Winning the War Within – Part 8 (Change from the Inside-Out)
Two major points I want to make this week:
1. You can be IN CHRIST and still full of ‘dark stuff.’
2. If you give the WORD priority, it can wash you and change you from the inside out.
Purpose and Vision – Part IV
Two major points I want to make this week:
- All true vision will be tested for authenticity.
- Nothing happens until you announce it.
All true vision will be tested for authenticity:
- Life in Christ is not a cakewalk.
- Every person that was used mightily of God faced opposition.
- The devil only attacks those worth attacking!
Example: Paul
- Paul went through challenge after challenge, but the devil was not after Paul, the devil wanted to stop Paul’s assignment!
- Paul was charged with taking the gospel the Gentiles.
- The greater the assignment, the greater the attack!
- After describing some of the challenges he faced, Paul said, “In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2 Tim 3:12).
Nothing really happens until you announce it:
- Paul was living well until he announced the fact that he had changed sides.
- After Paul’s public declaration of what God wanted to do in his life, the life went haywire.
- It’s one thing to receive from God in your prayer closet. But it’s something else when you have the faith to declare what God is going to do in your life, before it happens.
- Taking God public crosses the faith line.
- When you take God public – at the risk of looking foolish – the Father honors your faith.
- When you take God public you become a target of the enemy!
Closing thoughts:
- If the vision came from God, the provision will come from God.
- If the vision came from God, the opposition will come from satan.
- Instead of getting discouraged by the opposition, get encouraged!
- Satanic opposition is proof that you are heading down the right road!
- What satan means to destroy you can actually help validate your assignment!
- The only way you can lose is if you quit!
Purpose and Vision – Part III
- Purpose is predetermined and fixed, vision is incremental and progressive.
- Vision is sight, birthed from insight, with the benefit of hindsight (progressive).
Example: Abraham
Abraham’s Purpose was fixed:
- God visits a 75yr. old man and tells him his purpose.
- The Lord was going to start a family through Abraham and through this family; ALL the families of the earth would be blessed.
- Blessed TO BE a Blessing!
- From the time Abraham received his purpose, to the time he died, the purpose never changed and he was continually in pursuit of it.
Abraham needed vision (insight) in order to accomplish the purpose:
- When Abraham couldn’t SEE it, the Lord had him look up to the stars and look down to the dust. Just like the number of stars and the grains of dust cannot be counted, that’s how many children would be in his lineage.
- Abraham had to SEE IT before he could BE IT.
- The Lord needed Abraham to SEE IT on the inside.
Don’t be afraid of using your imagination:
- Vision is birthed from anointed imagination.
- Free yourself to allow God to show you your future.
- Walk around in your future, see the people you are going to impact, shake their hands, touch them, see the change, and then come back and get ready to go there.
- Abraham received it ON THE INSIDE well before he ever saw it ON THE OUTSIDE.
A few nuggets in closing:
- Purpose will give birth to vision.
- If you allow yourself to imagine, with God involved in the process, He can show you your future. Your job then is to come back to the present and make plans to get there.
- Your plans will not experience Godly success unless they line up with God’s purpose.
- When God gives you vision for your future He is also confirming what He has already implanted IN you – He will never tell you to do something you can’t do! The goal then is the outworking of the internal.
The Language of Faith
We come to God with a set way of thinking and speaking and we must allow the Holy Spirit and the Word of God to transform our thoughts, words, and actions. Once we change the way we think, we will change the way we speak. Once we change the way we think and speak, we will change the way we act. Once we change the way we act, we have changed! Hallelujah!
Here are 5 facets of the Language of Faith:
1. The Language of Faith’s vocabulary is found in the Word of God (Jer 1:12). When I joined the military I had to learn the ‘lingo’ and what the plethora of acronyms that we use meant. Likewise, when I was Born-Again, I had to learn what things like salvation, redemption, atonement, sanctification, propitiation, etc; meant. I learned them through the Word of God. We must all learn the language.
2. The Language of Faith speaks pertinent promises. Once I learned the language, I had to start putting it into practice. I learned that there were scriptures that promised me peace when I troubled, health when I was sick, deliverance when I was bound, restoration when I was alienated, and etc. I had to learn what scriptures were pertinent to my situation and I stood on those pertinent promises. The language of faith speaks those pertinent promises for permanent change.
3. The Language of Faith speaks the desired outcome (Rom 4:17). I had to train myself not to simply speak what I saw. If I can see it, then it does not require faith (Heb 11:1). I had to train myself – under this new language – to speak things, in accordance with the Word of God, that I desired to happen, before they happened. Not only that, but I had to literally train myself to believe that what I spoke would come to pass. That is basically ‘releasing your faith’ over a certain situation.
4. The Language of Faith continues to speak the desired outcome until it comes to pass. It is foolish to think that everything in Christ is going to come easy. You can find the right promise, speak the right things, release your faith, but there will always be opposition. They key is not to allow what you see (opposition) to change what you say (faith). You must continue to speak the desired outcome until you see it come to pass in your life!
5. The Language of Faith never cancels out their declaration of faith with doubt and unbelief (Jas 1:7). We dealt with this yesterday. We must doubt and doubt and have faith in our faith. Know that doubt cancels faith and that faith cancels doubt. Never speak doubt after you have spoken faith.
Endless Possibilities!!!!
John said, “Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is” (1st John 3:1,2).
Do you realize that you are a SON and not a SERVANT or a SLAVE? Once you truly realize that you are SON of God, the possibilities are endless! Take your limits off of our LIMITLESS God!
Endless Possibilities from Rick Pina on Vimeo.