Is your Faith Rich?

Jesus taught in Matthew 5:3 (NIV)...“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." 

All that I have belongs to God. 

My body, my mind, and my stuff all belongs to God and He is just letting me manage it all for Him. 

In Luke 14:33 (HCSB) Jesus taught...

every one of you who does not say good-bye to all his possessions cannot be My disciple. 

Jesus taught that those who belong to Him really do. All their stuff belongs to Him.

On the other hand in James 2:5 (NASB) ...

did not God choose the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him? 

Compare James 2:5 with Matthew 5:3 above. Jesus is saying that if all that you have belongs to Him then all that He has belongs to you 

"the poor in spirit will inherit the kingdom of heaven". 

By faith all of God's resources are available to the poor (and the rich) in accordance with God's wisdom if they surrender all that they have to Him. 

Then, they will be rich in faith.

Are you gods?

Jesus said in John 10:34, “Is it not written in your law, ‘I said, “You are gods”. 

This comment provoked a failed stoning attempt by the authorities. What exactly did Jesus mean? 

Actually Jesus was quoting Psalm 82:6 where Asaph said “You are gods, And all of you are children of the Most High”. 

Moses even quoted God as saying in Genesis 1:27, “God made man like Him”. 

Even man in his present sinful situation Jesus’s brother said in James 3:9 “Man is made like God”.

In Genesis 1:26, Moses said that Man was made to have authority over all of God’s earth. 

However, in Matthew 4:9, Satan told Jesus that Satan had authority, and Jesus didn’t expose that comment as a bluff. 

In James 3:8, James went so far as to say that people can’t even control their BIG MOUTH much less all the earth!

In Psalm 82:6-7, Asaph said that man had fallen from a god-like position, lost his prince-like authority under the Most High God, and would die. 

In Romans 8:3, Paul said that God sent His Son into the world as a man to be a substitute for our sins. 

In John 5:19, Jesus said that He personally had no power by saying 

“I can do nothing by myself”. God was simply doing His works through Him.

In Romans 8:15, Paul said that through surrendering to Christ we are restored to our relationship, and we can even call God Daddy (Abba). 

Furthermore, in Romans 8:28-30 Paul said that those who belong to Christ, God’s plan is to make us like His prototype, Jesus.

In Matthew 28:18, Jesus said that “all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth”. 

In other words, what man lost, Satan stole, and then Jesus won back through His death on the cross, burial, and resurrection from the grave. 

In 2 Corinthians 5:17, we are a new creation in Christ (when we yield to the ownership of Christ). The past is gone. The new is come.

In Romans 10:9, Paul said that 

if you will confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord (Owner) and believe in the heart God has raised Him from the dead (He is risen to change you). 

You will be saved (from evil impulses and the resulting punishment).

If you surrender the control of your life to Jesus, Jesus said in John 20:17, 

I am going to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God.

You, too can be like God. 

Furthermore, in John 14:7, Jesus said, “I’m coming back for you!”

How Obedience Happens

The Word of Faith movement derives its name from Romans 10:8, where Paul said 

“The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart](that is, the word of faith which we preach). NKJV

Paul goes on to say that we are to… 

“confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and to believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead”, then you “will be saved” (Romans 10:9). 

In other words, we are saved from our sins by surrendering to Jesus the control of our lives, and believing that He is arisen in our hearts to change us. 

This is how God set salvation up as Paul explained in Romans 10:17 

“So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God”.

Paul goes on to say in Colossians 2:6 

“As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him.” 

Word of Faith people say that if you received salvation from Christ by believing God’s Word about salvation and confessing Him, then we should receive God’s other promises the very same way. We are to speak them and obey them.

Let’s discuss Matthew 6:33. Jesus said 

“… seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” 

To qualify for that promise, 

“we must seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness”, and then we qualify for all these things shall be added to you”. 

Word of Faith people teach to “claim” a promise then we must first qualify for the promise. 

I agree. 

Our attention should be upon keeping our part instead of working on God to keep His part.

Word of Faith people say that we must align our speech, heart, and obedience to that promise by confessing, speaking, and praying that verse throughout the day. 

To qualify for that verse, it is my position that we must align our lives to Jesus teachings which He laid out in the context of the verse (Matthew 5-7) in its entirety. 

I’m sure that Word of Faith people agree with what I’ve just said;

however, I think that if we put more attention on obeying the passage rather than repeating and praying a verse out of the passage. Then, the answers to our prayers and confessions would actually increase. 

I, too, like to confess and align my life, speech, and prayers to God’s Word.

However, we must focus on a verse’s context and apply it in context to qualify for the reality of it.