Lesson 21 FAITH

     2Corinthians 3:16,18 (Amplified) tells us that, "Now the Lord is the Spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty (emancipation from bondage, freedom)."  Verse 18 goes on, "And all of us, as with unveiled face (because we) continued to behold (in the Word of God) as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are constantly being transfigured into His very Image in ever increasing splendor and from one degree of glory to another (for this comes) from the Lord (Who is) the Spirit."
     As the Church, we're called to become transfigured and transformed by the Spirit of God into the Image of the Lord.  This Image of Jesus goes from His earthly walk as a Spirit-filled Man, to the power and the glory of His resurrection.  John 17:21-22 (Amplified) says, "That they may all be one, (just) as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be one in Us, so that the world may believe and be convinced that You have sent Me."  Verse 22 goes on, "I have given to them the glory and honor which You have given Me, that they may be one (even) as We are One."
      The glory and honor Jesus was given by the Father, is the same glory and honor that He has given us.  The 23rd verse of John 17 (Amplified) says, "I in them and You in Me, in order that they may become one and perfectly united, that the world may know and (definitely) recognize that You sent Me and that You have loved them (even) as You have loved Me."
     Galatians 5:6 (Amplified) says, "For (if we are) in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith activated and energized and expressed and working through love."  We also read in John 15:9-10 (Amplified) that, "I have loved you (just) as the Father has loved Me; abide in My love (continue in His love with Me)."  Verse 10 goes on, "If you keep My commandments (if you continue to obey My instructions) you will abide in My love and live on in it, just as I have obeyed My Father's commandments and live on in His love." 
     John 15:24 (Amplified) tells us, "Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me; or else believe Me for the sake of the (very) works themselves. (If you cannot trust Me, at least let these works that I do in My Father's name convince you)."  Verse 12 says, "I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, if anyone steadfastly believes in Me,he will himself be able to do the things that I do; and he will do even greater things than these, because I go to the Father."
     We've wondered for years, what the "greater thing" might be.  Because Jesus said it, we know it's true.  But, the mind staggers at the thought of doing something greater than Jesus.  When we stop and think about it, we find that getting someone born again is a greater work.  Jesus couldn't get anybody born again while He was on earth.  It required His death on the cross and dealing with our sin and the curse .  It took Jesus becoming sin for us for us to be made in right standing with the Father.  Now, because of Jesus' resurrection, man can be born again.  Romans 10:9-10 (Amplified) says that, "This is a greater thing than healing a natural (body), to give birth (through the Word and the power of His resurrection) to a new creation, by faith in His Lordship."
     This doesn't mean we're to neglect the miracles and healings that show God's power to the world.  The miracle power of Jesus (through the Church), separates Christianity from all other religions in the world today.  Revealing the power of God, through the name of Jesus, shows the world that our God is a living and loving God.  Only love foe the people can display this power the people.  Jesus said, "If you cannot believe what I am saying, at least believe the works that I do."
     No man can show forth this kind of love and power outside of Jesus and the Father Who lives in us.  We're reluctant to try walking in these signs of Jesus in us because we don't want others to think we're walking in pride.  Anyone who really loves Jesus, or better yet, who knows how much Jesus loves him, would ever consider this as pride.  The signs and wonders the Church is supposed to walk in is the revealing of the love the Father has for mankind.
     If healings and miracles weren't needed to reveal God's love to the world, then Jesus wouldn't have needed to show the Father's love to the people.  The world today is in such a mess and is seeking answers from so many sources that all they're seeking in confusion.  One religions says to meditate, another says good works get one to heaven, another says that reincarnation (doing it until you get it right) is the truth and another religion says to kill all those who won't convert to that religion.  It's very difficult to see God in the myriad of chaos in today's world.
     The faith we've been learning about in these teachings, isn't some radical kind of faith or new teaching.  It's the thing God used through Jesus and the thing Jesus used through His disciples in  Luke 10:1-9 (Amplified) when He taught, "Heal the sick, cast out devils, and bless and proclaim peace to every place they will receive you."
     The miracle power of God's love is desperately needed todayto reveal to the world that our God
lives.  We've had a form of Godliness, but denied the power for far too long.  If God is God (and He is), then He still does what He has always done on behalf of His people.  He is still the God of life, love, miracles and mercy.
     You needn't be afraid of His power through you because it's the manifestation of His love.  1Corinthians 12:31 (Amplified) says, "But earnestly desire and zealously cultivate the greatest and best gifts and graces (the higher gifts and the choisest graces). And yet I will show you a still more excellent way (one that is better by far and the highest of them all-love)."
     If you read this in the light of the Holy Spirit Who wrote it, then it simply says that a better way to receive these gifts and these graces than trying to cultivate or desire and seek after them, it to learn to love.  Love isn't only these gifts, but also is the Giver of these gifts.  "If God is Love" like 1John 4:8 (Amplified) says, then as you read 1Corinthians 13 (the Love chapter), you see the very nature and character of God revealed through His Body, the Church.
     Jesus was moved by compassion and healed the sick and cast out devils.  This is the manifestation of Love, or God, in the lives of His Church.  I believe that God is raising up a people who will die unto self and live unto Him to the degree that all will know He is Lord!  The time to move by faith into the realm of the miraculous has come to the Church in these last days.  There will be those who scoff at this, but there will also be those who will go forth in the power of Jesus' Name and set at liberty all who are bound.
      Hebrews 11:1 (Amplified) says that, "Now faith, is the assurance (the confirmation, the title deed) of the things (we) hope for, being the proof of things (we) do not see and the conviction of their reality (faith, perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses)."