You may agree that to know how to strengthen one's belief system in the things of God is quite important.
In my last message I challenged all true Christians to "become living proof".
Well, becoming living proof starts with understanding the Word; get Wisdom (the Word of God) and with all thy getting get understanding, because without understanding the wicked one catcheth away the Word that was sown in your heart, Matthew 13:19 KJV.
Listen to the things that you say during the course of the day.
Your words are a sure sign of what you believe in your heart.
As a man thinketh in his heart so is he, Proverb 23:7.
Our heart belief system is strengthening each and every time we hear the Word on a specific subject or in a specific area.
That Word that we hear creates an image or picture.
The clearer that image becomes the greater our belief.
Let it be something that God desires for us.
The more we meditate our desires the stronger our belief becomes.
There is a divine connection between seeing with the eyes of our heart and overcoming faith that produces that desire.
Jesus said in the Gospel of Mark, chapter 9:23, that all is possible to them that believe in answer to the father of the boy that was possessed by a demonic spirit.
We are, the Church, called to be believers and doers of the Word.
Many of us tithe and give offerings, pray for many things and don't see with the eyes of our hearts that which we are hoping to manifest.
How discouraging that can be? There's a difference between belief of the heart and faith.
Faith is the substance or material needed to bring into reality that which we desire in our hearts.
But our faith MUST know as clearly as possible that which we desire for it to produce.
Our belief should be as clear as a detailed blueprint.
And all we need is faith the size of a mustard seed to produce what's in our heart.
But we must work it.
Faith and patience brings us to the end of our faith, manifestation.
Jesus prayed for Peter's faith not to fail him or not to be weak in his ability to believe.
Faith can only produce what you believe or see with the eyes of your heart NOT your head whether good or evil.
The Apostle Thomas was weak in faith, why? His faith couldn't produce because he didn't believe first in the heart.
He had to see and touch Jesus' wounds with his natural eyes and hands, then he believed in His heart.
Praise the Lord, Jesus said, blessed are they that believe and don't see (with their natural eyes).
The Bible says, EVERY man has been dealt the measure of faith by God.
And that makes sense because Hebrews 11:6 KJV, tells us that it is impossible to please God without faith...
and that we MUST BELIEVE that He is.
So, we must have faith to start with in order to come to accept Jesus as Lord and Savior.
However, the God kind of faith lies dormant until it's activated by LOVE which is the Word of God.
That's why the Gospel must be preached for men to hear "love" which activates one's faith because of belief in one's heart, Galatians 5:6 AMP.
We must hear the specific LOVE (the Word) for which we are believing for.
When we were sinners, we heard the Gospel of the Cross.
That specifically spoken Word which is LOVE activated our ability to believe that Jesus is the Son of God, He died for us, and that God has raised Him from the dead.
You will agree that everyone doesn't accept Jesus the first time that they hear the Gospel of the Cross.
Why? The Bible says, "So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God", Romans 10:17 KJV.
The Bible doesn't say by having heard.
It's worth repeating: Our heart belief system is strengthening each and every time we hear the Word on a specific subject or in a specific area.
And it's by the degree of our exercising our ability to believe through seeing with the eyes of our heart that gives faith something to do.
And through faith and patience we inherit the promises of God.
I mentioned patience because we have an enemy always attempting to blind our minds to the truth, constantly attempting to weaken our belief with lies and distortions.
The enemy does this in many ways.
Such as, when we decide to listen to the Word he brings a thought of urgency of something that we should be doing first.
Or, he encourages us to listen to preachers that stray from the Word and teaching in error.
Or maybe, all of a sudden we get sleepy, or a friend calls to chat.
We've been given a way of escape for every temptation, however, so subtle.
If we desired to build-up our muscles in the natural, we would work out with weights consistently and the results will eventually show-up; our muscles being our heart belief and the weights being our ability to believe.
The more we hear the Word or press the weights the better results we achieve.
We all have different kinds of baggage that we must cast off or overcome.
And it varies for each of us as to how long it takes to cast it off.
However, we have a big input as to how quickly it goes...
read on.
The word 'hearing' in Romans 10:17 means to receive and understand.
Jesus said in Mark 4:23-24 AMP, v23 "If any man has ears to hear, let him be listening and let him perceive and COMPREHEND.
v24 And He said to them, be careful what you are hearing.
The measure [of thought and study] you give [to the truth you hear] will be the measure [of virtue and knowledge] that comes back to you-and more [besides] will be given to you who hear.
" Jesus is talking about seeing with the eyes of your heart until it becomes more real inside of you than the natural circumstances you see with the eyes of your head.
Jesus is not talking about audible hearing with the natural ear.
Understanding is another word for revelation knowledge which is only imparted by the Spirit of TRUTH, the Holy Spirit.
He will impart understanding to the level of our hunger and thirst after righteousness as discussed in my previous message, "Christ Is Alive: What Does It Mean To "BE Living Proof".
I like to think of Romans 10:17 like this: "The clearer the picture you have of what you desire in your heart increases your ability to believe thereby activating your faith.
Faith cometh by hearing (understanding) and hearing (understanding) by the Word of God (Who is LOVE).
Unfortunately, many of us believe the Word of God with our heads and not our hearts as is required.
You know that our believing has become true heart belief when we are actually living (doing) what we believe.
That's when we know the Word has dropped into our heart.
The Word out of our hearts is accompanied with power which the Holy Spirit confirms according to Mark 16:20.
He doesn't confirm words coming out of our heads.
If that were the case, many signs and wonders not of God would be following Christians whose lives can't be distinguished from sinners, although, they are Christians but still spiritually immature; acting according to their lower nature.
The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Truth! God has no greater joy than for His children to walk in TRUTH, 3rd John 4th verse.
The Bible says the 'just', that's you and me, shall live by faith (faith producing ability brought on by the strength of our believing) working out our Salvation.
Well, I ask the question, how many hours a day do we live? The answer, I hope, is 24 hours a day; in other words, not just at church service on Sundays and maybe once during the week.
As the Apostle Paul said, "to live is Christ and to die is gain".
We can't be lukewarm.
We MUST be on fire for the Lord.
Go back and re-read Mark 4:23-24 AMP above.
Jesus even said in Mark 11:23 KJV, if we do not doubt in our HEARTS.
Our hearts and our words MUST line-up with one another, otherwise, we become double minded men.
And we know that a double minded man is unstable in all his ways and that man can't expect to receive anything from God, James 1:7-8 KJV.
In another message I will discuss how essential it is to have the right image in our minds if we are to expect manifestation of God's promises.
In my last message I challenged all true Christians to "become living proof".
Well, becoming living proof starts with understanding the Word; get Wisdom (the Word of God) and with all thy getting get understanding, because without understanding the wicked one catcheth away the Word that was sown in your heart, Matthew 13:19 KJV.
Listen to the things that you say during the course of the day.
Your words are a sure sign of what you believe in your heart.
As a man thinketh in his heart so is he, Proverb 23:7.
Our heart belief system is strengthening each and every time we hear the Word on a specific subject or in a specific area.
That Word that we hear creates an image or picture.
The clearer that image becomes the greater our belief.
Let it be something that God desires for us.
The more we meditate our desires the stronger our belief becomes.
There is a divine connection between seeing with the eyes of our heart and overcoming faith that produces that desire.
Jesus said in the Gospel of Mark, chapter 9:23, that all is possible to them that believe in answer to the father of the boy that was possessed by a demonic spirit.
We are, the Church, called to be believers and doers of the Word.
Many of us tithe and give offerings, pray for many things and don't see with the eyes of our hearts that which we are hoping to manifest.
How discouraging that can be? There's a difference between belief of the heart and faith.
Faith is the substance or material needed to bring into reality that which we desire in our hearts.
But our faith MUST know as clearly as possible that which we desire for it to produce.
Our belief should be as clear as a detailed blueprint.
And all we need is faith the size of a mustard seed to produce what's in our heart.
But we must work it.
Faith and patience brings us to the end of our faith, manifestation.
Jesus prayed for Peter's faith not to fail him or not to be weak in his ability to believe.
Faith can only produce what you believe or see with the eyes of your heart NOT your head whether good or evil.
The Apostle Thomas was weak in faith, why? His faith couldn't produce because he didn't believe first in the heart.
He had to see and touch Jesus' wounds with his natural eyes and hands, then he believed in His heart.
Praise the Lord, Jesus said, blessed are they that believe and don't see (with their natural eyes).
The Bible says, EVERY man has been dealt the measure of faith by God.
And that makes sense because Hebrews 11:6 KJV, tells us that it is impossible to please God without faith...
and that we MUST BELIEVE that He is.
So, we must have faith to start with in order to come to accept Jesus as Lord and Savior.
However, the God kind of faith lies dormant until it's activated by LOVE which is the Word of God.
That's why the Gospel must be preached for men to hear "love" which activates one's faith because of belief in one's heart, Galatians 5:6 AMP.
We must hear the specific LOVE (the Word) for which we are believing for.
When we were sinners, we heard the Gospel of the Cross.
That specifically spoken Word which is LOVE activated our ability to believe that Jesus is the Son of God, He died for us, and that God has raised Him from the dead.
You will agree that everyone doesn't accept Jesus the first time that they hear the Gospel of the Cross.
Why? The Bible says, "So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God", Romans 10:17 KJV.
The Bible doesn't say by having heard.
It's worth repeating: Our heart belief system is strengthening each and every time we hear the Word on a specific subject or in a specific area.
And it's by the degree of our exercising our ability to believe through seeing with the eyes of our heart that gives faith something to do.
And through faith and patience we inherit the promises of God.
I mentioned patience because we have an enemy always attempting to blind our minds to the truth, constantly attempting to weaken our belief with lies and distortions.
The enemy does this in many ways.
Such as, when we decide to listen to the Word he brings a thought of urgency of something that we should be doing first.
Or, he encourages us to listen to preachers that stray from the Word and teaching in error.
Or maybe, all of a sudden we get sleepy, or a friend calls to chat.
We've been given a way of escape for every temptation, however, so subtle.
If we desired to build-up our muscles in the natural, we would work out with weights consistently and the results will eventually show-up; our muscles being our heart belief and the weights being our ability to believe.
The more we hear the Word or press the weights the better results we achieve.
We all have different kinds of baggage that we must cast off or overcome.
And it varies for each of us as to how long it takes to cast it off.
However, we have a big input as to how quickly it goes...
read on.
The word 'hearing' in Romans 10:17 means to receive and understand.
Jesus said in Mark 4:23-24 AMP, v23 "If any man has ears to hear, let him be listening and let him perceive and COMPREHEND.
v24 And He said to them, be careful what you are hearing.
The measure [of thought and study] you give [to the truth you hear] will be the measure [of virtue and knowledge] that comes back to you-and more [besides] will be given to you who hear.
" Jesus is talking about seeing with the eyes of your heart until it becomes more real inside of you than the natural circumstances you see with the eyes of your head.
Jesus is not talking about audible hearing with the natural ear.
Understanding is another word for revelation knowledge which is only imparted by the Spirit of TRUTH, the Holy Spirit.
He will impart understanding to the level of our hunger and thirst after righteousness as discussed in my previous message, "Christ Is Alive: What Does It Mean To "BE Living Proof".
I like to think of Romans 10:17 like this: "The clearer the picture you have of what you desire in your heart increases your ability to believe thereby activating your faith.
Faith cometh by hearing (understanding) and hearing (understanding) by the Word of God (Who is LOVE).
Unfortunately, many of us believe the Word of God with our heads and not our hearts as is required.
You know that our believing has become true heart belief when we are actually living (doing) what we believe.
That's when we know the Word has dropped into our heart.
The Word out of our hearts is accompanied with power which the Holy Spirit confirms according to Mark 16:20.
He doesn't confirm words coming out of our heads.
If that were the case, many signs and wonders not of God would be following Christians whose lives can't be distinguished from sinners, although, they are Christians but still spiritually immature; acting according to their lower nature.
The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Truth! God has no greater joy than for His children to walk in TRUTH, 3rd John 4th verse.
The Bible says the 'just', that's you and me, shall live by faith (faith producing ability brought on by the strength of our believing) working out our Salvation.
Well, I ask the question, how many hours a day do we live? The answer, I hope, is 24 hours a day; in other words, not just at church service on Sundays and maybe once during the week.
As the Apostle Paul said, "to live is Christ and to die is gain".
We can't be lukewarm.
We MUST be on fire for the Lord.
Go back and re-read Mark 4:23-24 AMP above.
Jesus even said in Mark 11:23 KJV, if we do not doubt in our HEARTS.
Our hearts and our words MUST line-up with one another, otherwise, we become double minded men.
And we know that a double minded man is unstable in all his ways and that man can't expect to receive anything from God, James 1:7-8 KJV.
In another message I will discuss how essential it is to have the right image in our minds if we are to expect manifestation of God's promises.
Source...