Here’s what I think…  Let’s take a look at the first of two perspectives.  Jesus under the old covenant encouraged men and woman to have faith for something that they didn’t yet possess.  For instance, the woman with the issue of blood who touched the hem of Jesus’ garment was rewarded when the Lord said, “Daughter your faith has made you well.”  She used her faith to get something Jesus had.

NOW see how the apostle Paul moved unbelievers into a decision of faith to receive Jesus as Lord; but you don’t see him trying to get the believer to believe.  As you know the early church was under great attack.  Paul himself and sometimes through the help of others would encourage and establish the believer in the faith.  This simply means that he encouraged them concerning the whole scope of Christianity to remain steadfast and not give up.  He wasn’t trying to get them to keep believing for a healing or something else that comes to us through our salvation.  If you remember, Paul and Peter both seemed to echo the thought that we have been given ALL spiritual blessings necessary for life and godliness.  From the fullness of the Lord Jesus Christ we have received—we are abundantly supplied with all the blessings necessary to influence our lives with plenty of amazing outward experiences.  (Paul would have told us if we needed to wait for something more.)  This is, however, the reason why Jesus came to the earth: to solve the sin problem that hinders man from experiencing God and His goodness.

God wants us to just put on the new man—don’t worry about taking OFF the old man.  Just identify with Christ and everything about Jesus will not only lead you into relationship with the Father but it will also empower your life with His grace to experience your salvation NOW.  Let’s get simple enough to take NO thought for tomorrow… Have no worries… And LET NOT your heart be troubled.  There is a REST for the believer.  Just put the Lord FIRST and all things that are needed will be added to you. This means your qualification is forever met in Christ alone.  Nothing else is needed!  

Let’s not put “the cart before the horse” and get ahead of what God the Father has ALREADY given to us.

(John 1:16 NKJV) . . . “And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace.” The Amp… says, “For out of His fullness (abundance) we have all received [all had a share and we were all supplied with] one grace after another and spiritual blessing upon spiritual blessing and even favor upon favor and gift [heaped] upon gift.” Jesus lived on the earth strengthened by grace and truth. Because of this he was empowered to experience everything that His spirit was supposed to. He used grace all day long. If it was a coat, then Jesus wore it all day every day. In fact His closest followers would all testify that Jesus was never seen without His coat on. Peter wrote that Jesus was anointed with the Holy Spirit and power and went around doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the devil.

This is Grace!

Paul told us in Ephesians that the way a man gets saved is by GRACE. He said, that by grace we are saved through faith and then made it very clear for all to understand that it had nothing to do with us. All we did was to acknowledge that we needed salvation and then accept the work of redemption that Jesus provided on the cross of Calvary. When that simple choice was made, grace went into overdrive and made everything about us brand new. This, as you know is just the beginning. In the same way that we are saved, we are to experience every facet of our salvation. To this day, God believes that His salvation is the easiest experience one could have.

Our experience you could say is like wearing the coat we described earlier. Once you put it on, don’t ever take it off. Or we could make grace likened to a pair of new jeans. It’s sad, but so-o-o many never USE their grace. They tell everyone that they have a new pair of jeans and even thank God for their new jeans. BUT they don’t wear them!! If you were to witness this you would be screaming, “Put them on!” Our scripture says that we have grace heaped upon grace… way, way more than enough. God’s calculations were never for only a day or a week, they were calculated by an UNLIMITED spiritual equation.

The grace of God (through faith) forgave you of all sin. But this is just the start! Now PUT ON your jeans or your coat and begin to experience God’s unlimited grace in every area of your life. Enjoy God’s presence every day of 2012, listen to His voice and receive His direction, walk in divine health, pray for others and the list goes on and on! From spiritual things to having all your needs met, the grace of God is yours TODAY. Keep wearing your jeans, don’t ever take them off.

NOW, I would love for each of you—no matter what the conditions are—to follow the one thing that David sought with all his heart; that is to experience God. Right in the heart of all the trouble that was impossible to handle, David learned the secret to being a champion… Develop and maintain your focus on God. With all the wisdom of the world, the three greatest stress relievers of our day or any other self-help therapy, no one or thing can calm your soul like Jesus. He has peace flowing from the throne of God that will flood your soul and guide you into every victory that your covenant declares!

I am moved today to focus on the word, “soak”. Soak means: to make or allow something to become thoroughly wet by immersing it in liquid. David certainly was known for his time spent in the presence of the Lord. AND in the 5th chapter of 2 Corinthians, Paul emphasized that he groaned within to become thoroughly immersed in the sea of immortality. We were made to be inwardly at peace and outwardly saturated with heaven. Life wasn’t meant to be walked through alone. So wherever you are in life, find a few moments to look within and see the wonders of Him. Even if you should fall asleep, practice being quiet and focused on Jesus. There is a presence and an anointing that will surprise you as you do this. God wants to walk through the toughest of times with you as if you never noticed how tough they were. There is direction, confidence and security in the presence of the Lord. Let’s get soaked in the Glory of God this year… AND by the time 2013 rolls around YOU will have had the best year of your lives.

THINK about the Old versus the New Covenant? Did we need a New? What was the real purpose for the Old, anyway? To answer this for you I surveyed once again the thoughts of the apostle Paul. And I’ll say it this way—the Old Covenant made man mindful of his sin and need for HELP! More often than not, for a man to change his way he needs to hit rock bottom… when he comes to the END of himself, it marks the beginning of something new. Isn’t it a fact… unless you KNOW you have a need that you can’t solve, you won’t seek for the answer?

When someone is at the bottom, usually the only way is UP. AND the greater the NEED, the greater the appreciation there is for HELP! Paul described the condition of the world when he said, “…all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” He went on to say that there are none righteous, no not one. This sounds like a spiritual rock bottom, doesn’t it? Whether man is totally unaware through ignorance or the noise of the world is so loud that he is greatly distracted, I believe that the heart of every one has a longing to be made right.

This is why, at this time of year, we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. When the world had no hope and no answers for the condition of man, God’s love sent His only Son into the world. He is the perfect sinless substitute and the only hope for the world. When Jesus went to the cross with a perfect heart on behalf of the world, He paid the debt in full and canceled the punishment for our sins; HE made it possible for man to have a relationship with God. I remember hearing this when I was four years old. I may not have known what rock bottom was as a child, but I understood that Jesus had a gift for me that He wanted me to have. I have grown to understand the significance of what Jesus really did for me, and for this reason I remind you of what Jesus did for each of us!

This holiday season, as you celebrate the birth of Jesus, be extremely thankful that ALL your sins are forgiven. And know that we have received a New and better Covenant through Jesus’ finished work at the Cross—it’s a DONE deal! As you think on this, you will find amazing joy. AND the more this means to you, the greater thanks you will have. This is God’s grace!

God couldn’t wait to announce that He would finally be at peace with men. Angels flew over the little town of Bethlehem as they waited the birth of the savior of the world. His name was Emanuel, God with us. The celebration was very much anticipated. God had from the time of Adam and Eve’s sin interjected prophetic words with types and shadows to foretell the birth of Jesus. With the reign of sin on the earth for four thousand years peace was a lost understanding. Man has been forever trying to please God with works so that God wouldn’t judge him with wrath. How sad!

The intention of our Creator was to establish a family on the earth. How quickly sin thwarted that plan and brought punishment and destruction into our lives. Man has no hope in the earth without a savior. This is why the angels sang in unison, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace…” Jesus had come as the mediator between God and man to redeem man from sin. The price was high, but the reward was even higher. A Family would be born out of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. His death would release us from sin and His resurrection would fill us with the Glory of His life. Oh, what joy!

Hope restored would bring creativity back into the hearts of man. Peace which every heart longs for would be instantly experienced as this baby born in Bethlehem who is now both Savior and Lord of those who have received Him would remove sin as the obstacle restoring once again fellowship with God. The joy of our salvation is now possible. Every man must know that God is at peace with mankind. One simple prayer will receive God’s grace to be changed into a child of God.

One baby was born, one life was given, Limitations have vanished – With God all things are truly possible. Peace in your heart is where it all starts. Glory to God in the Highest, and on earth peace, good will towards men.

Let me remind you again that the seed you sow in good ground, watered and protected by the prayer of faith, will produce a God-size harvest. AND because you and I serve the God of “more than enough,” He has no problem fulfilling His part of the principle of sowing and reaping and still has enough in His storehouse to provide you with the desires of your heart… this is the time to PRAISE GOD for His gift of a Savior… God is at PEACE with mankind!

What about spiritual frustration? Could the same principle apply?  Let’s take 1st things first; the spirit world is 100% accurate… Make no mistake… There are NO variables with God!  This is very important to our walk of faith.  For faith to be engaged in our lives it must be based on the greatest of realities.  This is why we are so blessed to consider the character of God.  He cannot change (Mal. 3:6; Js. 1:17).  As James describes it in the first chapter, “there is no variableness or shadow of turning with God.”  Meditate this…

So if the unseen realm of heaven is perfect and unchangeable, then surely (without a doubt) you can know what to expect from God.  This is exactly where faith begins. This is also why prayer is so effective… you know what to expect BEFORE you ask… Now let’s bring in the word of God and tie the knot!  The Hebrew writer said in Heb. 4:12, “For the word of God is living and powerful and sharper than any two edged sword….”  Are you starting to see how this comes together?  From God himself to His word, He is completely accurate in every way.  It is impossible for God to bend or alter in any way the spiritual accuracy and legitimacy of the Truth.

So stop for a moment… Determine NOW to see everything through the eyes of the realm of eternity.  Your prayers will work when you are REAL and accurate just like God is.  There will be no need for stress and worry in your life; you will have the greatest confidence and your faith will work so naturally… just like NORMAL… like God designed it to work!

Part Two

IF you were to recount crises and circumstances that you’ve encountered over the past years, what difference would the supernatural have made? Can you imagine how amazing life could have been if the powers of God had flowed abundantly with supernatural intervention?

IF a believer could see beyond the NATURAL and comprehend life through the eyes of the SUPER-NATURAL, just think how the stress level would drop to near zero! Is not this the dream of every Christian? After all, shouldn’t we be destined for this kind of life?

OKAY… Now let’s stop for a moment and look at this word. The word “Supernatural” in and of itself is part of the smoke screen Satan has used through the ages to describe events that seem only to happen once in a while. This is tragic. And WHY is it a tragedy? What we have been calling “Supernatural” should really be our NATURAL or normal realm of living. THINK with me…if God’s love, power and spiritual blessings, having the ability to change every facet of your life, were the norm or NATURAL, then everyone would come to expect a daily continual flow of God’s grace in their lives. Isn’t this what we’ve longed to have?

STAY with me…Conversely, what we have termed “Natural” in our lives describes what is worldly and satanic. We have considered negative influences and crises to be the natural or expected way to live. Just this acknowledgement alone is enough to give each negative work substance or tangibility. But how can we change this? SIMPLY by renaming the things we have thought to be natural as “Unnatural”. Can you see already how this wording changes what we’ve come to accept as NATURAL to actually be unacceptable? Sickness is not normal, it’s unnatural. Death, poverty, calamity and every other evil is unnatural. Anything that would contend for your spirit and keep you from having fellowship with God is UNNATURAL.

TODAY I challenge you to mentally make a change in the way you view your life. Be careful of UNNATURAL involvement—which can be the everyday things we do—that distracts you from God and immediately embrace God and His grace. Consider your journey with God and the grace that empowers you to HAVE normal and natural experiences that will occur with ease every day of your life… the DREAM of every believer!

Consider this with me…God doesn’t need us to help Him with the forgiveness process. God so loved the world (us) that He GAVE… and Jesus took all our sin on Himself in exchange for His righteousness… He FINISHED the work at the cross, died and rose again for our justification—just-as-if-we’d-never-sinned. I want you to understand that God has forgiven ALL your trespasses once and for all in the death, burial and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. Repentance isn’t about you doing the right thing; it is about you THINKING the right thing. The action of “turning” in the word repentance is you turning from the wrong thinking that continually puts you and your behavior at the top of the list and redirects your thoughts totally to the perfect behavior of our Lord Jesus. If your thinking is right concerning your freedom from sin, then the power to resist sin will be evident and to change your behavior will be easy. This is the foundation of the redemptive work of Christ. He became sin with our entire life’s worth of sin—past, present and future—so that forever we could rest in the righteousness of His perfection. You must always identify yourself with the ability or grace that comes in your position of right-standing with God. If you try to change your behavior with out His ability then you are naturally tied to your own efforts. AND man’s efforts rise and fall with our emotions. WHILE the ability of Jesus is 100% based upon His completed and finished work of redemption. There is nothing else that He can do to improve on what has already been done. How does God see you? He sees you PERFECT! RIGHTEOUS! FORGIVEN! The blood of Jesus cleansed you completely.

We will always struggle if our emphasis is on US and OUR behavior. God wants our attention to be focused on the way HE sees US… then sin will no longer be the issue and Jesus will be the focus of our attention, our devotion and our love. It’s not about how much we love Him… it’s all about how much He loves US.

It was the blood of innocent men and women who paved the way of freedom through out the history of this country. They selflessly gave their lives to ensure that we in this and future generations would have the liberty to make decisions and live in freedom without the tyranny that many well meaning countries are enslaved in today. So the responsibility that we have is extremely crucial to the voice of those who gave their lives and the voice of those unborn as of yet. Will we, the people of this country, make the decisions necessary to vote into office those who will lead according to the documents of our independence? (I Timothy 2:2).

A similar responsibility exists for the peoples of the world who will consider what the precious blood shed on Calvary did to liberate and release the souls of men. Those who are enslaved in the sin nature will always be bound to the experience of corruption. Our solution is easy… just tell as many people as we can that they have been released “through the blood.” AND they WON’T have to be bound any more! Jesus our Lord liberated us two thousand years ago so that without fail, every man who is IN CHRIST will rise above what so many consider normal to experience life on heaven’s scale—the supernatural.

So by honoring the blood that was shed to ensure our freedom we have the choice of participating where ever we can to spread the message that Jesus is the ONLY TRUE answer that will deliver REAL CHANGE in this world.