For we walk by faith, not by sight.

In these eight words the apostle Paul is giving us great insight how to operate in faith and he is saying to be successful in the kingdom of God, because you have to walk by faith and not by what you see in the natural. We all have the power of God, the Holy Spirit abiding on the inside of us, ever present to empower the things that we say in faith, but the pressures of the natural realm are continually working against your faith and your confession.

2 Corinthians 4:10-12 always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. 11 For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. 12 So then death is working in us, but life in you.

I get so excited reading and meditating on the word of God and to think that we are carrying around in our body the dying of the Lord Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. This is the great exchange setup by God the Father:

The life of Jesus in exchange for yours

He took on your sins for your redemption

He took on sickness for your healing

He took on poverty for your abundance

He took on shame and humiliation so you could have victory

I Choose to Believe (Part 2)

Believing is a choice and the word of God tells us that we have to become like children in regards to believing, because children will believe whatever their parents tell them and that’s why it is so important what we tell our kids and how we treat them and especially in regards to the things of God and the supernatural.

Believing is not hard, it is just a choice. We are always given two choices when it comes to you needing a miracle. Either to believe the word of God or to accept fear.

Mark 9:23 (NKJV) 23 Jesus said to him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.”

If you can believe, all things or everything is possible to him or her that believes.

I Choose to Believe

Believing is a choice and we have to become like children in regards to believing because children will believe whatever their parents tell them and that’s why it is so important what we tell our kids. My favorite thing to do with my children was before they went to sleep was to tell them a bible story about men and women of faith. Believing is not hard, it is just a choice.

The Anointing is Working For Me

1 John 2:27 New King James Version (NKJV)

27 But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him.

The anointing of the Holy Spirit has amazing qualities which is well beyond natural things or abilities. The anointing that you receive from Him abides in you and that same anointing teaches you concerning all things. So, when you realise this, you can begin to exercise your faith and ask the Holy Spirit to teach and instruct you regarding the issue or yoke that is hindering you.

You may have been standing on two or three scriptures regarding your healing and your enemy the devil knows what to expect when you get up each day. So, ask the Holy Spirit what weapon should I use today to fight with? He may tell you to use several other of the 1,500 scriptures found in the bible on healing that you have never used before which will catch the devil off guard.

He might get you to just sing worship songs for the whole morning, and that will get the devil out of your house.

He may tell you to pray in tongues for an hour so He can intercede and fight for you.

Maybe He will tell you to get out your scripture sword and cut the enemy up with some aggressive scriptures.

The Holy Spirit is so creative that He might tell you to use the name of Jesus, or the Blood of Jesus as a weapon.

What is the anointing?

Isaiah 10:27 (NKJV) 27 It shall come to pass in that day That his burden will be taken away from your shoulder, And his yoke from your neck, And the yoke will be destroyed because of the anointing oil.

A burden on your shoulder is a weight designed by Satan to make you toil and to slow you down so that you can’t run the race with endurance. A yoke is designed to lock you into the same day in, day out toil which cannot be broken naturally.

Galatians 5:1 (NKJV) 1Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ (the Anointed one and His anointing) has made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.

The anointing that was upon Jesus was the ‘Burden Removing, Yoke Destroying, Power of God’

‘Burden Removing, Yoke Destroying, Power of God’

I have good news for you this morning, the Anointing Breaks the Yoke of sickness, disease, being broken hearted, poverty, debt and death. Your sickness is a yoke of bondage locking you to the curse which is designed to steal, kill and destroy. Not only did Jesus remove burdens and destroy yokes, He came with a different burden and a different yoke designed to empower us.

Can you have faith and unbelief at the same time?

In Mark 9:14-27 The father said “I believe, help my unbelief”.

Many Christians believe in healing but because of fear most don’t believe that Jesus will heal them.

Fear is the enemy of faith and if you allow fear to dominate your thoughts, your faith will disappear.

All fear is routed in the fear of death and the Lord tells us at least 365 times in the bible to “Fear not” or “don’t be afraid”— one “Fear not” for every day of the year!

• Fear not (appears 302 times)

• Do not be afraid (33 times)

• Do not fear (66 times)

• Do not be dismayed (99 times)

• Do not worry (24 times)

• I will not fear (3 times)

• I will not be afraid (2 times)

• Whom shall I fear? (1 times)

• Be anxious for nothing (once)

Jesus wants you to have a story, to have a testimony of what He has done for you.

One of the keys to moving in the Holy Spirit is telling someone, “Let me tell you what happened to me, let me tell you my story”. Ask them, “have you ever been healed?”

People want to know someone they know who was healed.

To receive a miracle, we have to get the seed of faith into our heart. So how do we do this?

We do with our words.

Learn to flip your mindset quickly and get your mind off the problem and into faith. The more time you spend focusing on your problem the larger it becomes and eventually it will become bigger than God in your mind.

You should know by now that you are in a battle with an enemy who is relentless and doesn’t give in easily.

Jude 3 New King James Version (NKJV)

3 Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.

What does it mean to contend?

To struggle with (a difficulty). To cope with, to face, grapple with, deal with, take on, pit oneself against.

Earnestly means; with sincere and intense conviction;

or seriously. We could read this scripture this way,

To take on with sincere and intense conviction for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.

I will make this statement: You will receive what you contend for.

So, let me ask you this question this morning.

What are you earnestly contending for, or have you just given up?

We are having Miracle Services here at Living Word Church, so don’t come for prayer, come for a miracle.

In the ministry of Jesus have you wondered how many people came to Jesus to pray for them compared to Jesus just releasing the miracle power of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus just released His faith when He spoke and, in many cases, it was the individual’s faith that released the power of the Holy Spirit.

• The woman with the issue of blood– He said, “your faith has made you well”

• The centurion with the sick servant – Jesus said “Go your way; and as you have believed, so let it be done for you.” And his servant was healed that same hour.

• The 4 men carrying the paralytic - When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven you.” And then He said, “I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.”

• To the 10 Lepers He said “Go show yourselves to the priest”

• To Blind Bartimaeus Jesus said - “Go your way; your faith has made you well.”

• There was only one account of Jesus publicly praying before releasing a miracle and it was when He raised Lazarus from the dead and this is what He prayed. “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. 42 And I know that You always hear Me, but because of the people who are standing by I said this, that they may believe that You sent Me.” After He prayed, then He cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth!”

People ask me all the time to pray for them, but I want you to know, if you need a miracle, expect one and don’t expect to come for prayer.

We have been praying prior to this miracle service, so now it’s up to you to release your faith and take what the Holy Spirit is releasing.

Faith Begins When The Will of God is Known

Now we know from Romans 10:17 which tells us how faith comes, It says: “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God”. But there is a difference between hearing the word and knowing the Word. Faith comes to you by hearing, and hearing by the word, but there are people all around the world who hear the word of God every day who still have no faith or can't release faith. Also seeing something happen like a miracle will encourage your faith and give you hope, but it will not give you faith because the word does not say "faith comes by seeing".

Faith is a spiritual force and it can only be developed in your spirit or your heart and when you look at or see something with your eyes it goes into your soul which is your mind, will and emotions.When you see someone healed, there is an emotional response and that's good and correct because God created us to be emotional, but it will not build faith. There are many people who see miracles firsthand yet choose not to believe and think that the whole thing is rigged or fake. In the case of Thomas one of the apostles, he would not believe that Jesus had risen from the dead unless he saw the nail prints in His hands and the hole from the spear in His side.

As long as your faith is active, the Spirit of God is active. It’s impossible to please Him without faith.

Patience guards against you allowing a doubt or confession of fear into your consciousness.

Even when we stretch our faith as far as it will go, He who is within us is so much greater than he who is in the world.

First Corinthians 10:13 says,

1 Corinthians 10:13 New King James Version (NKJV)

13 No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.