24/01/11

Overcoming our restricted body

Romans 4:19-21
19 And without being weakened in faith he considered his own body now as good as dead (he being about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah's womb;
20 yet, looking unto the promise of God, he wavered not through unbelief, but waxed strong through faith, giving glory to God,
21 and being fully assured that what he had promised, he was able also to perform.

Before I get to today's message I like clear the definition of some very fundamental things like faith and man as a being.

Faith in very simple terms means holding on to the Truth. Now Truth is something that is not dependant on time, situation or any factor, in short something that does not change. In whole creation there are only two things that do not change one is God Himself and His Word.

God is the same yesterday, today and will be the same tomorrow. That does not mean God does not grow. The glory of God keeps increasing but His nature has never changed even by a micron. The same is His Word. What God has written is for eternity and does not change.

Therefore faith simply means believing in God's Word - the Truth.

We may know the Truth but yet deny it, so faith is the strength in which we hold on to the Truth as it is revealed to us. The stronger we hold more the faith. The more we know the Truth, the easier for us to hold on tightly.

Now let us understand man.

Man is a spirit being, having a soul (inner man) and living in a physical body.

When sin came into man, man lost 3 fruits and he who was not corrupt became corrupt. He lost the fruits of Righteousness, Holiness and Truth. It was due to this he got restricted in his body and therefore Adam and Eve felt the nakedness of their body. Before sin man was never restricted by his body for the Truth was in him and he was called son of God, he also had Righteousness and Holiness in him.

In Galatians 5: 22-23 the nine Fruit(s) of the Holy Spirit are those which we can have and built among ourselves by becoming one body. Paul wrote of the 3 remaining Fruit(s) separately in Ephesians 5:9 so as not to confuse the growing Christian.

We cannot grow the Fruit of Righteousness or Holiness, but by the Spirit of Truth Whom we have received through Jesus and the Word of God, we can build the Fruit of Truth. Once man has this Fruit the Lord will come and give us His Righteousness and Holiness so as to remove the corruption and make us sons of God again. Only Sons of God can enter and dwell in Heaven.

Coming to today's message Abraham knew his body was becoming old and that was a fact, but when the Truth started growing in him, his faith increased and so he started not being restricted to his aged body.

We too are restricted by our problems and physical ailments all because we do not know the Word of God and the Truth does not abide in us. We need to grow this Fruit by building the understanding of the Word of God. Understanding does not come by just reading the Bible or by studying it in depth. Understanding will come unto us only when we experience the Word in our lives. This is the reason testimonies and self experiences are very important.

So let us build our part efforts towards man having this Fruit of Truth by sharing the disclosers of the Word that God gives us and by our testimony, so that we overcome this restriction of our body.


[ Prayer Starter ]
Lord, when You made us, we were made in your image. This image got corrupt as sin came into us. To offset this corruption You came as man and became a sacrifice to break the curses and gave us your Spirit so that Truth may abide in us and we come back to You. Lord help us build our faith as the Truth gets revealed more and more through the Body of Christ - your people so that we overcome.

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.


[ Reference Scripture ]
Galatians 5:22-23
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
23 meekness, self-control; against such there is no law.

Ephesians 5:9
9 (for the fruit of the light is in all goodness and righteousness and truth),

Revelation 12:10-11
10 And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.
11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.

The Word of God was given free to us, therefore we should also share it freely with others. (All rights are with God)