The Framework of Faith

Philippians 2:13 ... for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.

The Lord has recently revealed to me another change that will be forthcoming for our family. As part of that change he is teaching me about the reltionship of faith to our life, and how important it is.

I had a learning moment about a year ago about the word "desire." If you break that word down into its components you get "de" which means of/from and "sire" which means father/Lord. Interesting yea? De-sire...of/from the father.

That leads us here, testing our de-sires. I am sure that all of our desires are not of/from the father, so we have the word of God and the Spirit to test our de-sire. If we can find no explicit conflict with our de-sire and the word of God, AND we have peace inside (we have our spirit and the Holy Spirit within witnessing to us..what does our peace or lack of it say about the situation?), we can then move out in faith. We can move out in faith that it IS God working in us to will and to act in accordance with his good purpose.

This is powerful stuff. As believers, we (should) live and die by faith. We have broad latitude in our actions, that will be blessed by the Lord IF we move forward in faith.....so many people do nothing out of fear...they say "what if its not the Lords will?" Did you ask him? Did you check his word? What is the Spirit saying inside you via your peace? Once you have checked the Word and the Spirit, then move foward BOLDLY in FAITH.

Your LEGAL CHARTER to do so is the Word of God. If man or God himself ever asks you why you did something, pull out your LEGAL CHARTER to act, which is:

Philippians 2:13 ... for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.

and

Mark 11:24Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.

and

James 1:5If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. 6But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; 8he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.

Remember, Phil 2:13 is not a free ticket to carry out every wicked desire your flesh and the devil can come up with then say "well, it was god's will right?" Wrong, you have the WORD of GOD and the Spirit of God to test your thoughts and actions...

The "framework of faith" is the freedom and encouragement the Lord gives us to ACT BOLDLY. Do you have a de-sire? Test it. If you cannot find a conflict with the Word or Spirit of God, then move forward BOLDLY in faith, nothing wavering and trust that the Lord will come through for you.

Psalm 37:5 Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.

I believe with all my heart that the Lord is much more concerned about seeing so little real faith in this world than he is concerned about you starting off down the wrong path. The Lord knows how to "jerk my chain" when I'm headed in the wrong direction to get me headed in the right direction so I'm sure he knows how to jerk your chain as well.

My family and I are believing the Lord for something big again. What we are believing for is irrelevant. The key is, the de-sire is there, the de-sire has been tested, and now moving forward boldly in faith is taking place. The Lord is going to have to take care of ALL the major/critical/important details for us. He has done it before, he will do it again. We have already projected ourselves to the future, we see the prayers answered, we are thanking the Lord today for what he has already done and our eyes have seen NOTHING yet. Inside, I promise you I am pregnant with this thing. I am as sure right now as if everything had already been completed and seen with human eyes that our prayers have been answered and we are just now waiting to witness fulfillment.

Please understand that none of this ^^ is written to you to tell you anything about me or my family. The things written here are for YOU and your family. What de-sire do you have today? Have you tested it against the Word and Spirit of God? If so, and no conflict has been found, what are you waiting for? That's why this was written to you today.

One last point:

The Lord has been stressing to me just how "legal" everything works in the spiritual world. There is a legal basis for everything that happens or is allowed to happen. This is part of why its so important to pray and to ask the Lord for EVERYTHING. Asking, in prayer, gives the Lord legal right to work in your life, just like the devil gets legal access to your life through your acts of disobedience and faithlessness.

Proof of this legal framework is the fact that we have not all be consumed yet by the devil and his minions. He hates us, all of humanity with a loathing that is not describable in words. The fact that he harbors this kind of overwhelming hatred and malice for us AND has not destroyed us all in the most cruel way possible is EVIDENCE of legal restraint. For now, he has a "restraining order" that is legally binding. This restraint is enforced by "the restrainer"

2 Thessalonians 2:7 ... ... For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now restraineth will restrain, until he be taken out of the way.

It was important I mention this, its been on my mind for some time now..

grace and peace