So money is used to intermediate the exchange of goods and services, as a standard unit of measurement of market value of goods, services and other transactions and as an acceptable store of value. Additionally, money is also seen as a standard of deferred payment (for settling debt) and as a measure of value
This is part 20 of this study series.
We learnt from the last part that although everyone receives the same measure of faith at the new birth, faith operates in levels (Romans 12:3, Mathew 8:5-13, Matthew 14:22-33, Mark 4: 35-41). Looking at the instances where Jesus graded faith as little, great faith or no faith at all, we saw that upholding the integrity of God’s Word by believing and professing same does move someone’s faith level upwards. On the other hand, fear, doubt and unbelief stifles faith.
I promised that in this part of this study, I was going to share on ‘Ways to Grow/Develop and Boost our Faith’. Just before we move into that, the following is a summary of some of the important points we’ve seen about faith from this study;
In Part 9, we mentioned 3 ways we can develop our love nature; 1. Practice love, 2. Affirm to yourself that you are born of love, 3. Crucify the flesh/Be led by the Spirit (Galatians 5:24, 1 John 4:8, 1 Corinthians 13:4-7, Romans 12:20-21, Luke 6:27-32).
Below are 5 ways we can develop and boost our faith
Faith is of the spirit and the food of the spirit is the Word of God (Matthew 4:4). So when we feed our spirit, we feed our faith.
Faith comes by continually feeding on the Word of God (Romans 10:14-17)…..
“How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, Who bring glad tidings of good things!” But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “ Lord , who has believed our report?” So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Romans 10:14-17 NKJV
You want to grow/develop your faith? Give time to the Word. Faith can only be exercised based on one’s knowledge of the Word of God. Study the Word. Meditate on the Word.
If you are someone who gives little or no attention to the Word of God, great faith may never be an experience for you because you cannot have faith beyond the knowledge of the Word of God you have.
Practice faith. Hebrews 10:38 says that the righteous/just shall live by by faith… as a lifestyle.
“Now the just shall live by faith; But if anyone draws back, My soul has no pleasure in him.” Hebrews 10:38 NKJV
God has no pleasure in a faith-less believer. Faith pleases God, and it is faith in His Word that does that.
Faith is now, it is for every time and season. We never take vacation on expressing faith. Faith is for every day. And we practice faith everyday by believing the Word, Speaking the Word and Acting on the Word(Mark 11:22-24).
In the Bible story of Mark 4:35-41, Jesus described the disciples as having ‘No Faith’, because they did not consider speaking to the storms themselves. Instead they woke Jesus up from His restful sleep. There are actions in life Jesus expects us to take by ourselves through faith in Him (selah). The disciples could have exercised their faith. But alas, they did not believe they could stop the storm supernaturally. They tried all they knew to do naturally but it didn’t work. They did not think to exercise their faith.
The Christian walk is a walk of faith, not of the senses (II Corinthians 5:7), and NOTHING shall be impossible to him who believes (Mark 9:23). Amen!
So we have seen that the primary way we develop our faith is by hearing and hearing the Word of God. And the more we practice faith; the more we grow from faith to faith. Every faith victory is a boost for another one. Halleluyah!
We can also boost our faith through the following ways:
We read in Philemon 1:6, that our faith can become more effective as we share every good thing we have in Jesus Christ
“that the sharing of your faith may become effective by the acknowledgment of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus.“
Philemon 1:6 NKJV
How do you share something? By speaking about it, professing and testifying about it. We should speak regularly about our belief; speak on everything good thing we have in Christ Jesus. We are to make faith-based confessions of who we are in Christ Jesus.
Refuse to allow that feeling of depression and helplessness that creeps in from incessant complaints. Complains of how bad/terrible things are with us or around us, etc do not help our faith. We should rather choose to share faith-based and faith-inspiring testimonies. Because faith confessions always creates realities; we can make our faith effective by our confessions.
Let’s meditate and speak on who we are and what we have in Christ…and that not just during prayers but also in our everyday conversations.
“Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.”
Hebrews 10:23 NKJV
Praying in the Holy Ghost by speaking in tongues edifies the believer; it charges up and strengthens the spirit-man (Jude 20, Ephesians 3:14-19, 1 Corinthians 14:4). It is also boosts your faith (Jude 20)….
“But you, beloved, build yourselves up [founded] on your most holy faith [make progress, rise like an edifice higher and higher], praying in the Holy Spirit..”
Jude 1:20 AMPC
We already know that the primary way faith grows is by the Word. Well, praying in tongues promotes spiritual strength and boosts faith.
Speaking in tongues of itself doesn’t really grow faith, however a charged up human spirit is more spiritually sensitive and alert and so can hear, be inspired or bring to mind the Word and this is what builds up faith during praying in tongues.
So make speaking in tongues a lifestyle. You can find other benefits of speaking in tongues in one of my recent study series; ‘The Whole Armor of God (X)’
Luke 10:17-21 is an interesting portion of scripture that captures Jesus giving thanks ahead of His victory on the cross over Satan….
“And the seventy returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name. And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. 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. Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven. In that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit, and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes: even so, Father; for so it seemed good in thy sight. All things are delivered to me of my Father: and no man knoweth who the Son is, but the Father; and who the Father is, but the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal him.” Luke 10:17-22 KJV
Jesus gave thanks ahead of His victory on the cross. He rejoiced in the spirit and gave thanks to God. He saw the victory ahead. He saw Satan defeated before He even went to the cross. That was faith; He saw it, He believed it, He spoke about it. He was full of joy in the Spirit.
An experience I can liken this to is receiving a revelation on a particular Word that brings great joy and peace to the spirit-man. You feel elated in spirit, charged up and with a boost on your faith.
Thanksgiving boosts faith. Choose to be thankful always and in all things.
Abraham also stayed strong in faith through thanksgiving as we see in Romans 4:18-20….
“Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be. And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah’s womb: he staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; and being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform.” Romans 4:18-21 KJV
Abraham was strong in faith, giving glory to God. And that kept him persuaded that God was able to perform what He promised.
Thank You precious Father for the gift of faith. Help us Father to remain strong in faith, strengthened in the spirit-man; steadfast with our confessions of faith, always full of praise to You, and fully persuaded about all Your promises in Jesus name. Amen!
Well, thank you for joining me again. Next time we will start looking at the last section of this study; ‘Victory Through Hope’.
Remember that you can access previous parts of this study as follows; Part 1: Study Background. Part 2: The Scope of the Christian Victory. Part 3: How Christians Gained Victory. Part 4: How Faith, Love and Hope Mix Together for Victorious Christian Living. Part 5: The Nature of God’s Love. Part 6: Characteristics of God Kind of Love. Parts 7 and 8: Winning Through Love. Part 9: How to develop our love nature. Part 10: Giving Is Not (always) Love. Part 11:Victory Through Faith: Understanding Faith. Part 12: Victory Through Faith: The Righteousness of God. Part 13: The Stimulus for Faith. Part 14: The Faith of Abraham (A). Part 15: The Faith of Abraham (B). Part 16: The Blessing of Abraham. Part 17: Activate The Blessing. Part 18: Abraham’s Righteousness. Part 19: You Can Grow Your Faith (A).
Everyone has a ‘baseline’ level of faith that when rightfully applied yields results. However in scripture, we also hear Jesus grade faith on different levels- little faith, faith, great faith (Matthew 14: 22-33, Mark 4:35-41, Matthew 16:8, Matthew 8:10, 26, Luke 7:9). In some other portions of scripture we also find faith ‘classified’ differently- Growing faith (2 Thessalonians 1:3), Strong faith (Romans 4:20), Weak faith (Romans 14:1-3), etc. James chapter 2: 14-26 also talks about dead and living faith. So faith has grades/levels. Point is; you can grow your measure of faith and the question is; how?
“Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear the Lord and depart from evil. It will be health to your flesh, And strength to your bones.
John chapter 15 verses 1-5 places a high priority on fruit-bearing which is possible when we abide in the Vine…
1“I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 3 You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. 5 “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.”
John 15:1-5 NKJV
The importance of ‘Branches‘ being fruitful and productive is made clear by the involvement of both the Vine and the Vinedresser.
Jesus identifies Himself as the True Vine, the Father as the Vinedresser and His followers as the Branches. The Vine supplies nourishment to the Branches while the Branches have the responsibility of bearing fruit.
The Vinedresser is just like a gardener or farmer, His job is to dress the branches. He cuts off none-fruit bearing branches and trims/prunes the fruit-bearing ones so that they can bear more fruit. According to Jesus, this pruning process cleans and prepares the Branches to bear more fruit, the same effect the Teaching of the Word has on the Branches (verse 3). A branch that undergoes continuous pruning, inevitably bears fruit.
What kind of a Branch are you? A fruit-bearing or non fruit-bearing one?
Considering the context of John 15, “Fruit’ as used here can mean;
(a) the fruit of the spirit {Galatians 5:9, 22} or (b) souls of men {James 5:7}.
While the primary force that gets people saved is the Gospel of Christ (Romans 10:9), a good Christian character does contribute to soul winning.
So are you winning souls and/or exemplifying good Christian character?
It is interesting and worthy of note that Jesus clearly identified Himself as the True Vine. So obviously, there can be a False Vine which is what we see Him talk about in Matthew 7:15-20. False Vines can be likened to False Prophets whose source and Supply is the Devil. They only yield bad/corrupt fruits.
One way to identify false prophets is by their expressed character (how they live and relate with others), not necessarily by what they say, preach or teach……”by their fruit you shall know them“. A human spirit that has not been recreated by the new birth cannot yield the fruit of the spirit. An unbeliever cannot express true love (agape), joy, peace, goodness, temperance, faith, etc (Matthew 7:15-20). Hence the Bible describes the purposeful marriage between a believer and an unbeliever as “an unequal yoke- inconsistent with the Christian faith” (2 Corinthians 6:14).
“Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers [do not make mismated alliances with them or come under a different yoke with them, inconsistent with your faith]. For what partnership have right living and right standing with God with iniquity and lawlessness? Or how can light have fellowship with darkness?“
2 Corinthians 6:14 AMPC
‘To abide’ as used in John 15:4 means to remain, to stay, to live in union with, to dwell.
In John 15:4 Jesus speaks of a 2-way relationship;…… Abide in me and I in you.
4 “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me”….. John 15:4.
How does Jesus abide in us? By His Spirit. The Holy Spirit indwells us. He stays and remains in us forever (except we denounce Christ).
“And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever” John 14:16 NKJV
So we can say that Jesus is Always with us. Halleluyah! He never leaves. His part of ‘Abiding’ is assured. The Holy Spirit is in us, we just have to submit to His leading.
Now, how do we ‘Abide in Him?‘ In John 15:7, Jesus seems to elaborate further on John 15:4 by saying; if you let my Words Abide in You, whatever you desire will be granted.
” if you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.“
John 15:7 NKJV
So, we abide in Him when we spend time in His Word. And the way to spend time in the Word is by reading, studying, meditating, or listening to the Word of God.
Jesus Christ is the Word, staying in the Word is staying/remaining in Jesus.
Just as bread nourishes the human body, so does the Word nourish the spirit man (Matthew 4:4).
A fruit-bearing branch is the Believer who is yielded to the Spirit and habitually dwells on the Word. Implying that a combination of both the Word and the Spirit is necessary for fruit bearing.
Do you want to be productive and fruitful? The one thing you need to do- Abide in the Vine.
Make no mistake about it, someone can be in Christ (born again), filled with the Holy Ghost and yet is not ‘abiding‘ in the Vine. Since we know that Jesus is always with us, then fruitlessness is only possible if a Branch is not doing its part.
Are you just In Christ or are you also Abiding In Christ? It is more beneficial for the one in Christ to also abide in Him.
Do not identify with the Believer Jesus talked about in verse 2a of John 15…
…”Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away” …
The ‘fruitless’ branch referred to in verse 2a is ‘In‘ Christ, yet not bearing fruit. Why? Because the branch did not choose to abide in the vine. This suggests that every branch has a choice to make; to abide in the vine or not.
A useless Branch is one who does not bear any fruit; and its end is undesirable….
” if anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.”
John 15:6 NKJV
Choose to Abide In The Vine. Stay deeply rooted/planted in the Vine.
“Those who are planted in the house of the Lord Shall flourish in the courts of our God. They shall still bear fruit in old age; They shall be fresh and flourishing, To declare that the Lord is upright; He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him.”
Psalms 92:13-15 NKJV
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Blessings & Love Always!
Some people don’t feel very welcome, accepted or loved in one Church, so they pack up and leave to another Church (in search of love and warmth). Some say they’ve not been able to fit into the ‘cliques’ that exist in their local Church. Others are uncomfortable with a new Church leadership style (usually following a change in Church government). For some, the Pastor and/or Church members are not ‘nice’ or caring enough (or at all). I heard it been said once, that a couple walked away from a Church because an usher was rude to them.
Abraham entrusted his life to God and His Word…..when you trust someone, you believe them even when you don’t fully understand…… So even without understanding where God was leading him to, Abraham trusted and obeyed. He didn’t know where God was leading him to, he didn’t fully understand what God was doing, however, he submitted himself and his life to God’s control and leading. He accepted/believed the Word of God as true in his spirit (faith) and he judged God as capable and reliable in his mind and thinking (trust). Abraham had faith in God’s Word and he trusted God to fulfill His promise.
Considering the above truths, we shouldn’t have believers struggling to make ends meet. Every follower of Jesus Christ should naturally exhibit the hallmarks of the blessing; increase, expansion, influence, dominion, and enjoy security/protection. Statutorily, every Christian possessed all these things from the new-birth, unfortunately not every Christian fully expresses them as should.
If you have been with me on this study, remember that we took a side journey from the sub-topic “Victory Through Faith” in order to find out how Abraham became the ‘Father of Faith’. You can read a bit more about that here.
Today we conclude our brief study on Abraham by looking at ‘The Blessing of Abraham’.
God pronounced the blessing on man immediately after creating him (Genesis 1:28). However Adam’s sin and fall introduced the curse which brought in spiritual death, sickness and poverty. Through His death, burial and resurrection, the Lord Jesus settled the curse forever, did away with it and re-established the blessing (Galatians 3:13-14).
When we look at the first mention of the blessing, we gain an understanding of what the blessing means….
“Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
Genesis 1:28 NKJV
……be fruitful, multiply, increase, expand, dominate…
I find that the blessing is often mentioned alongside fruitfulness, expansion, increase, abundance, or influence in the scripture. Sometimes we find a combination of these mentioned.
From Proverbs 10:22, we see the value of the blessing….
The Blessing Makes Rich! The Blessing Makes Rich!! The Blessing Makes Rich!!!
So the blessing is an empowerment to prosper.
We find the answer to this in Genesis 12:1-3….
“Now the Lord had said to Abram: “Get out of your country, From your family and from your father’s house, To a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
Genesis 12:1-3 NKJV
If we want to line-list the Blessing of Abraham, we will have;
So, what do we see here? We see;
This is ‘The Blessing of Abraham’ and it pretty much covers everything anyone would want in life to feel successful, doesn’t it?
So did Abraham become all that God promised? Sure!
Genesis 24:1-2, summarizes for us that God blessed Abraham in all things….
“Now Abraham was old, [well] advanced in age; and the Lord had blessed Abraham in all things.” Genesis 24:1 AMP.
What exactly can fall under ‘all things‘?
Genesis 24:35 mentions some of them;
“The Lord has greatly blessed my master, and he has become great (wealthy, powerful); He has given him flocks and herds, and silver and gold, and servants and maids, and camels and donkeys.
Genesis 24:35 AMP
So Abraham put his hands to work and the blessing manifested.
Genesis 24:35 is actually a testimony from Abraham’s servant (as he went seeking a wife for Isaac from the house of Bethuel). According to his testimony, Abraham had become; greatly blessed, wealthy, powerful, an owner of flocks and herds, silver and gold, camels and donkeys and master servants and maids. I love the way Abraham’s possessions are mentioned in multiples- flocks, herds, camels, donkeys, etc. And talking about Abraham’s servants, I found it almost ‘mind-blowing’ that Abraham went to war (to rescue his nephew Lot) with 318 trained men born in his household! So how big was Abraham’s household? If he went with 318 men, how many were left behind? How many wives, children, mothers were not counted? So how exactly big was Abraham’s household? Talk about being blessed! In modern day, Abraham would have been described as a very powerful and influential person.
Abraham experienced the blessing through faith, obedience and patience.
I love the blessing of Abraham and I am so glad that I am an heir of Abraham. I am a partaker of this blessing.
Yes, I am an heir of Abraham and the Blessing of Abraham is mine.
Someone says ‘Grace, how did you come about that?’
First, Abraham became the father of faith because he believed God’s promises and he was counted righteous through faith. Therefore because I believe God’s Word by faith also, I am an heir of Abraham. Abraham is my father.
“In the same way, “Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith.” The real children of Abraham, then, are those who put their faith in God,” Galatians 3:6-7 NLT
“For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.”
Galatians 3:26-29 NKJV
Who is an heir? Someone legally entitled to the property or rank of another on that person’s death. A person who inherits and continues the work of a predecessor. A beneficiary, grantee, inheritor, successor.
Yes, I share in the same Blessing of Abraham..
“What’s more, the Scriptures looked forward to this time when God would make the Gentiles right in his sight because of their faith. God proclaimed this good news to Abraham long ago when he said, “All nations will be blessed through you.” So all who put their faith in Christ share the same blessing Abraham received because of his faith.” Galatians 3:8-9 NLT
I am an heir of Abraham and I have the blessing of Abraham. I have the Blessing! God has empowered me to prosper. And just as God blessed the handworks of Abraham causing increase and expansion leading up to wealth, influence and dominion, even so the blessing causes the works of my hands to prosper, leading up to wealth, influence and dominion. I walk by faith, I walk in-step with the Spirit, I live by the Word and I inherit the blessing. I am blessed, my name is blessed, and I am a blessing to nations…..and so are you!
When God entered into a covenant with Abraham, it was to assure him that the promise will be fulfilled, that the blessing will not fail. As Christians we stay confident that the blessing will prevail because of the covenant made by the precious blood of Jesus Christ. The blessing will not fail.
Thank You Jesus!
Remember that you can access previous parts of this study as follows; Part 1: Study Background. Part 2: The Scope of the Christian Victory. Part 3: How Christians Gained Victory. Part 4: How Faith, Love and Hope Mix Together for Victorious Christian Living. Part 5: The Nature of God’s Love. Part 6: Characteristics of God Kind of Love. Parts 7 and 8: Winning Through Love. Part 9: How to develop our love nature. Part 10: Giving Is Not (always) Love. Part 11:Victory Through Faith: Understanding Faith. Part 12: Victory Through Faith: The Righteousness of God. Part 13: The Stimulus for Faith. Part 14: The Faith of Abraham (A). Part 15: The Faith of Abraham (B).
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Blessings & Love Always!
Bread, on the other hand, is the food one needs in order to live. We take in bread in order to nourish and repair the body. Bread should provide energy. Bread should satisfy and sustain.
