Living By Faith

FAITH IS AN ACT

But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. (James 1:22)

As you acknowledge the Word, start acting like it is true. Mark Hankins

What does it mean to be a doer of the Word? When you see something in the Word, you just act on it. You start acting like the Word is true. James 2:26 tells us that faith without works [or corresponding action] is dead!

If the Word says something belongs to you, you can say, “I am going to act on it. I am going to act like it is so. It may not feel like it or look like it, but I am acting on it right now.” As you acknowledge the Word, start acting like it is true. Smith Wigglesworth said, “Faith is an act.”

“But who so looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the word, this man shall be blessed in his deed.” (James 1:25)

What do you look at when you look in the mirror? You look at yourself. In other words, James is saying that if you hear the Word, but you don’t do it, it is like looking in the mirror, going your way, and forgetting what you look like!

Confession: I am not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the Word. I act like the Bible is true. I am blessed!

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RENEWING YOUR MIND

That ye put off concerning the former conversation [He’s talking about your lifestyle] the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts. (Ephesians 4:22)

You won’t change the way you are living if you don’t change the way you are talking. Mark Hankins

The process of putting off the old man and putting on the new man takes place as you renew your mind and line your thinking up with the Word of God. We should always ask, “What does God say about me? What does God say about my circumstances?”  We need to say what God says. We need to agree with God.

In Ephesians 4:22-24, Paul says to “put off the old man” and “put on the new man” by being “renewed in the spirit of your mind.”  To put off is like taking off the old clothes, the old nature, and the old lifestyle. In other words, change the way you are living and talking.

The moment you are born again, you are a new creation, and you are created in righteousness and true holiness. You are not trying to make the new man righteous and holy. Since you have been made a partaker of the divine nature, you are to put on the new man, who is created in righteousness and true holiness.

Confession: Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth. (Psalm 141:3)

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HONOR THE BLOOD OF JESUS

Through the blood of his cross… you are reconciled to God by Him… In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in His sight. (Colossians 1:20-22)

We, as believers, are accepted into the presence of God, having perfect fellowship with the Father God because of what Christ has done for us. Mark Hankins

We honor the blood of Jesus as we lift our voice in faith declaring what it has accomplished and what it is accomplishing. The spoken Word of God is the voice of the Blood Covenant. Every Word has blood in it. The blood must be applied by faith. 

According to your faith so be it unto you. There is no such thing as passive faith.  Faith acts like the Bible is true. Live by faith and continually apply theblood.  There is power in the blood. 

God sees us in Christ. We have full assurance of faith to go right into the very presence of God because we have been washed in the blood of Jesus. We are in Christ by faith in the blood of Jesus. Let us honor the blood of Jesus and confess daily who we are and what we have in Christ Jesus.

Confession: I have faith in the blood of Jesus. In Christ I have redemption through His blood!(Colossians 1:14)

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FAITH IN THE BLOOD OF JESUS

Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus… by the law of faith. (Romans 3:25-27)

Faith in His blood is the power and the vehicle that launches the believer into the very presence of God. Mark Hankins

What a wonderful sight it is to see a space shuttle launch. You can see it rise slowly, then rocket into another world. The power, the sound, and the sight are fascinating. The giant fuel cells that propel it are necessary to get it out of this atmosphere into outer space. The shuttle leaves the law of gravity behind and enters a world of weightlessness. I like to compare that to faith in the blood of Jesus.

Faith in His blood launches the believer into another realm where the new law of faith rules. The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus breaks the law of sin and death. The weight of sin that once held you down is broken and you are free.  Think of the possibilities and the power in the blood of Jesus!

Confession:  I am no longer bound by the law of sin and death! I am free through faith in His blood and the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus!

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RADICAL REVELATION OF RIGHTEOUSNESS

That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
ROMANS 10:9, 10 (KJV)

What are you going to believe and speak?  You are going to believe and say you have been made the righteousness of God in Christ!  You quit struggling and trying.  You put your trust in God and you receive this free gift.  You believe with your heart that God loves you, God accepts you, and He has made you as righteous as Jesus.

Believing you have been made righteous and receiving the gift of righteousness is a radical, revolutionary revelation and can be difficult for some people to comprehend.  Sometimes people will not receive it because they think they’ve got to work for it.  Sometimes people get proud and think “I don’t want a handout.  You don’t have to give me that.”  But when it comes to this righteousness, you had better take it!

I once ate at a restaurant where some of the waiters worked who attended the church where I was preaching. I gave each one of them a hundred-dollar bill. Do you know only one worker took it?  The other three said, “No, that’s too much.  You don’t have to do that.”  It seems there is something about human nature that questions when God wants to give a gift, saying, “Are you sure about that?  That’s too much.  I don’t really think that’s necessary.”  What Jesus did for you is entirely too much, but you must receive it!

Confession: I believe in my heart that God raised Jesus from the dead and I openly confess with my mouth that Jesus is Lord. Salvation is mine; righteousness is mine.

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