2Corinthians 5:17-18 (Amplified) says, "Therefore, if any person is (ingrafted) in Christ Jesus (the Messiah) he is a new creation (a new creature altogether); the old (previous moral and spiritual condition) has passed. Behold, the fresh and new has come. But all things are from God, Who through Jesus Christ reconciled us to Himself (received us into favor, brought us into harmony with Himself) and gave to us the ministry of reconciliation (that by word and deed we might aim to bring others into harmony with Him)."
Our entire relationship with God is based upon our trusting Him and placing faith in what He's said in His Word. We are in a place where we must evaluate our own degree of trust. We've heard and believed in the things others have taught from their own experiences and their own degree of trust. Because of this, we've fallen short of what our Heavenly Father really wants for us.
When we refuse to admit to or receive what God says about us, we are denying trust in what He's done for us, in Jesus. It sounds humble to the carnal, natural man, to say, "I'm not righteous," but to God's ears and His Spirit, it sounds like a lack of trust and faith in His Word and His Son's Sacrifice for us. When we accept and confess our righteousness in Jesus, we are actually honoring and exalting God in His Provision and the righteousness He has provided for us in Jesus.
We've been "talked out" of many things that the Father intended for this new creation family. Many things have been dismissed as foolishness, in the Church. I heard Charles Capps teaching about the words that come out of our mouths and I knew that it was God Who was speaking to me. He preached about how we've been speaking and living so negatively in our lives and never received anything. I began to listen from my heart and found that what he preached, was true in my life. I had been speaking faith-filled words, but they weren't God's Words. They were the words I heard and learned to accept in life, before I knew Jesus.
Like many of you, we came from a family of poverty and lack. We've spoken and accepted our way of life as being, "It is what it is." The things I had been speaking were coming to pass, but they weren't things I wanted, only what I had been believing. Sickness and strife were faith-filled words that were continually coming to fruition in my life. When I began changing the words I spoke, I began seeing change in my life too.
Many will dismiss this entire teaching of the Holy Spirit as "foolishness," and they will continue in the same depression that they had before being born-again. The entire validity of this teaching was lost to them, because someone else didn't believe it and it must therefore, be untrue. We cannot base our walk with the Father, on what others do with the Sacrifice of Jesus. It's true that we all trust and believe that we will all go to Heaven when we die, but what about now?
It seems that many people are always in opposition to what God says. We find this truth throughout God's Word, in the old and new covenants. I believe that when the early Church preached Jesus, that healings and miracles occurred for those who were born-again. Paul never spoke much about these things, but he had received his revelation straight from Jesus. All these things were very a very important part of Jesus' ministry on earth. There were such profound things happening in the crowds of people Peter and Paul preached too, that even unbelievers came to salvation.
Since that time, we began separate sermons about healing and salvation, into different categories. Both of these are Super-natural events, with one you can see and one you cannot see. We dismiss the things we can see (like healings and miracles) and accept only what we never knew by our senses. Being born-again is something very few people can actually see, so we assumed it worked in our lives.
God has brought us into this world now, in His new creation family who are Spirit-filled, Super-natural people, in order to reveal Himself to the world, like He did in times past. We have the ability in our individual lives, to increase our faith and trust in Him and further our own relationship with Him. Our walk with the Holy Spirit isn't based on what everyone else believes, only on what you believe.
If Jesus had based His walk on the things others believed, then He would never been able to do the things He did. His Trust was only in "The things the Father said and did," instead of what the Scribes and Pharisees believed, said and did. Jesus stood in opposition to everything the world said about God. We too, stand in opposition to the same religious order, that denied the Lord and His Words. Some people say, "One cannot take the Word literally." How else can we take it and still trust it to produce?
We've never learned to "Divide the Word" accurately, like Paul told Timothy to do. We still see believe God deals with the new creation, like He did before Jesus came. We've based our discipleship on natural things, instead of Spiritual things. We've centered our learning and teaching on the Curse, instead of the Blessing. Many believe that teaching on the Blessing are not sound doctrine. Our trust must be based on what God's Word declares and decrees. Anything else is not trusting in our Sacrifice of Jesus. Through the Word, we've found heroes of faith like God points out in Hebrews 11. These were people who trusted God, above all others. When everyone laughed at Noah's saying, "A flood is coming," Noah believed what God said and he was delivered. When Joshua and Caleb believed what God said instead of the people, they inherited the Promised Land. Today, if we dare believe and trust in Him, then we can still have the Promises of God fulfilled in our lives, when no one else does. God is not a Respecter of Persons, but He is a Respecter of your faith.
This is the time when God is going to show Himself throughout the world and He is going to do it through the Church. Not everyone in the Church will be able to be used by the Father, but many are coming to personal trust in Him. Through recent history, the great heroes like Smith Wigglesworth, Katherine Kulman, John G. Lake, Billy Graham, Franklin Graham and many others, were just like you and me, but they developed a relationship with the Father on their own. It's hard to do what the Father has asked us to do, if we don't hear His Voice. We must step out in faith, in order to hear the Voice of our Great Shepherd Jesus.
When God audibly spoke to Jesus at Lazarus' tomb, no one heard it except Jesus. Most thought it had thundered. They "heard" it, but Jesus heard it by His Own Spirit. Through this new creations, we have the Same Spirit and are enabled to Hear His Voice, just like Jesus did.
This is developing your new creation man, to know in your spirit, what God is saying to you. Only you can develop this new ability in your life. It comes from spending time in His Presence and listening with your new man. Your natural ears might hear Him, but no so much as your heart. God created you to know and hear His instructions. Trying to do things from presumption, is foolish. Knowing and perceiving in your spirit, is what the Father has created us for.
The world will never understand you, but they will appreciate you, as you deliver what the Father has sent you to do. Many of the people Jesus interacted with, only came out of curiosity. When they witness the demonstration of the Spirit, they believed. The world wants to believe, but they've never seen anything they can relate to. The world can see the healing and deliverance of those they're familiar with. Don't expect them to only listen to you. Show them Jesus in your actions.
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