You are not insignificant: Christ did not come into the world in order to live and to suffer as a man, and to offer himself as the eternal Sacrifice unto God, for any insignificant reason, but for an unspeakably great reason ~ one which has a name and a face: that is to say, Christ came for you. You are the reason that God gave his Son to suffer and to die, so that you might live and become all that God created you to be, in and through Christ. You are not only the work of God's own hands and the desire of his heart; but if Christ lives in you, then, you are in fact a living temple of God. Do you believe it?
These are exceedingly difficult times. But they are not too difficult for God, neither are they too difficult for those who are born of God's Spirit. The Bible says:
"For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?" (1 John 5:4,5).
But what is that "faith"? Even the devils believe that Jesus is the Son of God (see James 2:19). And what does that "faith" have to do with overcoming the world?
God is telling us in his Word, that only those who believe the Word of God (which is how we know the truth about who Jesus is), can thus receive Christ as he is in truth and, so, draw upon that divine Life that is in Christ, and thus possess the "mind of Christ," which includes the faith of Christ. And that faith~which has for its foundation the divine Person of the all-powerful Lord Jesus Christ, is not subject to the "weak and beggarly elements" of this present world" (Galatians 4:9). That faith of Jesus Christ~when it becomes "our faith," is "the victory that overcometh the world."
And what is the nature of that faith? how does it operate? how does it express itself? The Bible says that "faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen" (Hebrews 11:1). Therefore, faith has to do with things which are yet in the future; thus, faith is always forward-looking, reaching out to lay hold of "things hoped for, though "not [yet] seen," in order that, through God, those things shall become reality.
The Bible also says that "without faith it is impossible to please him [God]" (Hebrews 11:6). Therefore, if one does not possess that frame of mind which is always forward-looking and seeking, through God, to bring things into reality according to the will of God, then, for such a person, it is altogether "impossible" to please God. But why is that so?
God~by his own sovereign will has purposed that, where it involves the affairs of men, God's works among men shall be accomplished in and through (redeemed) man. God moreover has purposed that faith (trust and reliance upon God and his Word) is the ground, the basis, upon which God's Spirit shall move and work in and through redeemed man. Only those who will stand before God, on the ground of faith, are capable to receive from God those things which God himself has promised to give and to do ~ according to our faith (Matthew 9:29, et al).
God greatly desires "to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him" (2 Chronicles 16:9). God wants to manifest himself, he wants to save, and to heal, and to deliver from the power of darkness, and to destroy the works of the devil. But God requires a believer, in order for God to act. Thus, no faith = no move of God. And if God cannot move ~ because that man will not believe, then, it is impossible to please God.
"Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul [saith God] shall have no pleasure in him. But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition [destruction]; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul" (Hebrews 10:38-39).
"Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God" (James 2:23).That is how a Christian must live: by faith. But the churches, by and large, decades ago began to turn away from God. Instead of nurturing a genuine spirit of faith, the churches instead substituted ritual and sensuality, and called that "Christianity"; because, it was (and yet is) their way of being "religious" without God. And generations of Christians have been greatly hindered because of that.
But the Son of God, through the Holy Ghost, is doing a work of restoration amongst the faithful Remnant of believers. He is tearing down and removing the rotten planks of false doctrine and man-made tradition, and rebuilding his house ("whose house we are") on the solid foundation of truth. The truth of God is very, very high. The truth of God is what has raised up multitudes, throughout the Church Age, to think and speak and act just like the Conqueror, the Savior, Christ Jesus. The truth of God ~ illuminating the minds of believers, is what has enabled many of them to do great exploits for God, through God.
The days of miracles are not over. God is raising up a new generation of truth-talkers and faith-walkers. He is calling you to let go of the past, shake it off ! put it behind you for ever; it's gone. "Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light" (Ephesians 5:14). That Word is written to professing Christians! Revival is the watchword of this present hour! There is a swelling cry for Revival, rising up from amongst the praying Remnant; it is only possible ~ first the cry, and then the Answer of Revival, because, it is the will and the working of God in his (true) Church.
"Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you" (Luke 10:19).Not "I shall give," but "I give" ~ present tense. Christ in you ~ gives you the power [authority and ability] to tread on every venomous devil, and on every tormenting demon, and over all the power of the enemy. Therefore,
"be ye reconciled to God. For he hath made him [Christ] to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. We then, as workers together with him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain. (For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succored [helped, strengthened] thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.)... Ye are not straitened in us, but ye are straitened in your own bowels. Now for a recompence in the same,... be ye also enlarged." (2 Corinthians 5:20b-6:13)Do you not hear the pleading of the Holy Ghost, in the above passage of Scripture? What is God saying? He's saying that you must stop evaluating your worth, your ability, or your potential, based upon every thought that the devil whispers in your ear, concerning who you are (or, rather, who you are not) in God. Where the Scripture says: "Ye are not straitened in us, but ye are straitened in your own bowels;" God is saying that he is not the one putting limitations on you ~ but you are allowing yourself to be limited by your own thoughts and feelings about yourself!
"As for me [on God's part], this is my covenant with them, saith the LORD; My spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed’s seed, saith the LORD, from henceforth and for ever. Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the LORD shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee." (Isaiah 59:21-60:1-2)You have immeasurable power, because you are made in the image of God; and, because that Christ dwells in you ~ by faith (Ephesians 3:17). Wherefore, "let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom..." (Colossians 3:16).
God wants to show you great and mighty things . . . .
for his own Name's sake;
for Jesus Christ's sake;
for His Kingdom's sake;
and, that your joy may be full.
Stop thinking like the heathen
who know not God.
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