things that be not as though they are. He literally calls the end from the beginning (Isaiah 46:10). We are supposed to live the same way.
b) The Holy Spirit reveals things to us about our future. These things are ‘future’ to us, but they are actually ‘past’ to God. Our future is God’s past. God has already seen it. God has already been to our future and He reveals things to us about it in our present. This is how God can look at a barren person (Abram) and call them a “Father of many nations.” This is how God can look at a scared farmer (Gideon) and call him a mighty man of valor. This is how Jesus looked at the lame and called them into their healing. Jesus even looked at the dead and called them back to life. In every case, Jesus was being led by the Holy Spirit to say things that did not line up with His physical eyes. His body (or eyes) were telling Him one thing, the Holy Spirit inside of Him was revealing something else, and to live by faith Jesus had to choose to say what He believed (on the inside) over what He was looking at (on the outside). As imitators of God, we are called to live the same way.
2. You are living in two realms at the same time.
a) As a Born-Again believer, you have dual citizenship. You are both from heaven and the earth. Paul told us about our citizenship is in heaven (Phil 3:20).
b) Once you are Born-Again, you are a human conduit of the divine. You are human, but not just human. You are a human walking around with God inside of him/her. This makes you a human housing divinity. You are the imperfect housing perfection. You are the limited walking around with the LIMITLESS Himself, on the inside. This then puts you in a position to hear from heaven, to say what heaven is saying (down here, in the earth), and to help expand God’s Kingdom influence on this planet.
c) You are living in two realms at the same time. You get to look at this world with your natural eyes, and you also get to peer into God’s realm with the Holy Spirit, who lives IN you. When you speak only what you see with your natural eyes, please do not tell me you are being REAL. You are actually being CARNAL! If you want to be REAL from God’s perspective, speak the truth. The truth is NOT what you see with your physical eyes. Those are facts. The truth is what God reveals by His Spirit. If you have the audacity to speak what God reveals, even when it is against what you see with your natural eyes, it is then and only then that you are truly being REAL, and you are living by faith.
3. Live by faith and not by sight.
a) The Bible teaches us to live by faith and not by natural sight (2 Cor 5:7).
b) Living by faith means that you have decided to live by God’s reality, even when it conflicts with everything you are seeing in the natural.
c) To live by faith you must live by what God HAS SAID in His Word, and by what God IS SAYING now to you, by His Spirit. Even when all the evidence you are receiving from your physical senses is saying something else. Living by faith means you are not moved by what you see. You are only moved by what you believe God is revealing, and you SPEAK what God said until you have what God said! You SPEAK THE WORD ONLY!
d) The final point I will make is that I understand how difficult this can be at first. When you have physical evidence — like a doctor’s report, or a financial statement, or bills stacking up — and God is clearly speaking to you about another reality, it is not easy to maintain your faith, to speak ONLY what God is speaking to you, and to live by God’s reality over the one you are seeing every day. But this is the life we are called to. God never said it would be easy. The good news is that He gave us His Spirit and His grace. No matter how hard it seems, you have the grace for it. You were built for this. God is ON you, IN you, WITH you, and FOR you. You can do it! SPEAK THE WORD ONLY and it is only a matter of time before you SEE what God SAID!
That’s enough for today.
Declaration of Faith:
Father, I thank You for teaching me to live by faith, not by sight. I was born into this world. But then I was Born-Again. I am a citizen of heaven. I have dual-citizenship and I live in two realms at the same time. With my body, I see what is going on down here, in this world. With my Spirit, I get to peer into Your realm. Since I am called to live by faith, I choose Your realm over this world EVERY TIME! I don’t live by what I see with my physical eyes. I live by every Word You reveal to me in the Spirit. I live by Your reality and I SPEAK THE WORD ONLY every day! I declare this by faith! In Jesus’ name. Amen!
This is Today’s Word. Apply it and prosper!
