7/23/12 - "WHAT ARE YOU CONSIDERING?"

Rom. 4:19 And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead (since he was about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah’s womb.

As believers we are not only called to walk by faith, God enabled us to do so. It is something that does not initially come natural to us because of the fall we became accustomed to living by human natural faith. That type of faith has to “see it” before you “believe it.” But the God kind of faith believes before it sees. Most don’t grasp the fact that the same way we got saved (born again) is the same way we receive anything from God. Let me explain.

To receive salvation I did not see Jesus die on the cross. I was not there. I had someone tell me about what Jesus did for us 2,000 years ago, but I was obviously not there. I did not see Him go to hell, but He did. There are some who are still confused about this who don’t know the whole of scripture, but Ephesians 4:9 clearly tells us this. I didn’t see Jesus raised from the dead, but as scripture reveals I know He did. I also was not there when He ascended into heaven, but again I know He did so and I also know He is now seated with the Father in heaven.

When I came to the knowledge of my sin and found out what Jesus did to change this in my life, my heart knew this was true even though I am not able to see my spirit, I know that I am a spirit being. The faith for all this was not felt in my natural body. I knew in my heart this was all true. My salvation began in my heart. When I released my faith in Christ then there was a change within me. I became born again. It did not instantly change how I felt on the outside, nor did it instantly change how I acted on the outside. But as time went by and I got to know Jesus and who He has now made me to be, my life on the outside began to change, but I already knew in my heart I was different.

This is how we receive from God. Take healing for example. The God kind of faith does not feel healed first on the outside in the body. Healing begins in you heart. You must believe in your heart. Just like salvation begins within the heart so does healing and all the promises of God. When you know in your heart that you are already healed, it is then that things are going to change in your body, but not before. If you are checking your body to see if you are healed you will find that you are not because you are not walking in Bible faith. You are basing your faith on the natural, not on the Word of God. Once you know and you have received your healing within, it will manifest on the outside. Just like salvation. Once you put your faith in Christ and believe in your heart you are saved then that begins to change the person on the outside.

This is so important to faith and a big reason why we are not seeing more of what God promised come to pass in our lives. As simple as this truth is that I am teaching on this week, YOU MUST take time to examine whether you are walking in Bible faith or not. You must recognize if you are looking at the outward to try and confirm what the Word of God says. That is not faith. When you believe in your heart what God has said you don’t look in the natural to try and confirm that belief. You already know it is so.

Heb. 11:1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. 

The word “assurance” here is defined as “evidence”. Faith is the evidence, not what we feel or see. If we need to have evidence on the outside of what God says to believe then we are going to do without for that is not Bible faith. Salvation, healing, deliverance, all begin in the heart. When man knows in his heart it is already so then it will change things on the outside. What happens on the outside is not evidence of what is true on the inside, but the result of what one already knows is so in their heart.

All that to say a key factor to walking by faith comes down to what we are considering. Our foundation verse reveals to us a great truth about whom the Bible calls our father of the faith, Abraham. He was given a promise from God that he would have a child, even though he was about a hundred years old, and Sarah had never been able to have children. Abraham, as Romans 4:19 tells us, was not weak in faith and therefore he did not consider his own body, nor the deadness of Sarah’s womb. If he had there would have never been a son of Abraham’s named Isaac.

The word “consider” is a key word here. It means to fix one’s eye or mind upon. This is what we do by our old nature. We focus both our attention and our thoughts on what we see in the natural. If we do that we are not going to walk by faith. Faith does not consider, does not fix it’s focus, attention, or thoughts on what is in the natural. Now this does not mean that faith ignores what is true in the natural. Faith does not deny the existence of a problem, but faith denies it’s right to stay that way. Faith sees something beyond the natural, for with the eye of faith, knowing in our hearts, faith sees what God has said as already so.

Heb. 3:1 Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus,
Heb. 3:2 who was faithful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses also was faithful in all His house.

So if faith does not consider what is in the natural what does faith do? It considers, focuses its attention and thoughts upon the Apostle and High Priest of our confession. When you confessed Jesus as the Lord of your life you received full payment of not just your sins, but also your complete redemption, which includes being redeemed from sickness, disease, poverty, lack, and spiritual death. You have to consider, get your mind and your focus on something. You need to get it on your Apostle and High Priest.

The key here is seeing Jesus first and foremost as the Apostle, which means sent one of God who was faithful to come to this earth and through the act of becoming our High Priest, He has now paid the price in full for us to walk in all that we have a right to as children of God. In the Old Testament the High Priest went into the holy of holies once a year with a blood sacrifice to cover the peoples sins. But Jesus once and for all paid the price not to cover our sins, but to remove them, which is very significant.

Heb. 9:11 But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building;
Heb. 9:12 Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. 

Jesus our High Priest went into the holy place in heaven whereby He sprinkled His blood on that mercy seat and in doing so He provided the way for us through faith in Him to become righteous, or right with God. The moment that happens you are now a child of God, which makes you an heir of God, and a joint heir with Jesus. If you don’t consider what Jesus did for you and who you have now become because of what He did, you won’t have revelation of this truth, but if you know you are an heir of God then you know you have a right to the inheritance that He has for you. If you know you are a joint heir with Jesus then you know you are equal in the inheritance He has. But if you don’t consider this instead of your circumstances then you are going to continue to walk by natural human faith and not Bible faith.

Mark 11:22 So Jesus answered and said to them, “Have faith in God.Mark 11:23 For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, “Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says.Mark 11:24 Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.

What you receive from God begins within. You don’t get born again by first feeling saved in the natural. You get born again by first believing in your heart it is so after you have called upon His name. All the promises of God work the same. Healing comes from your spirit within. You must know you are healed in your heart, not basing your faith on what you feel in the natural or see. That won’t change until you first receive it within, in your heart.

In verse 22 it says here to have faith in God, but one translation says have the God kind of faith, which is what the Greek implies. The God kind of faith believes and receives within one’s heart what God has said is already so. To do that you cannot consider, focus your attention and thoughts on that which is external. Instead you need to consider the Apostle and High Priest of your confession. Do so until it becomes real inside to you and the things on the outside will follow.

See You Again Next Week For More “Weekly Wisdom”

May God’s Best Be Yours!

Pastor Darryl Baker