Greetings in the Name of Jesus and welcome to the PLN Sunday Night Bible Fellowship!

The truth is most Christians these days aren't really LIVING by faith. Instead they rely on what their five physical senses can tell them which makes it really hard to trust that God will actually do what His Word says He'll do. They DO have a PASSIVE kind of faith but it's limited to the basic belief that God does exist somewhere, that Jesus is His Son and that because of believing those things they have somehow received eternal life. But that kind of "faith" fails to meet the biblical examples of an ACTIVE FORCE that's capable of performing great works to assist God in establishing His Kingdom on the earth. He could do all the establishing by Himself if He wanted to, but He's chosen to let us work with Him and it requires Believers to have a strong and active Faith. At the present time, there's no other way to do it.

How to Live By Faith

And so, the question many Believers will probably have about now is: how do we actually LIVE by faith? In general, a faith person is someone who lives and walks by faith and not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7). In other words a faith person is someone who lives by the promises of the Word and not by the five physical senses. A faith person is someone who rejects the values and practices of the World in order to follow the Word of God even when it seems to his or her disadvantage. A faith person has developed their faith into an active FORCE that rises far above passive belief.

Now there are several characteristics of life that are common among Believers who're actually living by this active kind of faith. The outward things we can see are that they're joyful and peaceful people, seemingly in victory all the time, continuously manifesting the blessing and favor of God. But behind those outward attributes there are a number of spiritual activities going on we don't necessarily see that work to produce their strong faith and victory. Following are the key examples of these spiritual activities. If you do them, it's GUARANTEED that you WILL develop strong faith and produce victory in your own life.  

1. Faith people study the Word of God. 

No matter how much our flesh wants it to be otherwise, a faith person is compelled to study the Word and grow in knowledge. This is the basic requirement. Faith comes by hearing the Word of God (Romans 10:17). Faith people often rise early in the morning at personal sacrifice sowing their time into the study of the Word in order to develop their faith and receive the related benefits. They spend hours going over scriptures and waiting for God to help them understand through the revelation of the Holy Spirit. They may even turn off their TV sets in the evening (what?) so they can be in the Word. And even Believers who're already mature in strong faith continue to study the Word and continue to receive new revelation.  

2. Faith people know and understand the promises of God.  

The Bible is full of the promises that God has made to His people. But to cause those promises to bear fruit in our lives we have to first find out what they are so we can do something with them. That knowledge comes from constant study of the Word because that's the only place you can find them. Too many Christians are falling short on seeing the promises of God manifested in their lives because they don't know what those promises are and the few they may be familiar with they don't know how to activate.

3. Faith people live their lives in agreement with the Word. 

To live in agreement with the Word means to line up one's life with anything and everything that can be found there. A faith person must also be a Word person. The faith person meditates on the Word constantly because he/she knows it's the Word that will produce success in life (Joshua 1:8). If the Word says we should do some particular thing or not do it, the faith person is trying to be obedient and line up with what the Word says to do. The faith person knows that to walk in disagreement with the Word, which is to live by the flesh, is to open the door to the World system and all the related consequences. In the world system there's always death; in the Kingdom of God there's always life.  

4. Faith people ask specifically for what they want. 

Faith people know that a Believer has to be specific with God. They know that the Bible says that we do not have because we do not ask (James 4:2) and they know we can have whatever we ask for in faith (Mark 11:23-24). But they're careful to put the Kingdom of God first in their asking (Matthew 6:33) so they don't ask for things from wrong motives (James 4:3). Faith people ask specifically and then stand in faith on what the Word says believing that their prayers will be answered accordingly in due course.

5. Faith people believe they can have what they say. 

Faith people speak out what they've asked for as though they already have it. They do this because the Word of God tells them to do it that way (Mark 11:23-24). They believe they have received the answer by the Spirit even though what they've asked for hasn't manifested yet in the natural. Remember what's real for the faith person is what can't be seen (2 Corinthians 4:18).  

6. Faith people are trying to fulfill the love commandments. 

A person of active faith realizes that to receive what they ask for they must walk in love (John 15:7-10). Jesus left behind two main commandments: to love God and to love one another (Matthew 22:36-40). And then He said that all the principles of life in the Kingdom of God are dependent upon these two commandments. In other words, a person of faith knows they can't walk in the flesh neglecting God, treating other people badly and then expect to have their requests answered. In fact, the bible makes it clear that without love, and that's the "agape" God-kind of love, "we are nothing" even if we have a faith that's strong enough to move mountains (1 Corinthians 13:2).  

7. Faith people pray in the Spirit.  

People of faith pray privately but frequently in the Spirit (in tongues) because they know that the Word of God says that we build up our faith that way (Jude 20). The stronger our faith is the closer we can come to being able to perform the works that Jesus did.  

8. Faith people wait for the Word to manifest in their lives. 

Being a faith person involves a lot of waiting. But that's what faith is all about. If everything came immediately, little faith would be involved and we wouldn't have to trust God. Faith people are willing to wait and they don't give up (Luke 18:1) believing that God will deliver on what they have requested. Abraham waited 25 years for the promises of God to manifest in his life, but eventually they did just as they will for any Believer who'll stand waiting in faith.  

9. Faith people confess (verbally agree with) what they're believing God for. 

While they wait, a faith person only confesses (speaks agreement with) what the Word says instead of what is sensed in the natural. They walk by faith and not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7). For example, since the Bible says we were healed by the wounds on Christ (1 Peter 2:24), you won't hear faith people confess (say) they're sick. They may be experiencing some symptoms but they won't agree with actually "having" the sickness. And they believe their prayers of faith will cause the symptoms to depart even if by appropriate professional medical attention so they can regain full outward agreement with the Word. They confess they're debt free (Romans 13:8) even though they have credit card bills to pay. They're not denying reality because for the faith person true reality only exists in the Word of God and in what they cannot see. Please take a moment and look up this scripture for yourself: 2 Corinthians 4:18.  

10. Faith people are content while they wait and trust in the Word. 

While they wait for the promises of God to manifest, faith people don't complain to God or to others about the lack of manifestation in their lives. The Bible tells us to be content with whatever our circumstances are (Philippians 4:11) and to be content with what we already have (Hebrews 13:5). Instead of complaining about what they don't have, faith people are confessing (agreeing) that they ALREADY possess what they're believing God for. They have taken ownership over God's promises even though they can't see them yet in the natural.

Some Final Thoughts

Faith people know that without faith it's impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6). And so, Believers with mature and active faith are always looking for opportunities to attach that faith to everything that confronts them: every action, every decision, every word spoken and every circumstance in whatever manner they present themselves. The ACTIVE faith depicted in these articles is the type of faith our biblical patriarchs had, faith that produced great feats of courage, accomplishment, wisdom, and success. Every Believer has within them the faith of Christ; the Holy Spirit placed it there and by the faith of Christ working through them, Christians are equipped to perform far greater works of faith than any of the Bible patriarchs including the works of Jesus (John 14:12). Aggressively pursue the Word of God in faith believing that it has within itself all the power you need to bring you out of any HARD TIMES and into the GOOD TIMES ever present in the Kingdom of God.

Thanks for stopping by tonight. We'll be looking for you again NEXT Sunday night on September 7. In the meantime may the Lord bless you with every spiritual blessing (Ephesians 1:3), compelling you to PROSPER in every area of life!

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 

About Prosperous Life Newsletter

PLN is an outreach ministry of Make A Way Ministries domiciled in Miami, Florida. It is in its 17th year of distribution and has been published continuously since January 1998. It's an e-publication about life in the Kingdom of God and is sent ONLY to our email list of MINISTRY MEMBERS. If you're reading this and aren't yet on our growing email list, please let us know and we'll be so very happy to add you to the list.

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