Romans 7:6 “But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.”
From Strong’s Concordance: Spirit, pneuma (pnyoo-mah). Compare “pneumonia” pneumatology.” Breath, breeze, a current of air, wind, spirit. Pneuma is that part of a person capable of responding to God. The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity, who draws us to Christ, convicts us of sin, enables us to accept Christ as our personal Savior, assures us of salvation, enables us to live a victorious life, understand the Bible, pray according to God’s will, and share Christ with others.
Freedom from the Law does not mean license to sin, but servitude to God, in the newness of the New Covenant, by the Holy Spirit gives power to obey God, a power the Law by itself could never do.
How Faith Really Works!
The Apostle Paul writes, “faith works by love.” This simple, profound statement by Paul has been misunderstood by many believers. Some believe that for your faith to work, you must walk in love. If that is true, then no one could ever be saved, because to receive God’s grace, they first have to walk in love, to have the faith to be able to receive God’s grace. How can people who don’t know God walk in His love so their faith might work? The truth is, it isn’t our love or ability to walk in love that causes our faith to work; it is knowing and believing in the ONE who loves you perfectly and completely that does.
Knowing God’s character is what empowers you to trust Him! The ability to trust someone isn’t based on your character but on theirs.
Faith isn’t a reward for good behavior; it is a response to knowing the love God has for you.
“For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision avails anything, but faith working through love,” Galatians 5:6
“And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.
I John 4:16
The Gospels of Matthew 26:26-28, Mark 14:22, and Luke 22:14-20 record that Jesus instituted the Communion, also known as the Lord’s Supper, on the night before his crucifixion during the Last Supper. At this meal, he took bread and a cup of wine, identified them with his body and blood respectively, and instructed his disciples to perform this act in remembrance of him.
Matthew 26-28 “And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed it, and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, ‘Take, eat, this is my body.’ Then he took the cup, and gave thanks and gave it to them, saying, ‘Drink from it, all of you. For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.’
Kingdom Dynamics Spirit-Filled Bible God Sovereignly Inaugurates the New Covenant, THE BLOOD. Jesus used the occasion of the Passover meal to inaugurate the New Covenant. The symbolism of the Passover meal under the Old Covenant was about to be fully satisfied through Christ’s crucifixion. In this historic moment, Jesus transformed the meaning of the elements of the Passover meal into New Covenant thought. The bread now represented His body, which should be given, and the cup His blood, which would be shed for the forgiveness of sins. The holy requirements of God and the Old Covenant were about to be forever satisfied. A new and living way into the presence and provision of God was being prepared through Christ, the Lamb of God. A new and eternal bond was being established by the blood of Jesus Christ. God was sovereignly inaugurating the new and ultimate covenant.
Persuade your heart to this one truth, and you will always live in victory.
If you believe that your sin condemns you before God, then you don’t understand or believe that as a believer, you are in Christ!
“There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” Roman 8:1
Walking after the Spirit simply means to agree with God’s word.
“For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.” Hebrews 8:12
We all make mistakes and sin from time to time, but your Heavenly Father never wants you to believe that your sin disconnects you from God or experiencing His love He has for you. It is ONLY His love for you that helps you to live as an overcomer in life!
“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written for thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of
God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:35-39
When your heart is persuaded that “absolutely” nothing can ever separate you from God’s love, then you can never be separated from victory in knowing His love for you. Ed Elliot
God is good, and all the time God is good! This is a declaration of faith that God’s goodness is constant, regardless of circumstances. God’s goodness is part of his character—it is who God is. This means that God is morally excellent, righteous, and perfect, and his goodness is the source of all things good. His goodness is expressed through his attributes like his love, mercy, and his plan for creation. His character is consistent. James 1:17 tells that every “good and perfect gift” comes from God, who is unchanging like the sun, unlike a shifting shadow.
The Bible consistently states that God is all good, righteous, and the source of all goodness. The Bible begins by describing God’s work in creation as “good.” The Bible teaches that God works all things for the good of those who love him (Romans 8:28). He is also presented as the one who “works in you both to will and to do for his good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13).
Psalms 34:8 “O taste and see that the Lord [our God] is good; How blessed [fortunate, prosperous, and favored by God] is the man who takes refuge in Him.”
David urges God’s people to discover the goodness of the Lord for themselves. He doesn’t want readers to just take his word that the Lord is good; he wants them to actively experience and know for themselves the fact that God is good. The phrase “taste and see that the Lord is good” is an invitation to personally experience God’s goodness through faith and trust. Taste involves testing or sampling; to see involves understanding or perceiving. The phrase taste and see, then, means “try and experience.”
When the Storms of Life Rage
God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Psalm 46:1
Storms of life. You know them well. They overwhelm you. Wave after wave of relentless battering that knocks you off your feet till you don’t know which side is up. Till every ounce of energy is used up and you feel weak, abandoned, and lonely. Perhaps you’re caught in one of life’s storms right now.
When the disciples of Jesus were out at sea, caught in a turbulent tempest, and tossed by the waves, who came to them in their darkest hour? It was Jesus Himself (Matt. 14:22-33). Jesus came in style, walking on the raging waters. The loving Savior came to them at their exact point of need to rescue them.
What does this tell you? That He is above the storms. He walks above–He is greater than–every adversity and opposition that you may be facing right now, and He comes to you to rescue you!
With the billowing waves beneath His feet, His first words to His disciples were, “Don’t be afraid. Take courage. I am here!” (Matt. 14:27 NLT). What a comfort those words must have brought to the disciples who were exhausted and shaking with fear for their lives.
My friend, when the storms of life rage, don’t go by what you see and hear all around you. Don’t go by your negative feelings and emotions. Live by the truth of God’s Word, which encourages you to “be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid and do not panic…For the Lord your God will personally go ahead of you. He will neither fail you nor abandon you” (Deut. 31:6 NLT).
Our God is a personal and loving God who is with you in your boat right in the midst of the howling storm. He knows how to lead you to victory every time. He cannot fail you! Joseph Prince
“Though the fig tree may not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines. Though the labor of the olive may fail, and the field yields no food. Though the flock may be cut off from the fold. And there is no herd in the stalls. Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.” Habakkuk 3:17-18
Kingdom Dynamics Word Wealth
Joy, “gil” (geel) Strongs # 1523: To joy, rejoice, be glad, be joyful. “Gil” contains the suggestion of “dancing for joy,” or “leaping for joy,” since the verb originally means “to spin around with intense motion.” This lies to rest the notion that the biblical concept of joy is only “a quiet, inner sense of well-being.” God dances for joy over Jerusalem and because of His people (Isaiah 65:19; Zephaniah 3:17). The righteous Messiah shall rejoice in God’s salvation with an intensity that the psalmist cannot find words to describe (Psalms 21:1). In turn, his redeemed citizens are joyful in their King. They praise Him with dancing with instruments, and with singing (Psalms 149:2, 3). Although everything is wrong in Habakkuk’s external world, He is leaping for joy over his fellowship with Yahweh.
“The joy of the Lord is our strength” Nehemiah 8:10
GRACE IS THE CATALYST THAT BRINGS REPENTANCE
“Neither will I condemn you,” said Jesus to the woman caught in adultery in John 8. Jesus tells us in John 5:19 that He only does what He sees His Father doing. In fact, the first thing he let the woman know was that he did not condemn. Equally important, He would not let anyone else condemn her either. Then He told her, “Go and sin no more.”
The absence of condemnation from God is what empowers us to repent and motivates us to turn from our sins. Repentance does not bring grace. Rather, grace is the catalyst that brings repentance! The idea that if we repent, God doesn’t condemn us totally contradicts what the Bible teaches. The Prodigal was embraced, loved, and accepted before he made it home and before he even acknowledged he had sinned. The truth is that God does not condemn us. Period. Jesus said He wasn’t sent to condemn the world (John 3:17). Paul said there is no fear in judgment for the believer. (Romans 8:1) It is this powerful and life-changing truth that enables us to turn from sin. We have access 24/7 to a throng of mercy and grace–not a throne of judgment (Hebrews 4:16). Ed Eliott
Jesus speaking on “Faith Confession” in Mark 11:22-24. “Jesus answered and said to them, ‘Have faith in God’. For assuredly I say to you, whosoever says to this mountain, be removed and be cast into the sea and does not doubt in his heart but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. Therefore, I tell you, whatever things you ask when you pray and believe that you receive them, and you will have them.
SPIRIT FILLED LIFE BIBLE – KINGDOM DYNAMICS From Jesus’ own lips, we receive the most direct and practical instruction concerning our exercise of faith. Consider three points: 1) It is to be “in God” Faith that speaks, the first faith that seeks. The Almighty One is the Source and Grounds of our faith and being. Faith only flows to Him because of the faithfulness that flows from him. 2) Faith is not a trick performed with our lips but a spoken expression that springs from the conviction of our hearts. The idea that faith confession is a “formula” for getting things from God is unbiblical. But the fact that the faith in our hearts is to be spoken and thereby becomes active and effective toward specific results. It is taught here by the Lord Jesus. 3) Jesus’ words “whatever things” apply this principle to every aspect of our lives. The only restrictions are (a) that our faith be “in God,” our living Father, and in alignment with His will and word, and b) that we believe – not doubting in our hearts. Thus, “speaking” to the mountain is not a vain or superstitious exercise or indulgence in humanistic mind-science but instead becomes a release of God’s creative word of promise.
(Matthew 15:7-9/Acts 3:6)
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