Dominate with Faith

Happy Sunday!

Dr. Bill Winston continued the series, "The Power of Love", with the subtitle, "Changing the World".

In Malachi 3:6, God says, "For I am the Lord, I change not;"(KJV)  God never changes!  Just because he instituted the New Testament, he did not erase the Old Testament.  In Matthew 22:34-40 when the attorney asked Jesus what the greatest commandment was, Jesus built his answer on the strength of the Old Testament.  He answered, "Love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence. This is the most important, the first on any list. But there is a second to set alongside it: Love others as well as you love yourself. These two commands are pegs; everything in God’s Law and the Prophets hangs from them.”(Message)  The most important law or principle is Love!  If I love you, I will never steal from you!  If I  love you, I will not lie on you or to you!  If I love you, your life, your prosperity, and your health are my concern.  So by living the law of Love, I can keep the commandments.  If I keep the commandments, John 14:21 says, "He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will MANIFEST myself to him."  I don't know about you, but I'm expecting God to manifest himself to me in a big way!

God is placing us in the world not to compete with the world, but to Dominate the world!  The Bible says, Daniel was ten times better than all of his co-workers. (Daniel 1:20)  Being better attracts attention, both positive and negative.  But don't you worry about that!  Jesus said, "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven." Matthew 5:16(KJV)  The world needs to see your good works first, then they will glorify your father in heaven.  James later wrote, "For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also." James 2:26(KJV)  It's time to get to work!

How can we dominate in this society, and this economy?  Great question!  I'm so glad you asked.  We will only dominate in life by Faith!  Hebrews 11:6 says, "And without faith it is impossible to please him. The man who approaches God must have faith in two things, first that God exists and secondly that it is worth a man’s while to try to find God." (Phillips) Did you see that? It's worth your while to have Faith in God!  He will reward you!  He will expand your territory!  He will show himself strong on your behalf!

I know what you are thinking!  I've tried that Faith stuff and it doesn't work.  Yes, Faith works.  But Faith has an enemy called Unbelief.  You've read the scripture that says all you need is a mustard seed worth of Faith and you can move a mountain.  Do you really think that after all these years in church you haven't accumulated a mustard seed worth of Faith?  Sure you have!  But you have probably amassed a transfer truckload full of unbelief.  Think about it like this.  We decide to play tug-a-war.  You and I have the same amount of weight and strength on our teams.  We pull. You pull. Nothing happens.  But if I add a new team member and the weight and strength on my team is stronger than the weight and strength on your team, we will pull you across the line and win the game. Your Faith must be stronger than your Unbelief.  Jesus told the disciples that they were unable to cast the demon out of the boy because of their unbelief!  No, it was not because some demons only come out by fasting and prayer.  Jesus was saying, this type of Faith only comes by fasting and prayer.(Matthew 17:19-21)

How can we strengthen our Faith?  Starve your doubt, and unbelief.  How can we starve doubt, and unbelief?  Feed on the Word.  Consume the Word. Don't vegetate on what the world is serving. Surround yourself with people, activities and things that encourage you and strengthen your Faith.  Don't speak anything you don't want to see happen.  Even when times are hard, speak positive words! The Apostle Paul wrote to the Philippian Christians, "Summing it all up, friends, I’d say you’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into his most excellent harmonies." Philipians 4:8-9 (Message)

Love and prayers, Cynthia