“For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.”  (1 John 5:4)

The Bible says, “Without faith it is impossible to please God, for he who comes to Him must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.”  (Hebrews 11:6). 

A believer believes.  A believer walks by faith and not by sight.  The just shall live by faith.

In this world today, many have this notion that “to see is to believe!”  But, how can one have faith on the things that are right in front of him?  Remember what Jesus said to Thomas after His resurrection, “Because you have seen Me, you have believed.  BLESSED and HAPPY and TO BE ENVIED are those who have never seen Me and yet have believed and adhered to and trusted and relied on Me.”  (John 20:29 AMPC)   

Faith always points to God regardless of our circumstances.  We need to learn how to take our thoughts captive into the obedience of Christ when they exalt themselves against the knowledge of God.  Yes, our state of affairs may be tangibly felt, but when we set our eyes on Jesus Who paid the price for our eternal salvation and perpetual victory on earth as it is in heaven, our situations will grow dim the in light of His presence.  At times we, the violent, take it by force, by pressing in to what He has promised us, setting our faces like flint until  we see them come to pass, for He Who promised is faithful.

The Lord our God is faithful and it is He Who gives us a measure of faith and He take us from glory to glory. He gave us His Word breathed by His Spirit and when we keep hearing and hearing what He is speaking because we are in continuous fellowship with Him, we are infused with His life. This is the only way for a branch to live and stay alive, when it abides in the Vine in ceaseless connection.

If we look at the woman with the issue of blood who found no cure for twelve years in spite of having spent all that she had, what made her press in through the crowd to go near Jesus? (Luke 8:43-48)  I believe it was because she heard and kept hearing that Jesus healed all who came to Him and all of those He ministered to.  Hope, her confident expectation of something good that is about to happen to her, arose from deep within her that even if it was unlawful for her to mingle with the crowd because she was considered unclean due to her affliction, she pushed her way through and drew near to Jesus.  With her touch of faith on Jesus’ robe’s fringe, her bleeding immediately stopped. 

I so love the thought that her touch of faith was noticed by Jesus when He turned around and asked, “Who touched me?” Everyone denied it, and Peter said, “Master, this whole crowd is pressing up against you.” But Jesus said, “Someone deliberately touched Me, for I felt healing power go out from Me.”

“When the woman realized that she could not stay hidden, she began to tremble and fell to her knees in front of Him. The whole crowd heard her explain why she had touched Him and that she had been immediately healed. “Daughter,” He said to her, “your faith has made you well. Go in peace.” (Luke 8:47-48)

Jesus sees and notices our faith and it pleases Him because this is where He can manifest Himself mightily to those who believe Him., “for the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him, fully committed to Him.” (2 Chronicles 16:9). 

Jesus saw the faith of the friends of a paralytic man who climbed up on the roof and pulled off some roof tiles. Then they lowered the man by ropes so he came to rest right in front of Jesus. 

Then Jesus spoke to him, “I say, get up, take your mat, and go home.

Then, right in front of their eyes, the man stood up, picked up his bed, and left to go home—full of praises for God! Everyone was stunned. They couldn’t help but feel awestruck, and they praised God too.” (Luke 5:17-26)

What are you in need of? Draw close to Him Who notices the touch of our faith that postures us to experience His mighty wonders in our lives. His awesome wonders are not limited to the spectacular ones. Never discount, belittle or despise a little need. When we acknowledge Him in ALL of our ways, He surely will direct our paths. A miracle is a miracle no matter how small and simple it is. They become our testimonies and our testimonies are His stories. They are demonstrations testifying His living presence in our lives.

Recently, my need of Him is for me to be established in my heavenly identity of who He created me to be, as He takes me from glory to glory. All my life, I’ve always loved music, most especially piano. Because I play by ear, I took up piano lessons to enhance and be equipped for His greater glory in worship.

During my lessons, I noticed that when my teacher starts to tell me what to do, I oftentimes get shaken. A number of times I asked myself why? There was such insecurity in me. For one, I used to be surrounded by professional musicians. Instead of growing, I shrunk hahaha! There was always this lie that kept playing in my head, “You are never good enough.” I had no confidence at all when it comes to my piano playing and this I need to overcome.

Technically, I am doing my part, but I know most of it comes from my innermost being. I needed to keep reminding myself how our Father’s love is perfect that pushes away all my fears and that my security comes first and foremost from Him Who sees me, accepts me, equips me and molds me, for I am His workmanship created for His glory, until what I do becomes a fruit of who I am in Him and whose I am. I can do ALL things through Christ Who strengthens me. Thank You, Jesus.

I love what Bill Johnson said, “When we believe a lie, we empower the liar.” So, why not meditate on the TRUTH of His Word that perfectly describes who we are in the eyes of our Loving Heavenly Father. It is our knowledge of this truth that sets us free. It is the saving knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ and His finished work that gives us the victory. He is the Truth that dislodges all the lies of the enemy that always try to stain our identity. Thankfully, we are established in righteousness because of the shed blood of the Lamb of God.

On another note, I received from my overseas Bible School that the graduation date for my degree has been set, and here I am looking at my bank account that cannot take me even nowhere nearby hahaha! At one point, I said to myself, “Who cares if I cannot attend? No one is celebrates me anyway.” Aha! When I caught myself thinking this way, I had to arrest my thoughts right away and had this deep inspiration and revelation … ” In times when no one notices you, no one acknowledges you, no one celebrates you, and everyone seems to overlook, dismiss, forget or take you for granted, these things are of an orphan spirit and that is NOT who you are! You are a daughter of the Most High God who is being noticed, acknowledged, approved, celebrated, blessed, favored and loved by Him. Know that the indwelling of the Holy Spirit bears witness within you that you belong to Him Who created you in love for a specific purpose. Look at the birds, they never sow nor reap, but the Lord feeds them. The sparrows are never forgotten and will never go unnoticed. Are you not of more value than they? Even the hairs on your head are numbered and He knows each time a strand falls. That is how precious you are to Him.

Before long,  this song came out of my lips … “Come on, come on and bless Him!  Come one, come on and praise His Holy Name! For the Lord Almighty delights in showing mercy!”

The sword of my spirit which is His Word surfaced from the reservoir of my heart,  

“The Lord your God in your midst,
The Mighty One, will save;
He will rejoice over you with gladness,
He will quiet you with His love,
He will rejoice over you with singing.”  (Zephaniah 3:17)

Sometimes we forget that the One Who loves us most celebrates us and rejoices over us with gladness and singing!  Praise the Lord for His Word that is Living and Powerful that pulverizes every thought that we think about ourselves that is not in His vocabulary of us. Praise indeed is the fruit of our lips because the Seed of His Word is sown into our hearts.

Because greater is He Who is in us than who is in the world, in Christ, we are superior over our circumstances, feelings, emotions and facts.  We are not supposed to be governed by them when JESUS IS OUR LORD.  When He is enthroned in our hearts, everything else is subject to His Lordship and the same Spirit Who raised Jesus from the dead lives inside of us and is able to give life and quicken us to walk in this truth.

Do you know that when we believe and receive Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we have just opened ourselves up to the triumphant entry of One Who overcame the world? Yes, we just celebrated Palm Sunday when Jesus entered Jerusalem. They that went before Him, and they that followed cried, saying, “Hosanna; Blessed is He that comes in the Name of the Lord: Hosanna in the highest.” ( Mark 11:9) What they were saying was, “SAVE US NOW!”

When we welcome the Savior, He saves us! Salvation is not limited to our spiritual salvation of us having eternal life with Him, but it also includes our earthly life. He came as a Man so we, men, can overcome the world by the power of His Spirit. He said, “I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have [perfect] peace and confidence. In the world you have tribulation and trials and distress and frustration; but be of good cheer [take courage; be confident, certain, undaunted]! For I have overcome the world. [I have deprived it of power to harm you and have conquered it for you.]” (John 16:33 AMPC) What He overcame, He gave us the power and authority to overcome, not by our might nor by our power, but by the Spirit of the Living God resident in us. We overcome by the Blood of the Lamb and by the word of our testimony.

Jesus did not say that the mountain will move us.  NO!  He said, “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.  Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.” (Mark11:23-24) You and I are called to be mountain-movers not just for our own mountains but the mountains of those He called us to pray for and intercede.

What is your story? 

We are to be always reminded that our testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.  There are always people around us who are open to receive what we are speaking, so they, too, can believe.  Our testimonies are invitations to the exploration of God’s goodness brought forth by His presence. 

He is Jesus. His Name is The Word and He does not change. If He did it for the woman with the issue of blood and the paralytic, surely He can do it for us for He is not a respecter of persons. The same promise that He gave them has been transmitted to us and through us by our testimonies. What He is after is our touch of faith and He always shows up to set His people free. That is how faithful He is. At this age and time, the Word of God breathed by the Holy Spirit is our only godly fuel that can surely bring us godly results.

“This One is the manifestation of the life-giving Voice,  and He showed us real life, eternal life. We have seen it all, and we can’t keep what we witnessed quiet—we have to share it with you. We are inviting you to experience eternal life through the One who was with the Father and came down to us.” (1 John 1:1b-2 Voice)