In John 14:6, Jesus Christ tells us that he is the way, the truth, and the life, and that no one can get to the Father except they come through him. We can read this verse a thousand different times, and each time that we do so with a heart open to receive from heaven, the revelation and wisdom of this verse will deepen. Jesus Christ provides the way by which we can access riches and blessings from Heavenly Father. Everything that we need in the earth is already available in the heavenly realms. Ephesians 1:3 confirmed this by telling us that we have been blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places through our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. “All spiritual blessings” means that no spiritual blessing has been withheld from us. This is the absolute truth! So as citizens of heaven who reside on earth, we have to assume a certain posture when things feel out of whack in our lives. It is one we will explore a little further in this teaching, because it can truly add another layer of spiritual growth and maturity to your walk in Christ.
Hebrews 11:1 tells us that faith is the substance of things hoped for. Faith is a powerful spiritual force that God has given us to work with. As it relates to the activation of faith, what I’m about to state may not be a perfect analogy, but I believe it will help your digestion of one aspect of what faith does. It very often helps me to see the working of my faith, in my mind’s eye, as the framework or placeholder for what I’m believing and trusting God for. Whether it is a blessing for someone else or myself, or it can be material or related to spiritual growth and development; whatever it is, I’m deliberate in my intent to draw a mental picture. It is of the utmost consequence that we are able to visualize the manifestation of the blessing. It doesn’t have to be a perfect visualization, filled in with all the details, but we must have a mental framework or outline of what we hope to receive.
Again, this mental framework or outline isn’t always filled in during the initial stages of our prayers and believing, but as we stay focused and prayerful, our faith-picture should become clearer. This can be a very short process, and sometimes it is a long one. When the latter is true, many of us allow doubt to enter our picture. I don’t need to tell you that doubt and fear will change the outcome of what we’re endeavoring to paint with our minds through faith.
The odd thing is that sometimes we don’t recognize that doubt has entered the picture. A sure sign that doubt is up to its old sneaky business is that things will not feel quite right to us. Please understand me, and understand me well, when you experience a feeling that you can’t quite put your finger on, you need to discern if this is originating from your spirit man. We are three-part beings, and if we are walking by the Spirit, we can usually determine if something feels soulish or if it’s spiritual in nature. If it’s spiritual, we can always, always ask Heavenly Father about it in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and He will reveal it to us through the indwelling Holy Spirit.
A big part of our feeling off-kilter is that we are in need of revelation to move our faith forward or to fill in the details in our minds, and the indwelling Holy Spirit is pressing upon our consciousness for the doorway to give it to us.
Moses said in Deuteronomy 29:29 The Message (MSG), “God, our God, will take care of the hidden things but the revealed things are our business. It’s up to us and our children to attend to all the terms in this Revelation.” There are some things that you and I just cannot know because those things are not revealed in God’s Word, but the overwhelming smorgasbord feast that is revealed to us in His Word is OUR BUSINESS! We must attend to it.
Faith is a right now reality! The framework is YOUR mental picture, but make no mistake, the blessing you desire already exists in the right now. It may not have manifested in your circumstances, but it already exists in the spiritual realm. Your responsibility is to move your mind and heart to a place in faith where you are fully convinced that the spiritual reality will manifest into what you’ve hoped to receive. This is an internal spiritual possess of which the results are externally revealed; and you make it happen through your faith. So you must attend to this process, and an important part of doing this is to get clear about what is blocking you from believing as you should. The indwelling Holy Spirit will reveal it when you are truly ready to know the truth.■
Scripture taken from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.
“When Something Doesn’t Feel Quite Right” written by Reverend Fran Mack, edited by Kim Times for Sundie Morning Sistas ©2017. All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord! SMS is dedicated to inspiring and encouraging Christian Women through the Word of God.