A Little Faith = Great Victories

Victory Over Every Trial: Colossians 3:1

Be Joyful Your Going To Be Persecuted

1 Minute of Truth: The Holy Spirit Will Never Leave You

1 Minute Of Truth: Romans 6:10-11

1 Minute Of Truth: John 17:23

Bible Study Galatians 6:3

Bible Study Of Galatians 5:13-14

Bible Study Of Galatians 5:10

Bible Study of Galatians 5:3-4

Depressed?

Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy-laden and overburdened, and I will cause you to rest. [I will ease and relieve and refresh your souls.] Matthew 11:28

But the fruit of the [Holy] Spirit [the work which His presence within accomplishes] is love, joy (gladness), peace, patience (an even temper, forbearance), kindness, goodness (benevolence), faithfulness, Galatians 5:22

There seems to be an awful lot of people that I know who are depressed; these are people with good jobs, wealth, health, good marriages, and people who have great families. Relax! If you are feeling depressed you are not alone at all. It doesn’t mean that you aren’t saved or that you have sinned. It also doesn't mean that our Father has forsaken you. Actually what you’re feeling is our Father at work within you. You heard me right, it is our Father at work within you. It has to be Him, because our Father never leaves us or forsakes us and greater is He that is us than he that is in this world, 1 John 4:4. What so many are feeling is our Father causing them to hate the things of this world. He is growing in us a spirit that will bring us completely out of what the Book of Revelation calls Babylon, which is the worlds corrupt system. You have to hate something to truly come out of it and never look back! This is what this feeling of depression is causing us to do. There is no peace in worldliness and most of us depend and trust in the world. 

I then heard another voice from heaven saying, Come out from her, my people, so that you may not share in her sins, neither participate in her plagues. Revelation 18:4

I truly believe that the depression that is being felt by so many is actually our Father changing our attitudes towards this world. I do not believe that we are in the end times quit yet, which is the last 3 1/2 years of this earth. But I do believe that we are being prepared to usher in the end times. To do this we have to totally be separated from worldliness. We have to come out from relying on money, food, pensions, insurance, doctors, medicines, and clothes for survival. Our Father is allowing us to actually get depressed when we think of these earthly things, whether we have them or not.

Our Father is taking us to the exact same place that Jesus was when He was here on the earth as a man. We are being groomed by the Holy Spirit to supply food when we have no food, Matthew 24:44-45. To give when we have nothing to give. To take us to this place of miraculous service, our Father has to cause us to hate the world and all that it has. So the depression that so many are feeling is actually leading them to lose all faith and trust in the world. This is a good thing. Because it will lead us to placing all of our trust and hope in our Father and then we can truly serve those who are in the world.  

God Is Made Known By His Fruit

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. Galatians 5:22-23

I am the Vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without Me ye can do nothing. John 15:5

Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Matthew 7:16

The fruit of our Father is: love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and temperance. Now according to Jesus, if we are saved and He abides within us, we will be used by our Father to produce much of His fruit and we will be known by that fruit! Jesus is our Vine and we are now His branches and without Him we can do nothing. The only fruit that we will produce as the branches of Jesus is the fruit that He produces through us! Do we gather grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles? The fruit of Jesus is: love, joy, patience, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance. So if we are truly saved and if we are truly the branches of Jesus, then we should absolutely expect that He produces much love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance through us! Because our Father will be made known to the world by His fruit that He produces through us.

It’s our Father within us Who does the works, John 14:10, and the only reason that we can do anything is because of Jesus. So when the world sees fruit being produced through us, what they are actually seeing is God and the world will know Him by His fruit! We are now the branches of the Vine of Christ that bear God’s fruit! Our Father is a God of action and deed and through Christ we serve God with action and Truth. We do this because He is within us, and He is a Being of only action and Truth!

Our Father has never asked man to believe on Him solely by hearing about Him.

And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: 1 Corinthians 2:14  Believe Me that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me: or else believe Me for the very works' sake. John 14:11

Our Father has demonstrated His presence from the very beginning of time and He never changes, He is the same yesterday, today, and forever! The world will come to know our Father by the fruit that He produces through us. We should expect to have faith directly from God so that we may be used by Him to perform miraculous things. We should expect God to cause us to love regardless of the situation. We should expect God to cause us to be patient, good, gentle, and meek. Greater is He that is within us than he that is in the world!

Never Be Ashamed

According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death. Philippians 1:20

It should be our earnest expectation and hope that we will never be ashamed in anything! The question though, is that too lofty a goal? Should we ever dare to hope for such greatness? Well, the glorious Truth for us is that it is not too much to hope for. We can hope for such greatness because our Father has this hope for us as well and to insure that we aren't ashamed in anything, our Father did something about it!

Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost. Romans 15:3

To insure that we can have such powerful hopes and dreams our Father has given us His very Own Spirit. He has given us the exact same Spirit that He has given to Jesus. Now because we do have God’s Spirit, we are filled with all joy in the peace of knowing His Truth, just as Jesus has peace in our Father’s Truth. The Holy Spirit that we have been given causes us to abound in hope, we can’t help it! Through the Spirit of God we are able to have boldness that Christ is going to be magnified through our lives in everything! We are able to have the same boldness that our Father has and we are able to know beyond any shadow of a doubt that Jesus is not just going to be magnified, but that He is also going to be glorified through us.

Our Father knows the beginning and the end. He knows what is going to be and we now have His peace and joy regarding it! God knows that He is never going to be ashamed and He knows that He is in us, that we are now His Temple, and His body. So amen, if our Father is never going to be ashamed, and through Christ we are now one with Him, then we will never be ashamed! The great Truth that we are shown in Philippians is that we aren't going to be used by the Holy Spirit to just don’t talk about Jesus; we are going to be used to magnify and glorify Jesus! Our Father has given us the peace and joy of His faith, which knows beyond any shadow of a doubt that He is going to use us to magnify His chosen Savior and our Lord Jesus Christ!

All [things that are] Mine are Yours, and all [things that are] Yours belong to Me; and I am glorified in (through) them. [They have done Me honor; in them My glory is achieved.]. John 17:10

So whether we think that something is a blessing or a curse, our Father causes Jesus to be glorified and magnified through us. Whether we think that we were right or that we were wrong, our Father will cause Jesus to be magnified and glorified through us. Our Father never is ashamed of us, because He always, regardless of what it is, causes us to triumph in Christ. The Truth sets us free; through Christ we are now free from all self condemnation!

We Have Peace So We Can Believe

May the God of your hope so fill you with all joy and peace in believing [through the experience of your faith] that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound and be overflowing (bubbling over) with hope. Romans 15:13

Our Father has given us His very Own Spirit to empower us to believe all of His Truth. This power to believe allows us to have peace, but not just any peace, the exact same peace that Jesus has in our Father’s Truth. Think about it, Jesus isn’t fretting about anything, all of His needs are fully met, and we too are empowered with the Holy Spirit to have Jesus’ lively hope in the Truth!

Yet we don’t just hope either, through the power of the Holy Spirit that is within us, we abound in our Father’s hope! Faith is the evidence of things hoped for, Hebrews 11:1. Now we have been given the Holy Spirit so that we may abound in God’s hope. Our Father has done this for us so that we may abound in His faith as well! And to insure that we do abound in God’s faith, we have His very Spirit within us!

Jesus taught us that if we have faith the size of a grain of mustard seed, that we could tell a mountain to move and it would obey us, Matthew 17:20. So the Truth is that it doesn’t take a lot of faith to be powerful and our Father has given us all of Himself, so that Jesus may empower us to abound in His Own faith. Now Jesus’ faith is far greater than the size of a mustard seed! 

Our Father is a God of faith and hope and our Father’s hope for us is that we abound in His hope. Here is something to keep in mind as we study the Truth, our Father always gets His way and to insure that we do abound in His hope, He has filled us with all peace and with all joy! Faith comes from hearing the Word of our Father, so you bet; I am going to desire and ask that our Father preach His Truth through all of us! We all need His Truth, life in this world without the knowledge of Jesus is ruff! But through the power of Jesus in our lives, we now have lively hope, and hope brings powerful faith, and faith brings abundant life results!

Galatians 5:11-12

11 But, brethren, if I still preach circumcision [as some accuse me of doing, as necessary to salvation], why am I still suffering persecution? In that case the cross has ceased to be a stumbling block and is made meaningless (done away).

    

12 I wish those who unsettle and confuse you would [go all the way and] cut themselves off!

    

Amen! But the real question for me has always been why does our Father not just drive these people away from us? 

And to keep me from being puffed up and too much elated by the exceeding greatness (preeminence) of these revelations, there was given me a thorn (a splinter) in the flesh, a messenger of Satan, to rack and buffet and harass me, to keep me from being excessively exalted. Three times I called upon the Lord and besought [Him] about this and begged that it might depart from me; But He said to me, My grace (My favor and loving-kindness and mercy) is enough for you [sufficient against any danger and enables you to bear the trouble manfully]; for My strength and power are made perfect (fulfilled and completed) and show themselves most effective in [your] weakness. Therefore, I will all the more gladly glory in my weaknesses and infirmities, that the strength and power of Christ (the Messiah) may rest (yes, may pitch a tent over and dwell) upon me! 2 Corinthians 12:7-9

When our Father enlightens us with the glorious Truth that it is all His power all of the time, which is Christ, controlling our entire lives, then He will allow us to be persecuted by false prophets for it, John 15:20. Our Father allows this so that His love will come through even when we are attacked and the world will see it and desire what He has given us. The world will see our Father’s Grace abounding when it shouldn’t be abounding. They will see our Father’s hope flowing from us when they believe that it shouldn’t be. The world will see us being happy and satisfied even though they think that we shouldn’t and they will want the Grace that we have been given. It will also allow us to know that greater is He that is in us, then we who are in this world, 1 John 4:4. 

Jesus was attacked and yet our Father empowered Him to love. Paul, Peter, John, and Stephen were all attacked and the Holy Spirit caused them to love and serve those who were doing it. The persecution that these men endured caused our Father’s power to show itself complete within them. The Truth shined in the darkness and the Truth is what set’s people free, John 8:32. 

I do not ask that You will take them out of the world, but that You will keep and protect them from the evil one. John 17:15

There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, Who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it. 1 Corinthians 10:13

Be glad and supremely joyful, for your reward in heaven is great (strong and intense), for in this same way people persecuted the prophets who were before you. Matthew 5:12

Galatians 5:1

1 IN [this] freedom Christ has made us free [and completely liberated us]; stand fast then, and do not be hampered and held ensnared and submit again to a yoke of slavery [which you have once put off].

Christ, which is the anointing and power of our Father, has completely freed us and has completely liberated us from the burden of ever having to take thought about loosing our favor and unity with Him. Jesus came and He gave us life and our life in Christ is an abundant life, John 10:10. There is no fear for us who are in Christ, because He has given us His very peace, John 14:27. In Christ we are assured and have complete freedom that we will eternally be united with our Father, just as Jesus is eternally united with Him Romans 6:4-11. The yoke of works to accomplish this freedom has been removed from us, 1 Peter 5:7. Our salvation is a free gift from our Father, Ephesians 2:8, and our Father’s gifts are eternal, He never takes them back once He gives them, Romans 11:29. 

For God’s gifts and His call are irrevocable. [He never withdraws them when once they are given, and He does not change His mind about those to whom He gives His grace or to whom He sends His call.]

The work of each [one] will become [plainly, openly] known (shown for what it is); for the day [of Christ] will disclose and declare it, because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test and critically appraise the character and worth of the work each person has done. If the work which any person has built on this Foundation [any product of his efforts whatever] survives [this test], he will get his reward. But if any person's work is burned up [under the test], he will suffer the loss [of it all, losing his reward], though he himself will be saved, but only as [one who has passed] through fire. 1 Corinthians 3:13-15

And I am convinced and sure of this very thing, that He Who began a good work in you will continue until the day of Jesus Christ [right up to the time of His return], developing [that good work] and perfecting and bringing it to full completion in you. Philippians 1:6

We are Jesus’ possessions. We have all been bought with the price of His Blood and He will not fail with any of us.

[Just as] You have granted Him power and authority over all flesh (all humankind), [now glorify Him] so that He may give eternal life to all whom You have given Him. John 17:2

Galatians 4:24-26

24 Now all this is an allegory; these [two women] represent two covenants. One covenant originated from Mount Sinai [where the Law was given] and bears [children destined] for slavery; this is Hagar.

If someone tells you that we are still bound to Laws, laws like the the Ten Commandments, and bound to works, then what they are actually telling you is that you are still a slave to the flesh. They are saying that Jesus did not set us free. They are saying Grace has no effect on us. They are telling you the message of the anti-christ and their message will only lead to failure and defeat. It is not the Truth and it will not set anyone free!   

    

25 Now Hagar is (stands for) Mount Sinai in Arabia and she corresponds to and belongs in the same category with the present Jerusalem, for she is in bondage together with her children.

If a person believes in keeping religious laws to find favor with our Father then they are in bondage. 

    

26 But the Jerusalem above (the Messianic kingdom of Christ) is free, and she is our mother.

In Christ we are now free, our works no longer keep us in Christ or remove us from Him, Romans 11:29. This freedom now allows us to be used by our Father to do the works that He did through Jesus and this freedom allows Him to use us to do even greater works, John 14:12. In Christ we now are the instruments of our Father’s righteousness. Jesus will now use us to show the world that they are loved and that He is Lord, John 17:21-23. Our Father will now use us to do His works of forgiveness, healing, love, prophecy, faith, and miracles. In Christ there is now no more condemnation, Romans 8:1. In Christ there is freedom from the law of sin and death, Romans 8:2. In Christ the fear of messing up is removed, 1 John 4:18. In Christ we have eternal life and our life is just as Jesus’ is, an eternal life of serving others. 

People who want to tell us that we are just human, that our flesh is weak, that we have a free will that is separate from our Father’s will have no revelation of the Truth that has set us free. These people still trust in themselves and in the flesh, so they trust in works that they believe will find them favor with God. This is all anti-christ. This faith slaps what Jesus came and gave to us right in the face, because it says that we control our Father’s Grace. It teaches that all of what Jesus has is available to us if we just do things to get it, thus placing us in charge of our destiny. What sheep is in charge of its destiny? What body part, separate from the head, acts with its own free will?

Galatians 3:7-10

7 Know and understand that it is [really] the people [who live] by faith who are [the true] sons of Abraham.

    

8 And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify (declare righteous, put in right standing with Himself) the Gentiles in consequence of faith, proclaimed the Gospel [foretelling the glad tidings of a Savior long beforehand] to Abraham in the promise, saying, In you shall all the nations [of the earth] be blessed.

    

9 So then, those who are people of faith are blessed and made happy and favored by God [as partners in fellowship] with the believing and trusting Abraham.

    

What the Holy Spirit is telling us here is that all who are empowered to have Jesus’ faith to accept and believe working in them, just as Abraham had our Lord’s faith working in him, are blessed and have eternal life. Our Father chose Abraham and He chose us. It is all grace and it is all undeserved. Our Father has the right to do what He wants with what He Alone created. 

10 And all who depend on the Law [who are seeking to be justified by obedience to the Law of rituals] are under a curse and doomed to disappointment and destruction, for it is written in the Scriptures, Cursed (accursed, devoted to destruction, doomed to eternal punishment) be everyone who does not continue to abide (live and remain) by all the precepts and commands written in the Book of the Law and to practice them.

  

All who depend on the Law, so all who depend on the Ten Commandments and works, are doomed to disappointment and destruction! Wow, go tell that to most churches and see what you get? What our Father is telling us here is to rejoice, we have Jesus, not works, to save us. Regardless of what Covenant our Father has had people live under, He has always chosen certain ones of us to be empowered with Himself to believe and serve. 

Galatians is such a great Book of Truth to destroy the lies of those who want to put us under bondage to works and laws. These wolves will try to steal all joy and peace from us by demanding that we do things on our own. When in all actuality what they teach will actually stop man from being used to do great and wonderful things. The only way that we will ever truly be used by our Father to work is when we stop looking to works. When we are empowered by the Holy Spirit to stop looking to things like what we wear, what we eat, when we eat it, what we think, what we say, where we worship, and how we worship, then we will truly be used by our Father to serve the Kingdom and the world! Only then will we be used by our Father to heal the sick, raise the dead, prophesy, forgive, love, teach, and preach the Truth that will set the captives free. 

I know the Ten Commandments sound like what we have to do, they sound religious and they sound like a good idea, but the Truth is they only lead to destruction when they are looked upon as the power that allows our Father to be in our life’s. When anything other than Jesus, even the Law and the Ten Commandments, is placed as the tool that we use to get to our Father and His favor and His grace, it is destruction! Jesus is jealous, it has to all be Him. He has to be in control of us or we can have no part of Him. He has to wash our feet and He has to serve us, or we can no part of Him, John 13:5-14. 

Galatians 1:2-3

2 And all the brethren who are with me, to the churches of Galatia:

    

3 Grace and spiritual blessing be to you and [soul] peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah),

   

As with all of the Epistles that the Holy Spirit has Paul write, He has him clearly tell us that we have grace from our Father. The word grace is translated from the Greek Word, Charis. Charis means: that which affords joy, pleasure, delight, favor, and love. It also means the merciful kindness by which our Father exerts His Holy influence on our souls and that turns us to Christ and His power keeps us, strengthens us, and increases our Christian virtue. Grace means that we are governed completely and solely by our Father’s Divine power.

Grace is a free gift from our Father.  

But God's free gift is not at all to be compared to the trespass [His grace is out of all proportion to the fall of man]. For if many died through one man's falling away (his lapse, his offense), much more profusely did God's grace and the free gift [that comes] through the undeserved favor of the one Man Jesus Christ abound and overflow to and for [the benefit of] many. Romans 5:15

The Truth for a born again believer is that our Father freely exerts His influence on our souls. He freely caused us to call on Jesus as Lord, John 6:44. Our Father freely causes us to be strong in Christ and He freely causes us to grow in Christ. This brings us great joy and delight, because when it is our Father freely causing us to do these things, we have peace that there is now no condemnation for us, Romans 8:1, and we have peace that everything that is needed for us to live eternally with God will get done. 

And He will establish you to the end [keep you steadfast, give you strength, and guarantee your vindication; He will be your warrant against all accusation or indictment so that you will be] guiltless and irreproachable in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah). 1 Corinthians 1:8

So when you read the Word grace, rejoice greatly, because it means that our Father is in complete and total control of your life and He will never leave you or forsake you. 

Ephesians 4:4-6

4 [There is] one body and one Spirit--just as there is also one hope [that belongs] to the calling you received--

5 [There is] one Lord, one faith, one baptism,

6 One God and Father of [us] all, Who is above all [Sovereign over all], pervading all and [living] in [us] all.

Look at what the Truth is, there is only one body, there are not several bodies that make up the body of Christ, there is only one body! We are Jesus’ body and we are kept by the power of the Holy Spirit, Ephesians 1:19-20. Consider Jesus’ flesh when you read these verses, Jesus, the Head of the Body. Jesus’ flesh was beaten, tortured, and crucified. His flesh laid dead in a tomb for 2 1/2 days. No blood pumped to Jesus’ brain and no blood flowed through His organs for 2 1/2 days. Yet Jesus’ flesh was raised from the dead and eleven days after it was raised up, Jesus told Thomas to place his fingers in the open wounds. Jesus’ flesh, our Head, is no longer living by the power of flesh, it is living by the power of the Holy Spirit. Eleven days after being cut open, a body would start to heal up, yet Jesus told Thomas to place his fingers in the wounds. Could you imagine how that would hurt if Jesus’ flesh was living by the power of flesh? But it wasn’t, it was raised up and is now living solely by the power of the Holy Spirit. 

Now go back and read the Truth again, the Truth that there is only one body. Do you see how powerful that one little saying is? It doesn’t matter what a doctor may say about our flesh, because we are now kept by the power of the Holy Spirit, just as Jesus’ flesh is kept by the power of the Holy Spirit. This is why the Truth is that by His stripes we are healed, 1 Peter 2:24, because there is only one body, and as He is, so are we in this world, 1 John 4:17! Amen that is a Truth that will set you free. Faith comes from hearing the Truth and faith is the evidence of things hoped for! The Truth for us is that we cannot help but be godly and our flesh is kept just as Jesus‘ flesh is kept! Ephesians is such a great Book in the Bible. The power of what the Holy Spirit tells us here goes so far beyond what religion wants us to have. The Truth is that today is the day of all of this and now is its appointed time, 2 Corinthians 6:2.

There is also only one Spirit. We do not have several different spirits, there is only one. So we are one with our Father, just as Jesus is One with Him, because there is only One! Think of the One Spirit for a moment. Isn’t the One Spirit, the Holy Spirit Omnipotent? Isn’t the Holy Spirit all knowing, Omnipresent, and all powerful? He is and there is only One Spirit and we are part of the One Spirit. Do you see what this Truth means for us? 

Now ask yourself this question, when are we part of the One Spirit? 

The Spirit of Truth, Whom the world cannot receive (welcome, take to its heart), because it does not see Him or know and recognize Him. But you know and recognize Him, for He lives with you [constantly] and will be in you. John 14:17

Today is the day of our salvation and today we are one with the Holy Spirit, the only Spirit, the One Spirit. Today we are as He is, even while we are in this world. Faith comes from hearing the Truth and the Truth sets us free.