"Now the just shall live by faith."
Hebrews 10:38
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“Yes, I think so. Well, what do you mean exactly?”
“… as it is written:
‘Eye has not seen, nor ear heard,
Nor have entered into the heart of man
The things which God has prepared
for those who love Him.’
“But God has revealed them
to us through His Spirit.” (1 Corinthians 2:9-10)
“Well, how can I know them?”
The Apostle Paul said, “These things we speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Spirit teaches …” (1 Corinthians 2:13)
THE HOLY SPIRIT
The Holy Spirit has made His home in each of us.
He is teaching us all the time, but we need to be in a position to receive.
In the game of baseball, when a pitcher is on the mound warming up before the game, he throws the ball to the catcher. The catcher is in position, ready to receive. He is focused on the pitcher, watches the ball, and catches it in his baseball mitt.
What about receiving things in your spirit, where God’s Holy Spirit dwells?
We don’t exactly have something physical like a baseball mitt to catch what God is saying or what He wants to teach (reveal) to us.
How do we receive spiritual things?
How do we live in peace during turbulent times?
Look at the baseball catcher. He’s focused, watching the pitcher, making himself ready to receive. He’s bent down, watching, ready to catch what the pitcher is throwing to him.
LIVING BY THE SPIRIT
The just shall live by his faith in God.
The just shall seek their God daily.
The just have ears to hear what the Spirit is teaching in personal study time and from ministers who are anointed to teach.
The just shall walk in the Spirit…each day.
The just shall live in the Spirit…by doing His Word. (Galatians 5:25)
The just (justified) shall abide in Christ where every spiritual blessing is located, in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. (Ephesians 1:3)
“Wow, that’s really deep.”
Yes, it is. And for God’s worldly child, those words will fly away over them like a bird.
“Why is that?”
The Apostle Paul put it this way: “You are not restricted by us, but you are restricted by your own affections.” (2 Corinthians 6:12)
Definition of Restrict: confine, constrain, suppress, thwart, squelch, obstruct, inhibit, limit, narrow, constrict
Your own affections, or what you desire more than God’s Word, prayer, or fellowship time alone with Father, will lead you away from the spiritual realm because the sense realm of what you can see, or what you can hear and touch, is taking preeminence.
In other words, the flesh is dominating your lifestyle because you get more of a “buzz” from that realm.
If that is allowed to continue it will bear the nasty fruit of closing off your ability to hear Kingdom ways and will lead to a hardened heart which is unbelief.
Imagine how awful it would be not to be able to get close to Father because of your own affections for other things.
“For those who live according to the flesh
set their minds on the things of the flesh,
but those who live according to the Spirit,
the things of the Spirit.
“For to be carnally minded is death,
but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
Because the carnal mind is enmity against God;
for it is not subject to the law of God,
nor indeed can be.
So then, those who are in the flesh
cannot please God.” (Romans 8:5-8)
YOUR HEART
Jesus pulled back the veil and gave us a revealing look at the heart in His teaching on the Parable of The Sower. It’s the way God’s Kingdom operates and it is vital that we understand this. (See our last Bible Lesson)
In this teaching Jesus referred to the heart as ground.
The same seed (God’s holy Word) came upon the surface of four different kinds of ground. The only seed that was able to enter into the ground and produce fruit was the good ground … or the good heart.
EXAMPLES
God delivered the children of Israel from being slaves in Egypt. His desire was to bless them by giving them the good land of Canaan. One leader from each of the twelve tribes was chosen to go and spy out the land. Ten came back with an evil report. “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we.” (Numbers 13:31)
Two leaders, Caleb and Joshua, had a different perspective.
“Let us go up at once and take possession, for we are well able to overcome it… their protection has departed from them and the LORD is with us. Do not fear them.” (Numbers 13:30 & 14:9)
What’s going on here?
Ten said we can’t do this, two said we can.
Jesus said, “…a tree is known by its fruit.” Read Matthew 12:33-37.
We can hear what is in the heart of the ten leaders as they expressed the fear of not being able to do this. God was not in the picture at all. They only saw the giants and fortified cities. Fear gained access in their empty hearts.
The other two leaders declared what was in their heart. They had the spirit of faith.
“God is with us; let us go up at once!”
FAITH PLEASES GOD
Why? Because it is how He is able to get His will into the earth to bring His goodness!
“Yeah, but God is always in control to do what He wants to do.
After all, He is sovereign you know!”
Really?
Did Israel go in and take the land as God desired?
No, that generation all died in the wilderness!
Ten men infected with the spirit of fear released the spirit of unbelief upon millions of God’s children. “We were like grasshoppers …”
As the people received the evil report they saw themselves and their children dying by the sword. They wept and cried all night. (Numbers 14:2-3)
SPIRITUAL LAW
What they believed in their hearts and spoke with their words they received.
“Say to them, ‘As I live,’ says the Lord, ‘just as you have spoken in My hearing, so I will do to you: The carcasses of you who have complained against Me shall fall in this wilderness, all of you who were numbered, according to your entire number, from twenty years old and above.’” (Numbers 14:28-29)
“But My servant Caleb, because he has a different spirit in him and has followed Me fully, I will bring into the land where he went, and his descendants shall inherit it.”
God is the rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. (Hebrews 11:6)
INFLUENCE
We can see from Israel’s example how ten leaders diverted God’s will from being done. They were not in position to receive because they did not believe God was with them.
Definition of Influence: the capacity or power of persons or things to be a compelling force on or produce effects on the actions, behavior, opinions, of others; a person or thing that exerts influence
What will influence you today?
How much worldly influence is affecting or infecting you?
Are your own affections keeping you out of the spiritual realm?
Are busyness and distractions pushing you away from personal time with God?
Are you becoming dull of hearing? (Hebrews 5:11)
Is your heart becoming hardened?
Is it difficult to understand Godly teaching lately?
PRESENT DAY INSTRUCTIONS FROM THE LORD
“Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says:
‘Today, if you will hear His voice,
Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion,
In the day of trial in the wilderness,
Where your fathers tested Me, tried Me,
And saw My works forty years.
Therefore I was angry with that generation,
And said, “They always go astray in their heart,
And they have not known My ways.”
So I swore in My wrath,
“They shall not enter My rest.” ’ ”
“Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God …” (Hebrews 3:7-12)
Living Each Day in a Position to Receive
This requires your attention every day.
Keep your eyes focused on THE PITCHER with your heart ready to catch what He has to say and what He wants to do. Be good ground!
CLOSING WORDS
“Do not worry … But seek first the kingdom of God …” (Matthew 6:33)
“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 15:5)
PRAYER WITH PURPOSE:
September – October 2016
Saints, we’re in a new season, a prophetic time!
The Head of the Church is leading us to victory. Do your part.
PRAY! He’ll do His part.
Pray for your state. Pray for the voters.
Pray for the Glorious Church to get out and vote for the candidate and platform that stands for life and Godly principles. Pray for the Pastors in your state to be bold.
Remember Joshua and Caleb. “We are well able to overcome … Do not fear them. God is with us!” Our vote is one way we are to take the land.
I have a new resource for you called: CURRENT EVENTS
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