Tag: the Word

The Real Word Of Faith pt. 1

The Real Word Of Faith!

I thought that I would do a message about the word of faith. Partly because I am sick of all the people of social media who rubbish, lay into the so-called word of faith movement. It has been labelled the word of faith movement because that is the name of the monthly magazine produced by Kenneth Hagin Ministries. Through this they call Kennth H. the father of the word of faith movement.

Now let me clear something up. The word of faith got mixed up and intertwined with the so-called prosperity gospel movement. What I mean is that some sinister preachers saw a way to use the true word of faith to make themselves rich. This has nothing to do with the living in faith for God’s provision that Kenneth Hagin promoted.

I admit that there are some unscrupulous persons within the word of faith believers that have taken things too far and created a false doctrine of the word of faith. Just as there are false doctrines in many other Christian groups. Such infant baptism; the Catholic sacrament of communion; cessationism; adherence to the Jewish law or part of it; that God’s only means to talk to us is through the Bible, double predestination of the Calvinists. These are all perversions of the Gospel in some way.

The doctrine that it is God’s will to prosper us Spiritually, physically and financially is all part of the Gospel of Jesus. Jesus healed all who came to Him, except some because of the lack of people’s faith. (Lack of Faith)! Jesus and His disciples never had a lack of finances. They gave to the poor! It was God’s will for His people to prosper in all areas of life, under the Old Covenant. Would our Father take away that will for His people under the New Covenant. A better Covenant with better promises.

Peter said, “Behold, we have left our own homes and followed You.” And He said to them, “Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, who will not receive many times as much at this time and in the age to come, eternal life.” Luke 18:28-30

Jesus said, “Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or farms, for My sake and for the gospel’s sake, but that he will receive a hundred times as much now in the present age, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and farms, along with persecutions; and in the age to come, eternal life. Mark 10:29-30

These scriptures clearly show that the blessing of God upon those who choose not to trust/have faith in their own possessions, count them as nothing compared to following Christ, will see increase in prosperity in friends and family as well as possessions. Notice that it makes a differential between this life and the life to come. God’s will is for us to prosper in this life, age! There is also the notice in marks Gospel, that those riches will have persecutions accompanying.

The psalms are a great place to see what God’s will and grace towards His children is. In fact, God’s will to prosper His people/children can be found all through the whole of the Bible. Some can be attributed as specifically to the children of Israel, in the promised land. The truth about God is that He only desires what is good for His children.

O taste and see that the Lord is good; How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him! O fear the Lord, you, His saints; For to those who fear Him there is no want. The young lions do lack and suffer hunger; But they who seek the Lord shall not be in want of any good thing. Come, you children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord. Who is the man who desires life and loves length of days that he may see good? Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit. Depart from evil and do good; Seek peace and pursue it. The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous And His ears are open to their cry. Psalms 34:8-15

Trust in the Lord and do good; Dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness. Delight yourself in the Lord; And He will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He will do it. He will bring forth your righteousness as the light and your judgment as the noonday. Psalms 37:3-6

These Psalms clearly show the heart of God to prosper His children in their lives, in this life. It is a question of faith in the Lord. Cultivate faithfulness and He will give you the desires of your heart. Taste and see that the Lord is good. They who seek the Lord will not be in lack of any good thing!

Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget none of His benefits; Who pardons all your iniquities, who heals all your diseases; Who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with lovingkindness and compassion; Who satisfies your years with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle. Psalms 103:1-5

The benefits of trusting and worshipping the Lord are forgiveness of all our sins, all of our sins. The healing of all our diseases. Crowning us with His loving-kindness and His compassion. He will satisfy our years with good things, so that our youth shall be renewed as the eagle. This sounds much like a Gospel of prosperity! It includes forgiveness, healing and prosperity!

The preaching, teaching that God’s will is to prosper us is not unbiblical in any way. Again, I agree that a few people have taken this to extreme in a very wrong way; for their own personal gain. Just because some preachers have gone wrong, does not make the prosperity message as a whole, as being unbiblical. God’s desire is to bless His children with good things. That includes monetary wealth and healing. To take these things out of the Gospel is to not preach the whole Gospel.

When some people say such things as, prosperity preachers are going to hell for leading people astray, they are in danger of ending up in hell themselves. This kind of judgement that they make as to condemning people to hell is solely God’s to make.

The word of faith message is straight out of the Word of God!

Be Blessed

Charlie

God’s Word, Our Shepherd!

God’s Word Our Shepherd

     Some may find this title surprising, but I read 1 Peter 2:25 and it came to me. I said to myself yes that is true. Then I read the whole of the chapter, and other verses came into mind to support this thought. There are so many that I cannot put them all in this part, 544 but we will see what we can fit in.

     Peter wrote this book to Christian Jews who had been scattered to various places (see 1 Peter 1:10). Basically, he is saying to these people that they by becoming Christians, have returned to the shepherd and guardian of their souls. Now they have been born of the Spirit and are making the choice with their minds to follow Jesus, The Word!

     The key word for me in this is ‘Returned.’ Before being born again they were straying sheep. Straying from what though? It was straying from the truth of God’s word. God’s word to them is our Old Testament, which is full of the promises of redemption that was to come in Jesus. Even the Law! Full of promises of blessing to them. Even the blessings of Abraham. So, who is the Shepherd and Guardian of their souls? Of course It is Jesus The living word of God.

     He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds, you were healed. For you were continually straying like sheep, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls. 1 Peter 2:24-25 NASB

     If we are only taught the law and not the Grace of God, we get into bondage to the law. If we try to live according to the law of sin and death, we will live in bondage to it. Grace set us free. The grace of God is that He loved the world so much he sent His son, The Word. He sent His Son to redeem the world. The redemption price was paid, because God love everyone. The price was paid for everyone. We are saved by grace through faith in the Word.

     So, if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed. John 8:36 NASB

     Returning to the guardian and shepherd of their souls is returning to a life of faith in the Word of God. If you look at the 10 Commandments and think about them along this line. They are commandments of Love. If We love God and our neighbour, we will not break any of the other commandments. That is why the Word says that Jesus was the fulfilment of the law.

     Now the Word (Jesus) being the shepherd of our souls. Here is a verse that says something similar. Because all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, God had to do something to try to protect His people. He gave them the law, His Word. Not so they could be condemned for not obeying, but to show them right from wrong. To protect them from the evil that was being done by the people they were driving out of the promised land, and the peoples that were around them too. To make the point here are three different translations of the next verse.

     But before faith came, we were kept in custody under the law, being shut up to the faith which was later to be revealed. Galatians 3:23 NASB

     So until the revelation of faith for salvation was released, the law was a jailer, holding us as prisoners under lock and key until the “faith,” which was destined to be revealed, would set us free. Galatians 3:23 TPT

     Until the time when we were mature enough to respond freely in faith to the living God, we were carefully surrounded and protected by the Mosaic law. The law was like those Greek tutors, with which you are familiar, who escort children to school and protect them from danger or distraction, making sure the children will really get to the place they set out for. Galatians 3:23 MSG

     The Law was the Guardian and shepherd of the Jewish people until Jesus, The Word became flesh, until He could come and set them free. Faith comes by hearing The Word of Christ. The Word of Christ is the living Word of God. Even more than that Christ is the living Word of God. So, when Jesus said, “I am the Good Shepherd,” He is saying that the Word is our shepherd. The word is a lamp to our feet and a light unto our path. That is Jesus the light of the world.

     In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:1,14

     God said through King Solomon, a wise man! Give attention to My Words, they are life to those who find them and health to all their flesh. All the wisdom that we need is within God’s word. God’s word is life to us. Not our Blood, that is life to our bodies, to a point. Our life that keeps our bodies going is the life of our spirit. Without our spirits our bodies are dead. So, the life of the Word of God is a Spiritual life that affects our bodies.

     The point is this, it is the word of God that we should be into as much as we possibly can. It is the truth, and the truth sets us free from the bondage of sin and death to eternal life. It is the Word that is our shepherd. What is it that we walk by faith in?  It is the Word of God. How do we know God and Jesus The Word? By meditating on the Word of God

      If eternal life is knowing God and Jesus His son, John 17:3, then we have eternal life by knowing His word. Thinking about this, it seems that may just be the answer why so many people/Christians are still in bondage and not the freedom which was brought for us with the price of the life/death of our Lord Jesus. They do not know the Word of God, so they do not know God and Jesus His Son.

     Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path. Psalms 119:105

     This verse from Psalms tells us that wisdom is found in God’s word. It says that if we want to see which way to go in life then we have the Word of God to lead us. The Word of God is our shepherd, Jesus, The Word, is the one who will lead us through any trial or tribulation, to still water and green pastures, as it says in Psalm 23. God’s word is truth, and Jesus said that the truth will set us free. We become free through the knowledge of God’s word, as we allow it to lead us in the way that we should walk.

Be Blessed

Charlie