Increase Your Faith

Treasure In…Treasure Out! By Billy Joe Daugherty

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. (Romans 12:2)

When you accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, the life of God comes into your heart, or spirit being, and you become a new creature in Christ. (2 Cor. 5:17.) Your head, however, is still full of the same old thoughts you had before giving your life to Christ.

When you think the wrong, or sinful, thoughts, your body will follow in that direction. To continue living in sin when your heart is filled with the life of God only brings guilt, condemnation, and frustration.

Unfortunately, this is where many Christians are today. They know what is right, but their unrenewed thinking leads them in a wrong direction.

The mind is a battlefield for many. Whatever you think about constantly will eventually be acted out in your life. You cannot put garbage in your mind and expect something good to come out. If you want a different output, then you have to change the input.

If the life you are experiencing is not what you want, then you must increase the amount of time you spend reading, hearing, studying, and meditating on God’s Word. The light of God’s Word will drive darkness out of your life.

Some people try to quit sinning—lying, stealing, lusting, and getting angry, to name a few areas of challenge of the old nature. Sometimes they ask their pastor to pray their old sinful nature out of them, but no amount of praying will work. If their minds aren’t renewed with God’s Word, they’ll still think wrong thoughts and act out what they are thinking. It’s only by putting so much of the Word inside of you that sin will quit you. This is the only way to overcome your old, sinful nature.

DECLARATION OF FAITH

I am filling myself up with the Word of God so sin will quit me. The light of God’s Word is driving all darkness out of me. I put God’s Word in my eyes, ears, mind, and heart and speak it from my lips. Anger, fear, loneliness, and all of my old nature are all removed by the power of Jesus inside of me.

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Resolved: To Grow By Kenneth E. Hagin

Fight the good fight of faith…(1 Tim. 6:12).

The only fight the Christian is called upon to fight is the fight of faith.

If you’re in any other kind of fight, you’re in the wrong fight! There’s no need to fight the devil – Jesus has already defeated him. There’s no need fighting sin – Jesus is the cure for sin. But there is a fight (and therefore enemies, or hindrances) to faith.

The greatest enemy to faith is a lack of understanding God’s Word. In fact, all hindrances to faith center on this lack of knowledge; because you cannot believe or have faith beyond your actual knowledge of the Word of God.

However, your faith will automatically grow as your understanding of God’s Word grows (Rom. 10:17). If your faith is not growing, it’s because your knowledge of God’s Word is not growing. And you cannot grow or develop spiritually if you are not growing in faith.

The best resolution you can make today is that in the upcoming year, your knowledge of God’s Word will grow. Then give yourself to the study of the Word! It will automatically follow that your faith will grow. Hence, you will grow and develop spiritually.

Confession: In the upcoming year, my faith will grow. I am determined that my knowledge of God’s Word will grow. My understanding of God’s Word will grow. Therefore, faith will come, and my faith will grow. I will grow and develop spiritually this year!

Source: Faith Food Devotions by Kenneth E. Hagin.

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Don’t Just Sit There…Arise! by Kenneth Copeland

Now four men who were lepers were at the entrance of the city’s gate; and they said to one another, Why do we sit here until we die…. So they arose. 2 Kings 7:3,5

No matter how bad the problem is you may be facing today, no matter how far under the circumstances you may be, in 24 hours you can be back on top!

“Oh, Brother Copeland, that would be impossible!”

That’s what the Samaritans thought in 2 Kings 7. Their land was being ravaged by famine. Enemy troops had surrounded them and cut off all source of supply. Mothers were eating their own children just to survive.

But right in the middle of that, the Lord told the prophet Elisha that in 24 hours the whole situation would change. Flour and barley would sell for just a few pennies and there would be abundance for all.

What did God use to turn that situation around?

Four lepers! Four lepers who, instead of sitting around feeling sorry for themselves and waiting to die, decided to arise and take their chances in the enemy camp. When they got there, they found it abandoned. All the warriors had been frightened away by the angels of God, and they’d left enough food behind to feed all of Samaria!

Sometimes you and I are like the officials in that story. We get problem-centered instead of Word of God centered. We let ourselves be so surrounded with the loud voice of the world that the vision of our victory is pushed out of sight.

When that happens, faith and power begin to subside and life caves in on us from every side.

If that’s happened to you, stop crying about it. Stop looking at your problem and feeling sorry for yourself. That won’t change anything!

Just like He did for Elisha, God’s given you a word. He’s promised you victory. He’s promised to make you an overcomer.

So don’t just sit there till you die. Don’t accept defeat. Rise up in faith. Stand up on God’s Word and fight for your life. Get mad at Satan. Cast him out. Get mad at that sickness. Get angry with poverty and start giving.

Rise up and receive the deliverance of the Lord!

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Extremely Blessed by Gloria Copeland

A gift is as a precious stone in the eyes of him that hath it: whithersoever it turneth, it prospereth. Proverbs 17:8

If I could give you a gift this Christmas, the Word is what I’d give you. I’d rather give it to you than a check for a million dollars. Because you can run through a million dollars real quick, but the truth of God’s Word never quits–and it will get you out of situations a million dollars can’t get you out of.

Ken and I are just ordinary people. But when we latched onto God’s Word, we latched onto something out of the ordinary, something that changed our lives. Every area of our lives.

Nothing that’s happened to us has happened because of us. It’s happened because of God’s Word. In fact, I don’t even have to know you to promise you this: If you’ll give God’s Word your full attention–and not be afraid of His will for your life–you’re going to be happier and more prosperous than anything you could ever dream up.

Of course, if you do that, people may call you extreme. They say that about us all the time. But we don’t mind. We are extreme. And if you’ll set your faith on the Word of God, you can be extreme too. Extremely well. Extremely prosperous. And extremely blessed. Merry Christmas!

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Anxiety in the heart of man causes depression, but a good word makes it glad. Proverbs 12:25 (NKJV)

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God… Philippians 4:6 (NKJV)

…Casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you. 1 Peter 5:7 (NKJV)

Pastor’s Commentary:

Proverbs 12:25 gives us the Biblical diagnosis for depression of every kind; it’s worry. Depression, and its root cause worry, are not now, nor have they ever been of God. They are not the result of chemical imbalances either; they are lying demonic forces that tell people they can’t trust in God.

Therefore, worry is sin, plain and simple. Jesus clearly commands us not to worry. He said:

Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Therefore do not worry, saying, What shall we eat? or What shall we drink? or What shall we wear? …Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. (Matthew 6:25, 31, 34 NKJV)

How do we defeat worry and its evil manifestation depression? We keep the Word of God in our mouths and in our hearts. Faith in God and His Word alleviate all anxiety and fear. Praying the Word and giving thanks in advance for the manifestation thereof is how we cast our cares on the Lord. It’s the good Word of God that destroys depression’s filthy hold on us. So, if depression tries to latch onto you, repent (change your thinking) and believe God’s Word above what you feel or see to the contrary.

Confession:

The good Word of God makes my heart glad, therefore, I am depression-proof. I am anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, I make my requests known to God. I cast all my cares upon the Lord, for He cares for me. Depression has no place in my life!

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Put the Word Into Action By Kenneth Copeland

“Who so ever hears these sayings of mine, and does them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock” (Matt. 7:24).

If you want your deeds to be blessed, if you want to see supernatural results in your life, you’ll have to do more than simply read the Word of God. You’ll have to put it into action.

That’s what I did. Years ago when I realized that God was the One Who had the answers to all my problems, that He was the One Who could supply all my needs, I committed myself to do everything His Word told me to do. I made a quality decision to step out in faith on every command I saw there.

When I found out, for example, that God’s Word instructed me to tithe, Gloria and I were already trying to stretch what little money we had further than it could possibly go. We were up to our necks in debt! We couldn’t possibly afford to give away ten percent. But, we did it anyway.

We stepped out on faith and kept our commitment to do every command we saw. Before long we began to see financial increase. We’ve been increasing ever since.

Keep on reading and studying the Bible. Listen to teaching tapes. Go to church and hear the Word preached. But don’t stop there. Go one crucial step further by taking the Word you’ve heard and put it into ACTION!

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More Than Conquerors By Kenneth E. Hagin

“Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us” (Rom. 8:37).

If God’s Word had just told us we were conquerors, it would have been enough, but it tells us that we are more than conquerors through Jesus Christ.

Rather than saying, “I’m defeated,” rise up and say what the Bible says about you. Say, “I am a conqueror!”

It may not seem to you that you are a conqueror, but your confession of it because of what you see in God’s Word will create the reality of it in your life.

Sooner or later you will become what you confess!

You will not be afraid of any circumstances, if you make the right confession.

You will not be afraid of any disease, if you make the right confession.

You will not be afraid of any conditions, if you make the right confession.

You will face life fearlessly, as a conqueror!

Confession: In all things I am more than a conqueror through Him that loves me. I am not afraid of any circumstances. I am not afraid of any disease. I am not afraid of any condition. I face life fearlessly, a conqueror! I am a conqueror! In fact, I am more than a conqueror!

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