Divinely Reasonable and Infinitely Joyful Worship

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. (Romans 12:1)

Paul was not commanding or demanding anything; he was beseeching. The Greek work means to call out to someone, to exhort, entreat and encourage. He was not speaking from a position of law or requirement, but on the basis of God’s compassion and mercy. That sums up what the “therefore” is there for:

• The gospel of Jesus Christ is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes (1:16).
• Though all have sinned and come short of the glory of God (3:23), and the wages of sin is death, the gift of God is eternal life through the Lord Jesus Christ (6:23).
• Those who receive the Lord Jesus are now dead to sin; that is, we no longer have to be enslaved by sin, but are alive to God (6:11).
• We are also now dead to the law, the commandments ended up only condemning us (7:4). The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made us free from the law of sin and death (8:2).

Because of all this, Paul now encourages us to “present your bodies a living sacrifice.” We find this same word “present” in Romans 6:13.

Do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.

Notice that we are to present ourselves as a living sacrifice. In the Old Testament, the sacrifices were slaughtered before they were presented. In Jesus Christ, we are now dead to sin and the law, but alive to God, for He is the God of living, not of the dead (Matthew 22:32).

This sacrifice, being dead to sin but alive to God, is a holy one. To be holy means to be set apart for God’s purposes. It is not about who we are and what we are doing; it is about who He is and what He is doing. We could never make ourselves holy; only He can do that for us, and that is what He has done in Jesus Christ—we are accepted in the Beloved (Ephesians 1:6).

Yes, we are acceptable — and accepted — in Jesus Christ. The word for “acceptable” in Romans 12:1, and again in 12:2, means to be well pleasing. When Jesus was baptized in the river Jordan, the Holy Spirit descended like a dove, and the voice of the Father said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17). God is well pleased in Him, and with us in Him.

Pleasing God is always a matter of faith — believing His Word — for “without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him” (Hebrews 11:6). Becoming a living sacrifice that is well pleasing to God is a matter of faith, believing the truth of His Word and the goodness of His grace.

Presenting ourselves as a living sacrifice is what Paul calls our “reasonable service.” The Greek word for “service” is latreia and refers to worship, the service given to God. We present out bodies as living sacrifices as an act of worship. The word for “reasonable” comes from logikos, which is where we get our word “logical.” Paul is referring to reason, not the reasoning of the world, though, but the reasoning of God. The wisdom of God seems foolish to this present age, but the “foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men” (1 Corinthians 1:25). “The natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Corinthians 2:14). But those who have been made alive in Jesus Christ have received the Holy Spirit, who reveals the wisdom of God to us. In the natural, it is foolish for us to give ourselves away, but in the divine logic, it makes perfect sense for us to give ourselves to the One who has given Himself to us so freely. It is no burden, but joy itself.

When we understand the love and mercy God has shown to us in Jesus Christ, and the richness of the salvation He brings to us, it is divinely reasonable, and infinitely joyful, that we should offer ourselves to Him, dead to sin but alive to God, presenting everything about ourselves as instruments of His rightness.

The Holy Spirit Pulling With You

Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. (Romans 8:26)

No matter what life throws at you, if you know the Lord Jesus, you can make it through. Because all who no Him have the Spirit of God dwelling in them. The Bible says that the Holy Spirit helps us in our weaknesses (of which we have many). The Greek verb for “helps” is synantilambanomai and means, “to take hold of together with.” It is like working the oar of a boat. The Holy Spirit takes hold of it with us, and we row together, pulling hard. He does not do it all for us, but He helps us. We do it together. Whatever you are dealing with, you are not dealing with it by yourself. The Holy Spirit is taking hold of it with you.

Paul speaks of this particularly in the context of prayer. “For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought.” By ourselves, we really do not know how or what to pray. This is true all the time, but we become painfully aware of it when we encounter situations we have never seen before or are overwhelmed by difficulties. Fortunately, the Spirit lays hold with us. We do not know how to pray, but He always does. This may manifest in a number of ways.

• There may be no words at all, only groaning or weeping. Sometimes as I have prayed for someone, I have suddenly found myself weeping almost uncontrollably for him or her. That is the Spirit releasing the burden of my heart to the Father. Some people call this “travailing prayer.”
• There may be Scriptures that suddenly come to mind which pertain to the situation. The Holy Spirit is leading you by the Word of God, not only giving you direction, but stirring up your faith as well, because faith comes by the Word of God (Romans 10:17). As those Scriptures come, and faith arises in your heart, turn them into prayer.
• There may be words in a language you do not understand. This is called “praying in tongues.” Though you may not know exactly what you are praying, the Holy Spirit does, because it is a gift from Him. He knows exactly what needs to be said, and He will say it through your tongue, if you allow Him. If you have never experienced this gift,, you can even ask Him to release it in you.
• There may be no special manifestation whatsoever. But that’s okay because the Holy Spirit is laying hold and interceding with you nonetheless. Pray out what you know and trust that the Holy Spirit is pulling on heaven with you.

In whatever way the Spirit works with you in prayer, you can be sure that the Father will hear and honor it, for you will be praying according to the will of God.

Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God. (Romans 8:27)

Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him. (1 John 5:14-15)

You and I do not know how to pray, but the Spirit of God does. When you pray, trust that He is there laying hold and pulling with you. Listen for how He may be leading you. Then pray with great expectation.

Heirs of the World

For the promise that he would be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. (Romans 4:13)

We often think of Abraham as one through whom the inheritance came. But Paul called him the heir of the world. An heir is one who receives an inheritance. Here we see that the inheritance Abraham was given is the world itself. When God called Abraham to leave his father's house and his country, He gave him this promise:

I will make you a great nation;
I will bless you
And make your name great;
And you shall be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you,
And I will curse him who curses you;
And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.

(Genesis 12:2-3)

Then He brought him outside and said, “Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.” (Genesis 15:5)

Then Abram fell on his face, and God talked with him, saying: “No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you a father of many nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you. And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and your descendants after you. Also I give to you and your descendants after you the land in which you are a stranger; all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting possession, and I will be their God. (Genesis 17:3-9)

The blessing for all the families of the earth comes through Abraham. He is the father of numberless descendants, the father of multitudes, the father of nations and kings. This is the inheritance Abraham received from God, and it is the inheritance he passes on to all those who are heir to him.

How does this happen, and who are the heirs of Abraham. The point Paul makes in Romans 4 is that it is not a matter of law, or of works such as circumcision. It is not even a matter of being a Jew (for Abraham was neither a Jew, nor circumcised when the promise was first made). Rather, it is a matter of God's grace and is received by faith:

For the promise that he would be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. For if those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made void and the promise made of no effect, because the law brings about wrath; for where there is no law there is no transgression. Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not only to those are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all. (Romans 4:13-15)

From beginning to end, it is all about faith — believing God. As it was for Abraham, so it is for us:

He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform. And therefore “it was accounted to him for righteousness.” Now it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him, but also for us. It shall be imputed to us who believe in Him who raised up Jesus our Lord form the dead, who was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because of our justification. (Romans 4:20-25)

Through faith in Jesus Christ, we are not only made right with God, but we also become the heirs of what God promised Abraham. Because of Jesus, through faith in Him, we are made heirs to the world. That is why, as Paul later said,

The earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. (Romans 8:19-21)

Through faith in Jesus Christ, we are made heirs to the world, along with faithful Abraham, and all of creation waits for the full manifestation of this inheritance.

Created to Have Dominion: The Glory of God

All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. (Romans 3:23)

This may sound like bad news, but it actually reveals something very positive: You and I were created for the glory of God — to know His glory, experience His glory, walk in His glory. That is how man was originally created, clothed in the image and likeness — the glory — of God.

It was all very wonderful, until Adam and Eve ate of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil:

Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings. (Genesis 3:7)

When Adam and Eve sinned, they disconnected from the life and power of God. The glory departed and they realized that they were suddenly naked. They were ashamed and tried to cover themselves up with fig leaves, but their was no glory at all in that.

The Hebrew word for “glory” literally means weightiness, and is used to refer to the abundance and splendor, the goodness and greatness, of God. Adam, having been created in the image and likeness of God, was meant to wear the glory of God, to shine with the goodness and the greatness of God, to rule and reign with the glory and brining all things into proper order with it. But in order to do this, he needed to stay connected to God.

Think of a light bulb. When it is connected to the power source, the light shines brightly, and what is noticed is not the bulb, but the light. Pull the plug on it, however, and the light is gone. The glory of the bulb has departed.

When Adam and Eve sinned in the garden, they rebelled against God and disconnected themselves from Him. The glory of the Lord departed from them because they unplugged themselves from the source and power of their lives. So they were naked and ashamed, and hid themselves from God.

But God immediately had a plan to redeem and restore man to his original destiny. “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” the Bible says, and then adds, “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23).

All of us have sinned, and by that sin, we have fallen far short of the glory God intended for us to share with Him. Not only that, the wages of sin is death. And that is actually good news, because it means that God was not willing to let sin continue to rob His glory from us. So sin must die. Unfortunately, that means that all who have been infected with it must die as well, for the wages of sin is death. Fortunately, there is good news that is plainly good news, for the second half of Romans 6:23 announces, “BUT the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Give this the greatest emphasis, for it is where our salvation and restoration lies.

But how does this work and bring our redemption? Jesus, the eternal Son of God, came to earth and became a man, and took upon Himself all of our sin and its penalty. Then He took that sin and nailed it to a cross in His own body. A great exchange took place, “for God made Jesus, who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21).

Now, through faith in Jesus Christ, we can stand before God, not in fig-leaves of our own making, that cheap imposter of glory, but in the righteousness that belongs to Jesus Christ Himself. For He is full of glory, and in Him, we also now wear that glory. In Him we receive the Spirit of God indwelling us, filling us with glory.

Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord. (2 Corinthians 3:18)

For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. (2 Corinthians 4:6)

All creation, including all the nations of the earth, are waiting for the manifestation of this glory. It is for this very reason that Jesus has given us authority and power:

All authority has been given to Me in heaven and earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you, and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. (Matthew 28:18-20)

You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth. (Acts 1:8)

This glory is not just for all the peoples of the earth, but also for the earth itself. As Paul says,

For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. (Romans 8:19-22)

The whole world is waiting for the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ to be revealed. You and I get to be a part of that great manifestation and share in the dominion of His glory.

Crushing Satan

And the God of peace will crush satan under your feet shortly. (Romans 16:20)

Wow! Imagine satan crushed under your feet. That is what God is doing. That is why Jesus came: “For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8). The Greek word for “destroy” means to break up, to loose and put off, to dissolve and disintegrate, even to melt. It is thorough, complete and irrevocable. It was the anointing of the Anointed One is for, to completely remove the burden and utterly destroy the yoke (Isaiah 10:27).

This was God’s plan from the beginning, when Adam and Eve rebelled against God. He gave this promise, which is known as the protoevangelium, the first mention of the gospel (“good news”): God said to the serpent (satan), “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed [Jesus Christ]; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel” (Genesis 3:15).

In the movie The Passion of the Christ, this is graphically portrayed in the first scene, where Jesus is shown praying in the garden of Gethsemane: A snake slithers out from the robes of the satan figure — and Jesus abruptly crushes its head under His foot. That is what happened at Calvary; satan got Jesus up on the cross, right where he wanted Him, but it turned out to be the death blow for satan — Jesus crushed his head!

How did that happen? Because it was not for Himself that Jesus died — it was for us:

Surely He has borne our griefs [literally, sicknesses]
And carried our sorrows [literally, pains]
Yet we esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten by God, and afflicted [as if on His own account]
But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray;
We have turned, every one, to his own way;
And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.

(Isaiah 53:4-6)

The wounds and bruises with which satan wanted to afflict Jesus were for our benefit. Jesus endured the chastisement that rightfully belonged to us, and in its place, He gave us His peace. The Hebrew word for “peace,” shalom, refers to wholeness — nothing missing, nothing broken.

Notice in Romans 16:20, it is the God of peace who crushes satan under our feet. That might seem to be a disjunction; what does peace have to do with crushing? But that is exactly how God has given us His peace — Jesus crushed the head of the evil one and destroyed all his works. The work of the devil is to steal, kill and destroy, but Jesus came to give us His peace, the life of God in abundance (John 10:10).

If Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil, then why are they still around today? Because God is not only doing a work in and for His people, He is doing a work through His people. Jesus has delivered the death blow to satan and all his works, but He has given His people the authority and power to enforce that victory over the adversary:

Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you. (Luke 10:19)

Jesus has not only given us authority, but power also, just as He promised: “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you” (Acts 1:8). This is the same power by which Jesus performed all His miracles and destroyed the works of the devil: “God anointed Jesus of Nazareth wit the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him” (Acts 10:38). The broken power of the devil is no match against the power of the Holy Spirit.

The power of death, the last enemy, was broken when God raised Jesus from the dead by the power of the Holy Spirit:

Which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to com. And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all. (Ephesians 1:20-22)

God raised Jesus from the dead. Forty days later, Jesus ascended to His throne in heaven, where rules and reigns forever. All things have been placed under His feet, his authority. The devil and his works have been destroyed — dealt the death blow — though it has not fully manifested on earth as it is in heaven. For we are living between the time of the cross and the end of this present evil age:

Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power. For He must reign till He has put all things under His feet. (1 Corinthians 15:24-25)

God has put all things under Jesus’ feet; God is putting all things under Jesus’ feet. It is not a contradiction, for what God has already done in the spiritual realm is now being worked out in the natural; what He has already perfected in heaven is now being brought forth on the earth. We are living in the time of that outworking. Indeed, we are a part of that outworking, just as Jesus authorized us to bind and loose on earth what is already bound and loosed in heaven (Matthew 18:18), and to pray, “Kingdom of God, come! Will of God, be done on earth as it is in heaven!” (Matthew 6:10).

God is crushing satan under our feet. He has given us authority to trample on the power and works of the enemy. Just as these things are under the feet of Jesus, they are under our feet as well. For we are His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all (see The Fullness of Him Who Fills). Not only that, but the Bible says that, just as Jesus is seated in the heavenlies at the right hand of the Father, we are also seated there in Him. God has “made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:5-6).

God is putting all things under the feet of Jesus, and you and I get to be a part of that victory. As believers in Jesus, we no longer have to listen to the lies and accusations of the devil, and be subject to his power, for that power has been broken and has no authority, and no ability, to rule over us. We are part of the body of Christ. We are now part of that fullness which fills all in all. God is crushing satan under our feet, and that is the outworking of His peace, His shalom, in the world.

A Better Way to Live

We know that the law is spiritual, but I a carnal, sold under sin. For what I am doing, I do no understand, for what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do. If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good. But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. But the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin. (Romans 7:14-25)

We no longer have to stay in the tragedy of Romans 7. Romans 8 shows us the way out. Romans 7 was our old address; Romans 8 is the new dwelling place we have in Jesus Christ.

• Where there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. (v. 1)
• Where we can walk according to the Spirit instead of according to the flesh. (v. 1)
• Where we are free from the law of sin and death, to walk in the law of the Spirit of life. (v. 2)
• Where the righteous requirement of the law is fulfilled in us, because of the Lord Jesus Christ. (vv. 3-4)
• Where we can set our minds on the things of the Spirit (v 5)
• Where we are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in us--if we His, then He does; but if we do not belong to Him, then He doesn't. (v. 9)
• Where the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in us, giving life to our mortal bodies. (v. 11)
• Where by the Spirit we can put to death the deeds of the body (v. 13)
• Where we can be led by the Spirit of God (v. 14)
• Where we have received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out "Abba, Father." And we never have to go back to the spirit of bondage again to fear. (vv. 15-16)
• Where we are heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ. (v. 17)
• Where the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God, and will be delivered from bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty we have as the children of God. (vv. 19-22)
• Where we have the firstfruits of the Spirit (v. 23)
• Where the Spirit helps us in our weaknesses and pulls together with us, making intercession for us with groans that cannot be uttered, and according to the will of God. (v. 26-27)
• Where all these things work together for the good of all who love God and are called together according to His purpose. (v. 28)
• Where we are being conformed to the image of the Son of God, justified in Him, and glorified in Him. (vv. 29-30)
• Where God is for us, so nothing can stand against us (v. 31)
• Where God, who did no spare His own Son, now also freely gives us all things (v. 32)
• Where no charge can stand against us because it is God who justifies us (v. 33)
• Where Christ has died for us, is risen for us, and is even at the right hand of God making intercession for us. (v. 34)
• Where nothing can separate us from the love of Christ. (vv. 35-36)
• Where we are more than conquerors through the Lord Jesus Christ who loved us. (v. 37)
• Where neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (vv. 38-39)

Sadly, many people still remain in the frustration of Roman's 7. Paul, who wrote this letter, was there Himself. But he did not resign himself to stay there. He discovered there was something much better. What a bummer it would be if his letter had ended with chapter 7. However, where the last verse of chapter 7 hints at the answer, chapter 8 unpacks it for us — and it is overflowing with joy and glory. But it takes faith to make that transition from chapter 7 to chapter 8.

Romans 7 is about the law of performance — which turns out to be a law of sin and death for us. It is about me, what I do and what I don't do. It breeds a works-based, religious spirit. But Romans 8 brings us to a completely different place. It is about what God has done, and is doing, in us, though the Lord Jesus Christ.

Romans 7 — no way to live. Romans 8 — much better!

Calling Those Things Which Do Not Exist

God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did. (Romans 4:17)

In this verse, we see how God operates: He calls those things that do not exist as though the did. It is His action that is in view in this passage. Abram's job was simply to believe.

Oops! Did I say Abram? I mean Abraham, for that is what God changed Abram's name to. God called him “Abraham,” which means “Father of Many Nations.” In renaming him “Abraham,” God was calling something that did not yet exist as though it already were.

Now what do you suppose Abram and Sarai began to call him when God renamed him “Father of Many Nations.” They, of course, began to call him Abraham, “Father of Many Nations.” That took an act of faith on their part, and it was also an act of calling. They saw that Abraham was old, and as good as dead, in the child-fathering department, and yet they called, in agreement with the Word of God, for the “Father of Many Nations” to manifest.

God's way is to call things that do not exist as though they already were. We see this reinforced in Hebrews 11:3. “By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.”

All that is seen was not made of that which is visible, but that which is invisible — the Word of God. The natural world which we experience by our senses actually has its origin in and is dependent upon the spiritual realm. For God, Who created the heavens and the earth, is Spirit.

Now, in the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth, He did it by His words. “Let there be light ...,” etc. God called for things that did not yet exist as though the already did.

That is how God operates. But how are God's people intended to operate.

Look again at Genesis 1. In verses 26-27 we see that God created man, male and female, in His image. That was a sign of God's authority being delegated to them. That was important because of the mandate God placed on them in the very next verses:

“Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing tat moves on the earth.” (v. 28).

In Psalm 8:6, we see that they were given dominion over the works of God's hand and all things were put under his feet (this was restored to fallen humanity in the work of the Lord Jesus Christ, the God who is Man who perfectly fulfills this dominion).

What was Adam to multiply upon the earth? That which he was and possessed: the image of God.

What was Adam to do with the earth as he multiplied: Subdue it and have dominion over it.

How was Adam to subdue the earth and exercise dominion over it?

Look in Genesis 2, a close-up account of how God made Adam:

“And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.” (v. 7)

Notice that God breathed into Adam’s nostrils — from God’s mouth into Adam’s body. The breathe of a person is that by which one actually utters words. We breathe them out. In 2 Timothy 2:17, Paul says that all Scripture is given “by inspiration of God.” The Greek word for “inspiration” is theoneustos, and literally means “God-breathed.” God breathes out His Word.

So God breathed, with His word-speaking capacity, into man’s nostrils, and man became a “living being.”

There are ancient versions of the Hebrew Scriptures known as the Targums. These were translations from Hebrew into its cousin language Aramaic, for there were many Jews who lost the mother tongue in Babylonian captivity. Many Jews in the time of Christ, including Jesus Himself, spoke in Aramaic, and parts of the Hebrew Scriptures were actually written in Aramaic.

There is one such translation, known as the Targum Onkelos, which deals with the events of Genesis 2. And it renders “man became a living being” this way: “And man became a speaking spirit.”

God, who is Spirit and who speaks things into being, breathed His speaking faculty into the nostrils of man, and man became a speaking spirit.

Now, notice a few verse down in Genesis 2, where God gives Adam his first assignment:

“Out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them. And whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name.” (v. 19)

God, who breathed into Adam’s nostrils, brought them to Adam, who was created in the image of God, given the mandate to subdue and have dominion over the earth, and then watched to see what Adam would call them.

Notice that God did not tell Adam what to call them. He simply let Adam work within the divine mandate and merely observed what Adam called them. Whatever Adam called them, that was its name.

What was Adam doing? He was subduing the earth and having dominion. How was he exercising that dominion? By the words of his mouth. He called the animals something, and whatever he called them, that is what they were. That is, he called things that did not exist (the nature and character of the animals) as though they did. And so they were.

In the Bible, names are significant. They are powerful words that have meaning. They call forth destiny. They establish things in the one being named. God called Abram Abraham, “Father of Many Nations,” and that was Abraham’s destiny. Adam called the animals by certain names, and that is what they were.

Adam and Eve, of course, plunged mankind into sin. But the Lord Jesus Christ came to deliver us from that fallen condition. We can see from how He taught His disciples what some of the ramifications of that redemption are. For example, in Mark 11, when Peter noticed that the fig tree Jesus cursed the day before had now withered, Jesus said,

“Have faith in God. For assuredly, I say to you, whoever 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.” (Mark 11:22-23)

What was Jesus teaching them? How to exercise dominion with their words.

Now, it is very important to understand that this authority and dominion are only properly exercised within the will and purpose of God, as established by His Word. We are to pray, act and think in Jesus’ name, that is, according to how Jesus Himself would pray, act and think.

We are to call things that are in accordance with the plan and will of God, believing what God has said in His Word and confessing it (that is, agreeing with it).

Having the image of God, the Spirit of God, the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the parameters of the will of God as expressed in the Word of God, we can call things that are not as though they were and expect to see them come to pass.

Paul on Blessing Your Enemies

Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men. If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men. Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. Therefore “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. (Romans 12:17-21)

God knows how to deal with your enemies, and He doesn’t need your help. He is not out to destroy them, but to give them opportunity to repent, so He can bless them.

If you try to repay evil with evil, you do not settle the score, but only make things twice as bad. For then there will be two acts of evil instead of one, and the evil you perpetrate is just as damaging to you as the one perpetrated against you. No, always meditate on and present what is good, and let that become evident to all.

It may not be possible to live at peace with all men — some just will not have it, and you cannot make them wear it. But you can control what you do (one of the fruits of the Spirit is self-control, Galatians 5:23). Regardless of what your enemy may say or do, your efforts must always be toward peace. That is where the wisdom of God is found (James 3:17).

Now Paul quotes from Proverbs 25:21-22:

If you enemy is hungry, give him bread to eat;
And if he is thirsty, give him water to drink;
For so you will heap coals of fire on his head,
And the LORD will reward you.

You are not going to be able to starve out your enemy and have any satisfaction from it. Any evil you do to him will boomerang against you — it’s a matter of seedtime and harvest. But the kindness you show will heap coals of fire on his head. That is, it may well cause him to come to repentance (earlier, in Romans 2:4, Paul said that the kindness of God leads to repentance). But if not, God knows how to deal with the matter.

So the best option is always to respond with good, not evil. If you try to repay evil with evil, you will yourself be overcome, swallowed up by your own evil. Good is greater than evil and must eventually overcome it — for God is great and God is good.

Return evil for evil, and you will have to deal with the consequences yourself. Keep doing good, and let God deal with the consequences, and you will get the reward.

Faith is Not Generic

Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. (Romans 10:17)

Many people think of faith in a vague, generic sort of way. “Oh, just have faith,” they say. But faith in what? Many Christians are the same way: “Just have faith in God.” But what about God? What can we believe God to do for us? And how can we know?

Generic faith will not do. Fortunately, the kind of faith the Bible talks about is anything but generic. It has a specificity to it. The apostle John said,

Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him. (1 John 5:14-15)

John speaks of confidence and relates it directly to the will of God. Someone has said that faith begins where the will of God is known. If something is not in the will of God, there is no reason or basis for us to believe that it will be so. It is only when God has spoken and expressed His will concerning a matter that we can begin to have faith that it will come to pass.

Has God made His will known? Yes, He has, in His Word. He has revealed His will and His ways by the words He has spoken. Ultimately, we see His will expressed in Jesus Christ, the Living Word. For Jesus said, “He who has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9).

It is possible for us to have faith only when we know the will of God. And it is possible for us to know the will of God only because He has revealed it to us in His Word. That is the essence of faith — confidence in the Word of God.

Now, sometimes we might pray, “Thy will be done,” because we don’t know or have not yet understood God’s will about a particular situation. That is a prayer of consecration — we are giving it over to God to do with as He wills. But even then, it is based on the revelation that God is good and wise, and His will is always best.

But in most things, we can search out the will of God in the Scriptures, where He has revealed His ways and expressed His promises for every area of life. As we receive those Scriptures and mediate on them in our hearts, the Holy Spirit will bring forth faith, not generically, but specifically.

Biblical faith, the only kind of faith worth having, comes only by hearing the Word of God.

Words Were Made to be Heard

Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. (Romans 10:17)

Words were made to be heard. Yes, I know, and you are correct. You are indeed reading these words, seeing on the page (or the monitor) what I have written down. But in the process of reading, there is a little voice inside you that is decoding and speaking these words to you, even as your eyes are scanning them. You can hear that voice inside as you read along. Often, people even move their lips when they read. Why? Because they are giving utterance to that little voice. In fact, it is difficult, if not impossible, to shut the little guy up. So even when you are reading, you are actually hearing.

“Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.” It does not come by seeing. In another place, Paul said, “We walk by faith, not by sight” 2 Corinthians 5:7). No, faith comes by hearing, and hearing comes by the Word of God. It is when the Word becomes internalized by the Holy Spirit that it comes alive inside you and brings forth faith.

When that happens, it is actually the voice of the Holy Spirit you have been hearing. The Bible says that “no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit” (2 Peter 1:20-21).

Words were made to be heard, and we were created to be spirits who speak with the very breath of God. God puffed the breath of life from His lips into Adam’s nostrils, and Adam became a living being (Genesis 2:7). An ancient Aramaic translation/commentary on this passage says that Adam became a “speaking spirit.”

The Word of God was made to be spoken, and we were made to speak it. Not only that, but all of heaven and earth are tuned to the Word of God. That is how everything was created in the first place. “By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of God” (Hebrews 11:3). God spoke, and it all came into existence. God said … and there was (see Genesis 1).

The Bible says that all creation is eagerly waiting for the Sons of God to be revealed (Romans 8:19). How will they be revealed? By their words. We were created to have dominion on the earth, and we exercise that dominion by speaking the Word of God to it. Creation is tuned to the Word of God and eagerly waits to hear it come forth from our lips. It will respond to the voice of His Word. That is why Moses could speak the Word of God to the rock in the wilderness and cause it to bring forth water. That is why Jesus could stand in the boat and speak to the wind and waves, “Peace, be still,” and the obeyed. And that is why, when He spoke to the fig tree, He used it as an opportunity to teach His disciples about speaking to mountains.

You were created both to hear the Word of God and to speak it to the world.

Everybody Gets What They Bargain For

Everybody gets what they bargain for, but not everyone will like what they get. Adam bargained for the knowledge of good and evil when he chose to eat of the forbidden tree. And he got exactly what he bargained for — ever since then, the world has known good and evil, and the whole place has been a wreck.

A choice that is truly free must have real consequences, or else the will only appears to be free. Many people proudly tout their free will but then try to deny the consequences. Or else they portray God as having somehow been unfair or cruel to them by delivering the corresponding judgment. But the judgment of God simply restores the equilibrium of righteousness. It sets things right, and that means consequences. The natural consequences for choosing the good are good; the consequences for choosing evil are evil (which is nothing more than the lack of good).

Everybody gets what they bargain for, but not everyone likes what they get. Here’s how Paul put it:

For the wrath of God is revealed form heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them.

For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened.

Professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man — and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things.

Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lust of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. (Romans 1:18-25)

Paul has more to say about this matter in verses 26 and following. But my point here is that when people choose against the incorruptible glory of God, the only thing left is corruption. Having thus chosen corruption, God gives them over to that which they have chosen: corruption, which equals death, separation from the life God prepared for everyone to enjoy with Him. Though they freely choose the corruption, they rail against the natural results.

C. S. Lewis said that, in the end, there are only two kinds of people:

• Those who say to God, “Thy will be done.” And they enjoy the splendor of heaven.
• Those to whom God says, “Thy will be done.” And they experience the torment of hell.

Repentance is the opportunity to choose again and receive the offer of forgiveness and reconciliation God extends to us in Jesus Christ. You will not regret the consequence you receive from that decision.

Created For the Glory

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. (Romans 3:23)

The bummer is that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. But the good news is that God created us to share in, walk in, experience and come into intimate relationship with His glory.

For the LORD God is a sun and shield;
The LORD will give grace and glory.

(Psalm 84:11)

That is why God gave us the Torah — that’s the Hebrew word for it, but you and I generally hear it referred to at “the Law.” However,  it can just as well be translated as “instruction.” It is related to the Hebrew verb form, yarah, which means to aim or direct, as a spear or arrow. God gave us His instruction so we could live on-target lives and experience His blessing and prosperity — the glory of God — in everything we do.

The problem is that we have all missed the mark. That is what the Greek word for sin, hamartia, literally means (the Hebrew word for sin means the same thing). We have fallen short of the target. We were created, not only to experience the glory of God, but to wear it like a garment. But by disobedience, we lost that.That is why Jesus came:

The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:23)

When Adam fell into sin and lost the glory of God, God immediately had a plan to restore it through Jesus Christ. It was a plan to destroy sin and its effects and once again direct our lives to the target of His glory — only this time through the Lord Jesus Christ. It is eternal life — the Tree of Life — and we receive it by receiving the Lord Jesus. The glory we receive in Him is the exact same glory with which God glorified Jesus. Jesus gives it to us freely (John 17:22).

You were created to experience and share in the glory of God given to Jesus Christ. Though you have sinned and fallen short of that target, Jesus has taken the penalty of your sin upon Himself. In its place, He offers you the Tree of Life and the full expression of the glory He received from God the Father. 

Discover the Passions of God

Do not be conformed this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you ma prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. (Romans 12:2)

First, note that the Greek word for behind “world” is aion. It is where we get our word “eon.” So it primarily refers, not to a place, but to a time (yes, yes, I know that time and space are relative, but I did say primarily). It should actually be translated, not at “world” but as “age.”

So we have, “Do not be conformed to this age.”

You see, they are two ages going on: this present one and the one that is to come. To one that is to come is the age of God’s kingdom — the age of His rule and reign. The age that is to come has actually already been breaking into to this present one. Has been every since Jesus began His ministry preaching “Repent and believe, for the kingdom of God is at hand.”

The enemy of our souls wants us to continued to be conformed to this age, to think the thoughts of this present world order. He wants to blind us to the age of God’s reign, which is breaking in all around us. Paul said,

But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them. For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your bondservants for Jesus’ sake. For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. (2 Corinthians 4:3-6)

The light of Christ is already shining brightly in the world, and the whole earth if full of the glory of God (Isaiah 6:3). But the devil, the god of this present age, has blinded the eyes of so many so that they don’t even recognized the light and know the glory.

There are only two kinds of people in the world: those who are being conformed to this age, and those who are being transformed by the renewing of their minds.

Enough about the former. Let’s talk about the latter.

“Be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” For too long we have been discipled by the present age to think that way it thinks, feel the way it feels, act the way it acts. We have been conformed by it. Even in the Church, there are many who have been deceived by the spirit of religion to adopt a form of godliness, but totally lacking the power of godliness.

We need to be transformed, and it happens by the renewing of our minds. We need to begin thinking differently. That is what repentance means. The Greek word for “repentance” is metanoeo, and it literally means to think differently.

“My thoughts re not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways,” says the LORD.
“For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways,
And My thoughts than your thoughts.”

(Isaiah 55:11)

“Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. (1 Corinthians 2:9-10)

God’s thoughts and ways are different from those we have received in this present age. He wants us to think His thoughts and walk in His ways, because the age of His rule and reign is breaking in. That is why He has given us His Word and His Spirit, so we could be renewed in our thinking, and thus be transformed. “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding” (Proverbs 3:5).

We need to be transformed and have our thoughts renewed so we can discover the will of God. The will of God is not a plan to manipulate and control us. The will of God is the passionate desire He has for us. He has created us for great things, to partake of His divine nature (2 Peter 1:4). He longs for us to enter into in, to see how good His will is, how full of favor His desire for us is, how perfect and complete His passions toward us are.

Our minds were made to think God’s thoughts, our emotions were made to express God’s heart, and our wills were made to express God’s desires. When we let God renew our thinking by His Word and the Holy Spirit, it will totally transform our lives and prepare us to receive His kingdom, already breaking in all around us — to discover the passions of God.

The Spirit of Bondage and the Spirit of Adoption

For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” (Romans 8:15)

Notice what is contrasted here: The spirit of bondage and the Spirit of adoption. The spirit of bondage leads us into fear; the Spirit of adoption leads us to reach for our Father.

Why does the apostle Paul make this contrast? I believe the answer has to do with fatherhood. “Spirit of adoption” speaks naturally of having a father, a family, a name, a place of belonging and an inheritance. But “spirit of bondage” speaks of slavery, without family or name or inheritance — without a father.

In other words, the spirit of bondage is a spirit of fatherlessness. There are many ways a person might experience fatherlessness. It might be because of a father who literally abandoned his family. Or it might be a father who died young, leaving his children orphans. Divorce also leaves a type of fatherlessness. Or there might be abuse, physical, emotional, even sexual — these all leave their mark upon the soul. It may be as simple as neglect, or a father who is emotionally absent from his children. Fatherlessness breeds helplessness and a loss of identity, leading to bondage and resulting in fear.

The spirit of bondage is demonic. It comes from the devil, whose purpose is to deceive us and draw us away from our Father. He wants us to doubt, not only the Word of God, but the heart of God, the heart of our Father.

God has not given us the spirit of bondage. He does not call us slaves. Rather, He has given us the Spirit of adoption—the Holy Spirit resident and at work within us, revealing to us our identities as children of God. We call God our Father, He calls us His children, His sons and His inheritance.

As Paul tells us, “The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs — heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ” (Romans 8:16-17).

In his letter to the Galatians, Paul speaks to this same theme of adoption:

When the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!” Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. (Galatians 4:4-7)

The spirit of bondage is the spirit of fear! But those who have received the Lord Jesus Christ no longer need to remain the slaves of fear. For we now have the Holy Spirit in us, by whom we cry out to our true Father — Abba, Poppa, Daddy. Claim your inheritance and walk in your identity in the house of your heavenly Father.

Faith From Beginning to End

For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.” (Romans 1:16-17)

God’s way is always a way of faith, from beginning to end, and faith always comes by revelation. More specifically, it comes by a revelation of God’s righteousness — His way of doing and being right.

Since it is about faith all the way through, let’s examine this revelation a little bit closer. As we discover in this passage, the revelation of God’s rightness is embodied in the Gospel of Christ. The word “gospel” means “good news,” and “Christ” means “Messiah,” or to put it in English, “Anointed One.” This revelation, then, is the good news about Jesus the Anointed One.

Now, in the Bible, the anointing is very significant. Listen to how it is described in Isaiah, concerning those who are delivered from tyranny and oppression:

It shall come to pass in that day that his [the oppressor’s] burden will be taken away from your shoulder, and his yoke from your neck, and the yoke will be destroyed because of the anointing oil. (Isaiah 10:27, the KJV simply says “the anointing”).

The anointing is the powerful manifestation of God’s goodness and might that completely removes the burden and shatters the yoke of oppression. No wonder Paul calls the Good News of the Anointed One “the power of God to salvation.” Salvation is not merely the forgiveness of sins. It is a total restoration of relationship with God that includes healing, deliverance, freedom and prosperity. Whatever you need to be made whole is found in the Gospel, and it is available “for everyone who believes.”

The good news about Jesus the Anointed One is the revelation of God’s righteousness — His way of doing and being right — brought to bear in your life. It comes, not to condemn you, but to save you and empower you for living. And it is all about faith. That is why Paul declares, “The just shall live by faith.” It is a new way of life, a way of faith and rightness from beginning to end.

Calling Things As Though They Were

Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all (as it is written, “I have made you a father of many nations”) in the presence of Him whom he believed—God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did. (Romans 4:16-17)

God calls those things that are not as though they were. That is how the heavens and the earth got here in the first place. Once they were not, now they are—because God called them as though they were. The worlds were framed by the Word of God (Hebrews 11:3).

That’s how God works.

When God made man, He made him in the image of God. He formed Adam from the earth and then puffed the breath of life into him, and Adam became a living being. An ancient rabbinic commentary says that Adam became a “speaking spirit.”

God is Spirit, a speaking spirit. The Bible says that “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God” (2 Timothy 3:16). The Greek word for “inspiration” is theoneustos and literally means “God-breathed.” God breathes out His Word.

When God breathes out His Word, things happen. They come into being because He calls them by the breath of His mouth. At the Creation, for example, when darkness was upon the face of the deep, God called for light. Light came into being and solved the problem of darkness.

Now, the breath of God is one. The same breath He breathed into Adam’s nostrils is the same breath by which He breathes out His Word and causes things to be.

After God created Adam, He set him to work. He brought the animals to Adam to see what he would call them (Genesis 2:19). With the breath of God, Adam was to breath forth words and name the animals. By naming them, he called forth what they were to be and do. Another way to say this is that he called things which did not exist (the purpose and destiny of the animals) as though they were already in existence. That is how faith works.

God did not tell Adam what to call the animals, He simply gave Adam the breath and the authority to name them and call forth their destinies. Then He stepped back to observe and see what Adam would call into being.

God operates in the world by the Word of His breath, and that is how He created man to operate as well. In Romans 4, we see that God called Abraham, which means “Father of Multitudes,” even though, at the time, Abraham was the father of none. But God was calling things that are not as though they were, and He expected Abraham to come into agreement with His word, this name Abraham, Father of Multitudes. So whenever Abraham or Sarah spoke forth this name, they were calling things that did not exist as though they already did. They were not speaking lies or denying facts, they were calling for things to come forth. The Word of God cannot fail—whether it comes from God’s own mouth or from ours—so the things that Abraham called eventually showed up in the natural.

God has created you and me to call things which do not exist as though they did. So explore the Word of God to discover the promises of God and what His heart is all about. Then open up your mouth and start calling them forth in agreement with Him. It does not matter whether you can see them, feel them or experience them in any way. Just keep calling them as if they already existed, and they will eventually show up. For everything must eventually line up with the Word of God.

Faith Comes By Hearing

Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. (Romans 10:17)

In the Biblical concept of faith, faith is believing what God has said. That means that faith is integrally related to the Word of God. If it is not related to the Word, then it is not faith.

According to Paul’s statement above, which he addressed to the Christians at Rome, there is a particular way in which faith arise within, or comes to a person. There are also particular ways in which it may not be said that faith comes.

1. Faith does not come by seeing. Paul said, “We walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7). Some people say, “I’ll believe it when I see it.” But the trouble is that our eyes can so easily deceive us. We do not see in order to believe, we believe in order to see.

2. Faith does not come by feeling. Biblical faith is not an emotion. It may often be accompanied by an emotional elation, but it is not itself an emotion. Real faith endures even when the emotional high fades away. Emotions do not lead us into faith, but faith leads us into healthy emotional balance.

3. Faith does not come by thinking. Biblical faith is not a matter of the mind, but of the spirit. It is not antithetical to thinking, or logic or reasoning, but it transcends them. Faith goes beyond where our limited thoughts can take us. We do not understand in order to believe, we believe in order to understand.

4. Faith does not come by will-power. Biblical faith is not a matter of volition. It is not a choice, though it may involve a choice. It is not a matter of “bucking up” and believing. A faith driven by will-power may be very sincere, and yet be sincerely wrong. Faith must have a proper basis. We do not make something true by choosing to believe it, we discover the correct choice by believing the Word of God.

Faith comes by hearing. Hearing is receiving what has been spoken, and what we receive by hearing settles into our spirits. However, Biblical faith does not come by general hearing, receiving anything and everything that we hear. For we might hear the wrong thing and end up believing the wrong thing.

“Faith comes by hearing” is a very important truth. But the second half of Paul’s statement is equally important: “Hearing by the Word of God.” It is only when we hear and receive the Word of God that true Biblical faith comes to us.

The Word of God comes by inspiration of the Holy Spirit. When we hear the Word, the Holy Spirit takes and plants it in our spirit, and faith begins to arise within us.

The Word of God is our starting point for faith. Get into your Bible and ask the Holy Spirit to reveal it to you. Receive the Word and meditate on it. Let it settle into your heart and instruct your emotions. Let it transform you by renewing your mind. Let it direct your will and every choice you make.