Greetings in the Name of Jesus and welcome to the PLN Sunday Night Bible Fellowship!
Tonight's article talks about how the POWER of THANKSGIVING can produce ABOUNDING FAITH in our lives that you can use to easily grab hold of God's GRACE to produce victory and success in every area of life.
To start with tonight, when the sinless man Jesus of Nazareth shed His blood on the Cross of Calvary, He paid for the sins of all mankind (Hebrews 9:12, 1 John 2:2) and by His blood a New Covenant was established (Hebrews 7:22) based on LOVE and GRACE through FAITH. The payment for ALL our sins has ALREADY been made (Hebrews 9:12, 28, 10:12, 14). In fact, long before each of us finally accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior, God had ALREADY forgiven our sins for all time: past, present and future (Hebrews 10:12). Under the New Covenant we're saved by GRACE (God's unmerited favor and empowerment) through FAITH (Ephesians 2:8), not because we apologize for our sins or because we've been trying real hard not to sin for a while or because we've done some really good works. No, our sins were ALREADY forgiven but to be saved we had to receive our forgiveness through FAITH believing we could connect to it and have it apply in each of our lives because of what Jesus had done on our behalf.
The reason for bringing this up tonight is to emphasize the importance under the New Covenant of having strong FAITH. Yes, FAITH has always been important to God and you can see that clearly confirmed in the Eleventh Chapter of the Book of Hebrews. Indeed, "without FAITH it's impossible to please God" (Hebrews 11:6). And the truth is, there were people of strong FAITH under THE LAW and under previous covenants as well. God's GRACE was also available under those previous covenants as were His LOVE and his MERCY. So what's the big difference about this New Covenant we always get so excited about?
The big difference is that finally sin was dealt with. There's no longer a separation between God and man that blocks our ability to have a personal relationship together. We've been RECONCILED to Him and we're no longer His enemy (Romans 5:10). In fact, we're a new creation in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17) and because of that the Holy Spirit wants to abide in each Believer to help us be transformed by the renewing of our minds (Romans 12:2). Indeed some of the early fathers in those old covenants were people of FAITH but even they had to WAIT until Jesus came along to deliver what had been promised (Hebrews 11:39-40). And now because of what Jesus accomplished, we're finally ready and able to CONNECT to God's unmerited empowerment (GRACE) to overcome the enemy and the world and our sicknesses and our insufficiencies and all our trials and tribulations...through FAITH.
Building Strong Faith
The Bible says that FAITH comes by HEARING the Word of God (Romans 10:17). The root of the Greek word translated HEARING means to hear with understanding and so from this we know that the way to grow in FAITH is to receive the Word with our spiritual ears so we can understand it. The Word of God has tremendous power to change circumstances and everything it touches, but it needs to be comprehended so it can be applied and renew our ways of thinking. That's why the enemy comes immediately after we HEAR the Word to steal away anything we didn't understand (Matthew 13:19). The only way to protect what we HEAR is to follow up on it with purposeful study until it becomes REVEALED truth on a personal level. In other words, each of us has to connect to the Word personally in order to prevent the enemy from stealing what we've HEARD so we can grow in FAITH.
The enemy doesn't want you to grow in FAITH because it's by strong FAITH that you connect to God's GRACE and become an overcoming Christian. So, when you start to study something, he'll come around again to try to separate you from what you're learning and beginning to understand. To do that, he'll use your afflictions and persecutions and worry and the deceitfulness of riches to separate you from the Truth (Matthew 13:3-23, Mark 4:3-20). And I know from personal experience that he's very persistent. But so are we persistent if we want to be, and we WILL prevail if we'll just make a little effort because the Holy Spirit is there to help us get the victory...through FAITH.
Building Abounding Faith
Now I want all the FAITH I can get. How about you? It starts by God giving us THE measure of FAITH when we're born again (Romans 12:3 KJV). Apparently we all receive the same measure and from that point on it's our responsibility to cultivate it and care for it and make it grow stronger and bigger until we can use it with purpose and direction to change our circumstances by connecting to God's GRACE. While I'm thinking about it: God's GRACE does NOT just fall on us when we need something. It's our responsibility to be proactive and connect to it WITH OUR FAITH if we want to accomplish something in the Kingdom of God.
Therefore, I should want to develop ABOUNDING FAITH, not just stronger FAITH but overflowing, surplus, ABOUNDING FAITH that's more than enough to meet every need. If you have a moment, take a look at the following scripture from the KJV:
Colossians 2:6-7 - As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him: rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as ye have been taught, ABOUNDING therein with THANKSGIVING.
Now for a long time I read this verse in a certain way you'll find depicted in most of the modern translations that it's just the THANKSGIVING that's doing the ABOUNDING. But just recently I came to a new understanding that I want to share with those who have ears to HEAR tonight. The inclusion of the word "therein" says to me that the FAITH is also ABOUNDING in that verse. "Therein" is talking about the FAITH we've been established in. Once we're established in FAITH then we can ABOUND in FAITH by ABOUNDING IN THANKSGIVING. Read it a couple of times and see if you can come to the same understanding. But it's important to know that you can help your FAITH grow, that you can accelerate its growth by entering into abounding THANKSGIVING.
For 15 weeks now we've been discussing that the simple act of sincere THANKSGIVING has tremendous POWER to make a difference in our Christian walk. If a major key to success is the strength of my FAITH then I want to utilize whatever the Kingdom of God makes available to help me grow in FAITH. I want my FAITH to ABOUND so that it connects easily to God's empowerment. I know from personal experience and from the Word as well that when we take our attention away from our problems and start focusing on what God's doing, there can be an almost immediate surge in the strength and effectiveness of one's FAITH. The bottom line is that frequent THANKSGIVING elevates our FAITH and it has the potential in a short period of time to produce a special kind of FAITH that's ABOUNDING for every need. If you have ears to HEAR tonight, try to make GIVING THANKS to God an important part of your relationship with Him and then watch for the difference to develop in your life. You can change your circumstances by simply ABOUNDING in THANKING God for what He's doing in your life. It's simple but powerful!
Thanks sincerely for dropping by tonight. We'll be looking for you again next Sunday evening, April 1 and we hope you'll join us each week as we continue to study the subject of THANKSGIVING until God has us start something new. Until then may God bless you and your family with every spiritual blessing in the Name of Jesus (Ephesians 1:3).
Sinners' Prayer
If you've never invited Jesus to be the Lord of your life, you need to and you can do it today just by saying out loud the following simple prayer:
Jesus I declare today with all my heart that I believe in you and that God raised you from the dead. I acknowledge that my sins have been forgiven and I ask you to come into my life today and be my Lord and Savior. Thank you for salvation and eternal life.
If you were sincere as you prayed this prayer, God has already come into your life and you are a new creation, a totally new species recreated in His image. Now ask the Lord to lead you to a good faith-based, bible-teaching church where you can be equipped to fulfill your potential in the Kingdom of God.
And, when you get a chance have someone help you look up the following scriptures because they confirm what you've done by saying this prayer today and believing what you said:
Romans 10:9
2 Corinthians 5:17
Ephesians 2:8
Prayer Requests
If you have a Prayer Request, please connect to the Link below and follow the promptings. The PLN staff members pray over Prayer Requests every Tuesday morning at 10:00 AM eastern time. Agree with us for God to answer your petition.
http://www.creditcounseling.net/prayer-request.aspx
Donations
If you've been edified by Prosperous Life Newsletter, you may want to consider making a SEED FAITH offering to support the Ministry (Galatians 6:6-7). God has instructed us to simply provide folks with an opportunity to sow seed into good ground so in due season you'll be eligible to reap a harvest and the rest is up to you as the Spirit leads. For your information PLN is a nonprofit gift to the Body of Christ so your financial offerings will usually be tax deductible (consult your tax advisor). Just go to the secure Shopping Cart on the Cornerstone web site by connecting through the following link. We appreciate your support and generosity.
http://www.creditcounseling.net/shop/item.aspx?itemid=1
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