Living By Faith

RECOGNIZE, RESPECT, RECEIVE, RESPOND

And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God…(Ephesians 4:30)

The Holy Spirit can do more in five minutes than you can do in five years.
Smith Wigglesworth

Is it possible to suppress or resist the Holy Spirit? In Acts 7:51, Stephen spoke these words to the leaders of the synagogue, “Ye do always resist the Holy Spirit.” If we are not sensitive to the Holy Spirit, we can override anything He wants to say. God will not violate our right to choose. We must learn to recognize the Holy Spirit and welcome Him into our lives daily.

There are so many things in this life that try to demand and command our time. The Holy Spirit is a gentleman; He will not force His way into our lives. He just prompts us and then it is our decision whether or not to respond to Him.

The Holy Spirit is the Greater One that lives on the inside of us. We need to reverence the Holy Spirit in us. We are to report to Him for orders. If we would listen and respond to the Holy Spirit, we could avoid trouble in every area of our lives.

Confession: I choose to recognize, respect, receive, and respond to the Holy Spirit. I will yield to and not grieve the Holy Spirit of God.

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THE MIND OF A GENIUS

And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever. (John 14:16)

If you want to study the mind of a genius, be filled with the Holy Spirit.
Mark Hankins

It is clear that the death, burial, resurrection, and the Word of God are very important. However, if that were all we needed, God would not have sent the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit is very necessary and it is essential that we know about Him. Jesus and the Apostle Paul spent a great deal of time teaching believers about Him. Jesus was excited because He knew that the coming of the Holy Spirit would usher in a new day for believers.

We must recognize Him. We must respond and yield to Him. He is a Genius. He transmits the mind of Christ to us. We can think like God when we are filled with the Holy Spirit. He gives us uncommon intelligence, insight, and understanding.

Confession: I choose to recognize, respond, and yield to the Holy Spirit. I have uncommon intelligence, insight, and understanding as I yield to the work of the Holy Spirit in my life.

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BLESSED IN CHRIST

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. (Ephesians 1:3)

Every blessing that heaven itself enjoys is ours right now.
Mark Hankins

We are blessed with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ. We are seated in heavenly places. We are blessed with the same blessings Jesus has right now in the presence of God. We have the blessing of the Lord upon our lives.

Everywhere you go, the triumph and the smell of victory on you is greater than whatever is around you. The triumph of Christ in you and the smell of that triumph comes out of you and has an effect on the atmosphere wherever you go.

We do not have to wait until we get to heaven in order to enjoy the blessings that heaven itself enjoys. We are already blessed with the same life, righteousness, joy, peace, and love. We can climb up in that rock of who we are in Christ and get up there in the glory of heaven!

Confession: Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place. (2 Corinthians 2:14)

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IN-CHRISTED

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
(Ephesians 2:10)

You can never be more righteous than the day you confessed Jesus Christ as your Lord.
Mark Hankins

The moment you get born again, you are in Christ. You have been “in Christ-ed.” Whatever is in Him flows into you. You are literally put in union with Christ. How does that happen? Where does that happen? It happens through the miracle of the new birth of your spirit.

When you get born again, you have not been repaired or fixed somehow. God has not just changed you a little bit. You have not added going to church to your weekly schedule. In Christ, you are the workmanship or the handiwork of God, created in Christ. You cannot be defeated because God does not make failures.

Man’s condition in Adam before the death, burial and resurrection of Christ is found in Romans 3:10: “There is none righteous, no, not one.” This no longer applies to you once you are born again. You are not in Adam anymore; you are in Christ. Romans 3:24 says, “Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.”

Confession: I have been made the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus! (2 Corinthians 5:21)

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A NEW CREATURE

Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. (2 Corinthians 5:17)

You look a whole lot better in Christ than you do outside of Christ.
Mark Hankins

When you get born again, you become a brand-new creation in Christ Jesus. You are re-created. In the new birth you are not just a forgiven sinner, but a brand-new creation in several ways.

First, your spirit has been re-created with the very life and nature of God on the inside of you. Second, you are not a Jew, and you are not a Gentile. You are a new nationality, a new species of being. You are in Christ Jesus, so you are blessed with Abraham’s blessing. You are a new creation.

Look at 2 Corinthians 5:17: “Therefore if any man BE in Christ, he is…” We often talk about what we are trying to be, needing to be, struggling to be, or going to someday be, but nobody ever told us what we “be.” We should be talking about who and what you are — every good thing that is in you now. This is something that is already yours the moment you are in Christ Jesus because of the grace of God.

Confession: I am a new creature in Christ! I am not trying to be — I AM NOW! Every good thing that is in Christ is now in me!

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