Faith is not blind

Faith can come from knowledge, understanding, and experience.  For example, you have faith that flipping a light switch will turn on lights.

In the things of God, simple faith (willingness to try) is the beginning.  Faith is later confirmed through experience, understanding, and knowledge.

Often a need, for which there is no solution in the natural, will compel you to look into the faith area.  Once motivated, faith s the first "concrete" step that opens up the things of God to you: whether it's a first step to seek Him or advanced steps to grow in your relationship with Him, mature in your new life with Him, and receive the things He has given you as His child.  Your initial step of faith in Christ may be nothing more than openness to investigate or explore the things of God through Jesus.

In my case, motivated by selfish need, I mentally began to explore the possibility of finding a supernatural or spiritual answer.  I listened to Christian radio, through which the reality and person of Jesus was preached.  As a result I began to think that Jesus was worth a try.  And there were other encouragements, including the conversion of my late wife Maggie a short time before, and her insistence on Jesus.  At some point, though, for me this "theoretical Jesus" had to become real.  Experience had to confirm faith.

As and intellectual, my deep faith was, and is, a process.  In the beginning I combined a smattering of faith (about the size of a proverbial mustard seed) with an inquiry.  I sought to know if God existed.  I encountered Jesus (my spirit to Spirit) in a parking lot in Kona, Hawaii early one morning.  He said to me in a clear voice, "you are saved and I am your friend."  After meeting Him I sought understanding.  It came through experience (relationship) with Him.  Then I sought to understand the things of God and the "why: of those things (knowledge).  In the process, the world and my growing understanding of the spirit dimension began to make sense: the things of God became logical.  This progression - from God seeking, to faith coupled with understanding - created a certainty that the things of God were real, and created a desire for them to become manifest and to get what God had for me.

Will of God

God's will is:

1.  To be in a relationship with his creation.
2.  To share friendship with you.
3.  To love.
5.  To bless (give good things)
5.  To give freedom.
6.  To make you Yourself(who you really are - not a ruse or a fantasy person).
7.  To heal.
8.  To help/save.
9.  To defeat all His (and therefore your) enemies.
10.  To give you an abundant life.

Through focusing on God, the things of God and faith you can move forward and receive God's will for your life.  The Psalmist says in Psalm 141:10 - "Let the wicked fall into their own nets while I escape safely."

The will of God is to help in a genuine and personal form.  If you sincerely want God and what He has given you and are in right standing with God through Christ, then the victory is yours.

God, through the voice of His prophet Isaiah, says in chapter 41 verses 10-13:  "Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God:  I will strengthen thee; yeah, I will help thee; yea I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.  Behold, all they that were incensed against thee shall be ashamed and confounded: they shall be as nothing; and they that strive with thee shall perish.  Thou shalt seek them, and shalt not find them, even them that contended with thee: they that war against thee shall be as nothing, and as a thing nought.  For I the Lord thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee." (KJ)

To receive all that God has for you, it's essential to go with Him 100% as He leads.  This will take a lot of "releasing" the persona you turned yourself into during all the before_Christ years while you were so busy protecting yourself in the only ways you knew how.  It is not easy.

Free Will

It's ultimately up to you to decide how much of God and His inheritance (gift to us through Jesus' death), life and reality you want.  Every aspect of it is available, but most people don't even choose cost-free, simple salvation!  Many children of God don't even want to work for more or battle demons to achieve victories; they accept what God offers easily... but it is a mere fraction of their actual inheritance.  Others want more, but haven't been taught what Jesus did for them and how to get it.

The Bible says you can reign in life together with Jesus Christ.  It's your decision to take up the scepter and reign or not.

To reign in your life (rather than the devils reigning) takes will, effort, constancy, work, and sacrifice.  When you don't see results every time, or when you fall in a little or a big way, great faith and trust are required to keep doing right, choosing right, defending and fighting - doing the things you need to do for yourself, your family, other believers, and the world.

Focus especially on your family and those you minister to; they need your protection.  In some areas, or with some people, a time will come when your work is done, the protection or healing complete.  At that time, a change will be required in your defense and'or offense strategy according to God's leading but the principles you learn here will always apply.

God is a Good Guy, Someone Worth Knowing.

God is a good guy and indescribably worth knowing.  Abraham was his friend; you are, too.  God wants all of us to worship Him as God Almighty, but He also wants us to understand that we are His friends.

Never forget:  Even though He is Almighty God and you are His friend, pride should have NO purchase in your heart or mind because no matter how deep your relationship is with Him, he will judge sin and wrongdoing;  He will correct you, just as any engaged, loving father would do.  Having said this, in His faithfulness, love, and fatherhood, you will find peace, love, wise counsel, and eternal friendship.

The whole thing sometimes seems absurd, doesn't it?  How can one person, standing on a speck of a planet in an extravagant universe, know God and he His friend( or anything even close)?

King David, too, pondered this question in the eighth Psalm, v.4, "What is man that you think of him, man that you care for him?"

After all, when was the last time the ruler of your country called and asked to be your friend?  Why would the ruler and creator of everything want to befriend you or me...to allow us to know Him?

I don't have that answer!  All I know, from all I've read and from my own experiences, is that this is exactly what He wants to do.

I can't begin to understand what God sees in me that He considers it worth the bother.  What can I possibly bring to the table?

My conclusion is that His character is love, fatherhood, and relationship.  He went to the point of moving heaven and earth through His Son's death to reconnect with you and me, because He places great value on folks like us.

Can it possibly be that God sees us in our defeats, battles, and losses and cheers for us - not excusing our sin, but seeing the hordes of dark evil spirits working against us and impossible odds of being saved?  The Bible says that is it "easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle"  that to be saved.  God, in His love, helps us, the underdogs - choosing us, caring for us?

Declarations of Positive Faith

Use positive expressions to proclaim what the Bible says God has for you as a His child.  For salvation, healing, freedom from the curse and pain, proclaim and claim the complete work of the cross, even when your physical senses and present experiences seem contrary to the proclamation.  For freedom from sin or addictions, declare and believe in your victory over them even though you are not yet free.  (And do what is necessary to be free; see the getting help section.)  In the spirit world, you appropriate what God has done for you and given you through proclaiming His very real power over your situation; the physical will have to follow.

It is never foolish to proclaim (verbally, mentally, or physically) over situations, seen or unseen.  Your proclamation is your belief in action.  But it is not belief based on faith alone, is is belief based on something real; on the work that Christ did at Calvary.  It is real faith, based on real work that Christ did, and based upon the Word of God (the Bible).  The Word of God in your heart and your mouth, combined with your faith, is a force far more powerful than an atomic bomb.

Your words of faith are what put you in a position to receive from God and what puts God in position to move on your behalf.  Please understand that your words of faith (declaring what you are not experiencing), can take great effort.  John 6:24 says that our work is to believe in Jesus - including what He did for us.

Faith and Grace

In everything related to faith, there is no open door to do wrong.  Grace - Unmerited favor, forgiveness of sin through Jesus and relationship with God the Father through Jesus' death-is not a license to sin.  As a redeemed child of God, you are to make every effort to do right, to reflect His nature, power, and presence.

When you do fail (sin), grace gives you ample room to live before God without punishment (although there are natural consequences).  Part of God's grace at the time of your sin is to give you knowledge of right and wrong and the desire, and ultimately the power, to do what is right.

Because God is PERFECT, His acceptance of you outside of Jesus would only be possible if you always did right 100% of the time.  One wrongful "hiccup" (sin) would make you unacceptable.  Yikes!  Aren't you glad God made a way?  (The way is grace.)

The truth is, you and I break God's rules every day.  We frequently do wrong.  From God's perspective, no one is a "good person"  He certainly doesn't weigh our good and bad on a scale and let us connect with Him and go to heaven only if the good outweighs the bad.  That's a big relief;  no one could ever get there otherwise!

The Bible contains many passages about humankind's duties.  The Ten Commandments set the standards: Do no murders, do not steal etc.  Other commandments include the duty to love; see Romans 12:1 & 2 and 9-12, see also 13:8.  The duty to submit to governing authorities (but not as an excuse to reject Christ) is mentioned in Romans 13:1-7.  Homosexuality is condemned int he Old and New testaments (see Romans 1:26-27), as are bestiality and other sins.  Sexual immorality is dealt with in many places in the Bible and mentioned in 1 Corinthians 10:8.

God Has Not Abandoned You

Jesus came to you with Himself, with the Father and the Holy Spirit.  It isn't just that He came, showed you His love by dying for you, later to abandon you - leaving you to fend for yourself.

After Jesus rose from the dead, He returned to live in your heart. (remember that the spirit dimension is different from this one and that we live in it also.)  Jesus inside is no metaphor;  He really is inside you, and through His presence you have a new nature:  you are a new creation.

No matter how alone, ashamed or convicted you feel, God has not abandoned you.  If you've accepted Jesus into your heart, God is there-truly and actually there as spirit.  He moves inside your heart, mind and body to direct and heal you.  You have become fused to God.  In hardship and trauma, we often cannot feel or sense Him, even though He is inside us (cohabiting with our own spirit and the evil spirits who are working against us) directing our thoughts, memories and prayers.  John 14:26:  "He will teach you all things, and bring to remembrance all things that I said [scriptures and other divine messages] to you."

Through Christ, you've become God's child.  You're part of His family.  You carry His name.  You're protected and loved.  You belong to Him.  The Bible says in 1 John 3:1:  "How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God.  And that is what we are...!" (NIV)

He also sent the Holy Spirit to live in you.  He, together with the fullness of God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirits) is whit you forever.  He is not only with you, but continues to act on your behalf - teaching, counseling, and helping.  He is there in every decision, in every part of your life strengthening you, being a true friend.