The missing link between success and failure in the lives of many children of God is that they may have a knowledge of their new identity but they refuse to act on that knowledge in faith.
Success in the Kingdom of God is about engaging our heart with what we know and then acting on it. The bible says ‘with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation (Romans 10:10).
What this means is that an effectual prayer and confession can only come from the heart which is the seat of faith, and a sure-footed act of faith which brings result must come from the heart- it is a conviction.
The main difference between believing with the heart and the mind is that with the heart, a child of God stands on the word of God without exhibiting doubts, which may contradict facts, but with the mind he believes the word only after it has been evaluated with rational thinking.
We must know that the faith that moves mountain does not consult with what is seen before believing. Such faith comes only from a revelation in the word of God and not from the rational mind of man. Paul says: ‘I did not receive it (the word) from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ’. (Galatians 1:12).
Let us pick an example of a revelational truth of God about His children in these trying times- ‘Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us’. (Romans 8:37). What are all these things? The present troubles of this world which are inevitable.
So, if Jesus says we are conquerors we had better believe it and take it to heart and act on it because we are dealing with an enemy who daily tries to steal our victory and confession in Christ Jesus, and we will really need a high dose of believing to see the back of the enemy. The revelational truth that we are conquerors is a spiritual fact that we must actualize through an active faith.
Satan is not only crafty but equally stubborn. He is the author of all that troubles us with all kinds of fatal blows to take the sailing wind off our faith. Romans 8:35–39 chronicles some of these attacks: trouble, hardship, persecution, famine, nakedness, and sword.
However, because of what we know concerning Jesus’s forewarning about these distresses and that Satan is a defeated foe our faith ought to soar as we march onto victory. In John 16:33 Jesus says: ‘I have told you these things so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take courage; I have overcome the world!”
It takes a special courage to act on what we know as children of God. It takes revelational truth in the word for a child of God to act with courage believing the word and promises of God in the face of opposition. It takes revelational knowledge for a sick man to declare his victory in Jesus in the middle of infirmity, just as it takes same knowledge for a man without a job to believe that the Lord has already met his needs.
Paul who got his revelational knowledge from Jesus equally encourages us to stand strong against the attack of the enemy assuring us of ultimate victory in Jesus.
Satan’s powers are not absolute nor are they without limitation and nothing he throws at us can annul what Jesus says we are and what He has done for us with his death and resurrection.
A heart knowledge of this victory should enable us to keep pressing forward against the onslaught of the enemy until total victory is ours.
In John 10:27–29, Jesus says, “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.” Amen.
Reading: Romans 8:22-3
