Living By Faith

FREEDOM FROM GUILT AND SIN CONSCIOUSNESS

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)

God is your heavenly Father, and He is glorified when you reflect His life, joy, and victory!
Mark Hankins

God does not want His children to live with a continual consciousness of sin, failure, defeat, weakness, guilt, and inferiority. As a father of two children, I know I don’t want my children to live that way. This does not mean that you won’t have challenges. You live in a world that is full of adversity, but you are overcomers because you are born of God. (1 John 5:4) Instead of a sense of sin or guilt, you should have a sense of righteousness and triumph.

The Apostle Paul was shipwrecked, snake-bit, beaten in the head, and left for dead, yet he came out saying, “I am more than a conqueror in Christ.” (Romans 8:37) He came out smelling like a rose with victory over the world, the flesh, and the devil. Paul saw himself in Christ.

God wants you to smell like the triumph of Christ. This means you have to live in the consciousness and with the confession of who you are in Christ.

Confession: I am more than a conqueror in Christ. I have victory over the world, the flesh, and the devil!

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VICTORY IN CHRIST

The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple. (Psalm 119:130)

You are who God says you are; you can do what God says you can do; you can have what God says you can have!
Mark Hankins

My dad and mom pastored a full gospel church in West Columbia, Texas for more than 50 years. When my parents first moved to West Columbia, I was only a year old and my older brother, Mike, was four. Mom was sick and mentally tormented for two years. Dad not only pastored the church, but also had the pressure of all the family responsibilities. Dad began to have heart trouble. The church was small and struggling, and we were poor.
However, in the middle of this struggle a man gave my dad some books on the authority of the believer, the integrity of God’s Word, and who you are in Christ. Dad began to read and study the material and gained a new understanding of God’s Word. Dad began to speak the Word to Mom and had her repeat it after him. She began to say, “I am who God says I am. I have what God says I have. I can do what God says I can do!” As my parents saw who they were in Christ and spoke the Word, faith arose in their hearts. They knew that victory belonged to them in every area of their lives.

Confession: Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ. (2 Corinthians 2:14)

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MAKING YOUR FAITH EFFECTIVE

…the acknowledging of every good thing… (Philemon 6)

God likes people to brag about who they are in Him. Mark Hankins

There are good things in you in Christ. The apostle Paul said to “acknowledge every good thing” For your faith to become effective, you need to continually acknowledge who you are in Christ. This is not something you have acknowledged; it is something you are acknowledging. It is a continual process. Acknowledging is essential if you want your faith to work properly.

To acknowledge means to recognize, to think about, and to be conscious of. Acknowledging means to daily declare who you are in Christ and what you have in Christ. It also means to walk and live in the light of who you are in Christ.

God likes people to brag about who they are in Him. Paul boasted in the cross because of what God had done for him in Christ. This is not boasting in yourself, but in what God has done for you and can do through you because of your union with Christ!

Confession: I was crucified with Christ. I died with Him. I was buried with Him. But on the third day, I was made righteous, made alive with him, raised with Him, seated with Him, and made triumphant with Him!

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HAVE A BOLD CONFESSION

…full recognition and appreciation and understanding and precise knowledge of every good [thing] that is ours in [our identification with] Christ Jesus. (Philemon 6 Amplified)

Never run at your giant with your mouth shut! Mark Hankins

You need a bold confession of who you are in Christ. Faith must have a bold confession in order to work properly. E.W. Kenyon said, “The reason that the majority of Christians are weak, though they are earnest, yet they are weak, is because they have never dared to make a confession of what they are in Christ.”

In 1 Samuel 17, David made some bold declarations as he ran toward Goliath. He was no longer just thinking of himself; he had identified with Almighty God. He had declared his covenant with God. David did not go to the battlefield and say, “I am going to see what will happen today.” No, David declared ahead of time that the victory was his.

You must acknowledge who you are in Christ for your faith to work. Just like David, you too can declare ahead of time that victory is yours in Christ!

Confession: Victory is mine in Christ! I am identified with Christ, the triumph of Christ, the risen Christ. I reign in victory with Him!

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ACKNOWLEDGING EVERY GOOD THING

That the communication of thy faith may become effectual by the acknowledging of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus. (Philemon 6)

Your life becomes a great testimony to others as they see the wonderful benefits that belong to the believer! Mark Hankins

No good thing comes from walking or following after the flesh. On the other hand, every good thing is available to you as you follow after the Spirit in Christ. Believers should acknowledge every good thing that is in them in Christ.

There are many benefits that are ours in Christ. The Fenton translation of Philemon 6 says, “so that your advance in the faith may become energetic by recognition of every benefit there is for us in Christ.” Would you like to advance in faith? You do not want to be the same next year at this time or next month at this time, do you? You need to take some steps forward by acknowledging who you are in Christ!

Confession: I am righteous in Christ. I am blessed in Christ. Victory is mine in Him. I am not trying to get it or hoping to get it, it is mine now! I am in Christ and Christ is in me!

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