What I love so much about God is He wrote His laws on our hearts! Now if you are processing with the thinking of a fallen Adam you hear “rules on our hearts.” The truth is He wrote His nature on our hearts not His rules (like the laws of nature). That is to say, deep down in our originally intended self, we know who God is. We have some knowledge of the mysteries of God towards man. It is pretty awesome if you think about it. Paul says we have the fullness of God in us and we are one with the Holy Spirit. We see more and more of His nature when we see more and more of the love of Jesus. Check out this verse:
Eph 3:16 that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. 20 Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen. (ESV)
So I have one of those “revelations” to share. For me revelation is when something “bubbles up” from deep within and connects to something I have “known.” Look back at those verses above. Do you see this phrase “so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith?” Do you know that everything we receive from God is “through faith?” Have you thought about what that means? For the religious faith is usually considered a superior amount of knowledge of facts based on intense scripture memorization and puzzle solving. Rarely does it have to do with “revelation from God.” Actually most of the church goers today would wrinkle their noses at you and begin calling you names when you mention the word “revelation.” That’s too bad because it is exactly what Paul is talking about in Ephesians. As we “see” more of the love of Christ we become more aware of the manifest fullness of God in us.
For me I have experience powerful moments of His presence and awareness of His love. On a number of occasions it was when I could “see” in my imagination a picture of me as Jesus. Of course I am not Jesus in the divine sense. But I could see me as fully accepted and loved and righteous and powerful and loving (plus way more) as Jesus. I believe these images are from the Holy Spirit and speak to my “new” nature, my originally intended person, my redeemed self, my actual self. One time I was asking God “what do you see when you look at me?” I saw an image of me inside of Jesus. I could see through Him from the inside out. It wasn’t gross or anything. It was more like He was a translucent image surrounding me. Still I could look around independent of where He was looking. That was way cool. Another time I saw how God saw me apart from what I do. This is more difficult to explain, but I had a clear image of His gaze towards me as I was standing outside of a half sphere (like a biosphere). Inside the sphere was the stuff I do. Outside the sphere was “who I am.” He was really happy and His love was so intense towards me. I could see for the first time how pure His love is towards me.
There are many more moments like that but let me get to a point. There is a bunch of teaching out there on our identity, our righteousness, our inheritance, our authority, our position, our son ship, and much much more. Some talk about declarations of these truths. Others talk about confessing these truths. Some say you should “step out in faith” and take risk since you “know who you are.” So there are many currents in the same stream that boil down to one thing, FAITH. I believe God has shown me through experience, teaching, revelation and, of course, His inspired word how to grow in faith.
Is there any area in your life where your experience doesn’t match up with what Jesus has done for you? Do you have struggles with addictions or emotions or relationships or any other junk that you know Jesus died to set your free from? I do. I bet you do too. Do you want to know the difference between that reality (your experience) and His truth? FAITH. Don’t be afraid. It isn’t a faith that you “put on your workout clothes and give me 20 or jump through religious self-effort hoops or just say over and over again I believe, I believe like the lion in Wizard of OZ.” It is actually a simple matter of exercise in the most exciting and thrilling and Christ-like way. We just use our “mind of Christ.”
In the Greek the word for “faith” and “believe” are from the same root. Faith is a noun and believe is a verb form of the Greek word peithō which means to convince, to be persuaded of a thing concerning a person. It is a very relational word that connects one person to another based on the trust of one person towards another. For our relationship with God it is our trust of His character and nature based on what we know about Him. In short it is the trust that He is that good. Before the 1600’s these words were translated both as faith. There was a verb and noun version of faith. So to grow in faith (noun) you would faith (verb). OK, tough I get it but how about this one. To have a dream you have to dream. If you have dreams (noun) you look forward to then you had to dream (verb) to have them.
So what is the point? I believe we get our “seed” of faith from God:
Romans 12:3 Because God has given me ·a special gift [his grace], I have something to say to everyone among you. Do not think you are better than you are. [Instead] You must ·decide what you really are [think sensibly; think with sober discernment] ·by [based on; in accordance with] the amount of faith God has given you. (EXB)
I also believe it can be small:
Luke 17:6 And the Lord said, “If you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you. (ESV)
And like the Kingdom of Heaven it will grow:
Mark 4:30 And he said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable shall we use for it? 31 It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when sown on the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth, 32 yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants and puts out large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.” (ESV)
How does it grow?
Romans 1:17 For in the Gospel a righteousness which God ascribes is revealed, both springing from faith and leading to faith [disclosed through the way of faith that arouses to more faith]. As it is written, The man who through faith is just and upright shall live and shall live by faith. (AMP)
Our faith (noun) grows when we exercise our faith (verb). Our faith is:
Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the assurance (the confirmation, the title deed) of the things [we] hope for, being the proof of things [we] do not see and the conviction of their reality [faith perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses]. (AMP)
We use our mind of Christ. We go into our “seer” and “see” what God has said to be true. We “imagine” ourselves in our “Jesus-like” state. We see in assurance (because of God’s promises) our hopes fulfilled and we are convinced (because God is trustworthy) of what we have yet to see in our experience.
Think of your hang-up, whatever IT is. Now can you see Jesus doing whatever IT is? Now see yourself as Jesus (you are like Him because of what He did for you). Can you “see it?” Meditate on that. Let the Holy Spirit guide you through the journey. Find revelation in who your Father is and who you are in Jesus. This applies in all areas of your life. Want to see healing in your life for yourself or others? Exercise your faith. See it in your imagination. Let the Holy Spirit convince you of His reality. Now execute. That is what Abraham did. He saw his son Isaac well, alive, resurrected, even looking forward to following God’s instruction (killing his son). He was certain of a promise. He was certain of who God is. He could “see” in faith the outcome. So can you. Let faith be a verb in your life and grow like a mustard seed into a magnificent tree releasing resurrection power all around you, just like Jesus did.
Yay Jesus!
Lance
alancetotheheart 