Are you a Word of Faith person? Then you must be living in victory all the time, right? You’re not? Then, why not? Oh, you say, “because that’s just not possible. I have the victory sometimes but then sometimes I don’t.”
Let me put a few questions to you:
1) Do you really want to be an overcomer?
2) Are you tired of living a defeated life?
3) Do you wonder why you work and tithe and work and tithe and still your finances stay the same? Oh, you don’t tithe? Then we need to talk.
4) Are you discouraged with a lack of healing when you need it and with continued battles of sickness and disease?
5) Do your healings only come when a Pastor prays for you in a miracle service and then maybe you have a relapse?
7) Wouldn’t you really like to live in victory every day- 24/7 - 365 days a year?
Well, I have good news for you;(GoodNewsWorthReporting.com). You can live in victory 24/7 - 365 days a year except this year, which will be 366 days. You might be thinking, “Big talker. How does he know so much?” and “I wonder how victorious his life is.”
Well, I don’t have all the answers to these questions but I know where to find them. They are, of course, found in the Word of God. So, let’s get to the Word.
The first and foremost Word in this message is from 1st John 3:2,3 - vs. 2)Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is. vs. 3)and every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.
Oh, you may think, “I’ve caught you taking scripture out of context, and you know the saying, a text out of context is a pretext”. Yes, the context of these verses is about Jesus’ return to the earth. However, there usually is more than one meaning to a verse and this is the point; we really need to see Jesus as he is. If we could do that we would start becoming more like him.
Well, how is He or what is He really like? Let’s look at 1st John 4:16,17 for the answer. Vs. 16, “And we have known and believed the love that God has to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God and God in him.”. vs. 17, “Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.” So we are urged to be like him and He is love.
Have you ever noticed how people who are around one another all the time, especially husbands and wives, start talking and acting like one another? They will often use the same expressions and mannerisms. That’s how it should be, and will be, when we spend time with God and His Word.
In a prophecy quite a few years ago, Kenneth E. Hagin said, that we would walk and talk and act like Jesus. This really is what the Lord intended. In 2 Cor. 3:18 - it says, “But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord.”.
In Gen. 1:26, God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness : and let them have dominion . . .”, and then in verse 27 it says, “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God create he him . . .”.
In Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary, Image is defined as an exact likeness and refers to Gen. 1:27 as an example. Kenneth Copeland once said that at creation if you could have stood God and Adam side by side and face to face, you couldn’t tell them apart.
That’s what is meant when man was created in God’s image. It meant in every aspect of his being; the way he acts, the way he talks and the way he takes dominion over everything on the earth; everything, except another man or woman,. That we are never to do for that gets into the area of Witchcraft, which is the spirit behind a domineering person. I didn’t say assertive person but a domineering person. That’s another subject for another time.
The whole idea of this message is for us to become so familiar with God and His Word that we will become more like Him every day; yes, even walking and talking and acting like Jesus. Did you ever notice how a small child starts not only talking but also walking like his father? That’s because he spends a lot of time observing and admiring his dad until he subconsciously becomes like him.
I know, all that we’ve covered so far sounds a bit far reaching and the big question may seem to be: How do we get there from here? Again, the answer is in the Word and the Word says that it’s by FAITH.
1) Heb. 10:38 - “The just shall live by FAITH: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him”.
2) 1st Jn. 5:4 - “For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our FAITH”.
3) Heb. 11:1 - “Now FAITH is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen”.
We will be only as victorious in the world as we are diligent in the Word of God. Jesus said continually, “Your FAITH has made you whole”. Notice, he didn’t say, “My faith or my faith filled prayers or my miraculous power, but YOUR FAITH has made you whole. That’s not to say that he didn’t have great power or great faith etc, because, of course, he did. His point was that we need to believe what he says and that translates into FAITH.
Faith, however is not found everywhere and here is an example: In his hometown of Nazareth, Jesus could not do many miracles because of a lack of faith in who He was. Mt. 13:58 - “And he did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief." The problem was that they did not believe him because they did not “see him as he is”. They only saw him as Joseph, the carpenter’s son. How do you see him?
If you don’t see Jesus “as he is”, you need to get better acquainted with him. If you want to know what anybody is like you don’t just rely on hearsay but you go to that person and sit and sup with him and find out just what makes him tick. Then will you be able to make a first hand evaluation of what that person is like. It is the same with our Lord; spend time with Him and you will know Him.
The next best way to find out what a person is like is to find out what he has been saying; not what he is alleged to have said, but his exact words. When you study the Bible thoroughly you will find that God has a lot to say about every issue of life. Yes, God is still talking today. We just need to be listening -- and believing.
Once we find out what God says about a particular subject, we need to first believe it, and then also start saying what he says. We need to say it consistently, in order to have the victory. The Lord said to Gloria Copeland one time, “In consistency lies the power”. If we are to be like Jesus will also be consistent.
If you don’t believe that “saying” is important (I said, “saying”, not thinking scripture) just go to Mark 11:23,24 - Jesus talking, (vs. 22) Have faith in God (or God’s kind of faith). Vs. 23) For verily (or truthfully) I SAY unto you, that whosoever shall SAY unto this mountain, (what’s your mountain?), be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which SAITH shall come to pass, he shall have whatsoever he SAITH. vs. 24) Therefore I SAY unto you, what things soever ye desire when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.”. [Kenneth E. Hagin’s favorite verses]
We will need to get our Concordance out and look up our areas of concern and get God’s word about that subject into our hearts and minds and speak it out; areas like: 1) Salvation 2) Authority 3)Provision 4) Healing or 5) Finances.
Rom. 10:17 says, “FAITH comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God”. We hear the Word, we believe the Word and then we speak the Word. This is called exercising our FAITH. Maybe some would say “Exorcising” our faith. It does not work just by reading a few scriptures and then quickly spouting them out or even thinking the Word. We need to SPEAK the Word and hear our own voice saying it! Again, IN CONSISTENCY LIES THE POWER! That’s the way Jesus is; consistent, "the same yesterday, today and forever".
If you want to improve your health you don’t just take a few vitamins one day and expect to be healthy. You take them every day, consistently. Neither do you get unhealthy just by eating the wrong food once in a while nor do you get fat just by eating one brownie. You get unhealthy and/or fat by having a lifestyle of inactivity or eating too much high calorie food. It’s the same way with the Word. You need to feed on it every day and I guarantee that is low calorie food.
That’s the way Jesus was, in this world. He spent a lot of time with His Father in prayer and then He said what the Father said. In other words he fed on the Word of His Father. Remember the Samaritan woman who gave him water at the well? He led her to salvation and when his disciples came back and offered him food he said in John 4:32, “I have food that you know not of”. That’s the way He was and is.
So, let’s SEE HIM AS HE IS and then we will be like Him!
Glory to God,
Hal Mitchell
halmitch@cox.net
