Faith

In God's eyes, you are exactly as Ephesians 1:3-4 describes you: "All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ. Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes."

If you're like many believers, however, when you read the two verses above, your heart sinks. How can that be? Sometimes I stumble and mess things up.

Don't fret about it. It's not your place to work it out. That's probably what got you off track in the first place. Just agree with God and declare by faith that you are headed to where He has called you to be, and as far as you're concerned, you're there! Then trust God to bring it to pass. He has the resources, wisdom and power to do it.

The early Christians were no different than Christians today. After receiving the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:2-4), they went out and started turning the world upside down for Jesus. They preached the gospel, worked miracles, signs and wonders, and The Lord added to the Church daily those who were being saved.

But here’s the key: Those first believers received the same Spirit you did when you got saved and baptized with the Holy Ghost. Christians today are carriers of God's glory just as surely as they were!

Living by faith in God's Word is the best decision Kenneth and Gloria ever made. They have been at it a long time now, and can say that without hesitation.

Over the past 45 years, God has answered their every prayer of faith. He's given them everything they have believed for. Although they’ve faced challenges and gone through some tough times, they have never lacked for anything. They’ve been absolutely, completely BLESSED!

That’s the reason they never get tired of preaching. They want everyone everywhere to get in on the faith life.

It takes more than just being around the Bible to truly connect with its power. You do have to spend time reading it! (How are you going to know what it says if you don't?) You can't be satisfied to read it just every once in a while, either. "Faith comes from hearing, that is, hearing the Good News about Christ” (Romans 10:17), so if you want to keep your faith fresh and strong you need to be continually nourishing it with the Word.

“But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways” (James 1:6-8).

Double-mindedness is fluctuating between God’s Word and people’s opinions. It may occur when you act on what you think the Word says, instead of searching the Scriptures for yourself and finding out what God has actually promised.

Wouldn’t it be great if we could spend all our time in wonderful, spiritual meetings where the power of God shows up and we never have to think about anything else?

If you have made Jesus Christ your Lord, protection belongs to you. In fact, what you know from the Word of God will save your life. If you build God’s promises of protection and deliverance into your heart and life, you can live in this world with all of its danger and still feel secure.

Have you ever wondered what faith and love have to do with one another? Galatians 5:6 says, “For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love.”

Faith works by love. It is energized by love. Faith is put into motion by love. Why is that? Well, most of us are probably familiar with the Apostle Paul’s teaching on love in 1 Corinthians 13. But as we read verses 1-3 in The Amplified Bible, I want us to focus on the faith-love connection.

Now more than ever before, we must pay attention to God’s instructions. We must take hold of the Word of God and refuse to let go—especially in difficult times. We must be like the writer of Psalm 119 who said: “Your word is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path. I’ve promised it once, and I’ll promise it again: I will obey your righteous regulations.... The wicked have set their traps for me, but I will not turn from your commandments. Your laws are my treasure; they are my heart’s delight.” (verses 105-106, 110-111).

God is calling people from all denominations to live a life of power. He is revealing how to live victoriously—day in and day out, in good times and bad. Faith in God’s Word will change your life.

Some people use faith to get born again, then lay it down and never use it again. If you do that, you’ll never be able to make spiritual principles work for you.

Every one of Jesus’ apostles operated by faith. Their faith wasn’t some kind of special apostle faith either. It was the same kind of faith you and I have (2 Peter 1:1).

The concept of yin and yang originates in ancient Chinese philosophy and has been identified with the philosophical religions of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism. The yin and yang philosophy states that two primal opposing but complementary forces are found in all things in the universe.

If you’re asking this question, you’re not far from salvation. Getting saved is really not hard at all.

As we celebrate America’s independence today, many may ask this question. Contrary to the arguments, a Christian nation is not one in which all citizens are Christians, nor do the laws require everyone to adhere to Christian theology. Rather, America is a Christian nation because Christianity shaped and made her what she is today. 

According to historian David Barton, Biblical Christian principles are responsible for the following:

As Brother Copeland says, “We are called to minister together.”

When you support a ministry, you become a part of that ministry. All God has commissioned it to do is done with the help of a team, and when you support it, you become part of that team. 

Your support connects you with the work, the rewards and the anointing of the ministry. The grace and anointing on them comes on you, and you share the heavenly reward for every soul won, every person healed and every life changed. 

Kabbalah is the study of Jewish mysticism. Kabbalah is an esoteric system (that just means it requires knowledge that is restricted to a small spiritual group) of interpretation of the Scriptures based upon a tradition claimed to have been handed down orally from Abraham. Despite that claimed antiquity, the system appears to have been given its earliest formulation in the 11th century in France and from there spread most notably to Spain.

Everything with God comes down to the same thing—the heart. For example, you can tithe, but if you do it grudgingly, it doesn’t count in His eyes (2 Corinthians 9:7). You can prophesy or be a great preacher, but if you are harsh and unkind to others, it doesn’t count for anything (1 Corinthians 13:1-3). 

So, when it comes to forgiveness, it’s the same thing. If you plan a sin with the idea that you can go to God and get forgiven and be in the clear, you’re missing it. Only a truly repentant heart receives forgiveness. 

The peace of God is His gift to us as His children. But stress seems to creep up at times when we feel overloaded with life’s demands. Stress is burden, overload, pressure and anxiety; and you were not created to lug that weight around with you every day. So, what’s the answer?

Proverbs 3:5 (KJV) exposes the source of stress and gives us the answer to it: “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.”

Here are some of the ways you can trust in the Lord and de-stress your life:

People speak against you for no reason, betray you, or try to keep you from success. Enemies are something each of us must deal with in this life, and they can try us in every possible way.

Like it or hate it, believe it or not—your words matter. Words set spiritual laws in motion. God designed it this way. Words fuel results one way or the other. That’s spiritual law. See the following: 

• Proverbs 18:21: The tongue has the power of life and death.
• Mark 11:22-24: You will have whatever you say.
• Proverbs 13:3: He who guards his lips guards his life.

And that’s just a small sample. The Bible is full of warnings against speaking wrong words because God knows they have POWER.