Living By Faith

LET ME TELL YOU WHO I AM

And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. (Matthew 16:16)

You need to find your identity from God; you are an individual created to reflect His glory. Mark Hankins

In Acts 19, the seven sons of Sceva, without having a relationship with Jesus (which would give them authority to use His name), tried to use the name of Jesus to cast out evil spirits. An evil spirit said to them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know, but who are you?” Because they didn’t know their identity in Christ, the scripture says, “The evil spirit…leaped on them, and overcame them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.” (Acts 19:16) It is important to understand who you are in Christ because the devil knows if you know your identity.

The devil will do everything he can to steal the Word from you to keep you from understanding your new identity in Christ. He wants you to see yourself in the natural. He will even get you to study your family tree, which never produced anything but a bunch of nuts! You need to find your identity from God. You are an individual created to reflect His glory.

Confession: I am a totally different person In Christ than when I was born. I was created to reflect His glory!

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SHOUT IT OUT

I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth. (Romans 1:16)

Everything changes when you begin to understand who you are in Christ and begin to act like the Bible is true. Mark Hankins

The company that makes Shout detergent uses the slogan: “For those tough stains, you have to ‘Shout’ them out!” I couldn’t agree more. Make sure you know what you are shouting about and let it rip!

Smith Wigglesworth said, “Some people would be giants in faith if they just had a shout.” Faith shouts while the walls are still standing. He also said, “You need to see how wonderful you are in God and how helpless you are without Him.”

Mom ran around the church in West Columbia, Texas, for many years. It is much larger now than it was when I was a child. More educated and prosperous people joined the congregation, but she would still say, “Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
Hallelujah!” She continued to shout, “Woooooo!” and ran around the church. The only thing that changed over the years is that in the later years, I would run with her!

Confession: God has brought me up out of a horrible pit, and out of the miry clay. He set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings! He has put a new song in my mouth! My mouth is full of His praise! (Psalm 40:2-3)

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SO BE IT

Whatever God has promised gets stamped with the Yes of Jesus. In him, this is what we preach and pray, the great Amen, God’s Yes and our Yes together, gloriously evident. (2 Corinthians 1:20 Message)

You can go to church and walk out in the same condition you came in, even though you said, “Amen! Glory! Hallelujah!” in all the right places.
Mark Hankins

Do you know what “Amen” means? It means, “So be it.” If you are in church and say, “Amen,” you are saying, “So be it.” You ought to consider what you “Amen.” Some people just say “Amen” at timed intervals. They are not even paying attention. One man was preaching and said, “You know, millions of people are going to hell every day.” Then he said, “Amen.” That means, “So be it. Let them go to hell, man. I don’t care.” You need to be careful when you say “Amen.”

Paul is saying, “Amen, so be it.” Jesus is the Amen. Jesus, through His death, burial, and resurrection came and said, “So be it” to everything God has ever promised. He fulfilled it and brought the reality of it into the economy of God. It is no longer just a promise or just some theology; it is an absolute reality.

Confession: What God has promised is affirmative-no question about it!

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NO EVIDENCE OF THE ENEMY

But with an overrunning flood he will make an utter end of the place thereof, and darkness shall pursue his enemies. What do ye imagine against the Lord? He will make an utter end: affliction shall not rise up the second time.
(Nahum 1:8-9)

God will destroy the place the enemy got into your life so that he can never get in again; He will also destroy the evidence.
Mark Hankins

Can you believe God can bring some things to an end? God can bring behaviors and influences that have controlled your life to an end.

Sin shall not have dominion over you. God said that He would stop this affliction. He will stop the problem or condition, and it will never rise again. God will destroy the place the enemy got into your life so that he can never get in again. God will even destroy the evidence.

This is true in any area of your life: poverty, defeat, or sickness. In areas of your life where behavior, influences, or circumstances have controlled you, God will bring it to an end. There is no inferiority, shame, or poverty on you in Christ. There is no evidence on you of what you used to be!

Confession: I believe that God can put an end to the affliction in my life! He will destroy the evidence of what I used to be!

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EXCEEDING JOY USHERS IN THE GLORY OF GOD

Yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory. (1 Peter 1:8)

Believing is always accompanied by joy. Mark Hankins

Rejoicing activates faith; joy accompanies believing. In 1 Peter 1:8, the Apostle Peter speaks of some wild, ecstatic, triumphant, heavenly joy, not someday when we get to heaven, but right now! The Amplified Bible says, “You believe in Him and exult and thrill with inexpressible and glorious (triumphant, heavenly) joy.”

Unspeakable joy is a container of the glory of God. The glory and the abundance of God are manifested in an atmosphere of rejoicing. We are commanded to rejoice; it is not an option! God brought us here to have fun — now we are going to have fun! God brought us here to have victory — now we are going to have victory!

Confession: I rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory. I have victory! The glory and the abundance of God are manifesting in my life today!

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