GODSAYS
"The words that I say to you they are spirit and they are life." - Jesus
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Say It!

8/25/2015

 
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Say What God Says!
Would you like to experience the power and presence of God every day?  Would you like to hear His voice? Would you like freedom from habits and addictions? Would you like to be healed?  Would you like to heal others and perform miracles?  How about raising the dead - would you like to do that?  Then get started building up your faith by saying what God says!

After Jesus ascended into the heavens, He sent the Holy Spirit to the Earth.  He immersed his disciples into the Holy Spirit and filled them and they began to do the same things that he did when he was physically on the Earth.  The Holy Spirit is still here.  All the power and presence of God are still available to all who believe and receive His Son Jesus the anointed one.  Can any Christian experience and perform the miracles mentioned in the Bible?  Can any Christian experience an intimate fellowship with God in the Spirit?  Are these things just for certain special chosen ones?  If any believer can experience these things then why aren't they?  Why aren't you?  There is one major quality that is required for these things to take place in and through your life.  It's not the only requirement, but it is the starting point.  For most Christians even if this quality is present it seems to be small or weak.  What is that one thing?

Hebrews 11:6  But without faith it is impossible to please God, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him.?

Why, without faith it is impossible to even please God.  Without faith it is impossible to believe God.  Without faith it is impossible to expect anything from God.  But Jesus said, "With God, all things are possible" and "all things are possible to him who believes."  In the Bible we read that men and women just like you and I believed God, acted on their faith and God did great and mighty things in their lives.  People were healed, raised from the dead, food was provided, battles were won, men were cast into a burning furnace and when they came out they didn't even smell like smoke!  Others had visions, dreams, and revelations from God.  However, many times in the Bible Jesus said to the disciples that their faith was little or weak.  He said they could not cast out a demon because of their unbelief.  In one town even Jesus could not do many miracles there except to heal a few sick folk because of their unbelief.  Their unbelief prevented them from receiving miracles and healing!

"When the Son of Man returns will he find faith on the Earth?" – Jesus

God's plan and design is that YOU who come to Jesus are to live and experience the power and presence of God in the same way that Jesus did.  Jesus said that in John chapter 17.  If you want to do what Jesus did and experience an intimate oneness with the Father, then you must have the same faith that Jesus has.  Is this even possible?  You better believe it is!  God says that everyone has been given the measure of faith.  What is that measure?  It is the faith of Jesus himself - the same faith that he has.  God says "of his fullness we all have received" John 1:16.  When you believe in Jesus, surrendering yourself to him as Savior and Lord, you receive the Holy Spirit of God and all that Jesus has is now yours as well (read: All Things Are Yours).  However you must grow in that faith.  There are six things you must do to grow in faith or exercise your faith.  Say It! is one of those six things and for most Christians it is the place to start.  To make your faith as strong as the faith of Jesus you must...Say What God Says.


Luke 17:5-6  Lord, increase our faith!  Jesus replied, If you have faith as a grain of mustard you would say to this mountain get up and be cast into the sea and it would obey you.

The common interpretation of this statement is that Jesus is saying you don't need a lot of faith - in fact if you have just a little bit of faith you can do great things.  If this were true then why did Jesus tell them that they could not do things because of the littleness of their faith?  Could it be that the reason this interpretation is commonly accepted is because most people do not have much faith and so they try to justify the littleness of their own faith with this interpretation?  Hey, I admit I used to believe this was correct until a few years ago.  Jesus is not saying that their question is not valid - in fact He is answering it!  Let's examine what Jesus says:

  1. He says, "If you have faith as a grain of mustard..."  Here he is comparing your faith to a grain or seed of mustard. Now a mustard seed is very small, but Jesus makes no reference to the size of it.  Rather he is referring to its kind - that is, a seed.  One of the principles of creation is that everything reproduces after its own kind.  A mustard seed will reproduce a mustard plant.  A faith seed will reproduce a crop of faith.  Jesus says that your faith is like a grain of seed.  So what do we do with a seed?
  2. Then Jesus says, "...you would say..." You must speak out loud, sound must come forth from your voice.  He did not say you would think, or you would pray, or you would have a certain feeling.  He said you would say.  Saying is sowing!  You sow a seed.  Your faith is like a seed.  You sow your faith by saying or speaking out loud.  As you speak you are sowing your faith.
  3. Next Jesus says, "...to this mountain..." Jesus says speak directly to the mountain or to whatever your obstacle is or thing you want to change.  He does not say you would speak to others about it.  He does not say you would call the prayer line about it.  He does not even say you are to talk about it or around it.  He says you would speak directly to the mountain!  In other words you are to address the mountain as though it can hear you.  This is how God created the world.  He said Light - Be!  Dry land - come forth! He spoke directly to them, commanding them and they obeyed.  You are to do the same if you want your faith to grow strong.
  4. Jesus says, "...get up and be cast into the sea."  You say to the mountain (or your sickness for example) and you tell it what you want it to do.  Say, "Diabetes get out and stay out!"
  5. Jesus says, "It will obey you." Isn't that amazing! It will obey YOU, not God, YOU! You will get the results of what you said.  Jesus said this and he cannot lie.  We have only examined one scripture so let's look at another.

In the parable of the sower in Luke 8:4-18 Jesus again reveals this truth that saying is sowing, but he reveals even more. 

Luke 8:4-18  The sower went out to sow his seed; and as he sowed, some fell beside the road; and it was trampled under foot and the birds of the air ate it up.  Other seed fell on rocky soil, and as soon as it grew up, it withered away, because it had no moisture.  Other seed fell among the thorns; and the thorns grew up with it and choked it out.  Other seed fell into the good soil, and grew up, and produced a crop a hundred times as great.

His disciples began questioning him as to what this parable meant.  He said, "the parable is this: the seed is the word of God.  Those beside the road are those who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their heart, so that they will not believe and be saved."  If you look at this carefully you will see that Jesus says: the seed is the word, the soil is the heart, and saying is sowing.  Do you see that?  Remember in those days they did not have printed pamphlets, TV or radio so the only way the sower could sow the word was to say it. 

When I became a Christian I began memorizing Bible verses almost immediately because I was told that it would really help me.  I memorized over 1000 verses in two years as well as many whole chapters and the entire book of James.  All that did was give me a sense of pride. Nowhere in scripture are we told to memorize God's word.  We are told to hide God's word in our heart.  How do you hide (sow or plant) God's word in your heart (the soil) - by saying what God says!  Remember Jesus is telling us how to strengthen our faith.  When our faith is as Jesus’ faith then we can do what Jesus did – He said we could!  Let’s see what else Jesus said about this.

Mark 4:26-29  The kingdom of God is like a man who casts seed upon the soil; and he goes to bed at night and gets up by day, and the seed sprouts and grows - how, he himself does not know.  The soil produces crops by itself; first the blade, then the head, then the mature grain in the head.  But when the crop permits, he immediately puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.

There are some interesting things here regarding the sowing of the word into our hearts.  Once it is sown there must be a season of growth and development.  The farmer does not expect a crop to sprout up over night.  He waters his crop, nourishes it by putting fertilizer on it, and protects it from invaders and pests.  He waits and looks for the fruit before he harvests the crop.  But notice the phrase "how, he himself does not know".  You may not know how this truth works.  When you do it you may not see any results (the seed is in the ground).  You might even feel funny or silly for doing it.  You may be tempted to just forget this whole idea!  A farmer wouldn't just pack up and leave his farm after he sowed the seed in the ground.  But one day you will find yourself saying and doing things that you normally would not say or even think about doing.  (It happened to me.)  Then you will realize that a crop of faith has sprung up inside you and is making its way out through your life.  You are becoming the salt of the Earth; you are becoming the light of the world.  You practice this truth of saying what God says not because you understand it but because Jesus says so.

Mark 4:30-32  How shall we compare the kingdom of God, or by what parable shall we present it?  It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the soil, though it is smaller than all the seeds that are upon the soil, yet when it is sown, it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants and forms large branches, so that the birds of the air can nest under its shade.

This is similar to Psalms 1  Blessed is the man...whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law he meditates day and night. He will be like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in its season and its leaf does not wither; and in whatever he does, he prospers.

Do you see in these verses that God's plan is for you to bear the fruit of God and not to bear the fruit of your own labor or effort?  Your heart is your spirit.  Jesus says, "The kingdom of God is within you."  Jesus wants to change you from the inside out.  So many Christians are working hard at trying to change themselves by developing personal disciplines.  Let Jesus capture your heart and spirit.  Sow his word into your heart and the various fruit (crop) of the Spirit will come forth "some thirty, some sixty and some a hundred fold".  The crop of the Word of God will come forth!  God said his word will not fail!  There are no crop failures, only sowing failures.

Galatians 6:7 Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap.

Joshua 1:8 This book of the law shall not be found absent from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success.

Proverbs 18:20-21 With the fruit of a man's mouth his stomach will be satisfied; He will be satisfied with the product of his lips. Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit.

Proverbs 12:14 A man will be satisfied with good by the fruit of his mouth.

Proverbs 4:20-22 My son, give attention to my words; incline your ear to my sayings. Do not let them depart from your sight; keep them in the midst of your heart. For they are life to those who find them and health to all their body.

Romans 10:8-11 The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart - that is, the word of faith which we are preaching, that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. 

Hebrews 3:1 By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible.

Hebrews 4:14 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.

Revelation 12:11 And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony.


Your confession and your testimony is whatever is coming out of your mouth!  Agree with God by saying what God says and you will have the fruit of God's own words in your life!  Say what God says.  Then when the devil comes to stop you (remember the parable - he comes to snatch away the seed) you can simply tell him to go take it up with God, all you are doing is saying what God says.  The best place to start is to read the Bible and say what God says about who you are now... and what you have been given in Christ.  Try this by reading through the book of Ephesians or Colossians then when you come across a verse that says something about you - SAY IT!  You could also speak the truth about God thereby praising him.  What have you been saying and speaking.  Have you been saying, "God doesn't always answer prayer."  Have you been saying, "It is not God's will to heal everyone."  What have you been saying about yourself?  Have you been saying what God says or have you been saying what the world says or what you think.  Also be careful not to sing (confess) certain songs even Christian songs that have words that doubt God.  Stop those negative false confessions. Instead say what God says.  You can't go wrong because God does not lie.  Remember you are sowing the seed of the word into your heart by saying what God says.  Jesus says to do this to strengthen your faith.  The more you practice this, the greater will be your faith.  God is heart centered not mind centered.  He wants you to have great faith and use it!

As I said at the beginning there are six things you must do to strengthen or exercise your faith. This is meant to be a first step for you.  Spend a year practicing this truth.  Don't be in a hurry to do what Jesus did - that will come later naturally out of the life that you have received from Jesus.  After two years of practicing this truth I began to step out in faith in very small, but unfamiliar ways of doing what Jesus did.  After two more years I found myself saying and doing things that even shocked me - His life is beginning to manifest itself in and through me, Praise God!  You are not trying to learn new information or insights into scripture.  You are instead sowing (by speaking) seeds of the word deep into your soil (heart & spirit).  Listen to the Spirit speak to you to guide you along this path.  I have many times spent several hours on one verse of scripture.  The sowing goes deeper and deeper and broader and broader and the word performs its work inside you and you are changed.  I have also been led many times to say things that are scripturally true, but to say them in very unique and oftentimes slang forms of speech.  For example, " I am the light of the world - God, light me."  Also try as soon as you can to speak scripture in the present tense - say: have, am, and do rather than had, was, or did.  Your God is the God of the now.  He is.  Also make your speech intimate and personal. When speaking to God, say "you" (speak directly to God).  When speaking of yourself say me, my, I not us or we (It's just you and God, nobody else).  As you meditate on what God says get creative.  Listen to the Spirit; ask him to give you different words to say the same thing.  Again for example: Jesus says, "The words I speak are Spirit and they are life.  The flesh will profit you nothing."  So I say, "Jesus the words I am hearing from you they are Spirit and life giving. Thank you so much Jesus. My fleshly activities are worth nothing, zilch, zip, nada, void, null, a big fat zero.  Engaging in works of my flesh is the biggest waste of investment ever, since I get nothing for it.  I would be a fool to continue to invest in something that gave me no return at all and even cost me.  So I will invest myself in speaking and hearing your words O Lord.  Thank you so much for giving your life to me.”

Meditation

8/25/2015

 
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A lot of Christians have been misled as to what meditation is. Mystic meditation is concentrating on something over and over in your mind - mulling it over we might say. Biblical meditation is speaking out loud the word of God - putting it into first person tense and personalizing it.

Joshua 1:8
This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. 

Do you see right there in this verse that God tells you how to meditate on his word and why. It says "it shall not depart from your mouth..."  Now at first glance that sounds like it means that the word of God should not be spoken out of your mouth. We know it cannot mean that because there are many other verses that teach that we should speak the word of God, so what does that phrase truly mean?  The phrase, "shall not depart from your mouth" means that if I hear you speaking I should hear the word of God coming from your mouth - that is that it has not left your mouth, but that it is still there.  It means the word of God is not absent or missing from your speech - it has not left, it is not gone, it has not departed, but rather it is right there each and every day coming forth from your mouth in your speech.  I go into great detail explaining the importance of saying God's word out loud in my article entitled Say It!  Read that and learn about planting God's word in your heart.  In this article I am showing you the importance of personalizing the scripture and giving some examples.

Personalizing verses of scripture means putting the pronouns into first person for yourself and second person when talking with God.  Notice I said talking with God not talking to God - intimate fellowship is what you are seeking with him not sharing information.  I also recommend changing the verbs to present tense so that you are saying them as though it is happening right now not in the future.  God is always present, he is always now.  Let's use the verse above Joshua 1:8 as an example.  To meditate using this verse you would say

"God, this Book of the Law has not left my mouth, but I am meditating in it day and night.  I am paying close attention to do exactly what it says in every detail.  As I do this, I am making my life prosperous and I am enjoying great success."

You see how I directed my words to God and I use the word "I" instead of "you".  I also change the wording a little to make it more personal, and I changed the verb from "will" to "am". Whenever I meditate on a verse I usually start by saying the verse, then say it again personalizing it, then I keep saying it over and over, and as I do the Holy Spirit prompts me to say it slightly differently from moment to moment.  I follow his leading because I know he is revealing something to me some new truth or insight or he is doing something to me - using the word in me to change me.  Always listen to the Holy Spirit and do as he says for God says...

But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.  (John 14:26

Faith

8/25/2015

 
"Faith is the substance of things hoped for..." Hebrews 11:1. Faith is real. It is some actual stuff. Faith is a noun - that is, faith is a real thing. It is some-thing not no-thing. It does exist as a concrete thing. It is the substance. If faith was nothing then it could not be the substance of things hoped for. You cannot have what you are hoping for if you don't have the substance or stuff from which it can come. There are amounts of faith and there are types of faith:
 
Amounts of Faith

None - Mark 4:40 Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?
Little - Matthew 6:30 If God so clothes the grass of the field, will He not much more cloth you?           You of little faith!
Regular - Mark 5:34 Daughter your faith has made you well; go in peace and be healed of                         your affliction.
Great - Matthew 8:10 Truly I say to you, I have not found such great faith with anyone in                         Israel.
Full - Acts 6:5 They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit.

Types of Faith

Dead - James 2:17,26 Faith without works is dead.
Shipwrecked - I Timothy 1:19 Keeping faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected                         and suffered shipwreck in regard to their faith.
Hidden - Luke 8:25 Where is your faith?
Weak - Romans 14:1 Now accept the one who is weak in faith.
Growing - II Thessalonians 1:3 We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as is                      right because your faith grows exceedingly and the love of each one of you toward                  one another abounds.
Genuine - II Timothy 1:5 I am reminded of the genuine faith within you, which first dwelt in your                 grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am sure that it is in you as well.
Strong - Romans 4:20 Yet with respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief, but               grew strong in faith, giving glory to God.

Your goal should be to be full of faith and that it should be strong. 

Just recently as I was painting a house another Christian was there laying tile. He seemed somewhat down and discouraged and tired. So I called him over and said, "How would you like to have the faith of Jesus; to be able to do what Jesus did; to heal the sick and raise the dead, would you like that?" He hung his head down and said, "That would be great, but I just don’t see how I could have that kind of faith." I said, "Look at me. Are you a Christian; do you have the Holy Spirit living inside you?" He said he is and does. Then I said, "The fact is you already have the faith of Jesus. Everything Jesus has is yours including His faith." Then I began telling him how to strengthen the faith of Jesus that is inside him by saying what God says, and teaching him many of the things found here on this website.

And that's the truth concerning you too! You have been given the faith of Jesus! Paul says, "I have been crucified with Christ nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me and the life I now live, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me." (Galatians 2:20) This verse and in several other verses the text actually says "faith of Christ" not "faith in Christ" as so many translations wrongly record. That is, you are to live or you will truly live when you are living by the same faith that Jesus has, but it is up to you to grow in it, strengthen it and use it! As you do, the faith of Jesus that is in you will increase until you are full and strong and it will make its way out, into and through your life!

I said in the beginning that faith is a noun, it is actual stuff. And now we see that you actually do possess the same faith that Jesus has - you've got the right stuff! Now use it to believe. Believing is a verb. It is action or activity. Believing is what you do with your faith. You take your stuff (faith) and use it to believe in your heart first then in your life. "Faith without works is dead" so make your faith come alive by believing what God says and saying what God says.

All Things Are Yours

8/25/2015

 
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Have you been thinking and saying; "Someday I am going to have a great walk with Jesus.  Right now I have questions and don't understand things, but I know that someday I will. Someday I will experience the power of God in me and through me to others.  I am just waiting for God to give me those things; until He does I just believe that someday it will happen.”  Congratulations someday has arrived!


Throughout the Old Testament God spoke of a day coming, a new era, a new age.  He even spoke to us about it through the nation of Israel - their history of God's dealing with them.  He promised to send someone.  He promised to take us out of slavery.  He promised to give us freedom.  He promised to give us an inheritance.  He promised even to make us new creatures that would love, believe and obey him.  Jesus even spoke of the age to come and he wasn't talking about heaven.  All the things God promised He has fulfilled in Jesus.  God loaded Jesus up with all of heaven and sent him to earth.  Jesus fulfilled his mission, died, rose from the dead and went back to heaven.  On the day of Pentecost Jesus sent the Holy Spirit into our hearts thus giving us our inheritance.  We have received everything that Jesus has.  He became us so that we might become him.  He gave himself to gain us that we might give ourselves to gain him.  So why is this so hard for you to believe?  Because most of us do not experience the things that Jesus experienced.  We still live by feelings and circumstances rather than by faith - by believing God and taking him at his word.  The truth is you don't have to wait on God to do something someday; He has already done it - all of it!  Now he is waiting on you to believe Him.  That's what everything on this website is dedicated to, helping you to grow in your faith and believe what God says.  Consider the following verses and pay close attention to the tense of the verbs.  They speak about what we have already received and who we are now, not what we will receive someday!

John 1:16 For of His fullness we all received, and grace upon grace. 
Romans 8:32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things.
I Corinthians 3:21-22 All things belong to you, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or things present or things to come; all things belong to you.
Ephesians 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.
Ephesians 1:11 In Him also an we have obtained inheritance.
Ephesians 1:22-23 And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.
Ephesians 2:5-6 ...made us alive together with Christ..., and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places.
I John 4:17 As He is so also are we in this world.
I Corinthians 2:12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God.!

These are just a sampling of the many scriptures in which God says that He has freely given you everything with and in Jesus.  God planned beforehand to give you everything.  God planned beforehand to put everything into the hands of Jesus.  God gave Jesus and with Him came everything God gave Him, everything that is in heaven!  The moment you believed in Jesus and received the Holy Spirit, you received everything Jesus has and everything Jesus is. You have it all right now!  This is a true fact.  It does not depend on how you feel or what you think.  The sooner you agree with God and begin saying what God says, the sooner you will begin experiencing the reality of His true factual word.  Why wait any longer, haven't you been waiting long enough?  God has done His part, now you start doing your part.  Say what God says today! Someday is today!

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