Living By Faith

REVELATION…CALCULATION

Calculate, if you can, the gigantic power behind all this. Sons, quickened into life and consciousness. (Ephesians 1:19 Carpenter Translation)

This power that raised Christ from the dead, will do, in the believer, the same thing it did in Christ!  Mark Hankins

We must get a revelation of the power that is on the inside of us! For just as with natural things, we cannot grasp and use them if we cannot see or sense them. When we have revelation of the power that is in us, and when we activate that power by our confession of it, that power begins to work in us. It duplicates in our souls and bodies what has already been accomplished in Christ.  

Paul prayed for believers to have a revelation of this power. This power that raised Christ from the dead will do in the believer the same thing it did in Christ. It will not make our bodies immortal just yet, but it will melt down, undo, breakup, and dissolve anything the devil has done in us. It will melt away and dissolve disease, break up bondages, undo complexes and restraints.  This power will also deliver us from demonic powers and activities.

Confession: Now the Son of God came to the earth with the express purpose of liquidating the devil’s activities. The reason the Son of God was made manifest (visible) was to undo (destroy, loosen and dissolve) the works the devil (has done).  (1 John 3:8 Philips and AMP)

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REVELATION KNOWLEDGE

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

Revelation that comes from God changes your identity.
Mark Hankins

In Matthew 16:15, Jesus asked the disciples, “But whom say ye that I am?” Peter answered Jesus and said, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus told Peter, “You did not learn this through your five senses; you learned it through revelation knowledge.” The Father God revealed to Peter Who Jesus Christ is. When Simon Peter received this revelation knowledge of who Jesus is — the Christ, the Son of the Living God — Jesus turned to him and said, “I’m telling you who you are, Simon. No longer will you be tossed to and fro. I am changing your name to ‘Rock.’”

Revelation that comes from God will change your identity. When Peter got a revelation of who Jesus was, Jesus then told Peter who he was. When you find out who Jesus is, you can’t walk away without Jesus telling you who you are. This revelation of Who Jesus Christ is, is essential to every believer. The foundation of the church is the revelation of Jesus.

Confession: Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. (2 Corinthians 5:17)

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REDEMPTIVE REVELATION

Where there is no vision [redemptive revelation of God], the people perish.
(Proverbs 29:18 AMP)

 Revelation is a very personal thing.
Mark Hankins

You could say, where there is no redemptive revelation of God, the people are poor, sick, depressed, and defeated. Where there is no redemptive revelation of God, the people do not know the call of God, or the inheritance and authority that belongs to them.

Thank God we don’t have to live that way! We can have a redemptive revelation of God by the spirit of wisdom and revelation. By having the eyes of our hearts flooded with light, we can know the hope of His calling, the riches of His glory, and the exceeding greatness of His power to us who believe.

The authority of the believer in the Earth is based on what Jesus has already done for us in His death, burial, and resurrection. This is the center of Paul’s revelation. That is why Paul prayed in Ephesians 1 that God would give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him.

Confession: And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him that filleth all in all. (Ephesians 1:22-23)

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CHANGED BY FAITH

For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. (I John 5:4)

Any man may be changed by faith no matter how he may be fettered. Smith Wigglesworth

Some people disqualify themselves from the blessings of God because they think they have too many flaws. You don’t have to be perfect to have a spirit of faith. While it is true that you are to keep growing spiritually, you do not need to have reached perfection to have a spirit of faith. Consider the great faith heroes of Hebrews chapter eleven! There is not one perfect person listed in that tremendous list of faith giants. There were flaws in Abraham, Sarah, Noah, Moses, Samson, David, and many others in the Bible who had a spirit of faith.

I am glad that God works with imperfect people! The spirit of faith enables you to overcome in every area of your life!  “But we all, with open face, beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.” (2 Corinthians 3:18)

Confession: I have the spirit of faith. I am changed by faith! I am an overcomer! I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me! (Philippians 4:13)

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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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