Living By Faith

YOU ARE RIGHTEOUS NOW

I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins…declare thou, that thou mayest be justified.
(Isaiah 43:25-26)

You will never get God’s best blessings as long as you live with a sense of condemnation, guilt, and unworthiness. – Mark Hankins

In Smith Wigglesworth’s book, Ever Increasing Faith, he tells the story of praying for an Episcopalian priest who wanted to be filled with the Holy Spirit. When he started to pray for him, the priest fell down on his knees and began to say, “O God, make me holy and clean.” Wigglesworth said, “Stop, old man! I thought you were saved! If you’re saved, then you are holy.” The man said, “Well, I am aren’t I? I am righteous!” He lifted up his hands and got filled with the Holy Spirit right there!

In order to put on the new man in Christ you have to say something. You need to declare that you are righteous. If you fail to declare your righteousness, the devil will keep you in a sense of guilt and condemnation. He will try to cheat you out of God’s best blessings for your life. You will never get God’s best blessings as long as you live with a sense of condemnation, guilt, and unworthiness. In Christ, righteousness has been imparted to your spirit. You are a new creature in Christ.

Confession: I am a new creation, and this new man has been created in righteousness and true holiness!

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LIVE BY FAITH

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)

You are justified by faith in what Christ has done, not in how you feel.
Mark Hankins

What does it mean to have been cleansed from all unrighteousness? It means you have been made righteous again. It has nothing to do with what you feel. You may say, “I still do not feel righteous.” It has nothing to do with your feelings. You are justified by faith in what Christ has done, not by how you feel. Do you feel saved when you get up in the morning? Most people don’t get up and say, “I feel saved.” Most people don’t get up and say, “I feel righteous today. I really feel redeemed. I feel victorious.” It has nothing to do with feelings.

Romans 1:17 tells us, “The just shall live by faith.” Righteousness is a part of your faith walk when you acknowledge everything that is in you in Christ. Get up in the morning and say, “I have been made righteous today.” When the devil comes against your mind, he brings a picture of failure or weakness. Will the devil bring you a picture? Yes, but you tell him, “That is all right devil. I know you have a picture, but that does not exist anymore.”

Confession: I have been made righteous by the blood of Jesus. I am the righteousness of God in Christ. I have been forgiven, and I am redeemed by faith.

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RIGHTEOUSNESS CONSCIOUSNESS

Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us. (Titus 3:5)

Your spirit is recreated in righteousness; it is a gift!
Mark Hankins

You can be born again and still have a sin-consciousness, constantly having guilt-consciousness. You can constantly be thinking about the past, your failures, and your weaknesses. You can develop a righteousness-consciousness.

When you start acknowledging every good thing that is in you in Christ, however, you develop a consciousness that you have been made righteous. You have been redeemed. You are a new creation. You are triumphant in Christ. Start speaking that; your spirit man will rise up, and you will bring your body under subjection.

Righteousness is a gift that has been imparted to your spirit. Your spirit is re-created in righteousness; it is a gift. You are pleasing to God. You are accepted before God just as if you had never sinned. You are justified or righteous just as if you had never sinned.

Confession: It is not by works of righteousness that I have done, but according to His mercy that has saved me! (Titus 3:5)

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THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD IN CHRIST

For He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. (2 Corinthians 5:21)

Righteousness simply means that you have right standing with God.
Mark Hankins

God made Jesus, who knew no sin, to be made sin for us. He took our sin and our curse and died our death. Jesus was made to be sin for us so we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.

“And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.” (Romans 8:10) Paul said that your spirit is alive because of righteousness. When you received Christ, your spirit received eternal life because you were made righteous. You had the very righteousness of God imparted to your spirit.

Putting off the old man and putting on the new man happens by getting your mind renewed with the Word of God. This new man is created in righteousness and through holiness. When you get born again, you are not just a forgiven sinner. You have been made the righteousness of God in Christ!

Confession: I am a new creation in Christ. The old way of thinking and acting is dead and gone. I have been made the righteousness of God in Christ!

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IN CHRIST SURGERY

For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring. (Acts 17:28)

Mankind needed redemption; we needed the blood of Jesus.
Mark Hankins

A firefighter from California once burned his hand so badly that the doctors thought they would have to amputate. They decided to try another procedure because of the human body’s regenerative powers. Surgeons operated on the firefighter, inserted his burned hand inside his body, and left it in there. When they removed the hand after some days, the skin had begun to grow back again.

God saw that man’s condition was so bad that it looked like he would have to be amputated. He said, “Before we do that, I will do a surgical procedure.” The surgery God performed in the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ was such a massive project; He planned it for thousands of years. Because of man’s condition, this “in Christ” surgical procedure was the only way man could be saved. Paul called this a mystery in Colossians 1:26-27. We are joined and identified with Him through redemption!

Confession: In Him I live and move and have my being! I have been redeemed through the shed blood of Jesus!

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