KEY SCRIPTURE: 1 Timothy 6:12″ Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, where unto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses”.

This verse (1st Timothy 6:12)reveals the real fight of Christians. Our fight is not against demons. Demons work to ground our faith but we must work to keep our faith active.  So long as your faith is active no devil can stop you. (Mark 9:23). All things are possible to Him that has faith.

Every child of God must focus on building his faith strong in the Lord. It is your faith that overcomes the world, including devils and Satan himself (1st John 5:4). Our key scripture says we must fight the good fight of faith. It is a good fight. It is the kind of fight that gets you hooked up to God and brings His help and power to you.

A look at our key scripture from the Greek give different meaning for the two words fight. The first fight is”agonizomai” in the Greek language, and it means “to enter into a contest” and the second fight is *”agon”*which means a place of a fight or an ‘assembly’ as an arena for a contest. What that scripture suggests is that as a Christian you are in an arena for a fight and you have no option but to fight. Many children of God are doing nothing about their faith and as a result the enemy is having the advantage over them.

To fight the good fight of faith means to keep your faith alive and active against contrary situations that seek to put you down. The essence of the fight of faith is not to cast away your confidence in the Lord in times of trials and difficulty. Hebrews 10:35,”Cast not away therefore your confidence which hath great recompense of reward”. Our faith is expected to triumph in every encounter that we may face. We are advised not to cast away our confidence, but fight to maintain our faith.

 We engage in this fight as we feed on the word of God and declare with our mouth what the Bible says about that particular situation and then take a stand on what the scripture says.   It could be a persecution of your faith; you must maintain your declarations of the scriptures to keep your faith standing. It could be any other challenge that the enemy may raise against you. In all these declare God’s word boldly to yourself and the devil, keep your faith alive and you would ultimately triumph.  Do not complain and murmur. If you do so, it would be suicidal to your faith.

  CONFESSION

I keep my faith active and alive in all times of challenges by declaring God’s word to myself and the situation.My faith continually triumphs over all difficulties.

FURTHER STUDIES.

1 John 5:4 ” For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith”.

Hebrews 11:33-34 ” Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises,stopped the mouths of lions, Quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens”.

KEY SCRIPTURE: Hebrews 11:13″ These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth”.

The apostle in this instant reveals to us a very powerful principle to make your faith get results.

Within our key scripture are certain words that shows positive actions that made their faith to produce results. The words are:

1. Seen

2. Persuaded

3. Embraced

4. Confessed

For one’s faith to be potent and effective one must employ these principles. First you must be able to see your end or the answer: When the  Lord God wanted Abraham to receive  His promise,He made  him to have a picture of what He had for him; Genesis 15:5 “And he brought him forth abroad and said look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them, and he said unto him, so shall thy seed be”. Your faith is made stronger when you can see what you anticipate. You must first have a picture or be able to see what you hope to get. The sick man must stop seeing himself sick and see himself healthy and strong. The unmarried woman or man who aspires to marriage must see himself or herself married. Your vision would either lift your faith or kill your faith. You are praying for a meeting place, start seeing yourself meet in a new hall with all that you desire to be there, available. 

Secondly you must be persuaded about what you are seeing. To be persuaded means, to induce one by words to believe. This implies you start saying words like “indeed I see myself healed and well or I can see myself married” or “I see us meet in a five thousand seated hall”. You induce words that excite your faith.

The third act of faith to be taken to make your faith produce results is to embrace your answer. This means to receive joyfully or welcome” the answer. In a more simple term, you celebrate the answer. You rejoice in your heart about your answer.

The final step of faith is to confess that you have the answer. You keep declaring that everything is alright. Abraham started calling himself father of many nations although he had no child.

Please understand that before you make your confessions you would have first, seen the answer, persuaded yourself of it, and then embrace it excitedly. If you do these things rightly your answer cannot elude you.

CONFESSION

Thank you Father for your word. I see my answer as I persuade myself of it, embrace it heartily and boldly confess it.

FURTHER STUDIES.

Hebrews 11:6 “”But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him”.

 Hebrews 11:11. “Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised”.

KEY SCRIPTURE: Hebrews 6:12″ That ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises.”

One great lesson of all times is to learn to follow. Following makes things easier because you are not the starter but a follower or learner.

Our key scripture teaches us not to be slothful or lazy but to be alert and diligent to learn from those who have succeeded. The Bible said they inherited the promises through faith and patience.

Hebrews 13:7 has the following to say “Remember they which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God; whose faith follow, consider the end of their conversation”. We are to remember those who have taught us the word of God. He says we must follow their faith. To follow the faith of somebody is to consider the steps of faith taken by an individual as well as the outcome of these exploits,so you do likewise resting on the fact that if it went well with them it will go well with you.

The Holy Spirit gave an all-time statement after Heb. 13:7 as follows “Jesus Christ the same yesterday,today and forever”.(Hebrews 13;8) This scripture means the Lord Jesus who did not fail , these men who taught us the word of God and honored their faith stance would likewise honour your faith stance for He does not change. Note the man with an example to follow or learn from him.

 You can never be a failure following successful people. In the worst case scenario you would become like them. And remember these are successful men. The Bible said we must not be slothful to follow such people.

In our times God has raised a number of generals who have achieved so much for God and we would do good for ourselves and the next generation after us to learn from the life, faith and experiences of such men. An example of a few of some of these men who have passed on into glory are Dr Billy Graham, Kenneth E Hagin, Archbishop Benson Idahosa, Smith Wiglesworth, Rev Mckweon and many more,

For some of those who are living in our times are men like our pastors and other leaders who taught us the word of GOD and many more. Get to know their stories and learn from their examples.

  PRAYER

O heavenly father help me to learn from the examples of all those who have taught me the word and by their faith made exploits.

FURTHER STUDIES:

Matthew 4:19. “And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”

2 Timothy 3:14. “But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them;”

KEY SCRIPTURE: Romans 10:9 “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.”

Once again the Holy Spirit unfolds a very important truth about partaking of our salvation in our key scripture. Salvation is an all-inclusive word. It means to be saved from sin, healed from diseases, preserved from trouble, to be at peace, deliverance from demonic activities as well as any form of comfort that a man would need.

We learn from our key scripture that it takes believing in our hearts that o u r Lord Jesus was raised from the dead, and confessing with our lips, the lordship of Jesus to be saved..

The heart is the centre of the human being. I am not talking about our physical heart. This word heart is at times used interchangeably to mean the mind and emotions which is the soul or to mean the spirit of man. “For the word of God is quick and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thought and intents of the heart”(Hebrews 4:12). Our heart is the seat of thoughts and decisions. The heart therefore controls the direction and general state of every man.

How do we believe with the heart?

Without believing with the heart our salvation cannot be complete. To believe with the heart means you are ready to throw your whole weight or life on what you have believed. One may believe with his head. In this instant he is not ready to cast his life on what he claims to believe. It is called mental assent.

Believing with the heart is to let the word settle in your being without giving attention to other opposing or conflicting situations. This piece of scripture of promise becomes your meditation and rejoicing. For example if the Bible says “Himself took our infirmities and bore our diseases…..” (Matt 8:17). Within you, you focus on this scripture thanking God and rejoicing that there is no more disease in your body. You no longer accept any contrary symptoms although they may be showing up.

You keep this scripture at heart and you do not attend to any other contrary thoughts. The Lord said in Mark 11:23 as follows “Whosoever shall say unto this mountain be thou removed and be cast into the sea and shall not doubt in his heart but shall believe that those things he saith shall come to pass, he shall have whatsoever he saith”. This simply means accept the word as it is and act on it.This is what it means to believe with the heart.

   CONFESSION

With my heart I believe all that the word says. I cast my whole being on what the scripture says without any hesitation or negative anticipations. All things are always possible with me because I believe with my heart.

FURTHER STUDIES:

Psalms 112:7-8  ” He shall not be afraid of evil tidings:his heart is fixed, trusting in the LORD. His heart is established, he shall not be afraid, until he see his desire upon his enemies”.

Romans 10:10 ” For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation

KEY SCRIPTURE: Romans 4:20 “He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God”;

Our key scripture once again reveals a truth which was rather silent in the story of Abraham in the book of Genesis.

Abraham did not grow weak in faith through unbelief but rather became strong in faith giving glory to God.Giving God the glory always strengthens faith. True faith in God always celebrates the answer before it materialises. Anybody who claims he has faith yet is worried or complains does not know what he is talking about.

Faith in God is the answer for worry, fear, anxiety and most of the emotional mishaps that most people go through.

What made Abraham so joyful although the answer seem not to come to pass? Abraham understood the significance of a covenants. He knew that in a covenant relationship there was no room for unfaithfulness. He therefore did not consider all the negatives that was with him and his wife. (Rom. 4:19). Faith is always weakened when one is overtaken by the negative situations that may be showing up.

When Peter walked on the water in Matthew 14:25-29, it was the billowing waves and the high winds coupled with the knowledge that water does not hold anybody up. These natural reasoning killed his faith and therefore he began to sink.

These wrong reasoning or negatively being conscious of the potential for failure is overcome by voicing out praises unto God. Speak forth what the Lord says. Thank God for victory through his word. Declare boldly what the word says. Positive words would likewise stir up positive faith. Abraham gave glory to God. He said words like’ God you have made me the father of many nations and my wife is the mother of princes. You are the strong and faithful one. I thank you that I have my Isaac’. This was the daily declarations of Abraham. Now note this don’t say words like I know God would make all things beautiful in his time. This statement is a postponement of your answer. Faith always takes a hold of the answer in your heart, not anticipating that the answer would come one day but rather, it is with you.

 CONFESSION,

I praise the Lord for his everlasting faithfulness. I have whatever promise God has given me by faith. It hank and celebrate my answer today praise the Lord, Hallelujah!

FURTHER STUDIES:

Psalms 23:1 “The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want”.

John 16:33. “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.”

KEY SCRIPTURE: Hebrews 11:1. Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Our key scripture is the best definition for faith. It is also a very powerful revelation that the Holy Spirit gave us. Faith is a very important subject to study and to live by. The Bible said by it the elders obtained a good report.(Hebrews 11:2) One cannot be ignored and missed up in the crowd when one walks by faith. Without faith one cannot please God. (Hebrews 11:6)

Our key scripture teaches that faith is a present moment assurance or possession of something hoped for. It is a title deed of something that is not physically at hand. A celebration of an anticipated answer.  Faith in God is a confidence assurance of a promise that God has given. Faith focuses on the promise of God,and not the challenges around. Faith in God is spiritual and supernatural, so it is always superior to every natural opposition.

Hope is an anticipation or an expectation and faith takes a hold of that which hope has obtained.

Faith and hope are partners. Hope always go ahead and faith comes along to take a hold of that which hope has had. Without hope standing up faith is paralyzed.

Although faith always dares the impossible, it rests on the mightiness and faithfulness of God. It is always the reliability of God that makes his words gives birth to faith. Romans 10:17″So then faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God”. If your faith is getting weak, what you need mainly is to give yourself a high dose of the word of God.

 Faith’s achievements in a man are as God himself, for faith is God acting through a man….. The Lord said all things are possible to him who believes. (Mark 9:23)

The scripture narrates a few of the works of faith in God in Hebrews 11:33-34 “Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouth of lions,quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to fight the armies of the aliens”

These feats are continually being wrought by all those who take the path of walking in faith. Faith in God and faith to dare the impossible is normally not popular yet those who stand for God are always celebrated. Be among those who would be celebrated for their faith in God.

   CONFESSION

My faith in God is forever alive.By it all things are possible to me. Life is exciting and beautiful because of faith in God. Faith in God always pleases him.

FURTHER STUDIES:

Matthew 14:29.  “And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus.”

Mark 9:23 “Jesus said unto him,If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth”.   

KEY SCRIPTURE: Romans 4:17 “(As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were”.

The Holy Spirit once again exposes a truth that we all need to pay a closer attention to. It was said about Abraham in Gen 17:5 as follows “Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram but thy name shall be called Abraham for a father of many nations have I made thee. Abram means exalted father, but the Lord changed his name and called him Abraham. Abraham means father of many nations. It implied God had made him a father of many nations. Apostle Paul through the Holy Spirit said that God calls those things which be not as though they were and he also quickens the dead.

These truths reveal a very important fact about the nature of God. We realize that what God promises to happen in the future must be treated as to have happened.  He also gives life to that which might be dead. What he (Paul) is saying is that when dealing with a promise of God count it done.

There are two things that are impossible to men:

1. The things that does not exist.

2. That which is dead.

 From our key scripture, the Lord calls that which is not as though it was. This is what we call faith. Faith always sees what should be in the future now. Faith does not know it would happen tomorrow, but it has happened. (Hebrews 11:1)This is the realm of God. If that which God is relating with is dead He gives life to it.

We must approach God’s promises on this principle. We must believe that what we hope to have in the future is present with us now. The word impossible is not in God’s vocabulary. It is in the vocabulary of fallen men. Now that we are born again we are alive unto God(Ephesians. 2:1)

To partake of the promises of God you must also go into God’s realm and call that which should be in the future now or today. If some condition is dead declare that life has come into it. Praise God about it. You cannot be disappointed.

  CONFESSION

I live in the realm of God that is the realm of faith. I do not live in the future concerning God’s promises, they are all now with me. In this way I always experience the reality of His promises.

Further studies.

Hebrews 11:1 “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen”.

Romans 10:10. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation”.

KEY SCRIPTURE: Galatians 6:14 ” But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world”.

Apostle Paul declares in our key scripture that God forbid that he should glory or boast, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is very revealing. Human nature has a tendency to be proud about their achievements. In this scripture we are told that every form of boasting outside the cross of our Lord Jesus  is an empty boasting. Why is this so? The Bible reveals that men by virtue of our lineage from our first father Adam have all inherited a nature of death and condemnation. Romans 5:12 “wherefore as by one man sin  entered into the world and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned”. This nature is also called “the law of sin and death”(Romans 8:2). Every person born on this Earth has this power called the law of sin and death at work in him: Every human experience outside Christ and the cross is pure misery and failure. All achievements of any man and its subsequent boasting is futile.

The Lord Jesus death on the cross was a deliverance for all mankind. His death was the crucifixion of this power that ruled mankind. On the cross, we were all set free. The law of sin and death made us slaves to the prince of the power of the air the spirit that ruled the world. Ephesians 2:2  ” Wherein in time past ye walked according to  the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience “:

Dear child of God, because of the cross of Christ we are crucified to the world and the prince of the power of the air. This spirit does not have the power to dominate us. Any Christian who lives in sin either does not know the truth or has willingly yielded himself or herself to this prince of the air. The cross of Christ spelt our deliverance. The cross is our place of glory. It is God’s instrument for our deliverance into the new life. We do not glory or boast about any achievement of ours but only in the cross of Christ.

Dear reader if you have not given your life to Jesus then you have not passed through this ‘door of deliverance’, you are still a slave to the world, ruled by the prince of the power of the air. If you refuse to make Jesus Lord of your life, you would be with this evil prince in hell. Choose to accept the Lord Jesus today.

PRAYER

Thank you heavenly Father because of our Lord Jesus who died on the cross for us. Today l am free from Satan’s dominance and am an instrument to set others free. In Jesus name I have prayed.

FURTHER STUDIES.

Galatians 2:20 ” I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me”.

Romans 7:24-25 ” O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin”.

KEY SCRIPTURE: Galatians 6:1” Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted”.

Our key scripture shows us the right attitude to have when helping a brother who has been overtaken by a fault.

The Lord once admitted that, we would   always have the poor with us. (Matthew 26:11). In the same understanding we would also always have brothers and sisters who would be overtaken in a fault. We must accept that we all don’t have the same understanding towards the bible neither do we all respond to the scriptures in a similar way. How do we handle such a person who has been overtaken in a fault?

Our key scripture shows us the attitude we have to take. We must approach them with the Spirit of meekness. Meekness is humility in action. This implies you must not attend to him or her with an ‘I am a better person attitude’. A humble mind is the one who accepts that I am whatever I am not by my efforts but by the grace of God. It is approaching the brother not with a condemning attitude. He said in the key scripture, “considering yourself lest thou also be tempted”.

Whenever a brother approaches a fallen one who has been over taken in a fault and condemns him or her, this person who condemns has thrown away the grace of God. Without the grace of God everyone is incapable, unqualified and guilty. To handle a brother without God’s grace is like using your bare hands to handle a life wire. You would surely be electrocuted. How does this happen? When you approach with a condemning attitude, you have no divine protection, and the very power or demon that deceived him would easily over power you and cause you to do even worse.

Never act in any moment as a Christian without the grace of God. This implies you should not be legalistic and condemn others. (Luke 6:37). What did those men who brought the lady who was supposed to be caught in the act of adultery do, after Jesus had asked them to cast their stones, if they had not sinned before? None could cast their stone because every man had an area he or she falls short. (John 8:3-11). Don’t cast any stone at anyone. Do not add your voice to accuse another brother or sister in their absence. If you do any of these things you are judging and condemning others.

 PRAYER

I pray for all those who have been over taken in a fault or sin. May the Holy Spirit open up their eyes and strengthen them to rise above whatever has caused their fall and never to go back into sin again.

FURTHER STUDIES.

Luke 6:37 ” Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven:”

James 5:20 “Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins”.

KEY SCRIPTURE: Galatians 5:6. For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love.

Our key scripture establishes one basic fact, that, observing the works of the law by one’s effort does not meet God’s approval, but trusting in the Lord to work through you.

 Man by nature likes to do than to trust. In the garden of Eden God made man like Himself (Gen 1:26-28).They did not need to do any more things to remain that way ,but only to trust the word of God  and keep pleasing God always. The bible said when the devil through the serpent told them there was something to do to become like God, they chose to stop believing God and to eat of the tree. They fell out of faith with God. .  It is faith which works by love that is what matters unto God. This two virtues are most important unto God. Faith basically relates more to God whiles love relates more to God and our fellow man.

Our heavenly Father wants our actions to be motivated mostly by our faith in Him through our love for Him and for our fellow men. Faith in God is strengthened by our love for God. Faith is the force that unites us to God. Faith is God working through a man. Faith is strong in our heart when love for God is also very strong. 1st John 4:17 “Herein is our love made perfect that we may have boldness in the day of judgement…..”. Having boldness in the day of judgement is a demonstration of our faith. In the light of this if our faith should be strong then our love should be stronger.

Faith takes a hold of all that Jesus is and has done. This is what matters in our relationship to God. Human effort or human abilities cannot meet God’s requirements. Our key scripture says circumcision or non-circumcision does not matter. These things refer to what men do rather than believing God. There are a number of Christians who show outward gestures like giving long religious prayers putting up religious expression when fasting and many more.  These things are done to attract people’s attention. All these are human efforts that is not based on trust in God to be justified by Him.

The Christian experience is only acceptable before God when the Spirit of God is the one acting or doing the work through us. It is faith in God that makes the Spirit to work through us.

One may preach but with a mind to attract attention to himself or herself. This is of the flesh. Some sing in churches to show how good they can sing. All these have nothing to do with faith. God is not involved with anything not of faith. Faith always seeks God’s honour not man’s.

  CONFESSION

Everything I do, I do to honour God and it is done by faith. I do nothing to attract men’s to myself. All is done to bring glory to Him.

FURTHER STUDIES.

Hebrews 11:6 ” But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him”.

Hebrews 11:1 …” Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen”.