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FAITH UNDER TRIAL

Consider it wholly joyful, my brethren, whenever you are enveloped in or encounter trials of any sort or fall into various temptations. (James 1:2 AMP)

God is interested in your character and your whole person, not just your immediate comfort.
Mark Hankins

I was watching a documentary on how people make pottery. Pottery is baked in extreme heat to make it durable and hard, so it is usable. I thought it was interesting that they know a pot is done by the sound it makes. Many times trouble will hit you and get you into serious oven situations. If you stay silent while in the oven, then you are going to be in the oven a long time. But if you will just go ahead and shout for joy, you will make it through!

God wants you to hold steady and stop squirming out of your problems and difficulties prematurely. The natural human tendency is to try to find a way to get out from under the pressure. You have to realize that your faith is on trial, and the devil is trying to knock that faith right out of you. Mix patience with your faith and it will take you through the pressure. Let God build character in you and make you strong enough to receive blessings that you may not have been able to receive before.

Confession: I refuse to give up! I am going to allow my faith to be on trial, and I will not lose!

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THE SECRET POWER OF JOY

Even now you are happy with the inexpressible joy that comes from heaven itself. (1 Peter 1:8 TLB)

Rejoicing is an act of faith. Mark Hankins

One day, the Lord spoke to me very clearly and said, “If you only knew what happens in the spirit when you rejoice, you would rejoice every day.” When we rejoice, we are acting like sons and daughters of God!

Rejoicing is an act of faith. Remember the words of Paul in Acts 27:25, “Cheer up…I believe God that it shall be as He told me.” When we believe God, we can cheer up! Believing and rejoicing ushers in the glory and goodness of God in our lives.

Rejoicing enables us to make progress in difficult times. Joy is the secret of faith and endurance. James 1:2 says to count it all joy when trouble comes. This must be why Job laughed at destruction and trouble. (Job 5:22) Of course some people may think you are a fool, but if you have found joy, you have found the secret of survival and success.

Confession: Even now I am happy with the inexpressible joy that comes from heaven itself! The joy of the Lord is my strength. Just like Job, I laugh at destruction and trouble because I know that joy is the secret of faith and endurance. Ha! Ha! Ha!

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LAUGHING AT IMPOSSIBILITIES

And Sarah said, God hath made me to laugh, so that all that hear will laugh with me. (Genesis 21:6)

Faith laughs at impossibilities. Smith Wigglesworth

In Genesis 21, we read about Abraham and Sarah receiving a promise from God. They were old and well stricken in age but God promised them a son in order to establish His eternal covenant. God told Abraham that He was going to bless Sarah. He said, “I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of people shall be of her.” (Genesis 17:16)

“Through faith also Sarah herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised.” (Hebrews 11:11)

How did Sarah receive strength to conceive? She laughed and received strength for her miracle. She judged Him faithful that promised. She knew that what God had promised He was able to perform. Through faith, she received strength. She said, “God made me laugh.”

Confession: I laugh at the circumstances in my life that seem impossible because I judge Him faithful who has promised. Ha! Ha! Ha!

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JOY: THE BRIDGE BETWEEN BELIEVING AND RECEIVING

Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory: Receiving the end of your faith…(1 Peter 1:8-9)

Faith has a beginning, and faith has an end. Mark Hankins

Joy unspeakable and full of glory is the bridge between believing and receiving. Psalm 2 says that God sits in the heavens and laughs. The Bible says the Kingdom of God is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.

The Kingdom of God is the realm of God, the place where God rules and reigns. If you want the Kingdom of God to break loose in your life, then joy is the supernatural battle strategy. Get full of joy and the dominion of God will break out. Healing and blessing will break out. You cannot have joy and be unhappy. One thing about it, I don’t think the devil can hang around happy people. The faster you get happy, the faster the devil is out!

Confession: For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. (Romans 14:17)

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DARE TO DECLARE THAT YOU ARE RIGHTEOUS IN CHRIST

Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. (Romans 8:33-34)

Faith will not work in an atmosphere of unforgiveness. Kenneth E. Hagin

I once heard Dad Hagin say, “If the devil can get you in condemnation, he’ll cheat you out of your inheritance.” When we receive forgiveness and freely forgive others, and ourselves, our faith will work properly. God forgives us so radically and totally, that He commands us to forgive others the same way. God’s kind of forgiveness erases the memory of all sin, failure, guilt, and accusation. We plead our case with the Word of God and the blood of Jesus.

In 2 Corinthians 5:21, God declares us righteous in Christ. Righteousness is a free gift and those that receive it will reign in life through Christ Jesus. This revelation of righteousness makes us glad. These are days of Heaven on Earth, so go ahead and laugh at the devil.

Confession: I have been made the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. I receive this free gift and reign in life through Christ Jesus! (2 Corinthians 5:21; Romans 5:17)

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