Living by Faith

 

Genesis 35:9 Then God appeared to Jacob again, when he came from Padan Aram, and blessed him. 10 And God said to him, “Your name is Jacob; your name shall not be called Jacob anymore, but Israel shall be your name.” So He called his name Israel. 11 Also God said to him: “I am God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall proceed from you, and kings shall come from your body. 12 The land which I gave Abraham and Isaac I give to you; and to your descendants after you I give this land.”(NKJV) 

Genesis 24:6 But Abraham said to him, “Beware that you do not take my son back there. 7 The Lord God of heaven, who took me from my father’s house and from the land of my family, and who spoke to me and swore to me, saying, To your descendants I give this land,’(NKJV) 

Faith always receives in the spiritual realm before the natural realm.

Faith sees the spiritual realm as the real realm.

Many die physically without the full manifestation of the reality of the faith realm (Israel…I GIVE you this land!  But Israel died without physically possessing it!… but don’t be misled the land WAS indeed his!  By faith!)

But that matters not….because the faith realm is the real realm that really  matters.

One day ALL our faith realm—that operates in the spirit realm will be the ultimate realm.  Eternity is the union of the physical and the spiritual realms—or the faith and the reality/physical realm.  Except don’t miss this…the faith realm is the real—reality realm.  The physical realm is not the real realm for the believer!  The unbeliever yes.  The believer no.

Believers are to live, walk, think, respond, and function in the unseen/faith realm.

I am healed.

I am in union with Christ.

I am perfect.

I am beautiful.

I am flawless. I am perfection

I am holy.

I am totally sanctified.

BECAUSE —I am IN Christ.  I am IN UNION with Christ. And receive all those blessings in faith because of that union.

As I continue to: 

Surrender

Seek God’s face

Walk in obedience

Read the word

Believe

Pray

Humble myself….

…the physical realm aligns itself with the spiritual realm, and the full manifestation of the spirit realm becomes more visible in the physical realm:  Meaning

I am healed now

I am becoming nicer

I am becoming more holy

I am manifesting the fruits of the Spirit

I am more generous

I am more kind, gentle, loving.

So I move closer to the real me—-in union with Christ through surrender… and the real me… which is seen by faith…becomes visible to me and others in the physical realm.

Hebrews 11: 1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. 2 For by it the elders obtained a good testimony.

3 By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.(NKJV) 

Story of Joseph in Genesis:

ALL things work together for good

ALL things

God is the master designer 

God is in total control

Fear not

Don’t worry

Don’t fret

God is looking after you!!!

Chapter 17:  Joseph is 17 years old and received the promise—-the vision

Chapter 39. Joseph interprets two dreams 

Chapter 40 after 2 more years!   He must have thought that once he interpreted the dream of the cup bearer that would be his ticket out of there!

Chapter 41 at the age of 30 he becomes ruler

Chapter 42… age 37 plus… first introduction to his brothers

Chapter 45. Age 39.  Two years into the famine.  He tells his brothers who he is.

18 years he carried the dream!

God’s timing

God is looking after Joseph

God is not worried… we need not be worried either

Walk by faith not by sight

Call those things that are not as though they are

Faith sees what the five senses cannot see..

Faith has the title deed… not the actual thing—-but the title deed is the real real thing.

Because it exists in the realm of faith… the real realm.

Because when all the dust is settled.  The faith realm will explode into the eternal realm and the present physical realm will be no more.

Short term vs Long term faith is the story of Hebrews chapter 11.

Hebrews 11:32-40 (NLT) 32 How much more do I need to say? It would take too long to recount the stories of the faith of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and all the prophets. 33 By faith these people overthrew kingdoms, ruled with justice, and received what God had promised them. They shut the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the flames of fire, and escaped death by the edge of the sword. Their weakness was turned to strength. They became strong in battle and put whole armies to flight. 35 Women received their loved ones back again from death.

But others were tortured, refusing to turn from God in order to be set free. They placed their hope in a better life after the resurrection. 36 Some were jeered at, and their backs were cut open with whips. Others were chained in prisons. 37 Some died by stoning, some were sawed in half, and others were killed with the sword. Some went about wearing skins of sheep and goats, destitute and oppressed and mistreated. 38 They were too good for this world, wandering over deserts and mountains, hiding in caves and holes in the ground.

39 All these people earned a good reputation because of their faith, yet none of them received all that God had promised. 40 For God had something better in mind for us, so that they would not reach perfection without us.

So it is by faith I see—I don’t see with my natural eyes.  I see with my faith eyes…that which God has for me—

Those things revealed as belonging to me. 

Those things that are IN the Word of God.

The WORD of God is my ‘title deed’

What does the word say?

That is what my faith-eye sees.

That is what I choose to believe

That is what I stake my eternal soul upon!

Dr David Courey:

I like the fact that the real me is hidden in Christ, that I am in union with Christ... and what's true of me he has taken on: sin, sickness, brokenness... and has exchanged for holiness, wholeness and health. How, where, and when the transaction becomes physical reality is a mystery to me... but that it's grace-propelled and faith-expressed, I am grateful to confess!

Hope is the melody of the future. Faith is dancing to that melody right now. Jim Cress as quoted in Forgiving what you can' forget. By Lisa Terkeurst