Overcoming in Faith, Hope, and Love
From Crazy Love Supernatural Woman of God Conference--Brenda Lewis
I. Living in the Reality of the Kingdom, Present and Future
1 Corinthians 13:12,13-"For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known. But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love."
1 Thessalonians 5:8,9: "But since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation....for God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation."
A. Our Destiny (the Kingdom to come)
1. Jesus will have His complete inheritance being fully joined to us. He will get the answer to His prayer in John 17--complete unity with us the same way that He and the Father and the Holy Spirit has been from eternity past.
2. The fullness of our inheritance, knowing as fully as we are known in complete bliss, living happily ever after, ruling and reigning, restoring all things, then on to the complete utopia, living with Jesus forever and ever, the completion of our salvation, new body, etc. (Rev. 21 & 22)
B. Our Present: (the kingdom now): We have Faith, Hope and Love as our position "Until"
We have been given a new life in Christ, have been hidden in Him, seated at the right hand of God, been made to be co-heir with Jesus Christ, and now sit in the peculiar position of still being in our mortal bodies on the physical earth for a little while. The pull to be oblivious to who we really are and what our future is is enormous. Soon enough, in the perfect timing of our Father, we will be face to face, but now we must stand courageously in hope, faith, and love until He appears and we come up out of the wilderness leaning on our Beloved.
1. Hope
a. A blueprint of the future, a certain expectation of what is to come based on very real promises from someone that is trustworthy. (If you do not trust someone very much, then even if they speak, you "don't get your hopes up".)
b. Example: Hope is like carrying a picture of the new house that you are being given. Someone plan to move in soon. But while you're waiting for the time, you hold the picture to remind yourself what is coming.
2. Faith
a. Faith is the inner assurance that what is being hoped for is certain. Faith brings what is hoped for in the future to bear on the present. It is what causes you to live differently now because of what you know is coming in the future.
b. Example: Your degree of faith (trust) depends on that person's faithfulness or trustworthiness. Because you trust their word is true, you begin to move forward, planning, selling your old house, packing up your things, telling all of your friends, because you are going to move. Because you believe, you move forward in all of the preparations.
3. Love
a. Love is the heart response of gratitude, appreciation, and your committed bond. It's the relationship that you develop and keep throughout the process of hoping and believing until the promises are completely fulfilled. Love believes all things (1 Cor. 13)
II. Standing in Hope
We are expecting everything that has been promised in the Scriptures. We carry an internal picture of Jesus fulfilling all of His promises to us, of our complete SALVATION-SOZO (complete salvation and restoration of spirit, soul, and body), restored to our original position of privilege, union, glory, friendship, and authority with our Creator.
Psalm 130:5-"I wait for the LORD, my soul does wait, And in His word do I hope."
Titus 2:13-"looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus,"
A. Inheritance Jesus-full relationship
1. " You are my exceeding great reward",--Genesis 15:1 --God himself is our greatest reward to look forward to.
2. John 17-to be one with Him as Jesus prayed that we would be one.
3. Married to the Lord (Isaiah 62:5, Hosea 2:16, SOS, Rev. 22:17)
4. The Holy Spirit is our pledge or deposit on our full inheritance of knowing God that is to come when we are finally face to face. (Eph. 1:13,14)
5. Jesus is getting ready to show us the riches of His grace in kindness toward us in the ages to come. (Ephesians 2:7)
B. Inheriting the Benefits of the Kingdom
1. Hope and a Future-- -plans to prosper you, give you a hope and a glorious future. Revelation 21 & 22; Jeremiah 29:11
2. Benefits-forgiveness, healing, life back from the pit, loving kindness and compassion, good things through this life. Psalm 103:1-4; James 1:17
3. Resurrected Body and Life Eternal-Philippians 3:11
4. Eternal Rewards
1. "I will grant to eat of the tree of life which is in the Paradise of God" Rev. 2:7
2. "...will not be hurt by the second death." Rev. 2:11
3. " ...I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, and a new name written on the stone which no one knows but he who receives it." Rev. 2:17
4. "...I will give authority over the nations...and the morning star." Rev. 2:26
5. "will be clothed in white garments; and I will not erase his name from the book of life, and I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels." Rev. 3:5I
6. "I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he will not go out from it anymore; and I will write on him the name of my God, and the name of the city of My God, .." Rev. 3:12
7. "I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne..." Rev. 3:21
8. "will inherit these things (new heaven and new earth) and I will be his God and he will be My son."
III. Standing in Faith
Faith is both a gift and a decision. We decide with our will to take God up on the gift when He knocks at our heart and offers us an opportunity to believe Him. Faith is the opposite of fear and doubt. Fear is believing for the negative, the voice of the father of lies, the devil. Faith is believing that "all things work together for good for them that love the Lord," (Rom. 8:28) even when we cannot yet see the outcome.
A. It is our Faith that overcomes the world
1 John 5:4,5-"...and this is the victory that has overcome the world-our faith...who is the one who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?"
1. The world-the carnal, finite natural system originally designed to be in conjunction and under the dominion of God.
2. Jesus' victory will be to have all things summed up, (Eph. 1:10) put together, the natural and the spiritual realms, heaven and earth all in unity under God, put together, working together God's way. After man sinned, this natural world "fell", it was separated, came out from underneath the dominion of God, and went under the rule of the "god of this world", the devil.
3. The current separation of the spirit realm and the natural realm is a pressure to us. . The pressure of this world that we need to overcome is the pressure to be independent, separated from our Creator. The pressure tell us to not ever look into the other, higher realm, to discount the existence of it, and disregard its importance, saying that this world, body, lifespan, what we can see, hear, feel, touch, and smell are what are truly valuable, and that there is no God to be accountable to, or to expect any relationship or reward from. To overcome this it takes faith, eyes that see beyond and believe that God is, and that He is a rewarder, and that we can draw near.
B. We have faith although we cannot yet see Him and all that He will do
Heb. 11:1 -"Now faith is the assurance of the things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen."
C. By faith we see the reality of God (that He is) and the reliability of His promises. (the rewards)
Hebrews 11:6: "And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him."
D. We believe, we love Him, and we greatly rejoice in Him.
1 Peter 1:8.9-"though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls."
E. We draw near to God by faith. When we are having trouble drawing near, it is because we are beginning to fear instead of believe.
Heb. 10:22-"Let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith..."
F. We do not have to fight for our own salvation. Christ did that for us. Now our only fight is to stay believing until He comes. Jesus asked, "when I return, will I find faith on the earth?" (Luke 18:8)
1. 1 Timothy 6:12; 2 Timothy 4:7-fighting the fight of faith
2. Hebrews 3:12-4:2-Israelites didn't enter the promised land because of unbelief, didn't mix the word with faith
G. The Three Ways to Overcome by Faith
"The accuser (Greek: diabolos or devil) of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night...11 And they overcame him (Devil) by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death. (Rev. 12:10-11)
1. Blood of the Lamb
a. Jesus' gained victory over Satan on the cross removing his "legal right" to torment us.
b. We must enforce Jesus' victory in our life by using our authority against Satan. (Col. 2:15)
2. They did not love their lives to death
a. We set our heart to obey Jesus regardless of what it cost us.
"They that love their life will lose it,...lose their life will find it." (Matthew 10:39)
3. The Word of their testimony
a. Our testimony (confession of faith) is what we believe about who Jesus is, what He did on the cross, who we are in Him, what we believe about Satan's assaults.
b. We enforce Jesus' victory by exercising our authority in Him and refusing Satan's lies in our life.
"Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering... He is faithful." (Heb. 10:23)
" Let us hold fast our confession... Come boldly to the Throne of grace"... (Heb. 4:14-16)
"The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that is, the word of faith...10 and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation (victory)...?" (Rom. 10:8-10)
1) Authority is delegated power. A police officer stops a car by the authority of the government, not his physical power. We use our authority in Christ to resist Satan "breaking in our house" to steal and destroy God's blessing by fear, addictions, sickness, emotional or financial oppression, etc. (John 10:10)
2) Our problems are the result of several factors working together:
a.) demonic attack (release of heightened demonic energy);
b) our mindset (belief systems),
c) physical issues (genetics, food, alcohol, chemicals, porn, etc.) and
d) social issues (what others do to us). Using our authority in Christ helps by removing the "added pressure" that demonic attacks bring to our problems.
3) By the prayer of faith (confident agreement with the Word), we enforce Jesus' victory in our life.
a) The prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. (Jas 5:15)
b) Taking the shield of faith...to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one... (Eph 6:16)
c) I pray that...your faith may become effective through the knowledge of every good thing which is in you for Christ's sake. (Philemon 6, NAS)
H. Understanding our Spiritual Authority is Necessary for Walking By Faith
1. We need revelation of the spiritual authority that we have based on our connection with Jesus. God gave all authority to Jesus as a Man then gave Jesus to the Church (v. 23). Therefore, whatever is true of Christ in His exalted humanity is true for everyone in Christ. (Eph. 1:17-23)
2. Being seated in heavenly places means to have access in prayer to God's Throne (Eph. 2:6).
3. Because of the work of the cross, we receive the free gift of righteousness that allows us to be accepted by the Father, receive the indwelling Spirit and operate in the authority of Jesus' name. (2 Cor. 5:17-21)
4. The responsibility for the earthly realm has been given by God to His covenant people on earth. (Ps. 115:16)
5. We use our words to agree with God and enforce our authority.
a. We have authority to open and shut doors in the spirit that looses angels and binds demons. The world is governed by words in the spirit and natural realms. Jesus created with words in Gen. 1. (Matt. 16:19)
b. Our words are powerful in causing either faith or fear to grow. As our words agree with God's will, we release His presence. If our words agree with Satan's lies, we release his power. Many have "faith" in the devil's words. Jesus resisted Satan by speaking God's word (Mt. 4:4-10.)
c. Satan's attack against us continues if we accept it. Instead we challenge it by speaking the Word against him. We must not allow Satan's attack against us to go uncontested. Do not confuse holy resignation to do God's will with passive resignation to accept Satan's attack against us. (James 4:7; 1 Pet. 5:8-9)
IV. Standing in Love
In 1 Corinthians13, it says that we will only need hope for a little while. When the building is finished, no need for the blueprint. We have all our hearts have waited for. No need for faith, for now we see and are face to face. But love will remain. This will be our joyous relationship with our God forever and ever. What we cultivate with Him now, while there is still the force of resistance, will carry over into the Millenial Reign of Jesus and into all of eternity; therefore, to love God is our highest aim.
A. Love is the setting of our whole being to be affectionate, appreciative, to highly value, and to give attention and devotion to, to be attracted to and desire to be close to someone, to tie one's heart to another.
B. We are commanded to love the Lord with all our HEART, SOUL, MIND, AND STRENGTH. (Mk. 12:30)
1. Love with all our heart: with all our affection (emotions). We "set" our affections on anything we chose. We change our mind and God changes our heart (emotions). Our emotions will follow whatever we set ourselves to pursue. We can set our heart to be filled with zeal for God. Lord, take the reigns of my heart to direct it into the ocean of Your love. Ask yourself, "Why not me?"
2. Love with all our soul: our personality is expressed most dynamically by our speech. Determine to express your personality by speaking and acting in a way that enhances not diminishes love.
3. Love with all our mind: we fill our minds with long and loving meditation on God's Word and resist putting anything in our minds that diminishes love for Jesus and quenches the Holy Spirit.
4. Love with all our strength: with our resources (time, money, talents, reputation, and influence)
C. We Overcome by Leaning and Loving as the Bride of Christ
1. The Bride's position of love is voluntary weakness and dependence. The stronger our love grows, the harder we lean on our Beloved. This position is our overcoming position. (Song of Solomon 6:10; 7:1-10; 8:5-7; 14)
2. Our Highest identity is that we are lovers of God, because He first loved us. (1 John 4:19) This is who we are, and who we will forever be. We are not defined by our accomplishments or by what any other person in the universe says or thinks about us. Our highest calling is to move God's heart with our love.