“That the communication of thy faith may become effectual by the acknowledging of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus.” Philemon 1:6
The above verse tells us how our faith becomes effective, and that is by acknowledging every good thing that is in us in Christ! By virtue of the new birth, we all have those good things in us. They were all in the Seed that recreated our spirit man when we were birthed into the Family of God. Some of those good things are the fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22-23), righteousness and wisdom (I Cor. 1:30). Through the Baptism in the Holy Spirit we are also gifted with Spiritual Gifts (I Cor. 12:7-10) to empower our witness of Christ! We also have authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, things God put in us to overpower and kill sicknesses – such as Covid-19 – and neutralize poison and minister healing!
The Book of Acts records a few men who went out and turned the world upside down! How did they do that? They did it through effective faith, by acknowledging every good thing that was in them in Christ! Jesus said, “You shall receive power!” They did! The rest of the Book of Acts was written because the apostles ACTED! Their faith ignited those new creation realities in them and through the demonstration of the Spirit and power of God, they established the record of Christ that could never be disproven for 2,000 years – people either believed it or they didn’t! Besides, we are not saved by proof anyway. We’re saved by faith!
If we want effective faith, faith that produces results, we have to understand and acknowledge those good things that are already in us in Christ! It would greatly benefit us to become more familiar with those good things that are in us and begin to work those things. Let love work in us, let joy work in us, let peace work its power in us, let patience have her perfect work in us!
When we place more importance on the good things that are in us in Christ than we do the outer influences of a fallen world, we will begin to understand in a very real way, the power of effective faith and the God who gives it. Then we will disarm the forces of darkness with our faith instead of them disarming us with fear! We have already been given all we need for our faith to be effective. Let’s acknowledge those things and stay way ahead of the enemy!
With Love,
Pastor Tom