Posted: 04/21/2010 at 10:55am | IP Logged

Spirit Filled – Faith Filled

By Ron McGatlin

Our faith in God is probably the most vital foundational reality of our lives.

The value of solid faith may soon become even more evident. Many of the foundational structures of life as we have known it will soon crumble. Most if not all of the major institutions and moral structures governing life in the world today are fatally flawed and will not long continue without major change. Faith in God through Christ Jesus may be our only means of enduring the cataclysmic apocalyptic events ahead of us.

Certainly faith will be a major factor in the subsequent renewing of the world to the kingdom of God beyond these very difficult times. 

Faith is one of the greatest spiritual/natural mysteries. It is a powerful force.

For sons of God faith is a key factor in bringing the substance of spiritual heaven into our natural reality on earth.

Faith involves settled firm belief that comes by hearing. Hearing comes by words. Hearing in a broad sense involves the receiving of transmitted substance of thought in many forms including sight. Words in a broad sense are the carriers of thought pictures and feelings of spiritual living awareness in many forms. A number of actual language words may be used along with voice inflections and other forms of communication to package a living thought picture that constitutes what can be collectively called a word.

A word from God received into the heart (soul and spirit) of a person can grow and produce the plan of God that was contained in seed form in the word that was received and believed. A word is like a seed (Mat 13:18-23). A seed is a dormant living pattern that, when sprouted and fully grown, produces the mature reality of the coded living pattern within it. All the living pattern of a mighty oak tree is in the brown matter of an acorn. The heart of man is like soil in which whatever seed is planted will grow. It is the seed that determines what the person will become and what he will sow into the world through his life.

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

Rom 10:17:  So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

Mark 9:23:  Jesus said to him, "If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes."

Mat 9:29:  …. "According to your faith let it be to you."

Mat 17:20  So Jesus said to them, "Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.

Spirit and faith are forever tied together.

There is a vast and awesome view that is seen only with spiritual sight. Natural eyes have very limited and time-focused vision. Natural eyes see only what is now manifested in the natural realm. Spiritual eyes can see what is to come as if it were now.

God is Spirit. Hearing words from God that increase our faith in God involves the Spirit of God. It is by the Spirit of God we receive the living spoken words or pictures of thought and feeling that grow the life of Christ in our hearts. If we have faith and believe the word, we will be transformed by the living thoughts (seeds) imparted (planted) from God into our hearts (soils).

We become transformers by the Spirit as our heart (soil) reproduces the matured fruit of the seed planted in us. We become living manifestations of the seed (word) and speak the words (seeds) of God into the hearts of others and into the world. Thus, we are sown into the world, producing the life and plan of God on earth.

Our hearts will grow whatever is planted in them. We cannot change our lives by trying to be like Jesus or like God, or trying to do anything else. Our lives are changed by the words (seeds) we allow to be planted in our hearts. What we hear and believe becomes who we are – which becomes what we say and do – which affects the world around us. The world is transformed by transformed people who flow the substance of the life of God in Christ into every aspect of life in the world.

Human beings are the only created beings in whom God has vested the creative power to have dominion in the world. According to what man believes in his heart and speaks from his life, the world is changed in some degree. What man believes is reproduced by natural/supernatural spiritual means of living energy to transform the world. What man believes is determined by what man chooses to hear and see and receive into his heart soil. In the case of a child, it is what parents and others involved choose to plant into the child’s heart. Young children receive without reservation whatever is spoken to them or about them.

Mark 4:24:  Then He said to them, "Take heed what you hear. With the same measure you use, it will be measured to you; and to you who hear, more will be given.

Mark 4:26-29:  And He said, "The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground, and should sleep by night and rise by day, and the seed should sprout and grow, he himself does not know how. For the earth yields crops by itself: first the blade, then the head, after that the full grain in the head. But when the grain ripens, immediately he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come."

Godly and Ungodly Seed

It makes a big difference who or what our faith rests in. Every thought or word comes from one of two sources. Either a word or thought has its origin from Satan’s realm of darkness or from God’s realm of light.  Every word carries within some measure of life or death. In my view there are not neutral words that come from man alone. Every word thought or communication in all forms has some measure of an essence or attitude and is moving toward light or toward darkness.

If we receive bad seed, our hearts will grow it just as it would grow good seed. Remember it is the seed that determines the fruit and not the soil. The soil (heart) produces the growth automatically if the seeds are allowed to remain in available soil. If a number of bad seeds are allowed to remain (believed), a stronghold pattern of the enemy is created within. Bad spirits have access through the stronghold to negatively affect the person and through them the world around them.

Humans are spirit beings who live in an earthly body. The devil is a fallen angel, an evil spirit being. Also, his demons are evil spirit beings, and neither have earthly bodies. Their method of operation is to deceive and manipulate humans to carry out their evil works.

Faith (believing) is powerful whether it is faith in God or faith in the darkness of the enemy. For sons of the devil, faith is a strong tool in bringing evil, deception, and torment into the world.

Prov 18:21:  Death and life are in the power of the tongue, And those who love it will eat its fruit.

It is not possible to live and walk in the Spirit of God if we allow living spoken words, thoughts, and feelings from the devil and his realm of darkness to be planted in our hearts. We will not hear and receive what God is saying by His Spirit if we are listening to and believing spirits of darkness. It matters very much what we hear and see. Whether it comes in the gates of our natural eyes and ears or directly from the spiritual realm, we must receive and meditate only the words from God. We must take every thought captive by drawing near to God and resisting the devil’s words.

2 Cor 10:4-5:  For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.

The devil and his demons will speak thoughts (poison seeds) into our minds and we must take them captive. Draw near to God and speak resistance to the bad thoughts in name of Jesus. Then replace the thought with the words of God. Meditate on what God has said and is saying (Phil 4:8).

Once our hearts are cleansed and at peace, we can become a powerful influence in establishing the kingdom of God. It will be that the output of our lives will effortlessly flow the life and ways of God from the abundance of our hearts.

Luke 6:45”  "A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.”

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.” 

Keep on pursuing love. It never fails
and His kingdom never ends.

Ron McGatlin

archive.openheaven.com
basileia@earthlink.net

Posted: 04/21/2010 at 12:56pm | IP Logged

Amen!

Posted: 04/22/2010 at 5:32pm | IP Logged

Thanks Kriston and Bill for the big Amens.

Ron

Posted: 04/22/2010 at 6:23pm | IP Logged

Ron ~ "Faith (believing) is powerful whether it is faith in God or faith in the darkness of the enemy."  

So then what is the heart of man in reality?

Posted: 04/23/2010 at 8:22am | IP Logged

Hello Vince,

I am not sure that I fully understand what you are looking for in answer in reference to the line you quoted. Perhaps there is more to the question.

In brief, the heart of man is our soul and spirit. The soul involves our mind, will and emotion and our spirit is who we are. We are a spirit have a soul and live in a body. Our soul relates largely to this earth and our spirit relates largely to the spirital realm. We are spirit, soul and body. Some see the heart as the spirit alone but this is the way it works for me.

Ron

Posted: 04/23/2010 at 1:36pm | IP Logged

Ron,

Yeah I should have elaborated. I have an analytical nature and found it interesting that

Ron ~ "Faith (believing) is powerful whether it is faith in God or faith in the darkness of the enemy."  

if the enemy is sowing seeds as well this speaks to me of - to be metaphorical - a heart "arena." An arena speaks of a space that is the platform for an outcome - the devils will or God's. So our hearts then  either faciliate this struggle or are being used to bring one or the other kingdoms about.

Our we helpless in the battle then ? Because if we are simply the battleground this speaks of being made subject to something that is beyond our control - we simply can either agree with one side or the other. If for instance two army's were vying for occupation of our country - how could we decide the outcome?

The conflict then is something we dont quite understand - the rules of engagement so to speak. And if we dont understand the conflict how can we grasp our own hearts worth?

Perhaps if we were to discover what the devil was after - it would reveal our potential as well ...

Posted: 04/24/2010 at 7:34am | IP Logged

Hmmmm yes resisting the enemy ~ Amen thanks Ron

Will check out the link !

Posted: 04/25/2010 at 6:58am | IP Logged

You're welcome Vince. You will be blessed if you absorb the chapters mentioned in the book 'Overcoming Life On A Small Planet".

Ron

Posted: 04/26/2010 at 5:23am | IP Logged

 A much needed word Ron for this season we are entering into now especially ,

                                                                    Thank you

Posted: 04/26/2010 at 11:55am | IP Logged

Ron wrote: The devil and his demons will speak thoughts (poison seeds) into our minds and we must take them captive. Draw near to God and speak resistance to the bad thoughts in name of Jesus. Then replace the thought with the words of God. Meditate on what God has said and is saying (Phil 4:8). Once our hearts are cleansed and at peace, we can become a powerful influence in establishing the kingdom of God. It will be that the output of our lives will effortlessly flow the life and ways of God from the abundance of our hearts.

YES AMEN!!!