We’re starting a new series call Faith-Full. See, God is faithful! He’s not only faithful, but He’s full of faith, and He made us in His image and His likeness…so WE’RE supposed to be full of faith!
Here’s the core scripture for this series:
“Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.” – HEBREWS 10:23 (NKJV)
I believe you’re reading this because you want transformation in your life. You are ready for breakthrough! I’m going to be talking about this over the next several weeks, but I want to give you an overview of how I see God being full of faith in us.
You may be thinking, “I know God is full of faith, but why do you say He is full of faith IN US?”
See, God has put His faith IN us to accomplish what He has FOR us. So, He has faith in us to do what He said we could do, to live how He said we can live.
Our faith in God can only happen because God gave us His faith. It’s our faith that reaches back out to the source (or to its origin). It’s our faith to His faith; our faith is recognized and wants to go back and connect with the source of that faith (which is the faith of God).
We’re trying to reconnect our faith to what He believes about us.
Understand, if we don’t see ourselves the way God sees us, our faith doesn’t have a whole lot to hold onto. We have to see ourselves the way He see us; and when we do that, now our faith comes alive.
“For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.” – 1 CORINTHIANS 13:12 (NKJV)
The Apostle Paul is talking in this whole chapter about love and how it never fails; he talks about prophecies and tongues and knowledge. All these things are “in part” …but when we see ourselves the way He sees us, NOW we’ll know just as we’re known.
1 Corinthians 13:12 (MIRROR) reminds us, “that I may know me, even as I have always been known!” Wouldn’t you want to really know how God knows you? So, how have we always been known?
What does God think of you; how does God see you?
I believe God has such faith in us to accomplish what He’s called us to do, that that’s why Jesus died for us! That’s why the Holy Spirit dwells inside of us! We live this life by His faith. He is full of faith; He is faithful toward us.
How God sees us in our Redeemed Identity
Jesus is how God sees us in our redeemed identity: That sounds weird to most religious people. “How can God see us like He saw Jesus?!” It’s because God is full of faith that we look just like Jesus in our spirit! Our spirits have been transformed to look just like Jesus.
It may seem hard to believe, but it’s 100% true!
Your body doesn’t look like Jesus…everyone looks different. Our soul doesn’t look like Jesus because that’s being transformed (we’re transforming it, not just hanging around being depressed all the time and letting this world kill us and destroy us and drink us down). We’re changing the way we think so that we can live in victory.
“Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but BY THE FAITH OF Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified BY THE FAITH OF Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.” – GALATIANS 2:16 (KJV)
You’re not justified by what you do or how you act…it’s by the faith OF Jesus Christ.
In the book of Galatians, Paul isn’t dragging things out…he’s just speaking truth bluntly: The Law can’t justify you. Only the faith of Jesus can.
Why is it the faith OF Jesus, not our faith IN Jesus? We have to have faith in what Jesus had faith in, that He was able to accomplish what God had sent Him to do. Father God had faith in His servant, Jesus. The faith of Jesus connected with the faith of God for Him to succeed in the Cross. So now, OUR faith connects with the faith of Jesus that His succeeding that what He went through on the Cross made the way for us to be justified, blameless, holy, and righteous.
All of that was through what Jesus had faith in, because He’s connected to the source of His faith, the Father God. Because we’ve connected our faith to His faith, we’re now justified by what Jesus did, not by what we do.
Don’t have faith in you; have faith in Him! It’s HIS faith that sets you free. It’s HIS faith that redeems you. It’s HIS faith that makes you righteous. It’s not how good you are and how much of the Law you do. Back in the Law’s day, people put their faith in the Law. The Law was all about your performance; grace is all about hooking your faith up to what Jesus did.
The Mirror Bible makes Paul’s point very clear:
“As Jews we should be the first to know that righteousness is not a reward for good behavior according to the requirements of the Law. We have pursued righteousness for generations under the system of personal performance but failed miserably. Jesus Christ embodies God’s belief concerning mankind’s redeemed righteousness; this is the only valid basis of our belief. Our best intentions to do good cannot add any weight to our righteousness. We have no advantage over any other person. Jew and Gentile alike were equally disqualified by the law; now we are equally justified because of Jesus and for no other reason.” – GALATIANS 2:16 (MIRROR)
GOOD NEWS! Jesus Christ is what God believes concerning mankind’s redeemed righteousness. It’s not OUR performance and what WE do; it’s what Jesus did! Get this: How God saw Jesus is now how He sees us and our redeemed righteousness! We are justified because of Jesus and FOR NO OTHER REASON.
Hebrews 9 talks about people trying to do things and add to their salvation; but in the Mirror Bible’s commentary area for Hebrews 9:12, it explains, “The only possible priesthood activity we can now engage in is to continually bring a sacrifice of the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His Name. No blood, just fruit. Even our acts of self-sacrifice, giving of time and money, etc. are all just the fruit of our constant gratitude” for what He’s already done.
See, we’re not trying to obtain sometime; we’re believing that it’s ours. We’re not trying to do something to get God to do something; we’re believing He’s already done it.
Faith-Full or Pride-Full?
Our faith connects to His faith, and now that’s what makes us full of the God kind of faith. Jesus said to have the God kind of faith when you pray, believe, and speak. See, I don’t think we even have faith in ourselves, sometimes, yet God does. So, who are we to disagree with God?
God has so much faith in us that He sent Jesus to die for us so that we could believe on Him; He had His own Son die to bring us back in relationship with Him.
Why do we disagree with God? That’s pride, to think you know more than God. Instead, humble yourself and get into agreement with what God knows to be true!
That’s what the father of faith did, Abraham. Look at what it says in the book of Romans. He agreed with what God said that he’d be the father of many nations. His name was changed from Abram to Abraham, and he let everybody call him by this new name, even in the midst of having no kids and being past the age, naturally, to have kids.
He chose to believe that he was the father of nations.
“20 He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, 21 and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform.” – ROMANS 4:20-21 (NKJV)
Abraham didn’t waver, falter, change direction or question the promise of God through unbelief. I think sometimes we read that scripture and say, “What God had promised, I’m able hopefully to do.” That’s not what the Word says. It says that what He promised, He will bring it to pass. He will do it, He will perform it, He will make it happen.
Yes, there is a part on us – we do have to do things – but it’s God making it happen; we’re just walking in obedience to what He told us to do.
In that scripture, the phrase “strengthened in faith” means that the faith Abraham used was linked to the faith of God. If you do some digging about “strengthened”, it means to be enabled. Abraham’s faith was enabled by God’s faith.
YOUR faith can be enabled by the faith of God to bring about your healing, to bring about peace in your life, to bring about prosperity, to bring about the end of anxiety in your life. Your faith can connect and be strengthened and enabled by God’s faith.
See, when we operate in faith, we operate out of our spirit! We’re not operating out of our natural person; we’re not operating out of what we see, feel, hear or have been told; we’re operating out of what the Word says.
Why Live Out of Your Spirit?
Why is it so important to live out of our spirit? Romans 8:6 reminds us, “For to be carnally-minded is death, but to be spiritually-minded is life and peace.” Notice there’s no third option; there’s no neutral ground. You’re either living in the carnal life or you’re living in the spirit life. If you’re living carnally, that leads toward death; if you’re living in the spirit life, you’re leading towards life and peace.
You’re only going two directions.
When I was 10 years old, I went to Indiana State Dunes Park with dad and my brother Greg. We were climbing up this dune that was really big and steep. (This was at the end of what was supposed to be about a mile hike but turned out to be much more!) We were sorely ill-prepared; I don’t think we had any water. Back then, people didn’t think about it that much. We figured, “We’ll just get some water when we get done.”
So, we’re trying to walk up this dune and there was no neutral ground on it: You were either moving up or you’re sliding back down. There was no taking a break; when you did, you ended up retreating!
You’re either going towards life or death, get it?
It was miserable! There was no middle ground. In fact, at one point, dad just said, “If I die, leave me here!” (That was good, because we couldn’t carry him so there wasn’t a lot we could do!)
Obviously, we made it…but the point is, there was no neutral ground; we were either fighting to climb or we were sliding back down. THAT’S the way life is: You can live it in the spirit and be going up, or you can be going down. Sometimes it feels that when you’re living in the spirit, you’re taking four steps up and you’ve only made about one step of progress – because of the resistance that you’re fighting in this world (people and situations and circumstances). It might feel like you’re just barely moving, but guess what? You’re still moving more towards life!
As soon as you stop and start looking down (being carnally-minded), all the progress you just made stops and you just slide right back. To be carnally-minded is death; to be spiritually-minded is life and peace.
See, when we live our life and understanding that our spirit is joined in seamless union with the Holy Spirit, what can truly stand against us? Seriously, what can stand and stop the Spirit of God; what can hold Him back? Death couldn’t stop Him; the grave couldn’t stop Him. Those are pretty big things in this world!
Meditate on this: If God’s Spirit lives in us, what can stop the Spirit of God from doing what He’s been sent to do? So, if He’s in us, joined with us, what can stop US if we get into agreement with Him? What can stop us if we get full of faith that He’s here to see us through, to what we’ve been called to do?
“But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him.” – 1 CORINTHIANS 6:17 (NKJV)
If you’re born again, you’re joined to the Lord and that makes you one spirit with Him. That word “one” means it’s “the absence of all others.” You become one; there’s no one else. There’s no option, no capacity for anything else. It’s one…joined, linked in unison.
Another way of saying this is in John 14:20:
“In that day you will know that we are in seamless union with one another. I am in My Father, you are in Me, and I am in you.” – JOHN 14:20 (MIRROR)
We need to really concentrate, really meditate and think about Whose we are. Too often, we get so confused and so caught up with this natural world that the price has been paid for us, that we have God living on the inside of us, that we are led by the Spirit of God, that we’ve been brought back into right-standing with God. We forget that if we ask anything according to His will, He’s faithful and just to give it to us.
We think we’re not worthy of it or because we haven’t yet seen it, it won’t happen. God’s kingdom isn’t based on what we feel and see. Jesus proclaimed that the kingdom of God has come. People were going, “Where’s this kingdom?” “It’s in you! You’re looking at all the wrong places!” The kingdom is in you because inside you is the measure of faith to connect back to God’s faith.
We have the capacity to live by faith, to be told and led and guided by the Holy Spirit so that we can do what He’s called us to do. We can live in victory, because that’s where He lives. We can live in peace because Jesus is the Prince of Peace; we can live in righteousness because He’s made us righteous.
Remember, we’ve been brought back to our original design that God has created us to live in from the beginning, to live and operate by faith.
Every person – whether they’re born again or not – is living their life by faith (by what they believe). Some people believe they’re no good and they live a life that they have no self-worth, no value and no positive self-esteem. They’re living that life miserable, depressed and full of anxiety. Why? Because they’re not connected to the truth; their faith is in that diagnosis rather than what God has said about them.
Yet in truth, they are valuable and a treasure that He sold everything to purchase. The field wasn’t the valuable thing…it was the treasure hidden. Each one of us is that hidden treasure. Each one of us is so valuable in God’s sight to the point that He was willing to have Jesus die for us, to redeem us back to our original design (blueprint) to the place where we can walk and talk in right relationship with Him.
Consider Luke 15 and the parables Jesus spoke: We’re the lost sheep. We’re the lost coin. We are the valuable commodity that God sold everything for! He bankrupted Heaven for us to say, “I want them back in right relationship with Me. I want My Spirit to dwell in them so they can be restored back to our relationship mankind had in the beginning.”
THAT IS what God sees in you and that’s how we need to see ourselves.
If you think about the faith of God, think about His faith to send His Son to die for us – to redeem us back to a position of new life (not just a better old life, but a NEW life). He had faith that Jesus would succeed, and that we would believe on His success. Therefore, it would make us succeed in what He has called us to do!
Watch the September 4, 2022 service on which this post is based by CLICKING HERE.
Watch many of our series by CLICKING HERE.
